Coeus?

by Andur

  He stays buried in the sand most of the time and only comes out when he has a visitor.

  “That's why I volunteered as a translator. It's exciting to be the first one who gets the chance to study a new language.” One of Ayo's round eyes focuses for a moment on me. “Your leaders seem to be very dependent on their subordinates. Maybe you should focus less on what you can't tell them. Tell them the obvious instead. Once they realize the stupidity of their demands they will stop making them.”

  I raise my real hands and signal that I give up. “Okay. What would you tell them.”

  Ayo answers by curling up the thin membrane with which he creates sound to speak. “I would tell them that the others value their privacy since they like to hide. They are very patient since they never sought contact with your people.”

  “That might have other reasons. Back then we were fighting each other.” I interrupt. “They could be pacifists.”

  “It doesn't change the fact that they are patient. And they are on a completely different technological level than the other known races. I am hoping to find a complete new world-view. Maybe they are offering us a new philosophy like the Urrapiops.” The Zeen wriggles in anticipation. “We are currently translating one of their holy stories about the beginning of the universe.”

  “Nobody besides the Zeen understands the wicked minds of the Urr. Talking to a plant is easier. How much did you translate and how long did it take you?” I ask. The Urr are a living hive-mind which encases an entire world. There is a hypothesis that the Urr may be actually older than the Zeen. The only problem is that talking to the Urr is like talking to a person with multiple personality disorder on world level.

  Ayo pulls his hands close to his body. “We think that we've identified eight coherent sentences.”

  “Oh, eight already? Last time I checked you had also eight and you have been working on it for over a hundred years. If you keep it up you'll have the book translated when the universe ends.”

  “All it takes is one big breakthrough and all the other pieces fall into place on their own. It's like that with all languages.” Ayo answers in a chipped manner.

  “I think it's just bugging your species that you can't talk to the Urr. You should stop seeing it as a problem of translation. From our point of view the Urr are crazy. You never know if you are talking to a child, the most brilliant mind, or an idiot savant. I think something went wrong when they fused their minds together. It can't be healthy to have the minds of your entire species inside your head.”

  My little speech is suddenly interrupted by an alarm. The habitat's warm, white lights turn blueish and a hologram appears in the middle of the empty room.

  Ayo scuttles to the hologram and starts manipulating it. As a representative of the Zeen he has full access to the ship's sensor logs and can observe everything that's happening on the bridge.

  The captain's voice echoes through the room. “It seems like we are about to have our official first contact with the phantoms.”

  “Weren't we supposed to arrive in a week in their system?” Ayo asks, interrupting the hectic work on the bridge.

  “The phantoms apparently don't know or don't care about our schedule. At least the technicians were able to improve our sensors. Otherwise we wouldn't have seen them.” The captain answers and forwards a tactical representation of the situation to Ayo's hologram.

  Ayo gestures with one of his appendages and the tactical display is enlarged. “So the Tallagan took the explored FTL-route from Nash to Kaus Borealis. From there we wanted to go to 93825, which is the shortest way to our destination. It just so happens that the phantoms are parking their butts at the entrance to that FTL-route. One might think they are intending to deny us going any further.”

  I snort. “One might think? There are a little too many red dots for my liking.” There seem to be at least fifty ships with the mass of the Tallagan. In addition there is a big, huge red dot which has to be several times more massive than any other ship I know of. “Did they pull an asteroid into the FTL-route to block it?”

  The Zeen points at the cloud of red dots. “I think they knew that we are coming and came out to greet us. It makes no sense to dispatch that many ships to block a single FTL-route. Of course it could be that they simply have a lot of ships. But if they have so many ships to spare for each FTL-route, then your people and the Drazi are... are...”

  Ayo gestures for help. “How do your people say? Cut off your hands instead of fighting a lost battle?”

