Awakening.

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Amy looked over at Acha. 'Oh, that was the doorbell. It was a delivery man dropping off the DNA samples I'm studying today. When people go to a house that isn't their own, they either knock on the door or ring the doorbell, so that the owner of the house can open the door to greet them.' Amy explained. Amelia smiled. 'Thank you for your concern. It means a lot that you wish me no harm. Many do wish me harm. It gets exhausting. And I'm glad that we're close enough to worry about each other. Its nice to have a battle buddy.' Amy said
 
Thank you for that. It means much to me too. I just wish I was strong enough to protect you.
But there was something else that demanded mention. Acha wasn't familiar with the concept of DNA, and she had been meaning to ask; as before, now too she had an idea of the meaning through Amy's thoughts, but as now it was a current problem, she wanted to be sure.
As far as I understand, DNA is a certain... description of me inside my body, is that right? How do you access that?
 
Amy mulled her words over. 'Yes, sorta. Your DNA is short for Deoxyribonucleic acid. It is the genes and chromosomes in you. Its your skin, your hair, your blood, your saliva. Its the basic bulding blocks that makes someone what they are. It tells what the person should look like, and if you have the DNA from two people, you can make estimates on what their children may look like.' Amy said. 'You access DNA by collecting a sample through tissues, spit, hair, bodily fluids, ect. Then you study it with scientific instruments like microscopes.' Amy put her bowl in the sink.
 
I see. Much of this is new to me. I'm sure I'll understand it better as I watch, if you talk about it as you work.
Part of it was, of course, that Acha was interested in this new way of studying a living being. Part of it was that she wanted to see what Amy was doing. Part of it was that she wanted to be useful as soon as possible. And part of it was that she was just grateful for anything that directed her thoughts away from the still new wound.
By now she had tried several kinds of fruit, each was different than those she knew, but they were just as good. She had never really considered eating much of an experience before, but now this was another way in which she had to get used to the world. In a way she was like a child again, and, like a child, interested in everything.
 
Amy picked up the box. 'I'm taking the box into my lab. You can come with.' She said and started walking towards the third room. Once inside the room, Amy sat the box on a desk, retrieving scissors and opening the box. Amy took out the DNA samples, positioning one under the microscope and writing down it's name.
'Is there anything in particular you want to know about?' Amelia asked, looking at the sample through the microscope. She scoffed. 'They just gave me plant matter. Its only a tree leaf. I'll analyize it anyways, I suppose.' Amy shook her head and continued to look at the sample and write down observations.
 
Acha stood carefully to the side and watched as Amy unpacked the samples. She was going to ask many questions about the procedure and about DNA itself, but something that Amy said caught her attention first.
You say it's plant matter as if plants were somehow less worthy of observation, or... not as good. Is that it? Why?
She liked plants, the calmness with which their thoughts ebbed and flowed with the weather, as if they were more closely a part of the world itself; she liked to watch them, although she didn't talk, she didn't think they would be interested in anything she has to say, it was simply soothing.
 
Amy rocked her head from side to side in a noncommittal motion. 'Well, plants are worthy of observation, but the people at the dig sites are supposed to be looking for animal DNA. Or human DNA. Fossils as well, if they don't crush them all.' Amy took the sample out of the microscope and moved to another microscope. This microscope was connected to a computer. Amy slid the sample in and turned everything on. 'What do we have here?' She thought to herself. Amy increased the magnification and typed something on the keyboard. 'Oh nice! Teeny tiny ant fossil. Love it! Look at the screen. The ant fossil is the gray shape in the middle.' Amy said, pointing it out and writing down her findings.
 
That felt very strange. Not that it wasn't fascinating; it was. Acha looked at the screen - the machinery itself was interesting too, but she tried to focus on the findings.
The ruins above us, the newer ruins, that's what your people are studying, isn't it? That means this ant is much younger than me, and a fossil. That's what I would look like if I had stayed outside, just a little bit bigger.
That was so easy to imagine too. In a way she already felt like a fossil, inflexible and unliving, but still present. Isn't that what happens to anything that stays past its time? This was when it occurred to her. This was simply past her time. She can try to survive, but it will still be past her time, and there is no changing that. Does she really have to try to survive, then? Is it worth it?
 
Amy pursed her lips and looked at Acha. 'That is a possibility, but most likely, you would have decomposed or turned to dust. Fossilization is a bit of a hard thing to achieve.' Amy said matter of factly. She put away the sample and got out another. 'I'm glad that you didn't stay outside. I wouldn't have been able to meet you then. Believe me when I say meeting you was probably the highlight of my life.' Amy said with a smile. 'I feel like a high schooler who just found their clique. The group of friends they belong with. Mind you, I never found that clique. Everyone in my home town hated me.' Amelia said. She went back to the other microscope and slid this new sample in. Amy wrote down some things and quickly moved to the computer linked microscope.
 
Acha shook her head, even as she followed the new picture on the screen with her eyes.
That's still strange to me. Why would everyone hate you? I believe you, of course, but can't imagine it.
Not only could she not imagine it, she also wished it wasn't true. It was good, in a way, to have someone to live for. It was good to have a friend. But in another way, it was also a burden to be somebody's only friend. It was clear to Acha that Amy wanted her there, that she was important to her; yet it was also clear that one cannot simply live for the sake of providing company for someone, but one also cannot die in good conscience if she is the only friend somebody has. She felt trapped between a world that was gone and one that she didn't belong to but felt she must not leave.
 
