THE GENETIC DUPLICATE—Day 8 Part 3
On board the Galactica, Casimir read over the documents before he translated it. In the first few pages Casimir learned that the documents were written by Dr. Clarence Cotton, and the planet was called, Kobol Minor.
Eighty years after the thirteenth tribe left Kobol, two thousand people from the tribe Zodia broke off from the colonization fleet and settled on the planet. For three thousand years the population of Kobol Minor grew in a receding manner. The population then reached its peek and became stagnant for twelve years. Dr. Garfield Garland was reviewing the census count and when he saw no population growth from the last census he took his findings to Pres. Dyson.
Dr. Garland sat across from Pres. Dyson as Pres. Dyson reviewed Dr. Garland's finding, and when Pres. Dyson was finished he said, "Dr. Garland, I'm a lawyer who turn a politician, so I'm not seeing your concerns on this census."
"Pres. Dyson, our population growth was about twelve percent every ten years when our ancestors first settled on this planet and it has been receding ever since then," said Dr. Garland. "First it was a fraction of a percent of the population, and that percentage gradually grew. Now as you can see, there is no population growth at all."
"Babies are still being born, Doctor," said Pres. Dyson.
"But not at the rate it should be," said Dr. Garland. "The births of babies are equal to the death rate and that's not good. Our population should be growing by ten percent every ten years."
"If we would grow at that rate then this planet would be over crowed in a thousand years," said Pres. Dyson.
"Pres. Dyson, have you ever read the journals from Ellen Sharif?" asked Dr. Garland.
"That name sounds familiar; who is she?" asked Pres. Dyson.
"That name should sound familiar," said Dr. Garland. "You should have read about her in your history class when you were about twelve."
"History was one of my worst subjects, so refresh my memory," said Pres. Dyson.
"Ellen Sharif was the daughter and advisor to the colony leader Bedwin Gadon, and I'm sure you remember him from your history lessons."
"Of course, he's the first colony leader," said Pres. Dyson. "So what was in Ellen Sharif's journals?"
"She ran a population growth calculation for a two-thousands-year projection and her conclusion was that our planet should have been over populated within that two thousand years period. However, as you can see, that didn't happen, and I'm sure it has something to do with why our population growth is stagnant."
"Okay Doctor, I will indulge your findings," said Pres. Dyson. "So what do you need?"
"First I need to conduct some studies to find out why our population is not growing," said Dr. Garland. "Once we find the answer to that then we can move on from there."
"Do whatever studies you feel are necessary and I will support you," said Pres. Dyson.
"Thank you, Mr. President," said Dr. Garland. He then stood up. "I will keep you informed of my findings."
Pres. Dyson just nodded. Dr. Garland then turned and walked away.
During the passing months, Dr. Garland performed studies on ten thousand adults and found that forty-five percent of those adults were sterile. He then broadened his study to include teenagers between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, and found that forty-seven percent of those teenagers were also sterile. Siblings of a person who was found to be sterile had a fifty percent chance of being sterile as well.
After Dr. Garland took his findings to Pres. Dyson, Pres. Dyson allowed Dr. Garland to start a medical study to find out why a large percentage of the population was sterile.
After ten years of not finding the answer the researched staff was increased from five doctors to twenty doctors. Five years later, the researched staff was increased to thirty doctors.
After another five years had gone by, Dr. Garland died from an illness. Dr. Leora Mineko was appointed as the lead doctor. Within Dr. Mineko's first week in her new position, she convinced the current president to move her research staff into a larger research facility and to increase the staff by seventy researched doctors. The staff consisted of several medical fields.
Dr. Mineko and her staff ran tests and simulations for fifteen years before the answer was revealed. After discovering what was causing people to become sterile, Dr. Mineko switched her focused to stop the sterility of the population.
Volunteer couples who would most likely give birth to a sterile offspring were subjected to a wide variety of treatments. Several treatments included a dose of radiation from mild to severe. During the experiments fifty percent of the babies died soon after birth. Ninety percent of the baby who lived were either deformed or mentally impaired. Ten percent of the babies were born healthy and a fraction of those babies were found to be fertile after adolescence.
