P/N: Question for today from RatcheT2497 have I ever heard of the Lombax race?
The answer is no. I've never heard of that species. Is that something on earth?
Year 7 Day 253
I had just finished my combat practice with Soldier Blert. Overall I'm doing better; not getting knocked down as many times. Even so, I was still sore by the end of that practice. I wasn't in the greatest mood either. I'd even punched a female smeet when she walked by and said we looked alike. Her eyes were purple, I got mad 'cause her antennae were curly and she was clearly a girl, which I am not!
Well anyway punching her made me feel better so when I got to the lab, I was ready to deal with Red's yelling.
"UGH! THIS IS REDICULUS!"
The wadded up test results that Red had thrown, hit the wall next to the door when I walked in. Red held his head in his hands leaning down over the lab table. I can't imagine that was a very comfortable position.
Oh did I mention that he and I hit our first growth spurt? Apparently there's 5 growth spurts for Tallests (3 for tallers).We're now taller than all of our classmates. In fact we're so tall that when Zim stood on Skoodge's head, he was just on eye level with us. Then again that's not saying much since both of them are really short.
I lowered myself onto the stool next to where Red was standing. "Nothing?" I asked.
Red let out a sigh of annoyance. "I just don't get it. If the defect has to do with our PAKs being unable to supply energy properly over the extended dimension of our bodies… then boosting the PAKs energy transfer should work. But everything I and the scientists try ends in disaster!"
"Buck up Red." Scientist Lard Nar said in a friendly gesture. "The break-trough's you've made in the past few months have helped out in several fields of science."
Red scoffed, "Several Others maybe, but not the one I need it for."
"Come on Red. Give yourself a break. If a team of scientists couldn't figure it out in 20 years, you're probably not going to get it in only 1 year." Red glanced at me looking slightly annoyed. I just smiled back at him.
Over the past few months Red has been doing all the sciency stuff while I've been the one taking whatever tests they needed (Mostly that's just running on a treadmill and a few other physical activities, though one time they needed a tissue sample from the inside of my antenna… I had a headache for a week!) since I'm not smart enough to understand all the genetics junk that the scientists keep rambling on about with Red.
Red was about to go back to his papers when I elbowed him. "Let's go have a quick match." I said. He cocked an antenna at me.
"Didn't you just have practice with Soldier Blert?"
"Yeah but I'm okay." I hopped off the stool. "Come on. You need a break."
Red laughed "Yeah, because getting beaten to a pulp by you is a great way to relax." Even though he said that, he still stood and left the room with me.
"So talk me through this latest one," I said after we reached the battle room. I turned to Red with a fighting stance; he faced me and took a stance also.
"Why bother? You won't understand it."
I shrugged, knowing he was right. "Maybe talking through it will help you see something you missed."
He gave in. "Okay." When he started to explain, he also threw the first punch. We exchanged blows for a while; neither of us were really trying to hit. "So it's like this. The mutation causes an increase in ATP required for cellular respiration."
"And ATP is energy, right?"
"Right. Normally it takes 2ATP to make 4 ATP but the mutation uses 1 extra ATP. Now the problem is that I can't figure out where that extra bit of energy goes. It's not actually being used in glycolysis and it's not being stored in our PAK's batteries. It just disappears."
"But wait… I thought you couldn't destroy energy."
"Well that's just it… you can't." Red threw a punch at my left shoulder and out of pure habit I grabbed his wrist and threw him over my shoulder. I heard his PAK hit the floor. "Oww…"
"Woops… Sorry." I offered a hand to help him up, but he just stared off at the ceiling. I could tell he was busy thinking so I dropped my hand and sat down on the floor next to him. Eventually I got bored so I broke the silence. "Could the extra energy be used by the mutation itself?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well… Like could it need the energy to keep from falling apart?"
Red shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense… DNA doesn't just fall apart. The phosphodiester bond doesn't break unless applied with only a few specific enzymes."
"The phospho what?"
"The covalent bonds of the phosphate groups," he said, heaving a sigh as he remembered I was doing poorly in genetics. "either way only a few enzymes can unzip the bonds, and that's only done during cell replication." Red jumped up suddenly and threw a kick at my head which I barely dodged, though I was now laying down so at a serious disadvantage.
He wasn't going easy anymore. Red won't ever admit it because fighting is my thing, but he really enjoys it and it helps him clear his head (of course he's not nearly as skilled as I am so he loses every time, which inadvertently ends up making him upset again). We fought in silence for over an hour, until I had thrown, or pinned, him enough times for his PAK to suggest hibernation for healing purposes.
I was going easy on him so he didn't end up getting mad. It was actually pretty fun. We haven't really sparred like that since this whole thing with Tallest Miyuki began.
He didn't figure anything out, but he was in a much better mood when we went back to our room. He's asleep right now; I can hear his PAK buzzing while it works on repairs. Mine is giving me an alert as well. Guess it's time to sleep now.
A/N: Hey guys just curious if anyone even understood that stuff. I've taken cell bio before so I know most of this stuff (though I am doing a lot of research still) but I'm still not sure how this story is going to end. If anyone thinks I'm getting more complicated than necessary, let me know. Leave a Review if you think this story would work fine without going into details (not that I would really call this chapter detailed).