THE GENETIC DUPLICATE – Day 11 Part 2
Alethea led Kim into Cmdr. Adama's quarters. Cmdr. Adama was talking to Laura Roslin when they walked in.
Kim stopped walking and gazed at Laura just as Cmdr. Adama said, "Kim, let me introduce you to…"
"She's President Laura Roslin," Kim blurted out.
Laura laughed and asked, "Where did you get the idea that I'm the president?"
"You're not the president of the twelve colonies in this reality?" Kim questioned.
"That's an intriguing thought, but the only political career I had was being the colonial secretary…" Laura was able to get out.
"You were the colonial secretary of education and the forty-third person in line to assume the presidency," Kim finished what she was saying. "The Galactica was to be turned into a museum and you were coordinating it when the colonies were destroyed."
"You're right about who I am, but as far as I know the Galactica's wasn't being turned into a museum," said Laura.
"It wasn't," Cmdr. Adama said with a slightly annoyed tone.
"The Galactica being turned into a museum must be only true in my reality," Kim commented.
Cmdr. Adama and Laura gave Kim a curious look as Alethea said, "Kim has it in her head that she's from an alternate reality."
"I am," Kim insisted. "In my reality she is the current president of the colonies."
"Kim, when you first awaken, you couldn't remember your name or where you're from and now you're telling me that you're from an alternate reality?" Cmdr. Adama questioned.
"My memories are returning when something triggers them, but in some cases like the Galactica wasn't being turned into a museum are different from what I know," said Kim.
"So you now know who you are and where you're from," Laura questioned.
"My full name is Kimberly Elizabeth O'Brian," she said. "I'm from Earth and in my reality, I had told Pres. Roslin all about Earth. Oh and Cmdr. Adama in my reality you were curious to know if the people on Earth can help you fight the Cylons and I'm positive they can."
"I can tell that you believe in what you're saying, Kim, but I believe the experts when they say that alternate realities can't exist," said Laura.
"Well, this wouldn't be the first time that the colonial experts were wrong about something," said Kim.
"What other things were they wrong about?" Laura questioned. Everyone saw that Kim was thinking hard to remember a time when the colonial experts were wrong. "While you're thinking of an instance, Kim, you should know that I'm the custodian for the kids on the orphanage ship…"
"There's an orphanage ship in the fleet?" Kim questioned.
"Well, the ship's proper name is the Olympic Carrier, but we refer to it as the orphanage ship," said Laura. Everyone saw a slightly disturb expression on Kim's face as she was trying to remember something. "Is there anything wrong?"
"In my reality there was something about the Olympic Carrier, but I can't think what it is," said Kim.
"Kim, I think it would be best for you to forget what you think you know and learn what is true in… in this reality," said Cmdr. Adama.
"I want to go home," Kim said with conviction in her voice.
"And as soon as we find the location of Earth, we will take you home," said Cmdr. Adama.
Alethea saw the brokenhearted expression in Kim's face and said, "She's not referring to Earth, Father, as her home. She's referring to the luxury ship the Solar Flare."
Cmdr. Adama thought for a moment before saying, "The only ship I know that was called the Solar Flare was destroyed in a Cylon attack fifteen years ago."
"It wasn't destroyed in my reality and I lived there with a woman name Kyra Lockwood," said Kim. "I called Kyra mom. I can even draw you the layout of the ship…" Kim suddenly remembered something about herself. "Hey, I'm good at drawing, so I can draw you what the people look like too."
Cmdr. Adama sighed and said, "I have never seen someone as persistent and determined as you are to say something is true on a subject that is said to be false." Kim just grinned. "I feel that this will be a big waste of time, but I'll talk to Dr. Wilker about looking into the matter of if alternate reality is real or just an imaginative thought of a child."
"I'm fourteen, a teenager; I'm not a child," Kim insisted.
