While the countdown for the ACE continued, there was some important information that needed to get out to some people before it officially began.
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"So, Iphis, Ianthe, Ty, and Lily," said the scientist keeping tabs on that group, "You've been going at it quite vigorously, so your neighbors say." They nodded, not commenting on it.
"I thought you might want to know that anacondas are one of the species of snakes that give birth to live young rather than eggs." continued the scientist.
"Wha...?" said Ty, not expecting that.
"We'll be keeping tabs on you, partly to take note of what constitutes a hermaphroditic pregnancy, and partly to help those who haven't had a pregnancy before." finished the scientist, looking pointedly at Ty.
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Jack and Mary Piper were called to the main office to learn some surprising news.
"How are you two doing?" asked one scientist from Horizon.
"We're doing all right." answered Mary, "We can officially consider ourselves closer to the friends-with-benefits stage in our relationship, but I'm still not letting him in my bed yet." Jack gave a fake pout at that.
"That's good, because, according to the amount of Season Passes being bought for Cheaper by the Dozens, Season 1, on ITunes, everyone is looking forward to the first season. Because of that, you've gotten more than enough money to cover your community service AND pay for three more seasons."
"Really?" asked Mary, certainly not expecting that.
"Also, according to our post-Acclimation-Class evaluation, it's determined that each of your offspring has one form of high-functioning autism or other. However, only one of your children can be known as an autistic savant, like in the movie Rain Man."
"Is that good?" asked Jack, having never heard of such a thing.
"I'll show you the movie he's talking about when we get home." answered Mary, having seen the movie once or twice.
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"So what is the big news you wanted to share with us about the island you're planning to give to Animalia as a second part to the planned Dinotopia colony?" asked Clara of another government agent that had shown up. However, this was the kind of government agent that mainly had to deal with the government's paperwork.
"It wasn't easy to find the paper trail, considering some if it goes back to even before the American Revolution." said the Agent, starting from the top of the notes he had brought, "The island is officially known as Skull Island, which started out as a prison for the most dangerous convicts in the Spanish Empire. But when the Spanish Empire collapsed, the prisoners quickly rebelled against their wardens and turned it into a pirate citadel/stronghold. The first recorded mention of Skull Island in American History was when Andrew Jackson invaded Florida during James Monroe's tenure as President. He found that the British Privateers that were encouraging the Seminole tribe to raid settlements in Georgia were using Skull Island as a backup base of sorts. While Monroe negotiated with Spain for the rights to the Florida Territory, he gave permission to Andrew Jackson to shut down the pirate base on Skull Island. After Spain ceded Florida to the US, they also gave them Skull Island.
After that, it was used by the United States as a Prison for their own extremely dangerous convicts. But during Martin Van Buren's administration, it was discovered that the wardens were spending more time looking for supposed buried pirate treasure than taking care of the prisoners. One report, which was actually Whig Party campaign literature (which wasn't discovered until 1890), said that nothing had been done to improve the terrible conditions that had caused the first prison riot against the Spanish. In fact, part of their campaign included a promise by William Henry Harrison to permanently shut down the prison on Skull Island. But that didn't happen until after John Tyler assumed the presidency after Harrison's death, but before the Whigs expelled John Tyler from their party.
After that, there are only two or three references to Skull Island, mainly during the American Civil War that the Confederates were desperately combing the island for the supposed pirate treasure hoard still hidden there so they could finance their failing war. U.S. Grant took advantage of it by placing Union sharpshooters and lookouts to whittle down Confederate Forces that came ashore to seek the treasure hoard. In doing so, he helped contribute to the defeat of the Confederates by forcing them to lose experienced soldiers in pursuing a mythical treasure that doesn't exist as far as we know."
"So why is it called Skull Island?" asked Robbie, looking over the map that showed that Skull Island was seventeen miles off the eastern coast of Texas, and also 17 miles off the western coast of Florida.
"It's because of it's most infamous rock formation, which is on a sandbar ten meters from the isle proper." answered the government agent. "It's a rock formation that looks like a human skull formed by natural weathering and splitting of the rock that's big enough to be seen when you're half a day's travel away from Skull Island when traveling from the East, South, or West."
"We'll take a look at it during the summer." said Clara, "We've got plenty on our plates right now with the upcoming ACE, as well as mine and Robbie's anniversary."