by S. H. Jucha
“A fellow tech,” Kractik chittered to her teammates, recognizing the gleam in Hamoi’s eyes.
Jakkock connected his device to the console. It would be used to build the language translation application. But, first, the linguist need extensive input.
Kractik accessed a small panel, scrolling through a menu and diving into submenus. She was aware of the tech alien watching her every move, and she stood slightly aside so that he could see well. When she was ready, she nodded to Jakkock. Unfortunately, the linguist seemed a bit daunted by the new aliens, and Jaktook seized the opportunity to start the process.
“Jessie Cinders,” Jaktook said, waving the alien leader closer.
Jessie took a position between the female at the console and the alien who’d called to him. The male went through a pantomime of moving his hand like it was speaking, pointing to Jessie, and indicating a small panel beside the female console operator. Jessie nodded his understanding.
An image appeared above the panel, floating in air. Jessie eyed it and said, “star.” The male alien flashed his teeth and nodded enthusiastically. The female tapped her panel and another image appeared, and Jessie named that one. The process of language identification was off and running.
Jessie had the luxury of naming items with single words and counting. He was taken through hundreds of images, and it occurred to him that the female didn’t have to search for the next one. They came quickly, one after another, as if they were programmed. The mysterious Messinants, Jessie thought.
Kractik continued to display images until she reached the end of the session.
When the screen blanked, it confused Jessie. He was ready for more.
Jaktook, who’d stood aside during Jessie’s session, touched the leader’s dark body covering, which extended from head to toe. When the alien turned his way, Jaktook waved his hand over Jessie’s group and indicated the console.
“Nose, you’re up next for Jatouche education,” Jessie ordered. “No swearing or expounding on the nature of the thing you see. Look at it and call it by its name. Everyone, after Nose finishes we proceed in order of seniority, relieving one another. That seems to be our hosts’ intent. Rules, you’re last.”
While Darrin began his session at the console with Kractik and Jakkock, Jessie motioned Tacticnok aside. Immediately, the male, who kept close to her, followed in her wake.
When the three stood together, Jessie touched his chest and said, “Jessie,” then he pointed to the male.
“Jessie Cinders,” Jaktook acknowledged, wishing to show that he understood the alien leader’s proper address.
“No,” Jessie replied, waving his hand in negation. “Jessie,” he repeated.
“The leader wishes you to use a familiar. Oblige him, Jaktook,” Tacticnok said.
“Jessie,” Jaktook repeated.
Jessie repeated his name and pointed to the male and heard, “Jaktook.” Jessie was a bit more successful with that name. He was getting the hang of using his tongue against his mouth parts to imitate the sounds rather than attempting a human pronunciation.
Jaktook bobbed his head, and said to Tacticnok, “The leader learns quickly.”
When Jessie had their attention, he went through a lengthy pantomime, indicating that they needed food and would have to exit the dome and return to their base camp for it. Having no way to indicate time, he decided to forgo that aspect of his charade.
The alien leader, Jessie, was repeating his strange hand waving, when it dawned on Tacticnok what he was trying to express. She waved her hands in negation, ordered Jaktook to accompany her, and started down the ramp.
Jessie beckoned the remainder of his crew to follow.
In the corridor below, Tacticnok touched a glyph.
Jessie turned to his crew and said, “I hope everyone’s memorizing these symbols … the one for our vac suits and this one.” Jessie didn’t wait for answers, but simply followed Tacticnok into the room. He watched the female leader access a small cupboard and pull out a set of disposable plates and utensils. In front of a small dispenser, she pulled a lever and a brown, thick paste spooled onto a plate. She stuck a utensil in the pile and offered it to Jessie.
Jessie took the plate and sniffed the paste. “Jatouche?” he asked.
“Jatouche,” Tacticnok repeated, adding an indecipherable phrase and waving her hands in negation. “Messinants,” she added.
“Captain, you can’t test that,” Belinda stated firmly. “One of us has to do that.”
“I’ve the least seniority,” Aurelia said, volunteering.
