Battlestar Galactica: Transcripts: S01E08: Flesh and Bone

Roslin’s Dream / Premonition – Planet – Forest
Roslin, glowing in a white light, runs through the forest away from some human soldiers. She sees a man (Leoben) shouting at her in the distance.
Leoben: Cylon… Cylon! Cylon!
As the soldiers bear down on her, the man grabs her, silencing her with a hand over her mouth. He gestures to her as if he has something to show her. Then what appears to be a door opening is heard in the distance and the man goes flying backwards.
And just before the dream ends, she finally hears his voice…
Leoben: (O.S.) Laura.

Colonial one – Roslin’s Quarters
Roslin awakes with a shudder to a knock on her door.
Roslin: Yes?
Billy: Madam President, are you okay in there?
Roslin: I’m fine, it’s the side effects from the chamalla. You know that thing they say, “what’s worse, the cancer or the cure”? What do you need?
Billy: Uh, you have an urgent call from the captain of the Gemenon Traveler.
Roslin: Can I call him back?
Billy: He says he found a Cylon onboard.

Colonial One – Roslin’s Quarters / Galactica – C.I.C.
Roslin and Adama talk on comms.
Roslin: They found him in the starboard storage compartment. Looks like he’d been camped there for days.
Adama: They’re sure it’s a Cylon?
Roslin: The captain identified him by one of the photos we sent out. He’s another copy of the man you knew as Leoben Conroy.
Apollo: Where is it now?
Roslin: Aboard the Gemenon Traveler, locked in a storeroom, under guard.
Adama: Isolate that ship.
Apollo: Order the C.A.P. to fly escort around the Gemenon Traveler and not to approach any other ship in the fleet.
Dualla: Aye, sir. (on comms) Kat, Galactica. Fly closer to the…
Adama: I’ll send a team over to destroy it immediately.
Roslin: I want this man interrogated first.
Adama: First of all, it’s not a him, it’s an it. Second, anything it says cannot be trusted. Best thing to do is to destroy it immediately.
Roslin: I’d like to hear what this thing has to say, it might be important.
Adama: Madam President, I’ve dealt with this model before. It’ll fill your head with double-talk and half-baked philosophy, and confuse you.
Roslin: Then send someone who won’t be easily confused. That’s an order, Commander. I want him interrogated.
Adama: Order understood.

Galactica – Hangars
Starbuck: You really think it’ll give me something?
Adama: No… President disagrees.
Starbuck: Well, you need me to go, I’ll shower up and go.
Adama: (re: the Raider) How’s this coming?
Starbuck: We, uh, got the entire avionics package figured out: fire control, navigation and I think that I am zeroing in on her F.T.L. Drive.
Adama: (handing her some papers) I did this in a hurry about three weeks ago. It’s an after-action report on Leoben. It’s a very clever machine. Manipulative, cunning. The only problem with Leoben isn’t that he lies, that’d be too easy. It’s that he mixes lies with truth. Just remember: he’s gonna try to get into your head.
Starbuck: Aw, mom always said there was nothing in there anyway. (smiles)
Adama: Just be careful. He has an agenda. It’s a goal you won’t understand until later. Your job is to make sure he doesn’t achieve the goal.
Starbuck: Yes, sir.

Galactica – Hangars
Boomer approaches and caresses the Raider, humming.
Tyrol: Lieutenant. What’s up?
Boomer: Nothing. Just wanted to see if what I told you the other day helped at all.
Tyrol: Yeah, actually, it did. You do treat this thing more like an animal than a machine and it actually works. Where’d you come up with that, anyway? Just pop into your head?
Boomer: I’m a Cylon.
Tyrol: You know?, that’s not even funny.
Boomer: If I could prove that I wasn’t, would that make a difference? You know, between us?

Gemenon Traveler – Raptor Docking
Raptor Pilot: Gemenon Traveler, Raptor seven-one-niner, inbound Lt. Thrace aboard, permission to dock.
Gemenon Traveler Officer: Roger, seven-one-niner, permission granted.

