Learning to Breed

Naomi stood at attention. "Thank you for being so prompt, Lieutenant Torres," she said formally, as B'Elanna came in the door.

"You're welcome, Naomi." B'Elanna smiled. "What seems to be the problem?"

Naomi took her to the cage on the floor in her room. "I'm having trouble with the heating elements for my hamsters, Lieutenant. I'm doing an experiment with them," she said proudly.

B'Elanna knelt, and scanned the unit with her tricorder. "Oh, really?" she replied, mind only half on the conversation. "What sort of experiment?"

Naomi became animated. "I wanted to see how they react to Delta Quadrant food. The Doctor helped me analyze the food first, to make sure it wouldn't hurt them. I've given them leola roots and tungleberries so far. I'm measuring them every day, and noting their behavior."

B'Elanna reconnected a thermic coupler, then ran her tricorder over the unit again. She stuck a finger through the wire and patted the largest hamster, who was munching contentedly on a leaf. "They seem happy. You're doing a good job," she said. Naomi spent so much time with adults, and she was developmentally so far ahead of human and Klingon children of her age, that she seemed like a little adult sometimes.

B'Elanna blew a little dust out of the heating unit, then checked it one last time. "There, I think that's got it." Something caught her eye. Along with the usual hamster paraphernalia in the cage - exercise wheels, a hutch, food and water bowls - there were also two little metal wheels, with tiny seats. "What are those, Naomi?"

Naomi peered anxiously into the cage, then relaxed as she saw what B'Elanna meant. "Those? The breeding cycles."

And sometimes, Naomi was nothing but a wonderfully ignorant child.

B'Elanna grinned. "I see." She made her goodbyes, and managed to get into the corridor before shouting with laughter.