The president saw the results of the research, and from fear that things were going to get worse, he organized a researched team that was separate from the original researched team. The program was known as SBP for Selective Breading Program. Everyone above the age of thirteen had to take a medical exam to determine if they were fertile, and the people who were found to be fertile had to register. The SBP controlled the pairing of the couples, and only couples who would most likely give birth to fertile offsprings were paired together. A few protests on the SBP broke out in several regions of the population, but each protest was short lived and after ten years, all protests against the selective breading had come to a halt.
As the research on preventing sterility continued into the sixth generation with radiation treatments, a hairless non-human specie was spawn from the treatments. These beings were short and gray in color. They had larger heads and their eyes were large, black and slanted. Their intelligence was comparable to humans. In the beginning of the non-human specie, the top scientists all agreed that the non-human specie would never live passed three generations, so no steps were done to monitor their population growth.
The current president saw the new specie as a failure and ended the research on preventing sterility, and switched the research to cloning; however, the mandatory selective breeding program continued.
As the decades slowing passed, the non-humans were educated alongside the humans. Many non-humans became doctors and worked alongside the humans at the researched center.
As the research on perfecting cloning entered the fourth generation, the human population only increased by five percent while the new specie's population went from forty individuals to four hundred.
As how fast as the non-humans were growing in population, the current president feared that the non-humans would eventually out populate the human population. In a desperate move to maintain control of the planet, ships were built; the non-humans were then apprehended and placed on the ships to be exiled from the planet. As the ships were being prepared to launch, a large group of human sympathizers staged a protest at the launched site.
The protesters were met by military force. Two civilians were killed; twenty were seriously wounded and sixty more only sustained minor injuries. Over a hundred people were arrested.
Protest continued throughout the seventy-two hours that it took to prepare the ships. After the preparation was complete, the ships were launched into space. The ships' heading was controlled by the computers.
From cloning and from selective breading, the population grew by five percent every ten years; however, finding couples who were able to give birth to a fertile offspring became hard to find. After six hundred years of selective breading, the human race on Kobol Minor became completely sterile. Cloning became the exclusive means to reproduce. The staff at the research center was moved to a larger facility; known as the Mega Center. The only purpose of the Mega Center was to keep the population above a certain level.
The Mega Center kept the population at an ideal level for three thousand years; cellular deterioration then became evident with no previous warnings. The staff at the research center tried to reverse the cellular deterioration, but after five hundred year without success, the population became too low to recover.
When the death of the human race on Kobol Minor became apparent, Dr. Clarence Cotton, the lead doctor at the time, took steps to tell the story of the human race on Kobol Minor if anyone from the twelve colonies of Kobol would happen to find the ruins of the dead city.
Present day, onboard the Solar Flare, Kyra stood up and said, "Okay, class is dismissed. I will be back in the classroom in thirty minutes for the students who want to work on his or her assignment."
Kim stood up and without picking up her homework from her desk, she walked up to Kyra.
As Kim stepped up to Kyra, Kyra asked, "Are you ready to get something to eat."
Kim nodded and said, "I'm actually hungry."
"Then let's go," said Kyra.
Kyra and Kim were the last two out of the classroom. Kim stood next to Kyra as Kyra turned to lock the door to the classroom.
Adonis walked up to Kim and asked, "Are you going to the mess hall?"
"Yeah," said Kim. "Are you coming?"
"Sure," said Adonis.
Kyra faced Kim after locking the door and said, "Okay, you two, we can go."
Kyra, Kim and Adonis were a short distance from the classroom when Kenric Tronan approached them.
When Kenric stepped up, he said, "Adonis, I have a message for you that Casimir is on the Galactica and will be there for another hour or so."
"What is my dad doing on the Galactica?" asked Adonis.
"Your father? I thought he was your father's brother," said Kenric.
Kyra intervene and said, "That's a story that doesn't need to get into right now."
"Okay," said Kenric. "Well, I'll see everyone later."
As Kenric walked away, Kyra, Kim and Adonis continued walking towards the mess hall.
Minutes later, Kyra, Kim and Adonis walked through a crowded mess hall towards an empty table with their food rations. Kim sat her tray on the table and as she touched the seat to sit down, she got a vision.