Cmdr. Adama gave Kim an uncertain look before saying, "Yes, well anyway, Kim, you will be going back to the Olympic Carrier with Ms. Roslin…"
"The Olympic Carrier was destroyed in my reality," Kim blurted out. "In fact, Cmdr. Adama, you… well not you, but your counterpart from my reality and Pres. Roslin had ordered its destruction because there was high speculations that the ship had been infiltrated by the Cylons when it failed to keep up with the fleet." Cmdr. Adama gave Kim an annoyed look. "Sorry. It hit me of what happened to the ship in my reality."
"We would've known without a doubt if the Cylons infiltrated a ship, so that should tell you that alternate reality can't be real." said Laura.
Alethea was about to say something when Kim said, "In my reality some of the Cylons are made into human clones and we don't know all the Cylon models. That was why…" Kim suddenly stopped what she was saying as she and the others saw a frightening expression on Cmdr. Adama's face.
Laura was the first to quickly ask, "Are you okay, Commander?"
Cmdr. Adama nodded and said, "When we first fled the colonies five years ago and came upon the ice planet filled with Dr. Ravishol's clones, we had also uncovered the Cylon plot to create organic humanlike Cylons. Only a handful of people knew that the Cylons had made that failed attempt."
"Well, in my reality the Cylons succeeded," said Kim. "I don't think that is known in my reality though that Dr. Ravishol is the one to create the humanlike Cylons."
"Father, I'm starting to believe that Kim is from an alternate reality," said Alethea.
Kim gave Alethea a pleasant smile as Cmdr. Adama said, "I'll admit that some of what Kim says is putting curious thoughts in my head, but I still believe that alternate reality can't be real. Something more sensible has to be going on. In any case, Kim, I'm releasing you in Ms. Roslin's care and I will get with Dr. Wilker about looking into the matter of alternate realities in spite of what I believe."
Kim grinned and nodded as Laura said, "Kim, we need to get going."
"Bye, Alethea," said Kim. "It was nice meeting you."
Alethea grinned and said, "It was nice meeting you as well."
As Laura and Kim were leaving Cmdr. Adama's quarters, Laura said, "Kim, as you know, I'm not the president and you didn't tell me anything of Earth, but I would like it if you did tell me about Earth."
Kim grinned. She then thought for a brief moment to remember as to what she had said before and repeated herself almost word for word.
Forty-five minutes later, the shuttle that Laura and Kim were on was turning onto its final approach to land on the Olympic Carrier. Kim finally finished talking about Earth and without much of a pause, Kim said, "Ms. Roslin, the Cylon destroyed the colonies in my reality when the humanlike Cylons infiltrated and denoted nuclear bombs in strategic location throughout the colonies. How did the Cylon destroyed the colonies in this reality if the Cylons couldn't infiltrate the colonies?"
"The Cylons requested an armistice and with an influential man and a good friend to the president named Dr. Baltar pushing for the armistice, the president of the twelve colonies went along with it." Laura didn't see the slightly disturbed expression on Kim's face as she continued to say, "During the day when the armistice was to be put into effect, our military fleet was gathered in one spot. Before anyone knew it wave after wave of Cylon raiders were pounding the military fleet as the Cylon base stars went after the civilian population. Cmdr. Adama was the only Battlestar commander to get his vipers into the fight. Within minutes the Cylons were able to destroy all of our military ships, except for the Galactica and each of our colonies was reduced to rubble."
"Dr. Gaius Baltar pushed for the armistice?" Kim questioned.
"I see you heard of him too," said Laura. Kim just grinned. "If you're right and you are from an alternate reality like you're insisting then I hope for that reality's sake that Dr. Baltar is not a traitorous bastard as he is in this reality."
"Dr. Baltar is a traitor in this reality?" Kim questioned.
"Dr. Baltar knew from the beginning what the Cylon was planning," said Laura. "He had planned to rule over the survivors as a dictator. How do you remember Dr. Baltar?"
