THE GENETIC DUPLICATE -- Day 7 part 2
As Kyra, Kim, Seth, Adonis and Jess walked into the computer room, Kim was still telling Jess her detailed life story. The computer room was half full. Pax Eldon was working.
Kim walked in first followed by Jess, Kyra, Seth and then Adonis. Just after walking in, Kyra whispered to Jess, "Have you had enough?"
Kim paused from telling her life story when Jess said, "I thought my cousin was a talker."
Kim looked at Kyra in a confused manner and asked, "What?"
"It's time to put your life story on hold for while," said Kyra.
"Fine," said Kim.
When everyone walked up to main desk, Pax asked, "Ms. Lockwood, what brings everyone here?"
"Kim, doesn't have a work assignment; however, she has my permission to be here and access all the information on wildlife and plant life that originated from Kobol," said Kyra.
Pax grinned. Kim looked at Pax in a confused manner as Pax said, "Yes, Ma'am." Pax then moved the sign-in-sheet towards Kim. "Kim, I will need you to sign your first and last name."
As Kim was signing her name she said, "Rum-ple-stilt-skin."
"Kimberly, you better not have written that fake name," said Kyra.
As Pax quickly looked at the sign-in-sheet, he blurted out, "What?'
Kim slightly laughed and said, "I'm totally kidding. I wrote my name; Kimberly O'Brian."
Kyra put her hand on Kim's shoulder and said, "Kim, please control yourself while you are in here."
"I will," said Kim.
"Ms. Lockwood, do you know how long Kim will be here?" asked Pax.
"For two hours," said Kyra. "Adonis will be assisting Kim also."
Pax wrote down the information next to Kim's name and said, "Okay, Ms. O'Brian, you can take computer with the number eight-C on it."
"Okay, thanks," said Kim.
Kim remained in one spot and gazed over the computers looking for the assign number. Before Kim had a chance to find it on her own, Kyra pointed and said, "Kim, it's that one."
Kim just grinned. She and the others then walked to the computer. After Kim sat down Kyra showed Kim what to do. Adonis grabbed a seat from the next available computer and sat down beside Kim.
When Kyra was confident that Kim knew what she was doing, she, Seth and Jess left the computer room.
Kim and Adonis researched the animals from Kobol for thirty minutes when Kim stopped at a daggit. Kim then read barely above a whisper and at a fast speed. Adonis was unable to comprehend what Kim was saying.
Adonis listened for about a minute. He then interrupted Kim's reading, "Kim, you are talking faster than I can understand."
"I was only reading," said Kim. "This is interesting. Daggits and dogs are two distinct animals, but they both have the same outer physical make-up. It says here that you can tell the difference between a daggit and a dog by looking at the teeth. Daggits have longer fangs than dogs and are more aggressive. Even at a few weeks old, daggits and dogs are not able to be place in the same room. A daggit can also kill a dog on one to one confrontations."
"Why is that interesting?" asked Adonis.
"There are fourteen breeds of daggits and seventeen breads of dogs," said Kim. She then pointed to a picture of a daggit. "This particular breed of daggit kind of looks a little like the grey wolves on Earth. According to this though, daggits do not run in a sociable pack like the wolves on Earth do. Also wolves on Earth howl at the full moon. There is nothing mentioned here about a daggit howling at the moon."
As Kim read further Adonis said, "I never heard of any animal howling at a moon. What does a wolf sound like when one howls at the moon?"
"Like this," said Kim. She then made a howling noise that got everyone's attention.
Pax looked at Kim and called out, "Ms. O'Brian, is there a problem?"
When Kim saw that everyone was staring at her, her face turned red. She then said loud enough for Pax to hear, "I'm sorry; that was louder than I meant for it to be. I'll keep it down." Kim saw Adonis slightly grinning. "What?"
"I know you are not shy, but you get embarrassed over the simplest situations, like getting people's attention," said Adonis.
"I can't help it," said Kim.
"I'm not saying it's bad," said Adonis. "In fact, I like that about you."