Storeroom Cell, outside
Starbuck and the Gemenon Traveler’s Captain watch Leoben siting at a small table in the center of the room.
Captain: Really does look like a person.
Starbuck: Yeah.
Captain: Must be all full of wires inside.
Starbuck: Nah, you cut ’em open there’s blood, guts, the whole thing. (noticing) It’s sweating.
Captain: Well, I’ll be. Look at that. Gods, they go through a lot of trouble to imitate people. Why do you think they do that?
Starbuck: I don’t care why. But the fact that these things sweat… now, that’s interesting.

Gemenon Traveler – Storeroom Cell, inside.
Starbuck: Sleeping?
Leoben: Praying.
Starbuck: I don’t think the gods answer the prayers of toasters.
Leoben: God answers everyone’s prayers.
Starbuck: How many Cylons are there in the fleet?
Leoben: We haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Leoben.
Starbuck: How many Cylons are there in the fleet?
Leoben: I have no idea. What’s your name?
Starbuck: How long have you been hiding aboard this ship?
Leoben: Am I not allowed to know your name?
Starbuck: Why were you hiding aboard this ship?
Leoben: I had a mission to perform. Listen, it’s a small thing, can you just tell me who you are?
Starbuck: Tell me about your mission and I’ll think about it.
Leoben: My mission was to conduct sabotage.
Starbuck: What kind of sabotage?
Leoben: God, you stink. Can we get some air in here? Between you and the humidity…
Starbuck: I am not here to play games with you. You said you wanted to cooperate. Either start talking or we are done.
Leoben: Okay. But… I really wanna know your name.
Starbuck stands and goes to the door.
Starbuck: Open.
Leoben: Are you Lt. Starbuck? (she freezes, he laughs) Yes, you are. I knew it… (laughing) I was right, I was right. I saw it, I’ve seen it…
Starbuck: (turning back) Happy now?
Leoben: It all makes sense now, doesn’t it? Now we can talk, now we can talk about a lot of things.
Starbuck: Like what?
Leoben: I planted a nuclear warhead aboard one of your ships. It’s set to go off at 18:30 hours.
Starbuck: Where?
Leoben: Not ready to give that up yet.
Starbuck: You’re lying, there’s no warhead.
Leoben: You can’t take the chance, Starbuck. Your military training dictates you take it to your masters and let them decide.
Starbuck: Maybe my training wasn’t so good. Maybe I push you out the airlock and tell ’em you never said a word.
Leoben: Now who’s lying? These things happen for a reason, don’t they? I’m looking forward to spending a little bit more time with you, Starbuck. We have a lot to talk about! It’s gonna be fun!

Galactica / Gemenon Traveler / Colonial One
Starbuck, Adama and Roslin are in a conference call. Starbuck has just finished her report on Leoben’s interrogation.
Adama: Put the R.A.D. team on alert immediately, Dee! And sweep Galactica for any kind of radiological devices.
Tigh: Right.
Adama: Contact all the captains in the fleet. Tell them to do radiological sweeps of their ships but emphasize this is just a precaution. I don’t wanna alarm anyone until we know for sure.
Dualla: Yes, sir.
Roslin: Well, we’ll know for sure in 8 hours and 40 minutes. Lt. Thrace, did he say anything else?
Starbuck: No. Well, he, uh- he guessed my callsign. Seemed really happy when he found out who I was.
Adama: He’s playing with your mind. He’s been stowed away for weeks aboard the fleet. 50 ways he could have heard the word “Starbuck” on a wireless set.
Starbuck: That’s what I figured, sir.
Roslin: Any idea what he wants, Lieutenant?
Starbuck: Not yet. Says he’s looking forward to spending time with me, though.
Adama: Don’t take any chances, Starbuck.
Starbuck: Yes, sir.