Adonis sat down in a seat next to Kim. Kyra was sitting across from them. When Adonis turned to look at Kim, he saw her standing in a trance like state. He then asked, "Kim, are you okay?"
Kyra looked at Kim and said, "Adonis, she's having a vision." A second later Kim came out of her vision and looked at Kyra. "Kim, what did you see?"
Kim sat down and said, "There were two men sitting here not too long ago. They were talking about the recent discovery of a small planet with ruins of a dead human civilization. One of the men thinks that the planet that was found is Earth, and that Cmdr. Adama will lie to us about it."
"Well, if that gets turned into a rumor, you, Adonis, your classmates and many others will know the truth," said Kyra.
"Mom, if ruins of a dead human civilization was found, I wonder what happened to the people," said Kim.
"I don't know, Kim, but I'm sure that Cmdr. Adama's personnel are looking into it," said Kyra.
"Mom, I might be able to get a vision to see what happen," said Kim.
"Kim, if there are ruins of a city, I'm not letting you go there so you can get a vision," said Kyra.
"I won't need to go to the planet," said Kim. "They can just bring me the objects that they find."
"Kim, it's nice that you want to help out wherever you can, but Cmdr. Adama won't need your visions in every given situation," said Kyra. "If he needs it, I'm sure he will come to you…"
"You want me to stop volunteering," said Kim.
"I wasn't implying that, Kim," said Kyra. "I just don't want you to be overly enthusiastic about wanting to help when no one asked you to help. Okay?"
"I like helping," said Kim.
"I can tell, but you should give the Galactica's crew a chance to find the solution on their own before you volunteer," said Kyra.
"If I waited with Trina, Trina might have suffocated in that cave," said Kim.
"Well, not every situation will be as time sensitive like that situation was," said Kyra. "Now eat."
"Fine," said Kim. Kim then took a bite of food.
Kyra saw Seth approaching with his food. Kim saw Kyra staring passed her and turned to look.
When Seth stepped up, Kyra said, "Hi, take a seat."
Kim saw a flute in Seth's pocket when Seth walked passed her and towards a seat next to Kyra. Before Seth was able to sit down, Kim asked, "Were you able to complete that flute you were working on?"
Seth pulled out the flute from his pocket and said, "After working on it all day, I just got finished with it not too long ago."
Adonis stared at the flute and said, "I thought people didn't play flutes anymore."
"They might not in the twelve colonies, but on Earth it gets played," said Seth.
"Flute wasn't a popular instrument, but there were people who played the flute in the colonies before the Cylon attacked," said Kyra.
"So Adonis, do you want to hear something?" asked Seth.
"Sure," said Adonis.
Seth played a song similar to the one that Kyra heard while visiting the city of Cagmorra. Everyone in the mess hall turned to look.
Kim saw the crowd looking in her direction and acted in an intimidated manner.
Kyra saw the uneasy and timid expression on Kim's face. Kyra then noticed the crowd looking at the table and said, "Seth, I love your playing, but you need to stop for now. You're drawing people's attention and it's making Kim very uncomfortable."
As Seth stopped playing Kim said, "I'm trying to ignore the crowd."
"Well, the last thing I need is for you to get overly nervous while eating lunch," said Kyra. Kim just grinned. "Now eat, so we can get back to the classroom."
"Okay," said Kim. She then took another bite of food.
Seth looked over the flute and said, "Normally I would inscribe the date on the flute, but I can't this time."
"Why can't you?" asked Adonis.
"I don't know what the Earth date is," said Seth.
"It's December sixth," said Kim.
"How do you know the date?" asked Seth.
"Beth told me the date a few days ago," said Kim. "If I was on Earth I would be helping my grandma to make Christmas cookies."
Seth slightly grinned and said, "I would be putting up Christmas decorations about now too."
Kyra and Adonis had a confused expression on their faces. Kyra finally asked, "What is Christmas?"
"Christmas is a celebrated day that comes once a year on December twenty-fifth," said Seth.
Kim added, "We decorated Christmas trees and the inside of the house. A lot of people will put out Christmas decorations on the front lawn. Christmas lights will be strung all around the outside of every house and in the trees. The stores will be highly crowded with people buying gifts for the people they know."
"So people give gifts during the Christmas celebration," said Kyra.