Kim slightly grinned and said, "Well, there is more on the daggits." She then read for another minute. "This part is interesting too."
"What is interesting?" asked Adonis.
"Dogs and Daggits were the first animals to be crossbred," Kim read aloud. "The success of the hybrid dogs paved the way to other crossbreeding experiments."
"Where are you reading that?" asked Adonis.
Kim pointed and said, "Right there."
Adonis read the paragraphed and said, "Crossbreeding experiments started two hundred years before humans left Kobol."
"How do you know that?" asked Kim.
"The date of when we left Kobol is written in the scriptures," said Adonis. He then pointed. "I find this part interesting. Aerilon led the study in crossbreeding. Later Caprica, Picon, Tauron and Zodiac joined the research. Who was it who called you a Zodiac?"
"Nathan did," said Kim.
"It looks like Nathan was right about the word Zodiac being the name of the thirteenth tribe," said Adonis.
"The paragraph continues to say that the aggression between dogs and daggits was eliminated and ninety percent of dogs and daggit became able to crossbreed naturally within one hundred and fifty years after the start of the crossbreeding," said Kim. "And that's it on the daggit."
"Should we move on to the next animal?" asked Adonis.
Kim clicked on the button and said, "The next animal is… the extinct marvela; which looks a lot like an aardvark with porcupine spines."
Adonis read a paragraph and said, "Kim, according to this, the marvela has been extinct before the colonies left Kobol."
"Okay, what about it?" asked Kim.
"Aardvark and porcupine most likely are Earth animals," said Adonis.
"Okay, what about it?" asked Kim.
"Kim, what if the wolf is actually an Earth animal," said Adonis.
"So you're thinking that dogs and wolves, animals that have the same outer physical make-up, are from two separate planets?" asked Kim.
"Perhaps they were close enough alike to crossbreed and after the crossbreed was over, the wolf took on the outer physical make-up of the dog," said Adonis. "Actually, since you said that the wolves look more like the daggits, perhaps the daggits were the animal to be crossbred with the wolves."
"Since Dr. Salik discovered that I'm a hybrid human, it would make sense that the scientists would crossbreed animals first," said Kim. "If that's true, I wonder how many animals on Earth that are actually hybrids."
"Perhaps we can figure it out," said Adonis. "Click on the next animal."
Kim clicked the button. As they looked at each animal Kim pointed out what animals are found on Earth. Kim learned that dogs, daggits, cats, ducks, chickens, horses, zebras, donkey, pigs, cows, bulls, goats, sheep and several more animals along with a variety of small birds were taken from Kobol either as pets or as livestock. Kim also learned that Rats, mice and rodents similar to hamsters were unintentionally taken from Kobol when the grain was stored on the supply ships. Spiders, beetles and other insects were also brought aboard the ships with the grain. When Kim clicked on the plant life, she learned that apples, lemons, corn, potatoes, wheat, cotton, cacao, tobacco, coffee and variety of flowers were taken from Kobol. As Kim continued to search the computer, she learned that although fish, reptiles and amphibians from Kobol were never taken from Kobol, those creatures closely resembled the fish, reptiles and amphibians that are on Earth. Kim tried to follow a few links to get more detail of what she was reading, but the message, "Please see the administrator to access this material," kept popping up. Kim would click off the message and move on to something else.
When Kim's two hours were up, Pax walked up to Kim and Adonis, and said, "Time's up, Ms. O'Brian."
"Okay, thanks," said Kim.
"Mr. Spike," Adonis looked at Pax in an annoyed manner as Pax continued to say, "I mean Adonis, please put the chair that you are using back to its proper place."
As Kim and Adonis were standing up Adonis said, "No problem."
After putting the chair back Adonis walked Kim home. After reaching Kim's quarters, Adonis kissed Kim goodbye.
Kyra, Seth and Jess were sitting on the couch, talking when Kim opened the door and walked in. Kyra looked at her watch. She then asked, "So Kim did you find out what you wanted to know?"