Gemenon Traveler – Storeroom Cell
Starbuck is back at it. Someone brings her a tray of food and she eats in front of a hungry Leoben.
Leoben: You believe in the gods, don’t you? Lords of Kobol and all that?
Starbuck: Why should I tell you?
Leoben: Come on, it’s not a trick question. I just wanna see how much I got right. So you pray to Artemis and Aphrodite?
Starbuck: Where’s the warhead?
Leoben: (laughing) I was right. See, our faiths are similar but I look to one God, not to many.
Starbuck: I don’t give a damn what you believe.
Leoben: To know the face of God is to know madness. I see the universe. I see the patterns. I see the foreshadowing that precedes every moment of every day. It’s all there, I see it and you don’t. And I have a surprise for you. I have something to tell you about the future.
Starbuck: Is that so?
Leoben: It is. But we have to see this through to the end. What is the most basic article of faith?: this is not all that we are. See, the difference between you and me is, I know what that means and you don’t. I know that I’m more than this body, more than this consciousness. A part of me swims in the stream but in truth, I’m standing on the shore, the current never takes me downstream.
Starbuck: (pushing her tray aside) This is worse than Galactica and I didn’t think that was possible. (back to him) What was that, “swimmin’ in streams” or something?
Leoben: (re: the food) You mind? (Starbuck pushes the tray towards him and he starts gobbling the food) Mm. Thank you. Starving, haven’t eaten in days.
Starbuck: Kinda bad programming, isn’t it? I mean, why bother with hunger?
Leoben: Part of being human.
Starbuck: You’re not human. How’s your lunch?
Leoben: You know how it is. When you’re starving, anything tastes good. (Starbuck nods to a guard, who whacks him upside the head with the butt of his weapon) Oh!
Starbuck: Did that hurt?
Leoben: Yeah, it hurt.
Starbuck: Machines shouldn’t feel pain. Shouldn’t bleed, shouldn’t sweat.
Leoben: Sweat, that’s funny, that’s good.
Starbuck: See, now, a smart Cylon would turn off the ol’ pain software about now. But I don’t think you’re so smart.
Leoben: Maybe I’ll turn it off and you won’t even know.
Starbuck: Hmm. Here’s your dilemma: turn off the pain, you feel better but that makes you a machine, not a person. You see?, human beings can’t turn off their pain. Human beings have to suffer and cry and scream and endure because they have no choice. So the only way you can avoid the pain you are about to receive is by telling me exactly what I wanna know. Just like a human would.
Leoben: I knew this about you. You’re everything I thought you would be. But it won’t work, I won’t tell you anything.
Starbuck: Maybe not. But then you’ll know, deep down, that I beat you. That a human being beat you. And that you are truly no greater than we are. You’re just a bunch of machines, after all.
Leoben: Let the games begin.

Galactica – Baltar’s Lab
Baltar and #6 are at it… again, when #6 spots Boomer at the lab’s door.
#6: Hmm. Hi. Ah, look what the cat dragged in.
Baltar: (recomposing himself) Lt. Valerii… it’s an unexpected visit. You look wonderful.
Boomer: I need your help.
Baltar: Anything I can do. Anything at all.
#6: Wonder why they call her “Boomer”?
Boomer: I heard you’re working on a test to tell the difference between Cylons and humans?
#6: Bingo.
Baltar: I can’t really talk about that, at the moment. You wouldn’t help settle a bet for me, would you? Now, why do they call you “Boomer”?
Boomer: If you’re working on a Cylon detector, do you think I could be in the first batch? You know, to be tested?
#6: What’s her rush?
Baltar: What’s your rush? I’m not sure it’d be appropriate to show favoritism if, indeed, I’m working on anything at all.
Boomer: I saved your life back on Caprica. My co-pilot gave up a seat for you. And I brought you back to Galactica, to safety. You wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me. You owe me.
#6: (clapping slowly) She shoots, she scores.
Baltar: I suppose there’s some small truth to that.
Boomer: So can you test me or not?
#6: I think you should do it. Results will be quite intriguing.
Baltar: The technology for Cylon detection is not quite ready for full-scale implementation. But I could use a beta test subject.