Hamoi quickly spoke up. “That might be true, Rules, but then we discovered you can mesmerize our hosts. Now, I’m bottom crew member.” He reached for the dish, and Jessie reluctantly handed it to him. Sniffing it, he said, “Has a nice scent.” He spooned a small portion into his mouth, swirling the paste around and waiting for an adverse reaction before he swallowed it. After it went down, he said, “Has a slightly salty, nutty flavor. It’s not too bad, but, all things considered, I’d rather be dining aboard the Belle.”
“Wouldn’t we all,” Tully commented.
Hamoi took his plate over to the table and seats that had come from the wall, when Jaktook touched a set of glyphs. Tacticnok opened a second cabinet, pulled down cups, filled one from a dispenser, and hurried to place it in front of Hamoi.
“Thank you,” Hamoi said, and Tacticnok flashed her teeth, expecting the alien had spoken some sort of customary response. He sipped lightly on the liquid and announced, “Water, with a dash of minerals.” Then, he took a deep swallow to wash down the paste.
Tacticnok and Jaktook left the aliens in peace. They had observed Jessie and his team wait and watch their member’s reaction to the dome’s food supply. When the aliens were satisfied, they gathered their plates, utensils, and cups to serve themselves.
On the way up the ramp, Jaktook commented, “They’re cautious, and they wouldn’t let Jessie eat first.”
“An important man to them,” Tacticnok replied. “I believe him to be the captain of the ship that you observed sitting above this satellite.”
“Surely, a captain would be too precious to risk in a first contact,” Jaktook objected.
“In our culture that would be true,” Tacticnok replied. “But who knows how these things are done in theirs.”
In the meal room, Belinda, around a mouthful of paste, asked, “What do you think, Captain, about things so far?”
“Do you mean would I think that we’d be talking into a console, as it spooled hundreds of images at us, like it was a piece of advanced planning to help aliens meet each other, and would I think I’d be sitting here eating Messinant nut paste? The answer would be no. Otherwise, they’re going unexpectedly smoothly. Although, I’m wondering what we’re going to do when it’s our turn to learn the Jatouche language,” Jessie replied.
-19-
Comm Updates
When Jessie and his crew ascended the dome’s ramp, Darrin had finished his turn at the console, and Belinda replaced him.
“Rules, take Darrin below and feed him,” Jessie ordered.
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Aurelia replied.
“We’re eating?” Darrin asked Aurelia dubiously, as he followed her down the ramp.
With little else to do, Jessie and his team sat with backs against the dome’s platform and dozed. There appeared only enough pallets to accommodate the Jatouche, and they were loath to usurp any of them.
When Belinda finished her turn, she woke Tully and indicated the console without saying a word. Tully stood, stretched, and sauntered over to the console, curious as to what images he would get. Belinda took Tully’s place and promptly fell asleep.
Tully was surprised to find that he wasn’t getting simplistic images. Instead they indicated actions, and he described what he saw. At other times, he saw a scene play out between creatures that engendered an emotion, and he did his best to elaborate on the subject.
Since arriving in the dom
e, Jessie and his crew had shared their names with four of the aliens, who had been delighted, in every case, to reciprocate. Not surprising, four of the aliens weren’t introduced.
“It’s my take, Captain,” Darrin offered, “that those four, whose names we haven’t heard, were probably the ones we saw on the first visit. And both times they’ve come here carrying the same kind of weapons we saw on the dead bodies.”
“Probably a type of beam weapon,” Hamoi surmised. “They require an energy pack, of some sort.”
“There’s probably a third door below, which we’ve not seen, a room where their suits and weapons are kept,” Belinda finished. She had the same concerns as Darrin.
“Casually gaze across the dome, and you’ll find one of those four watching us,” Jessie directed. “He’s the one with the small scar on his forehead to the right of his ridge hair. He’s definitely the security leader, probably an officer.”