  I blink. “I think you mean: 'Better not to fight a losing battle and cut off a hand, than fight it and die.'” But I get what Ayo means. If they have that many ships at each possible FTL-route to their systems that far out, then they could simply overrun us. “If that's not the case, Ayo. It would mean we are at their mercy.”

  “Don't worry. For some unknown reason most known species are at a similar technological and expansive level. That's why I favour the possibility that they knew we were coming. Your people already assumed that they have FTL communication. Probably they have installed stealthed sensor platforms in every system they visited.” The Zeen calls up a map of the previous star systems. “There were some systems with many asteroids on our course. With their stealth-tech it should be easy to monitor us without being seen.”

  I start gnawing at the thumb of my third hand. “It's all wrong.”

  Ayo turns his body to face me. “What's wrong.”

  “Their technology. They have FTL communication. Their ships have laughable shields, but they have gravity propulsion. Their stealth-tech gives us nothing to see but shadows, but their weapons are mediocre at best. Yet they have self-replicating robots. And we haven't even seen their method of travelling from star to star. It's like their technology took a completely different path from ours.” I complain.

  Ayo starts jumping on all fours. “Isn't that exciting? Oh. Look! I think they are dropping their stealth!”

  36. ~Non Verbal.~

  “

  Shamanistic-Magic allows for a whole group of healing and clairvoyance spells. Many people who are gifted in this area choose the path of a doctor.

  ”

  -Magical Affinities

  Kaus Borealis, Coeus

  Gideon

  We are sitting together in the canteen of living-module two and drinking coffee. For some reason Cyla organized regular meetings with Ed. She likes the idea of us getting familiar with each other.

  “I heard you called one of the linguists a Lazy Sod?” Ed asks me in an inquisitive manner. “There were several complaints about you insulting people in public.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “If I said something offensive, then I did so because it's the truth.”

  “What did he do?” Ed asks.

  “He wanted me to reconfigure one of the ship's military class lasers to a communication laser. Apparently there isn't enough bandwidth for all the linguist's communication attempts. I told him in a friendly manner to fuck off, but he didn't give up.”

  I take sip from my coffee. “So I took a look at his attempt to create an alphabet based on the periodic table of the elements. Apparently the periodic table didn't have enough elements for his purposes, so he simply invented new ones and added them where he saw fit.”

  “Aaand you didn't like the idea of inventing new elements?” Cyla shortens my story to the essential point.

  I put down my cup. “Hell, no! The periodic table is there for a reason. There is no such thing as new or unnamed elements. Someone who doesn't understand that has no reason to be out here in space where a small mistake costs lives.”

  Raising a finger I start making my point. “I've read countless stupid stories where the author simply uses a new element to solve everything. Bullshit! Once a book starts like this you can as well throw it into the campfire.”

  Then I return to the actual story at hand. “Regarding the idiot who intended to use the table of the elements. Let's suppose that the aliens realize that he sent them a table
of the elements. How the hell are the aliens supposed to understand the random addition of imaginary elements? They'll think we are nuts when we add VocaloidNumberNine between Hydrogen and Helium! Who let this guy onto my ship?”

  “Maybe that's the reason why he didn't get the bandwidth to try it.” Ed mumbles to himself.

  “How are the communication attempts going?” Cyla asks. “We were too busy to set up the asteroid habitat for the contact team. Do they really intend to invite the Forlorn over? Is it even safe to have them in the same environment as us?”

  “Apparently there should be no problem. They are breathing the same gases as us.” I answer. “Of course our doctors will check them for bugs which could harm us. They already got a few samples from them. But so far it looks like we can't infect each other. The Forlorn chemistry is based on copper and the Zeen seems to be something that doesn't even classify as alive according to our doctors.”

  “You've informed yourself well.” Cyla raises an eyebrow and studies me.

  “I've no interest in dying to something that I can't even see.” I answer.

  Ed spreads his hands. “The eggheads are trying their best, but there are some translation problems with the alien language. Apparently some of their concepts don't really translate to ours and vice versa. We are stuck at the level of simple concepts and pictures. We can show them what we want and hope that they are interpreting it right.”