Cylon-occupied Caprica – Clearing in the Forest
Caprica #6: Sharon’s late.
Doral: Half an hour. I notice you’re calling her “Sharon” now.
Caprica #6: Yeah, well, I choose to think of her as one of them.
Doral: Because you dislike her?
Caprica #6: Because in the scheme of things, we are as we do. She acts like one of ’em, thinks like them… she is one of them.
Doral: But she’s one of us. It would be best to remember that.
Caprica Boomer arrives.
Caprica Boomer: We had sex.
Doral: Congratulations.
Caprica #6: Does he love you?
Caprica Boomer: I think so.
Caprica #6: Has he said it?
Caprica Boomer: Not directly.
Caprica #6: Then you’re just guessing.
Doral: Stay in your current location. We’re setting up a cabin for you nearby. Food, water, electricity, all the comforts.
Caprica #6: Shouldn’t be too hard to convince him to stay and start a life together. If not, kill him. Can you handle that?
Caprica Boomer runs back to Helo. on the way, she has a series of flashbacks.
Helo: We’ve made it this far, we’re gonna make it all the way.
Helo: If something happened to you, I wouldn’t know how to deal with it.
Caprica Boomer: Caprica… Yes!
Doral: If he flees, he dies.
Caprica #6: Does he love you?
Caprica Boomer reaches Helo.
Caprica Boomer: Helo… Helo!
Helo: Hey, hey, what’s going on?
Caprica Boomer: We gotta go, now. I saw the Cylons, they’re headed this way. We gotta travel fast, even faster than before.
Helo: Why? What’s different?
Caprica Boomer: Everything. Just trust me.
Helo: I do.

Gemenon Traveler – Storeroom Cell
Leoben is hit again and grunts.
Starbuck: Now, if you were human, you’d be just about ready to start offering up some false information about the location of the nuke. Some tiny thing that might get you a reward and maybe spare you a few minutes of this. But then I keep forgetting: you’re not human. You’re a machine.
Leoben: I am more than you could ever imagine. I am God.
Starbuck: (stifles a laugh) I’m sorry, you’re God? Wow… nice to meet ya. That’s good, that’s good. We’ll give you a couple of minutes for that.
Leoben: It’s funny, isn’t it? We’re all God, Starbuck, all of us. I see the love that binds all living things together.
Starbuck: Love? You don’t even know what the word means.
Leoben: I know that God loved you more than all other living creatures and you repaid his divine love with sin, with hate, corruption, evil. So then he decided to create the Cylons.
Starbuck: The gods had nothing to do with it. We created you… us. It was a stupid, fraked-up decision and we have paid for it. You slaughtered my entire civilization! That is sin! That is evil, and you are evil.
Leoben: Am I? I see the truths that float past you in the stream.
Starbuck: You got a real thing about rivers and streams, don’t you? I think we should indulge you in your obsession. (nods to the guard, who leaves)
Leoben: Do you realize I could kill you before they came back in the room? I could get to my feet, rip your skull from your spinal column, crash through that door, kill the guard in less time than it’s taking me to describe it to you?
Starbuck: Then why don’t you?
Leoben stands and rips his bonds clean off, throws the table aside and in an instant has Starbuck against the wall with his hand closing around her throat.
Leoben: It’s not the time. I have a surprise for you. (he releases her as the guards come back in and re-shackle him)
Starbuck: You fraked up, pal. Now the gloves come off.

Galactica – Morgue / C.I.C.
Adama looks at the corpse of the old Leoben. Then takes the handset on the wall.
Tigh: Combat, Col. Tigh.
Adama: How’s the search going for the nuke?
Tigh: Nothing so far.
Adama: How much time remaining?
Tigh: Two hours, nine minutes.
Adama: Spread out the fleet. No ship more than 500 clicks from any other ship. If there’s a nuke, let’s limit the damage.
Tigh: Aye, sir.
Adama has given in to the fear spread by Leoben. He knows it and is silently furious. So much he makes to beats the dead Leoben with the phone in his hand, but then…
Adama: (whispering) No.
…he hangs up the handset and leaves.