Kim thought for a moment before saying, "In my reality he's a well known and respected scientist. The you in my reality had chosen him as her Vice President and when the presidential election came up two years ago, he ran against you… I mean the you in my reality. I was told by Taundra and Rachida that Dr. Baltar had actually won the election, but within hours after winning, he renounced his presidency and renamed the you in my reality as the winner. I tried to find out what happened, but the only thing I can get from people is that he had fallen asleep at his desk and had a nightmare of the complete destruction of the twelve colonies while living on the planet that he had named as New Caprica under his presidency. If he gave up the presidency just because of a bad dream, then that must have been one intense bad dream."
Laura smiled and said, "I was thinking the same thing."
Minutes later, Kim was following Laura as they were stepping onto the Olympic Carrier. Laura took an hour to give Kim a tour of the ship. Kim, as usual, looked around in a focused manner.
The seven hundred other kids between the ages of five and seventeen were attending their respective classrooms.
When Kim's tour of the ship came to an end, Laura led Kim into the classroom with fifty-two kids who were thirteen, fourteen and fifteen-years-old. Kim gazed over the room. Randy Brooks, the teacher, was stepping up to Kim and Laura when Kim saw someone she'd recognized and said barely loud enough for Laura to hear, "Faxon Rivers."
"You know Faxon?" asked Laura.
"In my reality, Faxon also lived on the Solar Flare," said Kim.
When Randy stepped up, Laura faced him and said, "Mr. Brooks, I brought you a new student. Her name is Kimberly O'Brian, but she prefers to be called Kim."
"Welcome, Kim," said Randy.
Kim politely grinned and said, "Thanks, Mr. Brooks."
"So how old are you?" asked Randy.
Kim had to take a brief moment to think about it. Randy was about to say something when Kim said, "I turned fourteen a couple of weeks ago."
Randy shook off his thoughts and said, "Kim, take one of the eight empty seats. I won't expect you to participate today, but I will expect you to participate starting tomorrow."
Kim just grinned and politely nodded as Laura said, "Kim, let me talk to you in private before you take a seat."
Kim looked at Laura in a curious manner and said in a skeptical tone, "Okay."
Laura led Kim out of earshot of everyone and said, "I want you to keep the fact of you being from Earth and from an alternate reality from everyone. Okay?"
"You now believe I'm from a different reality?" Kim questioned.
Laura slightly grinned and said, "You had correctly identified Faxon Rivers along with accurately saying things to a reasonable degree that you shouldn't know, so although I'm still a bit skeptical of you being from an alternate reality, I do know something is going on and I'm curious to find out what. Until we do find out what it is, I want you to keep everything to yourselves."
Kim nodded and said, "I will."
"You should take a seat and while you're here, I'll make you some sleeping arrangements," said Laura.
Kim grinned and said, "Bye."
"Bye," said Laura as Kim turned towards the seats.
Laura and then Randy waived bye before Laura walked out. Just after Kim took her seat, Randy went through the rules of the classroom for Kim to hear along with telling her when the breaks are. Before Randy resumed the class, he had the other kids introduce themselves to her while he put Kim's information in his records.
When Randy resumed the class, he lectured the class rather than allowing the students to get their studies from the computers.
During the lecture, Kim twice had thought she had seen a glimpse of a figure from the corner of her eye. When she abruptly turned her head to look, there was nothing there. Randy saw her both times and said after the second time, "Kim, it might do you good to pay attention."
"Yes, Sir," said Kim.
An hour later, Randy gave the students a break. When Kim stepped into the corridor eight girls approached Kim. Clara was the lead girl. She was three months from turning sixteen and the oldest of the eight girls by two months. When the group stepped up to Kim, Clara re-introduced herself. She was preparing to point out her friends again to Kim when Kim interrupted and said who was who.
Clara gave Kim an astonished look and questioned, "You memorized our names?"
Kim shook her head and said, "Not at all. I just remember who's who."
"You remember just our eight names or do you remember everyone in the class?" Brinna questioned.
Kim gazed over the other students for a moment before saying, "I can name you every person in this classroom and what seat they were originally sitting in when they told me their names."
"Wow, you have a great memory if you can do that," said Zoey.