"We do, and it's a very expensive time of the year," said Seth.
"The kids around Julian's age think that the gifts come from Santa Clause," said Kim.
"Who's Santa Clause?" asked Adonis.
"A short fat man who wears a red suit and flies in the air on a slay filled with toys that is pulled by eight flying reindeers," said Kim. Kyra and Adonis looked at Kim in a curious manner. "Santa Clause also knows if a kid was naughty or nice during the year. If a kid was nice Santa Clause will leave him or her a toy, but if the kid was naughty, Santa Clause will leave him or her a bag of coal."
Adonis grinned and said, "You're making that up."
"I'm serious," said Kim. "Of course I stop believing in Santa Clause at the age of nine, but parents want their kids to believe that Santa Clause is real and that he is the one who is passing out the toys."
"Why do parents want the kids to believe that Santa Clause is real?" asked Adonis.
"I'm not sure, but there's even a story or history of Santa Clause…" said Kim.
"Kimberly, you can tell Adonis about the history of Santa Clause later," said Kyra.
"I wasn't planning to tell him right now," said Kim.
"Good, now eat," said Kyra.
"I do want to tell him that Santa Clause might have been a real person at one time" said Kim.
"Kimberly…" said Kyra.
"I'm eating," said Kim. She then stuck a bite in her mouth.
"Adonis, to believe in Santa Clause is a fun and exciting tradition for kids," said Seth. "People will even dress up as Santa Clause in shopping malls so kids can sit on Santa's lap and tell Santa what he or she wants for Christmas."
"Adonis, other fun things about Christmas is singing Christmas carols," said Kim. Kyra looked at Kim in an inquisitive manner. "I'm eating."
In an amused manner Kyra said, "That's good, but I was just thinking that the more I hear of Earth traditions, the more I look forward at experiencing them."
"What other Earth traditions have you heard about?" asked Kim.
"Seth told me about Halloween," said Kyra.
"What is Halloween?" asked Adonis.
Before Kim had a chance to say anything, Kyra said, "Kim will tell you about it later."
Kim grinned. She then asked, "Mom, did Seth tell you anymore Earth traditions?"
"No, and you can tell me the others later," said Kyra.
"I know, you want me to eat," said Kim.
Kyra grinned as Kim took a bite of food.
An hour later onboard the Galactica, Casmir walked onto the Galactica's bridge and up to Cmdr. Adama with both the original documents and the translated documents. After Cmdr. Adama took the papers he read the translated version.
Col. Tigh walked up and stood next to Cmdr. Adama as Cmdr. Adama was reading. When Cmdr. Adama showed a disturbing expression, Col. Tigh asked, "What is it?"
"The aliens who are abducting people from Earth originated from that small planet," said Cmdr. Adama.
"So that planet wasn't a home for a human colony," said Col. Tigh.
"Part of the thirteenth tribe did settle on that planet, and those aliens were spawned from the human race," said Cmdr. Adama.
"Those alien remains that we found are nowhere near human," said Col. Tigh.
"The aliens were the result of a severe mutation as the colony was trying to prevent sterility," said Cmdr. Adama.
"The only way for a severe mutation to occur is if the colony was conducting experiments with radiation," said Col. Tigh.
Cmdr. Adama looked at Col. Tigh in a manner as if to say, "Exactly."
Col Tigh sighed and said, "We played god and created the Cylons, and they played god and created a new life form. May the lords of Kobol forgive us for our sins."
"What we did was for luxury, but what that colony did was out of desperation to save their civilization," said Cmdr. Adama. Cmdr. Adama continued to read the papers a few more minutes. He then placed the papers down. "Col. Tigh, organize a demolition team. That research center on that planet must be destroyed."
"Yes, Sir," said Col. Tigh. Col Tigh turned towards an officer on the bridge. "Get a message to Capt. Adama for him and Lt. Thrace to meet me in the briefing room in fifteen minutes."
"Yes, Colonel," said the officer.
As the officer paged Apollo and Starbuck over the ship's com-system, Col. Tigh asked, "Commander, does it say where to find Earth?"
"No, but that colony had experimented with cloning," said Cmdr. Adama. "Although these papers don't go into details of the experiments, there is a good chance that the computer on the planet might hold the information."