By the time it was Aurelia’s turn at the console, the teenager received the most complex of the visual scenarios. Not more than a few minutes into her session, she held up her hands in defeat and woke Jessie, and he followed Aurelia back to the console.
Aurelia swirled her finger in reverse at Kractik, who recognized the universal tech gesture and started the submenu again. After each scene played, Aurelia swirled her finger forward, and Kractik moved to the next scene.
“Captain, I’m out of my depth,” Aurelia said, after a few scenarios played. “I haven’t the life experience, much less the wisdom, to describe some of these things accurately, and I don’t want to screw up what the Jatouche are learning. I think maybe Hamoi and I should be excused from this process going forward.”
After viewing a few of the console’s complex imagery, which Aurelia had been shown, Jessie could understand the young girl’s reticence. Even he felt challenged to properly describe the scenes. The first one had been that of a vicious-looking carnivore taking down a delicate herbivore and tearing its flesh, while the animal twitched and mewed. He asked himself how he would describe it. Would he try to keep it simple, detailing the action, or would he add his emotional reactions?
Kractik perceived Jessie, the alien leader, would replace Aurelia, the alien who could share her mind, in the rotation. She spoke her concern to Jakkock, who called a halt to the process, for the day. Meals would be taken and rest would follow.
However, seeing the language lessons were shut down, Jessie mentally shifted priorities, and he had an idea. It was Jessie’s thought that the Messinants had designed the domes to do much more than he could conceive, and he was about to test the boundaries of Messinant technology.
Jessie touched the console operator on the shoulder to catch her attention, and the little female alien bared her teeth in reply. It was time for another of Jessie’s pantomime, and Kractik watched with keen interest, as Jessie waved his arms, drew shapes, touched his face, and pointed above. During Jessie’s third version, Kractik grinned, whirled to the panel, and set about tapping on her panels.
Kractik set the console to monitor comm traffic and waited for a call.
Jessie peered over Kractik’s shoulder, feeling as if he were an instructor hovering over a student or a father over a young daughter. It was difficult to accept that these diminutive aliens, with their polite gestures and nonthreatening appearances, were the ones who were capable of massive planetary destruction. He had come to the conclusion that Triton’s huge crater and Pyre’s volatile surface were partially, if not entirely, due to their efforts. Don’t forget, they defeated their enemy, Jessie thought, remembering the larger alien bodies he and his crew discovered on the dome’s deck.
Kractik didn’t have too long to wait before the console detected a call from the ship overhead to a nearby location, which Kractik presumed was the aliens’ base camp. With quick touches, which scrolled a menu down, she selected a submenu item, and the console locked onto the signal and identified the signal mechanics. As communications ensued, the console identified the two signal sources and labeled them on a small map detailing the moon, dome, ship, and a fourth point beyond the tunnel’s entrance.
When Kractik was ready, she pointed to the ship and then to the base on the moon’s surface, her brow furrowing, as she awaited the leader’s response.
Jessie couldn’t understand the symbols that annotated the four locations that the console projected, but he could read a map. His finger touched the icon that hovered above the moon’s surface.
“Captain Erring here, identify yourself,” Yohlin replied.
“Doing anything useful, Captain, or just sitting around on your butt?” Jessie asked. His recognition of the console’s power was both exhilarating and terrifying, and he had a moment’s concern for its effect on Pyrean society.
“You know … hanging out on the bridge and waiting for my fool of an owner to call and update me,” Yohlin replied. She felt a tremendous sense of relief at being able to banter with Jessie.
“Yeah, I hear he’s the irresponsible sort,” Jessie said, chuckling.
“All kidding aside, Captain, you’re not relaying through the shelter, and your comm unit can’t reach the ship. What’s going on?” Yohlin asked.
“A console tech, Kractik, has identified our signal sources. I’m calling from the dome,” Jessie said.
“Who did you say?” Yohlin asked.