"Actually I learned a lot," said Kim. Kim glanced at the table and saw that it was clean off. "You know what you call white-puffs, I and the people on Earth call popcorn."
"That's good to know if you ever ask for popcorn," said Kyra. "What else did you learn?"
"Is there popcorn in the fleet?" asked Kim.
"No, Kim, I was just making a statement," said Kyra. Kim grinned to acknowledge what was said. "So what else did you learn?"
"Adonis and I are only speculating, but I think that wolves and daggits were crossbred," said Kim.
"What are daggits?" asked Seth.
"Daggit is another word for a dog," said Kyra.
"Actually it's not another word for a dog," said Kim.
"What do you mean?" asked Kyra.
"Daggits and dogs were two distinct animals from Kobol, that had the same outer physical make-up," said Kim. "To tell the difference between a daggit and a dog, a person must look at the teeth. Daggits have longer fangs than dogs and are more aggressive. Daggits and dogs were also the first two animals to be crossbred. As to how successful the crossbreeding experiment was on the dogs and daggits, other crossbreeding experiments skyrocketed."
Kyra grinned and said, "You know, I actually like it when I learn something new from you or from one of my students."
Kim grinned. Seth asked, "Kim, why do you think that daggits and wolves were crossbred?"
"The computer had pictures of different breeds of dogs and daggits, and one breed of daggits looked a lot like the grey wolf," said Kim.
"Kim, perhaps what you call a wolf is a daggit," said Kyra.
"It's not," said Kim.
"How can you be certain?" asked Kyra.
"Daggits don't run in a pack like the wolves do and wolves will howl at the moon," said Kim. "There's nothing said about a daggit howling at the moon."
"What do you mean by howling at the moon?" asked Kyra.
"I'll demonstrate," said Kim. She again made a howling noise.
Kim howled for several seconds when Kyra said, "Okay Kim, I got the idea."
"Oh Mom, I also demonstrated how a wolf would howl for Adonis in the computer room, so if something gets said about it, that was what I was doing," said Kim.
"Did Pax say anything to you about it?" asked Kyra.
"He asked if there was a problem," said Kim. "I apologized for being too loud and I told him I will keep it down."
"Were you given a warning to be quiet?" asked Kyra.
Kim shook her head and said, "No. After I apologized that was it."
"Good," said Kyra. "You do need to be quiet while you are in there though. Most of the people who go in there are university students, and they are in there studying."
"They don't go to class?" asked Kim.
"Kim, like you and your classmates, the university students gets everything to do the assignments from the computer," said Kyra. "I'm actually in the class room with you and your classmates to keep things organized, and to make sure everyone does his or her studies."
"So you're just there as a baby-sitter?" asked Kim.
"I do more than baby-sit," said Kyra. "I have to determine what material everyone studies, and I have to determine to what speed a student can receive his or her material at."
"So everyone my age is not studying the same thing?" asked Kim.
"Most students are with the other members of their age group," said Kyra. "Actually, you are my only student who is not with the other students of the same age."
"Am I behind everyone my age?" asked Kim.
"Except for your Delta arithmetic, you are actually ahead of kids your age," said Kyra.
Kim smiled. She then asked, "What grade am I at?"
"Kim, you are actually all over the place," said Kyra. "Your reading is on university level. My history books you are reading are books from university classes. The grammar exercises you are doing are one grade higher of where you should be, and from your test results, I actually believe you are bored with that. In fact, starting tomorrow, I'm dropping your grammar and reading exercises, and I'm starting you on academic writing."
"Why are you going to drop my reading?" asked Kim.
"The academic writing is a two-hour-course each day, and it is the course that replaces the grammar and reading exercises," said Kyra.
"What grade level is academic writing?" asked Kim.
"That subject is just below the university level," said Kyra. "There are grammar that you will need to know that you won't be getting in class, so you will have to learn it on your own; however, I don't believe that will be a problem for you."
"So I'm actually going to be doing assignments near college level?" asked Kim.