Everyone saw a proud expression on Kim's face just before she commented aloud, "I do have a great memory."
Everyone gave Kim a curious look as Clara said in a skeptical tone, "Okay." She then said in a more normal tone, "So which colony are you from?"
"I have to say Gemenon, even though, I'm not from that colony," said Kim.
"Why are you saying that, if you're not from Gemenon?" asked Zoey.
"The person who I had called mom was from Gemenon," said Kim.
"So you were adopted?" Kerryn questioned.
"She was actually my guardian, but I still called her mom," said Kim. "So where each one of you are from?"
As Kim and the eight girls talked, Kim didn't give any of them a chance to question her about where she was from again as she kept asking her own barrage of questions. Not one girl got wise of what Kim was doing. Kim learned a lot from the eight girls in the fifteen minutes that Randy gave them for a break.
When Randy resumed his lecture he began with Algebra. Randy asked for a volunteer to work out a problem in front of the class and when no one volunteered, he called on Kim.
Kim stepped up to the front of the class and when she saw the entire class watching her, she turned slightly red from her stage fright. Randy noticed Kim's intimidated reaction from the others watching her and asked, "Kim, are you okay?"
"I need to be excused, Mr. Brooks," said Kim just before she dash out of the room while covering her mouth.
Randy followed her out and was able to watch her as she entered a female facility. Randy stepped back into the classroom and spoke out, "I need a volunteer from one of you young ladies to go and check on Kim for me."
Zoey was the first to stand up and said, "I'll do it, Mr. Brooks."
Randy just motioned her to go.
Inside the facility, Kim was throwing up in one of the stalls when Zoey stepped in and heard her. Zoey stepped closer to the stall and said, "Mr. Brooks sent me in here to find out if you okay."
After spitting a few times Kim answered, "I attempted to, but I can get in front of a crowd without getting sick."
"You got sick because everyone in the classroom was looking at you?" Zoey questioned as Kim was leaving the stall.
As Kim was stepping up to the sink, she said, "I've always had a bad case of stage fright. I thought I could get in front of the classroom because less than twenty-four hours ago I was in a middle of something and then all of a sudden I realize a lot of people were watching. I felt nervous at first, but then I calmed down. I tried to calm down this time too, but I couldn't do it." Kim then went to rinse her mouth.
"Well, I'll go and let Mr. Brooks know that you're okay," said Zoey.
Kim spat out the water and said, "Okay." Zoey left the facility and as Kim was about to rinse her mouth for the second time, she again saw the figure from the corner of her eye. When she looked she barely saw in time to see an unrecognizable translucent figure fading from her sight. "Okay, that's' the forth time I saw you. You're not sticking around long enough for me to see who you are though." She gazed around the room for a few seconds. "You're either real or I'm losing it." After gazing over the room once more, she shrugged it off and finished up in the facility.
Two minutes later, when Kim stepped back into the classroom, Randy stepped up to her and whispered, "Zoey told me about how you got sick from stage fright and I won't expect you to stand in front of the class again."
Kim grinned and said, "I thought I was getting a handle on my stage fright, but I guess I'm not."
"That's fine," said Randy. "Just go take your seat."
Kim just nodded. She then walked towards her seat.
After Kim sat down, Randy continued the lecture. When he finished lecturing on arithmetic, he lectured science. Once the science lecture was over he dismissed the students for the day.
Laura was waiting in the corridor and when she saw Kim, she stepped up to her along with stopping Zoey, Clara, Brinna, Kerryn and another girl named Casey from walking past her. Once Laura had the six girls' attentions she said, "Okay, I pulled the six of you together to let you know that you six will be sharing a room at night."
Everyone saw a grinned on Kim's face just before she commented, "Six girls sleeping in the same room will be a nightly slumber party."
"Which brings me to the rules of the room, Kim," said Laura. Kim gave an apprehensive grin. "Once sleep period begins there will be no talking; no getting out of bed unless it's an emergency…"
Kim slightly raised her hand and asked, "What if I have to use the facility during the middle of the night?"