“The aliens have difficult names to pronounce, Captain. Just use your tongue and mouth to imitate the sounds I make, and you’ll do a lot better,” Jessie replied. “Anyway, Captain, this is a quick update for you. The dome is providing air, water, and food, of a sort. We have the necessities. We’re undergoing some sort of language teaching process, which I don’t totally comprehend, but I’m leaving it to our hosts to guide us. Within this alien group, called Jatouche, we’ve got four friendly emissaries, one security officer, and three of his reports. The friendlies appear to be in control.”
“Are the four security Jatouche carrying weapons?” Yohlin asked, with concern.
“Negative, Captain, vac suits and weapons have been stored. We’ve discovered there are rooms along the main corridor.”
“None of you ever mentioned doorways,” Yohlin said.
“Didn’t see them,” Jessie replied. “You touch a glyph to open a door, which is downright invisible.”
“The Jatouche must be incredible engineers,” Yohlin commented.
“Actually, they aren’t the most technically advanced race. Apparently, an alien race by the name of Messinants built the domes and the gates. Somehow, the Jatouche learned how to operate their dome. I think that’s part of the Messinants’ grand plan.”
“What? Learn to walk and talk, perfect space travel, and then find the dome, get access, and discover wonders. Is that what you mean?” Yohlin asked.
“Something like that,” Jessie replied. “At some point, I’m hoping the Jatouche will teach us how to do this for ourselves.”
“And who will own that incredible power?” Yohlin asked.
“That’s the ugly question, isn’t it?” Jessie replied, his voice nearly growling in disgust. He had visions of the commandant and governor maneuvering to claim the dome. “Let the shelter know that everything’s okay here. They’re probably worried.”
“Not really, we’re all enjoying the downtime,” Yohlin quipped. Then her voice shifted dramatically. “Before you go, Jessie, will I be able to call you?” she asked.
“Haven’t learned that part, yet, Yohlin,” Jessie replied, understanding the anxiety he heard in her voice. “When I do, I’ll let you know. Cinders out.”
Wondering if the reverse technique would work, Jessie touched the icon on the projected map, and the call was truncated. Kractik chittered in acknowledgment of his intuition. Jessie felt like he was on a roll, understanding the enormous capability of a dome, and decided to push his luck. He held up a single finger, hoping he was signaling Kractik to wait one. Then he hurried toward the ramp, hand signaling his crew to remain calm. The Jatouche look
ed in alarm at Kractik, who replied she thought there was no need for concern.
Jessie searched the glyphs along the main corridor. It took him a few moments to locate the one he needed. Inside the room, he accessed the first cabinet, where he’d stored his vac suit. Buried in a suit’s inner pocket was his comm unit. He carried it as a matter of habit. In this case, he’d stored it, figuring that once inside the dome it would be useless.
With the device in hand, Jessie closed the cabinet, exited the room, and hurried back to the console. Both teams watched him with interest. Jessie thumbed the comm unit open. Much to his relief, the catalog of Pyrean ships was still in memory. He hadn’t accessed the list in years, simply because he knew every ship’s structure by heart. There in the list was the Honora Belle. With a touch on the projected screen, the colony ship’s image appeared, and Jessie showed it to Kractik.
The console operator, Kractik, chittered excitedly to the members of her team, announcing her discovery, as she quickly accessed the records from Jaktook’s scope observations.
Jessie watched an image of the Belle pop up over the panel, replacing the previous four-point map. He mimed calling the ship, but the female console operator frowned.
Kractik was unsure whether the huge ship, which the alien leader desired, would operate under the same comm conditions as the ship that had brought him to the Gasnar moon. In Jatouche, there were strict standards for such things, but who knew how technologically primitive aliens operated. She had the console locate the ship, which it accomplished quickly. Then she requested the console ping the ship, using the signal standards identified earlier, and received an affirmative response.
* * * *
Birdie watched an icon on her comm panel light. It indicated an incoming call, but, before she could activate it, the icon blinked off. As that was a common occurrence, she thought no more of it. Before she could make herself comfortable in her bridge chair, the icon lit again. This time, she waited a few seconds to ensure the caller was serious before she tapped it to access the comm.