Room 209, Wednesday morning

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Aeryn comes back to her room after Sociology, stopping when she sees something small, thin and red standing up in front of her door.

She attempts to kick it out of her way when she tries to get into her room, but next thing she knows it's drawing a big red C on her arm.

Remembering the announcements, she asks, "What are you grading me on, exactly?"

It twitches a little.

"If you don't know, I'd say I deserve at least a B," she says.

The crayon twitches against her hand, and puts a - next to the C.

"No," Aeryn tells it.

The crayon actually bounces. Another bouncer. Great.

Aeryn glares.

The crayon stops bouncing. After a moment under Aeryn's glare, the crayon puts another mark on Aeryn's arm to read C+.

"Frell you," Aeryn says.

The crayon... looks a little offended. And scratches out the C to write B. The plus is still next to it.

"Was that really so difficult?" asks Aeryn.

The crayon goes about its merry way, as sentient crayons do, and Aeryn locks the door to her room once she's inside. Stupid planet and its stupid crayons.

[I'm home for the afternoon. Entertain me.

ETA: Dear self: saying Sam stopped by is cool. Conversation? NFB. Kthnx.]

Comments

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam knocked on the door to what she was hoping was Aeryn's room. She kept rubbing at her forehead, where a bright red "A" seemed to be making itself at home. "Stupid crayon."

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Aeryn unlocks the door, opening it a little at first, then wider when she sees it's Sam. "It got you too?" she says.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam rolled her eyes, still rubbing. "I guess? Just so you know? They don't usually do that."

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"I'm very glad to hear that. Did you want to come in?" she asks.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Sure, thanks," she said, stepping over the threshold. "I guess you have some questions..." On some level, she was relieved to be able to finally broach this subject with someone who wasn't Janet, Daniel, Charlie, Liz, or butthead Jack.

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Aeryn closes the door again, nodding a little. "I actually think I knew quite a bit, but..."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." Sam folded her arms across her chest. In addition to everything else, she was dying to know how the 302 handled. "So. Ask away, and I'll answer if I can."

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"I knew that there's a group of you who are older than you look," she says carefully, remembering her conversation with Janet from a while back. "How's that possible?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I'm a clone," Sam said, bluntly. "A group of aliens copied the original--the one in Colorado--and made me a teenager using some kind of technology they wouldn't let me take apart I don't understand yet, and sent me here."

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"Oddly enough, that kind of makes sense," she says. "And you all used to work for the military, except for Elizabeth, before this cloning happened?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Sam said, ignoring the part where Janet and Charlie hadn't technically been working for the military because they'd been dead. "In the Air Force. Did you...did you see the 'gate, when you were there?"

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She nods. "You drew that for me when I left," she says.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I did." She went into lecture mode. "If you'd found another one of those, the symbols I gave you would have generated a wormhole that ended in Colorado. See, the 'gates are capable of generating stable wormholes between them, so you can go between galaxies and star systems without a ship, and in mere minutes."

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For a second Aeryn's brain sticks on the word "wormholes", but that's a whole other thing and she knows it has nothing to do with this thing. "I didn't see any where I was," she says, and she actually did look when she could. "Maybe these things don't reach that far?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Maybe. Ours were both buried, so the ones out your way might just not have been found yet."

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She'll probably never know if they are. "Do the..." She doesn't want to say real, so she starts over with, "Do the people you were cloned from know about this?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Although they don't know about Charlie. Janet ran into them by accident over winter break, but before that, they didn't know about her existence either."

"I'm the only one who meant to have this happen to them," Sam said, "if that matters."

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"Well, it doesn't matter, but... why? If you don't mind me asking."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Eighth. She was my responsibility, and I blew it. Didn't pull the trigger, trusted her more than I should have. So I wanted to make sure I'd still be here to take her down if she struck again."

"Unfortunately, I failed at that too," she said, thinking of the aborted attack on Caprica.

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"Eighth," Aeryn repeats, not entirely sure she should know the name.

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"Our Tactics of War professor," Sam said, bitterly. "I believe you know her as Samantha Carter."

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"Who was a robot with your name who looked like you," she says slowly.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Not...exactly. She was a robot with my name who looked like her."

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"Right," Aeryn says, making a note to remember that. Just because she sometimes doesn't differentiate between herself and her other self, it doesn't mean others are the same way. "But she's... Eighth's... gone now, isn't that the important part?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"She's gone, but she's not dead." Sam knew that Aeryn, coming from her background, would understand better than others might. "She's still a threat. She almost took out Lee Adama's home galaxy a couple of weeks ago."

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She takes this is, not reacting outwardly, but she does get it. "Because even if she's not a threat here, there's nothing to stop her to do what she just did," she says. "Is it something that's back in the hands of your military, or still something you're watching? And you can tell me to shut up at any time," she reminds her, because she also gets 'classified.'

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"They're watching, but so am I," Sam replied. "Actually, it's kind of a relief to talk about it. Lee was too worried about his home, understandably so, but still. Jack's gone AWOL, and Janet's a doctor, not a soldier. She almost understands, but not quite completely."

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"She doesn't see the same things you do," Aeryn nods.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"No. Plus, the fact that she had my, er, her face didn't help." Sam shrugged. "It made her more sympathetic, but I couldn't forget."

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Aeryn nods. "You doing okay after all that?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Sure, great," she said, dryly. There really wasn't any way she'd ever be 'good' with it. She'd been gullible, and now entire galaxies were at risk. "What about you? How was the X-302?"

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"It's a little shaky, but has a good start," she says. "I'm still here, so that says something for it."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Beats the heck out of the X-301, then," Sam snickered. It was funny now, though it certainly hadn't been at the time. "If Jack ever comes back, you can ask him about it."

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"I'll keep that in mind," she promises.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam nodded again and slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "Are we okay? I know this can kind of throw people. Y'know, clone, adult, Air Force...you name it."

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"Yeah," she says. "Janet explained some things around Halloween, but there were gaps. Things make more sense now."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Good, thanks," Sam said, obviously relieved. "Obviously, this isn't common knowledge. If nothing else, people would flip out over the whole Eighth thing."

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"Obviously," she agrees. "I won't say anything."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." Sam decided to ask Aeryn a question she might not have otherwise. "Are you okay with being back? Really?"

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She takes a deep breath and says honestly, "I'm getting there. It's an adjustment."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sam made a face. "If you don't, I understand completely, and I'd be happy to work out with you in the gym sometime if you just wanted to ignore it for a while."

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"I'm getting there, too," she says, because while smaller things are coming out, the big things are still... big. "I am back in the gym more often, though."

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"Good. Familiar patterns and activities help, I've found." She smiled and headed for the door. "If you ever need an ear, you know where I am and that I can handle it, right?"

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"Yeah," she says, and gives her a little smile. "Thanks."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Welcome. I'll see you around."

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"Bye, Sam," she says, and closes the door again behind her.