  I snort. “So it's the cup-problem.”

  “Cup-problem?” Cyla asks.

  I raise my cup of coffee. “Hier, nimm das.” Then I place it back on the table. “What did I say?”

  “This is coffee?” She asks.

  “Why not liquid? White? Black? Milk? Hot? Good? Inedible? I could have simply offered it to you or given you an order.” I ask.

  “I get the problem. So what did you really say?” She asks.

  “That you should take it.” I answer.

  Ed nods slowly. “Maybe meeting the Forlorn in the habitat will get things going.”

  Kaus Borealis, Asteroid Habitat

  Ilin Kleio

  “They built all this in just a few days.” I wander through the foreign habitat. It's nothing fancy, but there are a few buildings to live in and something like a small sun is shining above us.

  Ayo seems less impressed than me though. “They did nothing more than pulling an asteroid to this location. Then they hollowed it out and sealed it air tight. That's something my people have been doing for aeons. What's far more impressive is the artificial gravity! I don't understand how they are doing it, but it has something to do with those runes.”

  The Zeen are far more advanced than us, so Ayo has less reason to marvel at the achievements of these outsiders. I let my eyes wander to the strange bipedal aliens. Our linguists and theirs are trying to work out each other's languages for days, but it doesn't look like we'll ever be able to understand these people.

  “Shouldn't you be over there, Ayo? You are here to learn their language, aren't you?” I ask.

  “I am learning. I am listening to every word they are saying over there.” Ayo answers. “Actually I've almost worked out their syntax. Though I am not sure about many of their words. I am missing a vital point.”

  Ayo can hear them from here? “Your race has keen ears and you people seem to like doing things the hard way. What's the point in learning the grammar before you know what the words mean?”

  “I could also ask why you aren't doing your job, Ilin.” Ayo replies.

  “I am a psychoanalyst. I can't do any more than I've already done without being able to speak to them, or visiting one of their cities.” I answer.

  “Then what have you gathered so far?” The Zeen asks and starts digging inside his tool sack.

  “Nothing much. They seem to fulfil different roles in their society, much like us. I am not sure if they have jobs or a caste system. There seem to be the linguists and scientists who are trying to communicate with us. Then there are those with the masks. They are passive and doing nothing besides stopping us from entering their ship. I suppose they are guards or warriors.”

  “Have you noticed the ones in black clothing?” Ayo asks and unearths a strange tool.

  I scratch myself with my second hand. “Yes, but they are rarely here. I thought they are some kind of leaders, but it doesn't seem so. Otherwise they would be here more often.”

  “I've placed a great amount of attention on them. Do you know that there seem to be only two of them?” Ayo asks while manipulating the tool.

  “No? I can't tell their faces from each other. I've only noticed that they seem to have two genders and some of them made very eccentric changes to their bodies.” The linguist with three eyes and two mouths is especially disturbing to me. Aren't they screening their children for abnormalities?

  Ayo kneels down and starts chipping away one of the runes on the street's sidewalk. “I think they are technicians. And I've built a special relationship to one of them.”

  “What are you doing? They'll get angry if you destroy their habitat!” I try to stop Ayo, but the Zeen ignores me.

  “I've damaged this rune several times in the recent days and the male technician always appears to fix it. He is also very angry at me and chatters a lot of words which I never heard from the other linguists.” Ayo explains.

  “Ah, so you are doing it to complete your dictionary.” I mumble.

  “Like I said. Sometimes you are missing just one piece of information and once you get it everything else falls into place. I am also interested in those two because they communicated with each other without talking. Though that's just an assumption of mine.” Ayo finishes destroying the rune and starts floating. He stretches one of his long arms towards me. “Give me your hand. The effect is restricted to a three metre radius.”

  I take Ayo's hand and pull him to me. “You took a great risk in destroying that rune without knowing what could happen.” Are all Zeen insane?

