(TM) 210. Visions of the Future

[admiral_adama]

If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about any one thing you wished ~ concerning yourself, your life, the future, or anything else ~ what would you want to know?


*soft snort* Another impossible hypothetical question, hm? All right, I'll play along.

Ultimately?

The only question I would ask has no useful answer.

Will we survive?

Will the human race find some way to evade destruction at the hands of the Cylons? Will we find a home where we can rebuild at least some of what we've lost? Does humanity have a future, or are we doomed to vanish into might-have-beens?

Even if the answer is yes, the human race does survive, I'm just not a fatalist. Free will exists, and I don't believe that any future is so cast in stone that humanity can't change it through our choices, actions .. or inaction. No matter what fate that hypothetical crystal would show me, we'll still have to find our own way to it. If we make mistakes, get complacent, fail to see what's in front of us because we're focused on what might happen, that hopeful future would pop like a soap bubble.

All right, I can hear you saying, then change your question. Try asking How does humanity survive?

What if the answer is, you don't?


Muse: Admiral William Adama
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica '03
Word count: 189

Comments

[laura-roslin.livejournal.com]

My gods, you ARE morbid.

I'm thinking my not making it won't be such a bad thing after all.

[admiral-adama.livejournal.com]

*small, self-deprecating snort* I didn't mean to be, actually. I was just making the point that there are things we're better off not knowing in advance.

And your future isn't set in stone either, Laura.

[laura-roslin.livejournal.com]

We ALL die, Bill.

Sometimes, I'm not so sure about you, though. *chuckle*

[model-numbersix.livejournal.com]

It's a good question to ask yourself.

[admiral-adama.livejournal.com]

You think so?

I personally think I'm better off using my energy to make sure the answer is yes.

[model-numbersix.livejournal.com]

That's up to you to believe.

[number-eight.livejournal.com]

I remember a similar conversation with you once, sir. My question back to you was, What if you don't deserve to live?

I'm not that same person that I was back then, but the question is still valid. I think humans need to change how they're acting in order to survive.

[admiral-adama.livejournal.com]

We could discuss what humanity does and doesn't deserve and probably get nowhere very quickly, Lieutenant.

Though I am curious ... what changes do you think are in order?

[number-eight.livejournal.com]

I think that humans need to stop hurting each other in the way that they claim Cylons are hurting them. Once you realize that, then I believe that humanity will evolve, so to speak.

[laura-muse.livejournal.com]

You're giving me a headache, Bill.

[admiral-adama.livejournal.com]

I'm giving me a headache. *sighs, then half-smiles* Maybe I should go over those reports on fuel allocation. They couldn't be any worse than where my mind's going.

[laura-muse.livejournal.com]

She waits for a moment, contemplating, and wishing that they two, she and him, had made a better practice of touching each other just for the hell of it in the past.

Maybe it's inevitable, these questions. They've always been there, right. I think... I think part of the reason I shy away from those questions is because I'm aware that I gave up my seat on the "deserving of survival" ship a while back.

The hell with it. She reaches out to squeeze his bicep reassuringly. I know nothing I can say will stop these questions, but I was told a long time ago that there's only one thing that the individual can control in the universe. Are we good or are we evil?

We can only control the actions of others so far, Bill. You maybe a little farther than I can. But I can say, definitively, without the faintest doubt, I think you're a good man, a very good man.

She leans in to kiss his forehead.

Whether I deserve to survive or not, I'll come with you as far as I can.