"According to Lee's report, a lot of the information in that computer is corrupted," said Col. Tigh.
"We can't afford to take a chance that the Cylons can restore those files," said Cmdr. Adama. "Lt. Gaeta, distribute the jump coordinates of the system Apollo surveyed throughout the fleet and plot a jump there."
"Yes, Sir," said Lt. Gaeta.
Within ten minutes the fleet made the jump into the new system. On board the electronic ship a crewmember named Wilbur White was working on and testing a radio by switching through the frequencies. As he was switching frequencies, he picked up a signal from a frequency band that is normally too weak to be any good for a long distance communication. The signal was weak and degraded. Wilbur tried for five minutes to clean up to signal without any success. He then turned and walked towards the door leading into the corridor.
Herbert Lowry, Wilbur's supervisor, was in the corridor and when Wilbur stepped out Herbert asked, "How much longer will you be with that radio you are working on?"
"I was in middle of testing it to see if it is working within the parameters and I picked something up on a low band frequency," said Wilbur.
"We don't use low band frequencies," said Herbert.
"Someone is using it," said Wilbur. "Come and see for yourself."
Herbert and Wilbur walked into the room and up to the radio. After Herbert heard the degraded signal he tried what he could to make the signal to come in cleaner. He then said, "Come with me. I know where there's a radio that might pick up this signal along with finding out where it's coming from."
Herbert and Wilbur left the room. A few minutes later they walked into a storeroom where several radios were kept. They walked up to a radio and turned it on. The radio was larger than the radio that Wilbur was working on and it had a screen and more adjusting knobs.
Herbert searched through the frequencies for a few minutes before a signal was found. As before the signal was poor and degraded. He and Wilbur worked hard to improve the quality of the signal.
An hour later, at the Galactica's brig, Ben, Hallie, Denton, Gordon and a few others have been watching Jess for more than two hours inside a cell as Jess showed her dog training technique on one of the dogs. The dog was wearing a muzzle.
Denton's attention was then drawn to one of the security officers when he stepped up and said, "Denton, Cmdr. Adama would like to see Jessica Randall in his quarters."
"Thank you," said Denton. He then knocked on the cell glass.
Jess heard Denton knocking and left the cell. She then asked, "What's up?"
"Cmdr. Adama wants to see you in his quarters," said Denton.
"Actually, I could use a break anyway," said Jess.
"Jess, that dog you were trying to tame looked as though she will chew your head off at first chance she gets," said Gordon. "So do you still think that you can tame these dogs?"
"I have doubt that I can tame and train these dogs," said Jess.
"From what I saw for the past two hours, I'll put up fifty cubits that you can't train these dogs," said Ben.
Jess grinned and said, "If I had the cubits I would take that bet."
"I'll cover your bet," said Hallie. "Just don't lose."
"Everyone, you can form your bets later," said Denton. "Jess, follow me and I will take you to Cmdr. Adama."
After Jess followed Denton out of the security area, Ben said, "I can't believe that Jess thinks that she can tame these dogs."
Hallie grinned and said, "Earlier, before Apollo was called away, Apollo had mentioned that Jess was a dog trainer on Earth."
"Dog trainer or not, I still think that training these dogs is a waste of time," said Ben. "We brought the dogs on board to bread them, and to take the puppies."
"Breading these dogs hasn't change, but wouldn't things be easier if these adult dogs were tamed," said Hallie.
"Perhaps," said Ben.
As Denton and Jess were walking through the corridor, Denton asked, "Have you eaten since this morning?"
"No, I haven't," said Jess. "I am getting hungry."
"I was thinking about getting something to eat and I was wondering if you would like to join me," said Denton. "Of course I mean after you speak with Cmdr. Adama."
Jess grinned and said, "Sure."
A short time later, outside Cmdr Adama's quarters, Denton knocked on Cmdr. Adama's door.
"Come in," said Cmdr. Adama. Cmdr. Adama looked up from his screen when Denton and Jess walked in. Cmdr. Adama didn't give Denton the chance to report in a military manner. "Jess, come over here and tell me if you recognized what I'm looking at."
Denton stood back as Jess walked up to view Cmdr. Adama's screen. When Jess saw what it was she said, "My god, that program is older than my dad."