  “It wasn't a risk. I saw the technician fixing it before I destroyed it to call him back.” Ayo answers and points at someone behind me. “There he is. I am still amazed at how fast he is. One might think that he is always waiting close by.”

  I turn around and find myself being glared at by one of the aliens. Then it starts talking to Ayo, which sounds definitely less friendly than the conversational tone of the other aliens.

  Ayo turns to me. “He is a very creative one. Do you know that he never repeated himself while calling me names?”

  The alien walks past us, apparently unaffected by the zero gravity zone. Then he starts repairing the chipped rune with a melting tool.

  I try to walk closer to see what he is doing, but Ayo holds me back. “You'll float away if you approach before he's repaired it. He has his own gravity field and is cold-hearted enough to let you float until he's repaired the rune. Then you simply drop to the ground.”

  “How can they have a mobile gravity field small enough to be carried by a person?” I gasp, then I return my attention to the alien's work. “It doesn't do more than melt the metal. There is nothing inside or behind the rune. No electronics!”

  When the alien is done it returns to stand in front of us, like daring us to destroy the rune once more.

  I whisper to Ayo. “I think it's really angry this time.” Suddenly the alien reaches out and touches both of us.

  ~Interrupt me once more during my free time and I'll space you fuckers!~ Then the alien lets go and walks away.

  “Did it just talk in my mind!?” My head snaps to Ayo.

  The Zeen nods. “Yes, cool, right? And I think he just gave me the final hint at solving the language mystery. I'll provoke it a little more to get more information. I've got to get it to tell me a sentence in voice and mind language at the same time.” Then Ayo hurries to follow the alien.

  “I wouldn't anger someone who just threatened to space me, Ayo!?” But the Zeen doesn't listen. Damn!

  37. ~State of things.~

  “
<
br />   Pyro-Magic allows control over temperature. It's basically energy manipulation in its simplest form.

  Yet all pyro-magic is bound to the law that energy can't be created or destroyed, just transferred from one form to another.

  ”

  -Magical Affinities

  Kaus Borealis, Coeus

  Gideon

  “I hate it!” I grumble.

  “Why? You were the one who found out that telepathy works. The others were all too afraid to use it on the aliens. Who knows what could happen if you connect to an alien mind?” Ed takes another sip of his coffee. “At least we now can understand and talk to each other. The Zeen is very quick on the uptake in regards to languages.”

  “It would be fine if he wouldn't stick to me as soon as I enter the habitat. He also found out that I was trying to confuse him by speaking German.” I answer, annoyed.

  “You shouldn't have used your second language to confuse him. Maybe he would've learned English even earlier without your misdirection. You've found your first male friend aside from Paul. Isn't that something to be happy about?” Ed asks. Then he raises his cup of coffee to gesture at the people around us. “It's just sad that you seem to be better at dealing with aliens than with your own race.”

  “He isn't a friend. I am not even sure if the Zeen have a gender. Ayo just wants to know how the gravity runes work.” I answer.

  “And did you tell him?” Ed leans forward.

  “Of course not. I just gave him a rough outline on the theory behind magic to distract him. It was by no means helpful to create their own rune circuits. I am not even sure if the aliens are able to use magic. Even a magical circuit needs an operator with magical abilities.” Maybe I should try to let them use one of the small circuits. “I think their nervous system is missing the ability to sense energies like ours.”

  Ed nods slowly. “Our scientists are assuming something similar. How is the situation with the battle station. Have they seen it?”

  “No, I think the upgraded stealth systems are working just fine. Of course we can only guarantee that it's undetectable while it doesn't move. We let it drift very close to the alien ship and they haven't moved nor mentioned the station. I doubt that they would simply ignore the weapon platform with a length of three kilometres while praising the asteroid habitat. It may be that they outperform us in terms of energy production, but they have nothing like our stealth-tech.” I let my mind wander to Ilin Kleio and Ayo, the two aliens who are frequently bugging me and Cyla for communication sessions.