Gemenon Traveler – Storeroom Cell
Starbuck: (to the guard) Do it.
The guard dump Leoben’s head into freezing water. He gurgles underwater. Some time passes.
Starbuck: Leave him.
Guard: Sir?
She motions for him to release Leoben and the guard does.
Starbuck: Tell me where the warhead is. Otherwise you’re gonna drown in that bucket.
Leoben: I can’t drown, I can’t die.
Starbuck: Right, Commander Adama mentioned that how, if your body dies, your consciousness is downloaded or transferred into another body or something like that?
Leoben: No, exactly like that.
Starbuck: But, you see, I’ve been thinking… why is a Cylon willing to talk at all? Why does he care if we destroy his body? Won’t he just transfer away and laugh at all of us and our stupid human ideas?
Leoben coughs.
Starbuck: Tell me where the warhead is.
Leoben: This is not your path, Starbuck. You have a different destiny.
Starbuck: Don’t interrupt me. You see?, I’m gonna dazzle you with my poor human brain. You see?, I think that you’re afraid. You’re afraid that we’re a long way from home. What if you don’t transfer all the way back? What if, when you die here, you really die? It’s your chance to find out if you’re really God or just a bunch of circuits with a bad haircut.
Leoben: I’m not afraid of dying.
Starbuck: Somebody’s programmed you with a fairy tale of God and streams and life ever after but, somewhere in that hard drive that you call a brain is a beeping message: “Error, error, does not compute. I don’t have a soul, I have software. If I die, I’m gone.”
Leoben: I have a soul. I see patterns. I know you, you’re damaged. You were born to a woman who believes that suffering was good for the soul, so you suffered. (Starbuck looks impressed) Life is a testament to pain, injuries, accidents. Some inflicted upon others, some inflicted upon yourself. Surrounds you like a bubble but it’s not… real, it’s just- that’s just something she put into your head. It’s something that you wanna believe ’cause it means that you’re the problem, not the world that you live in. You wanna believe it because… it means that you’re bad luck. Like a cancer that needs to be removed. Because you hear her voice every day and you want her to be right.
Starbuck: (to the guard) Start again.
The guard dumps Leoben’s head in the water again.

Galactica – Baltar’s Lab
Baltar: Now, we just pop this in the slot and wait for the result. Green, you’re a normal human being. Red, you’re an evil Cylon. Should take a couple of minutes. So, uh, tell me, are you from Aerilon? Slight trace of an accent there…
Boomer: What? Uh, no- Troy. Troy.
Baltar: Troy- tell me, why is that familiar?
Boomer: Mining settlement? The accident.
Baltar: The explosion, right. That was tragic. Your family…
Boomer: Died with the rest.
Baltar: I’m very sorry.
#6: It’s a lie. (the test is finished and the computer screen is evil red, of course) Congratulations, doctor, you’ve just uncovered your very first Cylon. Now, here’s an interesting moment in the life of Gaius Baltar. What will he do?
Boomer: Is everything okay?
Baltar: (lying through his teeth) Yeah, yeah… I’m just interpolating the results.
#6: Question is: what will she do if you expose her? Thank you, or kill you?
Boomer: I thought it was just green or red.
Baltar: Well, it’s a little more complicated than that, actually.
#6: She probably doesn’t know. Probably thinks she’s just another little girl from Troy whose entire background vanished in a mysterious accident. Should be interesting to see how she responds when you tell her the truth. I’m guessing her Cylon side will take over and break your neck before you can give away her secret. Let’s find out.
Baltar: (immediately coming to a decision) Congratulations, it’s green! It’s very bright green. You’re not Cylon!
Boomer: (big grin, can’t believe it herself) Really?
Baltar: 100% human and- and very, very bright green, as well.
Boomer: For a second I was… worried what you were gonna say.
Baltar: (playing dumb) Were you?
Boomer: Yeah.
Baltar: Well- well, there’s nothing to be worried about anymore. Yeah, you couldn’t be more human if you tried.
Boomer: Well, thanks.
Baltar: Any time.
A happy Boomer leaves.

Colonial One – Presidential Bathroom
Asleep on her desk, Roslin has another dream/premonition.
Leoben: I have something to tell you.
Roslin awakes and gasps.
Roslin: How long before this supposed bomb goes off?
Billy: Less than an hour.
Roslin: I want you to get me a shuttle, I’m going to the Gemenon Traveler. I want to see the Cylon myself.
Billy: Madam president, you need to recon-
Roslin: Don’t even start. I don’t wanna discuss this, I’ve made my decision.
Billy: Not until I get you a security detail.