"You go before you go to bed and if you do have to use it during the night then you'll have to let your group leader know about it before you leave," said Laura. "If it happens too frequently during the night, you will be going to life station to find out why you can't hold it."
"Who's the group leader?" asked Kim.
"Clara is the oldest so she's the group leader and she'll also be the one to make sure you're following the rules," said Laura. "Now to continue with the rules. You along the other five will keep your room clean at all times, and I'll stress on the rule that boys are not allowed in the room. Stealing and fighting will not be tolerated. If you're found disobeying any of the rules that I just covered, you will be cleaning your room alone and possibly in severe disciplinary actions, you'll be cleaning other areas of the ship for however long I feel is an appropriate punishment." Kim just gave a timid grin to acknowledge that she had understood the rules. "Inappropriate language and bad manners are not punishable offenses per se, but they are very much frowned upon. If I hear you using inappropriate language or seeing you displaying bad manners, you'll get a verbal reprimand from me… if your inappropriate language or bad manners are outrages you won't be attending any enjoyable social function that springs up from time to time. Any questions?"
"Not about the rules," said Kim.
Laura gave Kim a curious look and asked, "What do you have a question on?"
Kim gave a quick glance at her new roommates and said, "I want to ask you in private."
Laura turned towards the five girls and said, "Okay, you five are free to leave." Laura waited until the five were out of earshot before she continued. "So, Kim, what do you want to ask me?"
"Earlier Clara and the others asked me what colony I was from," Kim began. "I was able to avoid answering their questions without lying to them, but I won't be able to do that all the time and I don't like lying."
"You want to tell them that you're from Earth?" Laura questioned.
"I would like permission to tell them the truth if they ask again," said Kim.
Laura slightly nodded and said, "In an hour or so Cmdr. Adama is planning to make a public announcement about you and that ship you were found on so I just need you to keep quiet about it until he makes that announcement. Okay?"
"I think I can avoid telling them for an hour or two," said Kim.
"Good; now come with me and I'll show you where your bed is." As they walked down the corridor Laura questioned, "So, Kim, you don't like lying?"
"Well, it's more that I don't like being accused of lying… actually, it makes me very angry to be accused of lying, especially when I didn't lie and to keep from being accuse of it, I avoid doing it," said Kim.
"Why does it make you very angry?" asked Laura.
Kim thought for a moment before answering, "When I was six I was accused of lying when I wasn't by my first grade teacher. I didn't like the looks everyone gave me when everyone believed her over me."
"Why were accused of lying?" asked Laura.
"On Earth we take tests on paper…" Kim said in a slow manner as she was remembering what she had told Kyra about it a week ago. "The teacher's copy of the test has the answers written on it and her copy came up missing from her desk the very first time she gave us a test. Since I got all of the answers right after taking that test, she accused me of stealing it. No one believed me and I wasn't going to confess to something I didn't do. The teacher was talked into giving me another test with different questions on it by the principle and like the first test I got them all right."
"Did your teacher believe you after that?" asked Laura. "
No," said Kim. "She didn't start believing me until I aced six tests in a row under her watchful eye. I hated the feeling of not being believed and that's the reason why I won't lie."
"Does ace means to answer all the questions correctly?" asked Laura.
Kim nodded and said, "It does."
Kim followed Laura into a small room that was set-up like a miniature barracks. After Kim saw what bed she was to sleep on, Laura told her about the platinum room. The platinum room was once the businessmen's party room, but after the Olympic Carrier became the ship for orphans, the platinum room is where the majority of the teenagers go to hangout.
Five minutes later, Zoey saw Kim stopping just inside the large room while gazing over the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of people between the ages of twelve and seventeen with a disturbed expression on her face. Kim was barely able to hear music over the steady static that the crowd was producing from their blended conversations. Zoey stepped up to Kim and tried to ask over the crowd, "Are you okay, Kim?"
Kim heard Zoey's voice and as she faced her, she asked, "What?"