"Kim, I don't know how the educational system works on Earth, but if we were on Geminon or one of the other colonies you would be attending a university right now," said Kyra.
"Kyra, I'm not trying to make an excuse for the Earth's school system, but the schools on Earth are actually over crowed, and students like Kim who just coasts along never get noticed as being an exceptional student," said Seth.
"What do you mean that I coast along?" asked Kim.
"Kim, you admitted yesterday that you drew pictures when you got bored," said Seth. "Instead of drawing pictures, you should have done something that would have gotten you noticed that you were capable of handling more work than what the teacher was assigning you."
"What was I supposed to do?" asked Kim.
"You could have read further into the text book than what was assigned…" said Seth.
"I did that the first week in my second grade class and I got in trouble for reading ahead," said Kim. "Actually, that was when I got bored and started drawing."
"Kim, did it ever occur to you to let your parents know that most of your assignments were done before leaving school?" asked Kyra.
"If I told them that then I wouldn't have been allowed to go to Caitlyn's house… well not as much anyway," said Kim. "My parents thought that Caitlyn was helping me with all my homework."
"Kim, by you lying to your parents, you parents never discovered that you were capable of doing more work," said Kyra.
Kim said in an irritated manner, "I did my math homework at Caitlyn's house, so I never lied about doing my homework there."
"Okay Kim, you never lied, but you did allow your parents to believe that you had more homework than what you really did, and by you doing that, your parents didn't know that you were capable of a lot more," said Kyra. Kim made a distasteful grin to acknowledge the statement.
"Kim, how where you able to make your parents believe that you had more homework than what you did without lying?" asked Jess.
"I just grabbed my book bag with all my books in it, and I told my mom that I was going to Caitlyn's house to get help on some of my homework," said Kim. "She didn't bother to ask which homework I needed help with, and I didn't tell her that I just needed help with math."
"Ah," said Jess.
"So what else did you learn from the computer room?" asked Kyra.
Kim went through the long list of animals and plants that were taken to Earth from Kobol.
When Kim was done with her list, Jess said, "That's very interesting that all those animals and plants on Earth came from Kobol."
"I thought so too," said Kim. "Well, I'm going to go to my room and read. Mom, where are those books your dad got for me to read?"
"Those books are put up in my room, and that is where they are going to stay until tomorrow," said Kyra.
"Why can't I get one to read?" asked Kim.
"Kim, you are grounded, and tomorrow when you are no longer grounded you can have them," said Kyra.
"That's cruel of you," said Kim.
"How am I'm being cruel?" asked Kyra.
"You flaunt them in my face when I woke up and now you tell me I can't have them," said Kim.
"Kim, I wasn't flaunting those books in front of you," said Kyra. "My dad had placed them on the table a few minutes before you got up, so I didn't have time to put them up."
"Why didn't you tell me when I sat next to you that I wasn't allowed to read any of them until tomorrow?" asked Kim.
"I honestly didn't think about that, so if you thought I was teasing you with those books, I'm sorry," said Kyra.
"You do know that I was reading one of your history books last night while I was grounded," said Kim.
"I have no problem with you reading my history books while you are grounded," said Kyra.
"Why am I allowed to read your history books and not those other books?" asked Kim.
"My history books are actually books for learning, and I will never stop you from learning no matter if you are grounded or not," said Kyra. "The fact that you enjoy reading those books is actually a plus."
Kim thought for a second. She then asked, "So if I want to learn other things you would let me go back to the computer room while being grounded?"
"If you are sincere about wanting to learn the subject, then yes I will, but if I feel that you're going to the computer room just to get out, then no," said Kyra.
"I wouldn't lie to you about wanting to learn something," said Kim.
"Kim, when you want to be, you have a way of being deceitful without lying, and I've been around kids long enough to know when one is trying to deceive me," said Kyra. "So even without you lying, I will know how sincere you are about wanting to learn something at the computer room."