Gemenon Traveler – Storeroom
Strabuck: Enough! For frak’s sake, let him breathe.
The guard pulls Leoben up and straightens him in his chair. He coughs.
Starbuck: You’re sick. You’re not a person, you’re a machine that’s enjoying its own pain.
Leoben: All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again.
Starbuck: Don’t quote scripture. You don’t have the right to use those words.
Leoben: You kneel before idols and ask for guidance and you can’t see that your destiny’s already been written. Each of us plays a role, each time a different role. The last time, I was the interrogator and you were the prisoner. The players change, the story remains the same. And this time, your role…you have to deliver my soul unto God. Do it for me. It’s your destiny, and mine. And I told you I had a surprise for you. Are you ready?: you’re gonna find Kobol, birthplace of us all. Kobol will lead you to Earth. This is my gift to you, Kara.
Roslin: (approaching) What the hell is going on here? What exactly is it that you are doing here?
Starbuck: It’s a machine, sir. There’s no limit to the tactics I can use.
Roslin: And where’s the warhead?
Starbuck: I don’t know.
Roslin: You don’t know. You’ve spent the last eight hours torturing this man… this machine, whatever it is, and you don’t have a single piece of information to show for it.
Starbuck: He thinks he can see the future. Says he knows our destiny, our fate. He says we’re gonna find Kobol and that it’s gonna lead us to Earth.
Roslin: Clean him up, there’s not much time.
Starbuck: Yes, sir.

Gemenon Traveler – Hallway
A cleaned up Leoben is presented to Roslin.
Roslin: Do you know who I am?
Leoben: Yes.
Roslin: I apologize for what you’ve been through. (to a guard) Take his restraints off. Do it. (he does)
Leoben: Thank you.
Roslin: I can do more. I can guarantee your safety, I can order your release. We are running out of time, we have only four minutes left until your bomb goes off. I’ve come here to tell you that this conflict between our peoples does not have to continue. It can stop right here with us. We have to trust each other. Trust me. I think you know you can. Tell me what I need to know and you will live.
Leoben: (apparently truthfully) The warhead doesn’t exist. I made it up. The Lt. was right, I was too far out. I didn’t wanna die, so when I got caught I made up a story to buy some time.
Roslin: I see. Thank you for the truth.
Leoben: Thank you, Madam President. Don’t be too hard on Kara, she was just doing her job, the military… they teach you to dehumanize people.
Roslin: I’ll take that into consideration. (suddenly Loeben hugs her. To the guards) No! Stand down!
Leoben: (whispers in her ear) Laura, I have something to tell you: Adama is a Cylon.
The guards separate Loeben from Roslin.
Starbuck: Are you all right?
Roslin: I’m fine. The bomb?
Starbuck: Nothing.
Roslin: Put him out the airlock.
Starbuck: What? You can’t do that, not after he told you the truth.
Roslin: Yes, I can. And I will. Lieutenant, look at me. You’ve lost perspective. During the time I’ve allowed him to remain alive and captive on this ship, he has caused our entire fleet to spread out, defenseless. He puts insidious ideas in our minds, more lethal than any warhead. He creates fear. But you’re right, he is a machine and you don’t keep a deadly machine around when it kills your people and threatens your future, you get rid of it.
Loeben is put in the airlock. He puts his hand on the glass and Starbuck raises hers to touch his through the glass.
Starbuck: He’s not afraid to die. He’s just afraid that his soul won’t make it to God.
Then the bay doors open, and he is sucked out into space, just like in Roslin’s dream.

Galactica – Pilots’ Lockers
Stabuck opens her locker, checks that nobody’s around, and pulls two idols out of a bag: Artemis and Aphrodite.
Starbuck: Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer. I don’t know if he had a soul or not but, if he did, take care of it.

Galactica – Adama’s Quarters
Adama: Hell of a risk you took today.
Roslin: Something I had to do.
Adama: Care to tell me why?
Roslin: President Adar once said that the interesting thing about being a president is that you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone.
She smiles at him and he smiles back and conyinues with his meal. A moment later, he notices her staring at him.
Adama: Something wrong?
Roslin: No… nothing at all.

Transcript taken by Ryan Bechtel (2005)

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