'Why did they hate me? Because I was smart, and a know it all, and kinda annoying.' Amy said shrugging. 'When I'm done with work for the dig site in entirety, I'll head back home. If you'd like, you can come with. I would love for you to see where I live. Its a nice place.' Amy smiled again and quickly finished up the DNA work. She turned to Acha. 'Would you mind if I could snag some of your DNA? Im not going to be using these instruments, Im going to use this analyzer, if thats alright with you.' Amy got up and took the cover off a new machine.
 
Of course. Acha looked at the analyzer from every direction, wondering how it worked. She hoped no wounds would be necessary; after all, Amy did say there was also DNA in her hair. But even if there would be a small wound, she found it difficult to say no, after Amy did so much for her. But it's very hard to imagine you annoying. Of course I wouldn't know how humans feel... but you don't annoy me. And I'll go with you as long as you will have me. What choice did she have after all? Where else could she go? She only hoped she wouldn't overstay her welcome.
 
Amy grinned. 'You make saliva, right? If so, you can just spit into this mouth piece.' Amy said. 'Its clean, I promise.' Amy turned on the machine. Amy was interested to see what Acha's DNA was like, especially compared to her own. 'I am very curious about you. Especially with your DNA compared to mine. I know now that I shouldn't have been able to open that door, but I did. And honestly, I need to know why. It would be cool if humans were descendants of your kind and not primates.' Amy started humming, getting excited. 'That would open up a world of possibilities! Telepathic communication between humans could be possible! Or, half of the human population is primate evolved, and the other half is evolved from your species.' Amy wrote down her ideas in a new notebook, grinning.
 
Acha smiled nervously as she spit into the mouthpiece. I don't know... I think I hope it's not so. It's a disconcerting thought. I don't mean to hurt your feelings but I don't think I would want my people to evolve into humans. She put the mouthpiece down as she continued her train of thought. However, wouldn't there be two distinctly separate kinds of humans if they were of two different origins? As far as I know, some species that have evolved on different lines take similar shapes due to the similar life conditions they needed to adapt to; but those are still separate species. It could perhaps more easily be a cross between the two. But I don't know that that's even possible. We reproduce with eggs, and what primates I remember were viviparous. And, well... I can't imagine it working... anatomically speaking.
 
'Anything is possible through evolution.' Amy said. Amy flicked a switch on the machine and put her eye on the eye piece. 'Also, you may not have directly evolved into us, nor primates, favoring the cross species idea. But, that would have required a bit of evolution before the two species were able to mate.' Amy pursed her lips. 'Your DNA is very interesting.' She said, moving to a different part of the machine and fiddling with some dials, then touching a screen. 'It matches a few human qualities, and a few lizard qualities. According to your DNA, you should be blonde and blue eyed. But you're not.'
 
Acha tilted her head to look at the screen, though she couldn't understand what the display said. Some of us have... no, had blue eyes. Not like you, in rings, but like me, just fully blue instead of fully grey. But I don't think anyone among us had blonde hair, unless white counts as blonde. Usual hair colours were shades of grey from white to black, sometimes greyish brown or greyish violet, but I haven't seen as brown as yours. I'm still thinking about the door too; I think it would be worthwhile as an experiment to have a large number of humans try to open it one by one and see whether some of them can, or none, or all. But I don't want them to go in there, even if it's empty now. I don't think we can get around that, short of installing a new door in an empty field somewhere, but I didn't make the doors, and I don't completely know how.
 
Amelia nodded. 'Yeah, I assume its because you have a different chemical structure. But it is still fascinating.' Amy tapped the screen again and turned a dial. 'The machine is comparing your sample to my DNA. My genetic code is stored in the computer.' Amy explained as her own DNA data popped up on the screen next to Acha's. 'there are many options. We can see what it would look like if we had a child, as in hair color, eye color- all in human standard though. We can look at similarities and differences, and it can scan our data to estimate our parentage and if we were/are related.' After a moment of pause, Amy was struck with an idea. 'One day, I'm going to have you explain your species reproduction. Ill explain mine, in turn.'
 
All right. I'll gladly tell you as much as I know. Acha peered at the screen. Can this machine also tell what you would look like in terms of our kind? Though it wouldn't have enough data for that, I suppose... That was something of a pity. If only Amy could live in their town and be one of them, and everyone else wouldn't be dead, she would be so happy now, she thought. And even if that wasn't possible, she would have at least liked to imagine it. I don't think it would say we are especially closely related, we are from different species after all. But just out of curiosity... What does it say our children would look like?
 
'It could, if I played around with a few settings.' Amy said, flipping a switch, pressing some buttons and tapping the screen. An image popped up. 'Well, that's interesting.' Amy looked at herself as one of Acha's people. She had stark white hair, grey eyes, and the bluish skin. Amy stared at the picture for a moment. 'Thats me! Crazy!' Amy said, smiling. She turned to Acha. 'Still wanna see what our baby could look like?' She asked, printing the picture of her as one of Acha's people. 'Oh, I'm going to look at it anyways.' Amy tapped the screen and it produced two images. One as a child of Acha's species, and one of a human child.
 
That's amazing. Acha's eyes went round in wonderment. I mean you also look beautiful as you are, and it's not that I want you to look different... it's just that when I see how you would look as one of us, it's so... I don't even know if it's more of a sad or happy feeling, thinking about what it could have been like. Can I have a picture like that too?
She was so occupied with that that it took her a few minutes to look up at the screen again, at the pictures of the children. A little smile spread across her lips, and then she blushed. Well - that's impossible in several ways anyway, and it's just an estimation too. But it's still interesting to see.
 
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