Kim read Zoey's lips as she repeated, "Are you okay?"
"Being here just reminds me of a fund raiser my dad took me to when I was seven," Kim said loud enough for Zoey to hear. "I was ready to hang myself from pure boredom after ten minutes. Are there other places to go on this ship that people go to, to hang out? A place to read would be even good."
"There's a recreation room, but not too many kids over the age of twelve go there unless they're there because of a younger brother or sister," said Zoey.
"Where's that at?" asked Kim.
Zoey told her how to get to the recreation room. Before Kim had a chance to respond, Zoey asked, "Are you going there?"
"I'm certainly not staying here," said Kim.
Zoey pointed in the direction of her friends and said, "Give me a second and let me tell Brinna and the others where I'm going and I'll go with you."
Kim just nodded.
Minutes later, Kim and Zoey walked into the recreation room. The room was moderately crowded with kids eleven years old and younger along with a few supervising adults and two sixteen-year-old boys. The game tables showed signs of wear from being overly used. Pieces to some of the games were missing. Zoey saw a game of Squares that was not being played and had all of its pieces as Kim said, "I see a few game tables open. So what do you want to play?"
"There's actually only one game of Squares that is open that has all of its game pieces," said Zoey.
"I'm game if you are," said Kim.
Zoey gave Kim a curious look and asked, "Are you asking me to play the game of Square?" Kim just grinned and nodded. "It's been a couple of years since I've played last, but sure. I'll play."
Kim and Zoey walked over and sat down at the game. As they were setting up, one of the sixteen-year-old boys stepped up and said, "I'm surprised to see you in here, Zoey."
Zoey gestured towards Kim and said, "This is Kim. She's new to the ship. Kim, meet Brite."
Kim just waved as Brite asked, ""Why didn't you take Kim to the platinum room?"
"We just came from there…" said Zoey.
Before Zoey was able to finish her thought, Kim said, "I was there for only a couple of minutes and that was long enough to know that I'll be hanging myself out of pure boredom within thirty minutes if I'd stayed."
"You think the platinum room is boring?" Brite questioned. Kim just nodded. "This is the first time that I heard the platinum room as being boring."
"You can't hear anyone talk and you can barely hear the music over the mixed conversation," Kim began. "It's so crowded in there that you can't move around without bumping into someone. So what's not boring about it?"
"The adults don't watch us there and we can get by with some things without getting in trouble," said Brite.
"Like sex, drugs and alcohol?" Kim questioned.
Brite smiled and said, "A couple having sex in that room has happened on a few occasions, but it doesn't happen often and each time it did the room was supposed to have been vacant and locked up. Drugs are completely prohibited. In fact, you can be in serious trouble if any non-prescribe drugs get found in your possession. I don't know what alcohol is though."
Kim thought for a second before saying, "Ambrosia is an alcoholic drink."
Brite grinned and said, "I know a few kids who got their hands on a bottle of ambrosia about two years ago. They were sixteen at the time. They got caught and were severely disciplined."
"So what can you get by with in the platinum room?" asked Kim.
"You can talk without being censored," Brite began. "I'm not talking about having sex, but a couple can get close to one and another without being told to break it up. When it's not so crowded, people can hear the music better and they dance to it."
"And when is it not crowded?" asked Kim.
"In about three or four hours from now it won't be as crowded," said Brite. He gestured towards a ten-year-old boy. "I bring my brother Mitch in here after class. I work on my class assignments after that and when I get to the platinum room, it won't be as crowded as it is now. So how about giving the platinum room another chance before judging it as boring?"
"Fine, I'll give it another chance, but I won't go when it's shoulder to shoulder people," said Kim.
Brite grinned and said, "I don't like it when it's like that either. The platinum room's not boring though."
"We'll see," said Kim.
Brite again grinned and as he gestured towards his brother again he said, "I should go back with my brother."
Kim nodded and said, "Okay."
When Brite stepped away, Kim and Zoey began playing their game.