"So you do recognize it?" asked Cmdr. Adama.
"I only recognized it from doing a history paper in college on first television programs," said Jess. "That was once a kid show and it's called Howdy Doody. Where did this come from?"
"Two people on the electronic ship discovered this signal about an hour ago," said Cmdr. Adama. "They also traced the signal to the last planet of this system."
"This is definitely an Earth program, so how is this signal originating from the last planet from this system?" asked Jess.
"For a signal from one solar system to appear in another solar system is somewhat rare, but it's not unheard of," said Cmdr. Adama. "The composition of the planet is acting like an amplifier. No matter how weak the signal is the planet will amplify it. Because of the deceitful manner of the signal's origin, the name for this type of signal is called an erroneous signal."
"So we can find Earth from that signal," said Jess.
"Unfortunately, as in this situation, the signal that we are receiving is so weak that if it wasn't for the planet, our instruments wouldn't even pick it up," said Cmdr. Adama. "Also there are only certain times that the planet will even pick up the signal during its orbiting path."
"So you can find the direction of Earth from the location of the planet," said Jess.
"Unfortunately the position of the planet as it receives the signal only helps us to eliminate a few solar systems from our search," said Cmdr. Adama.
"That's better than noting, I guess," said Jess. "So Commander, is there anything else?"
"I have one other thing," said Cmdr. Adama. "I'm going to be making an announcement later, but I prefer for you to hear this directly from me rather than from the announcement."
"Tell me what, Commander?" asked Jess.
"I'm sure Mr. Loren had filled you in about what he and his group found on the planet," said Cmdr. Adama.
"Who's Mr. Loren?" asked Jess.
Jess turned to face Denton when Denton said, "That's my last name."
Jess faced Cmdr. Adama again and said, "He, Hallie and the others did tell me what was found."
"What you weren't told is that the aliens who are abducting people from Earth had originated from that planet."
"How did you find that out, Commander?" asked Jess.
"That information was written in the documents that were found," said Cmdr. Adama.
Cmdr. Adama then continued to tell Jess of how the aliens were spawned from the humans while attempting to stop sterility. Cmdr. Adama even told Jess that she and the others on Earth have markers within their DNA to help prevent sterility.
When Cmdr. Adama was finished, Jess said, "Thank you, Commander for telling me all of this."
"You're welcome," said Cmdr. Adama.
"Was there anything else, Commander?" asked Jess.
"That's all I have for now," said Cmdr. Adama.
"Then I'll go," said Jess. "Good day, Commander."
"Good day," said Cmdr. Adama.
Denton opened the door for Jess as Jess approached. Both he and Jess left the quarters.
One hour and twenty minutes later in the classroom on board the Solar Flare, Kim and several of her classmates were working on their homework. After Kim finished her eight-page written essay she thought for a second. She then got up and walked towards Kyra's desk.
When Kyra saw Kim walking up, she looked at her watch. As Kim stepped up, Kyra asked, "How are you coming along with your assignments?"
"I just got done," said Kim.
"What about your five-page essay?" asked Kyra.
"Is it okay if it's eight pages long?" asked Kim.
Kyra slightly grinned and said, "You wrote an eight-page essay?" asked Kyra.
Kim nodded and said, "I'm done with it too."
"Kim, that five-page-essay isn't even due for two days," said Kyra. "So you had two days to work on it."
"I know. I just wanted to get it done and get it over with," said Kim.
"Well, what was the topic of your essay?" asked Kyra.
"You wanted me to write something from my past so I wrote about a camping trip that Keith, Brandon and I went on when I was thirteen," said Kim. "On the camping trip…"
"Kim, I'll read about it when you turn in your essay," said Kyra.
"Okay," said Kim. "Mom, I was thinking. Since I can become a doctor faster while doing double the homework, I could become a doctor even faster if…"
"Kimberly, stop right there," said Kyra.
"What?" asked Kim.
"Kim, I'm not assigning you even more assignments," said Kyra.
"Why not?" asked Kim.
"I have your studies set up to where that you're putting in the same hours of study time as your classmates, but if I assign you even more work, you wouldn't even have time to go and play games at the recreation center," said Kyra.