"Well, I was going to ask if I could go back to the computer room to research other things, but what I want to research is not really all that important," said Kim. Kyra just grinned. "However, I do want to get a history book from your room to read."
"You have my permission to get a book," said Kyra.
"Thanks," said Kim.
"Kim, how much Earth history do you know?" asked Jess.
"I always read Brandon's history books, so I bet I know history better than most kids my age," said Kim.
"How much older was Brandon to you?" asked Jess.
"He was five years and two months older than me, but now he's fifteen years and six months older than me," said Kim.
"You like reading history that much that you would read history books five years above your grade?" asked Jess.
"I just love reading," said Kim. "I prefer mysteries and horrors, but if I can't get any of those, I will settle with anything I can get my hands on. I even read about thirty pages of one of my mom's law books when I was six, —" Jess looked at Kim in a curious manner, "—except when she caught me with it I got in trouble for having it."
"How old were you when you began reading?" asked Jess.
"I remember being able to read my fairytale books without any help when I was four," said Kim. "Oh and I do remember before turning four I would read signs in public, but Brandon had to help me with some of the words."
"Kim, who taught you to read?" asked Seth.
"I don't know," said Kim. "I just remember being able to read as far back as I can remember."
"At age six did you understand everything you read?" asked Seth.
"I understood everything I read, except for my mom's law book," said Kim. "I remember asking my mom a ton of questions about the book when she took it away from me." Seth grinned. "Well, I'm going to get a book." Kim turned and walked into Kyra's bedroom.
When the door closed behind Kim, Jess said, "Kyra, I believe you are exactly what Kim needs to keep her challenged."
"I'm still trying to figure out what will keep her challenged," said Kyra. Kim walked out of the bedroom with a book. "I'm going to restructure the way she study science tomorrow also."
Kim stopped walking and asked, "Whose science course are you going to restructure?"
"Yours," said Kyra. "The way I have you learning science, I believe is holding you back."
"How are you going to restructure it?" asked Kim.
"Starting tomorrow, I'm going to drop the prerecordings with you, and just have you read chapters for your science studies," said Kyra.
"I like watching those prerecordings," said Kim. "You demonstrate a lot of stuff in those prerecordings, and if I just read, I won't get those demonstrations."
"I believe you will survive without those demonstrations," said Kyra.
"What if I start doing poorly?" asked Kim. "Would you put my science studies back the way it was?"
"Kim, if you start doing poorly, it will be because you would be either not doing the assignments or you would be failing on purpose," said Kyra. "In either case, you will be grounded until your grades improve."
"I'm going to be punished for failing when the work might be too hard for me to do?" asked Kim.
"Kim, I will be giving the exact same material, minus the demonstrations," said Kyra. "By eliminating the demonstrations, you will be learning it at your pace, and not at the pace I present it to you."
"The demonstrations explain a lot of confusing information, so what if I need an explanation?" asked Kim.
In a sarcastic manner, Kyra said, "Kim, I realize you are not personally familiar with the concept of turning on your light to ask for my help with your assignments, but that is one of the purposes behind the light."
Kim showed a distasteful grin. She then said, "Well, I hope you don't restructure my math."
"Your math and history will remain the same," said Kyra.
"Thank you for leaving those two alone," said Kim.
"You're welcome," said Kyra.
"Well, I'm going to my room to read," said Kim. She then continued walking towards her room.
When Kim's door closed behind Kim, Seth asked, "Kyra, do you really think that Kim would fail her assignments on purpose?"
"From the way she worded her question, she was feeling me out to see what I would do," said Kyra. "So yes, I do believe she would fail her assignments on purpose so she would be able to go back to her old method."
"It's not fair," said Jess. "I bust my butt in school to even get a low-A average and Kim coasts along, and is able to pick and choose what grade she wants to have."
"Well, Kim's two major attributes for learning are her excellent memory and her ability to speed read," said Kyra. "She is able to read three times faster than anyone I know, and whatever she reads is soaked up like a sponge."
"That's interesting," said Jess.