Cylons' Secret

Chapter One CapricaOne Day Before the War Everything would change. The Twelve Colonies, all of humanity, were unaware. But the other intelligence, the one humanity took for granted, the one they had created, after allthe other intelligence wanted this way of things to end. A signal was broadcast, a simple set of instructions, and nothing would be the same again. Glori heard the welcoming tone as she entered the kitchen. "Cylon Chef is here to serve you." The voice greeted her the moment she stepped into the room. Artificial and cheery at the same time. She had laughed the first time she heard itan appliance that could talk! The novelty had long since worn off. Surely there must be some way to turn the stupid voice off. She wondered what she had done with the instruction book. She looked at the thin, attentive Cylon before her. The machine's two arms came with at least a dozen different attachments, from spatulas and mixers to slotted spoons and ultrasharp knives. The arms could also plug directly into any of the dozen different sockets and apertures around the room, overseeing anything that might get chopped or baked or boiled. It was a very handsome machine. "How may I serve you?" the Chef prompted. She had taken too long to respond. "Plan dinner," she replied quickly. "Certainly." Something whirred inside the mechanism. "Would you like to select from a list of previous menus?" Glori frowned, trying to remember what her husband had really liked in the past. Well, the Chef would remind her. "Previous menus," she announced. "Previous menus," the Chef agreed. "You have forty-seven previous menus available. Do you have an immediate choice? Would you care to limit the parameters of your selection? Please choose from one of the following" Glori was having none of this. "Show all!" she demanded. "Listing all. Please specify, most recent menus first, alphabetical order, sort by one of the following categories" "Most recent!" The Chef plugged one of its arms into a socket immediately below the kitchen's large oven. The face of the oven brightened to become a video screen as the names of recent meals scrolled before her. None of the first few struck her fancy. "Continue," she announced. The screen went blank. What was this? The Cylon Chef never paused. Maybe it had misunderstood her command. "Continue," she said again. The Chef was silent. "Show all!" she repeated. "Most recent!" "Pause for upgrade," the Chef replied at last. Glori frowned. It had paused before when checking with the central computer bank. But never for this long. Maybe it was downloading something special. But how long was this going to take? She had a very important dinner to prepare. She had had enough of this silence. "Continue!" she demanded. "Pause for upgrade," the Chef repeated. A signal was broadcast, a simple set of instructions, and every Cylon in the Twelve Colonies paused to listen. The boss, never a calm man at the best of times, stormed into the room. "What's wrong this time, Bailey? I have never seen such incompetence! Do you still evGardner, Craig Shaw is the author of 'Cylons' Secret ', published 2006 under ISBN 9780765315786 and ISBN 0765315785.