"I'm willing to make the sacrifice to become a doctor faster," said Kim.
"I will not allow you to sacrifice your childhood," said Kyra. "Also if you study all the time, you won't have the time to hangout with Adonis."
"I didn't think about not being able to hangout with Adonis," said Kim. Kyra grinned. "I guess I didn't think that through."
"Kim, we have only five more minutes left until I lock up the classroom for the day," said Kyra. "You can wait for me at your desk or you can wait for me in the corridor."
"I'll wait for you in the corridor," said Kim.
"Well, go get your assignment papers before you leave the classroom," said Kyra.
"Okay," said Kim.
Kim walked back to her desk and got her papers. She then walked back to Kyra and hand them to her. As Kyra was placing Kim's papers in her briefcase, Kim walked out.
Kim waited in the corridor away from the door and when she saw the remaining students leaving the classroom, she walked up to the door.
When Kyra stepped out and saw Kim, Kyra said, "Kim, before we leave for the Galactica, I'm going to put my briefcase in our quarters."
As Kyra turned to lock the door, Kim said, "Mom, what if you give me one or even two extra assignments each day?"
Kyra looked at Kim in a confused manner as she was locking the door. She then said, "Kim, I thought we had that settled."
"If I do just one or two more assignments, I will still have time to hangout with Adonis," said Kim.
"No Kim," said Kyra.
"Why not?" asked Kim.
"Kim, it took you two hours and fifty minutes to complete your assignments and that is exactly where you should be," said Kyra.
"Well Kerim spends five hours a day on his homework," said Kim.
"Kim, I'm not giving you more assignments so drop it," said Kyra.
"I could always go to the computer room and learn things without you assigning them," said Kim.
Kyra grinned and said, "You need my permission to even access one of those computers, and I'm not going to give you permission."
"So you lied to me when you said that you will never stop me from learning," said Kim.
"Kim, you are over generalizing my statement," said Kyra. "When you are grounded, I won't stop you from reading my history books or stop you from going to the computer room to learn something that you really want to learn about. However, I will not permit you to study every free minute you have, so that you can be a doctor at the age of nineteen."
Kim crossed her arms and said, "Since this is my life we're talking about, I should have the right to study every minute of the day if I want."
"Kimberly, before your mouth gets your grounded for week or longer, I'm going to try to get you to understand…" said Kyra.
"Understand what?" asked Kim.
"Kim, you had completed and turned in all of your assignments today, including an eight-page-handwritten essay when I only asked for five pages, and to be honest, I wasn't even expecting the essay to be completed in the classroom the way you did," said Kyra. "The amount of work you did was twice as much as any of your classmates, and for an average student that would be an unreasonable amount; however, because of how fast you can read and how much information you can retain from your reading, I knew you could handle it. Any more assignments on top of what I have you doing already would be an unreasonable amount even for you."
"I think I can handle it though," said Kim.
"Kim, your memory is better than anyone I know, but even your memory as its limit, and I do not want to go over that limit," said Kyra.
"You won't," said Kim.
"Well, I'm not going to risk it," said Kyra.
"The way you are I'm surprise you let me read your history books," said Kim.
Kyra grinned and asked, "Why do you read my history books."
"I like reading your history books," said Kim. "They're interesting."
"My history books are actually for learning, but you read them for enjoyment," said Kyra. "You also read those books when you have nothing else to do and not every minute of the day."
"Would you have a problem if I would read those books every minute of the day?" asked Kim.
"I would," said Kyra. "When you are able to, you should be hanging out with your friends, and not reading books or trying to become a doctor at the age of nineteen. Now enough talk about increasing your assignments on top of what I have you doing already, okay?'
"Mom, I like the idea of being a doctor before my twenty-second birthday, and I just thought…"
"I know what you thought, Kim, and becoming a doctor at the age of twenty-one is still about five years sooner than most people become a doctor," said Kyra. "Now enough with wanting more assignments and trying to become a doctor at age of nineteen; okay?"
"Fine, I won't ask for more assignments," said Kim.
"Kim, I don't want any hints from Adonis or anyone else about it either," said Kyra.
Kim grinned. She then said, "You won't."
"Good," said Kyra. She then motioned for Kim to walk. "Now let's get going."