"We're probably supposed to ask them," Safa said, not bothering to keep her voice quiet as she cocked her head toward the cluster of six aliens who were all studying the humans, curiosity plain on their faces, alien or not. "I'm sure we were sent here for a reason, and they're the only other people here."
Slowly, Safa moved away from Sprocket and Lincoln, stepping beyond the lobby as Oliver cautioned her to wait.
"Hello," she said slowly. "I don't know if you can understand me, but maybe you can help us?" She sounded calm, and deliberately friendly, like she was trying to soothe a frightened child.
The aliens responded right away, a few of them smiling while the others at least relaxed. One held up a hand, fingers splayed. Four fingers and a thumb, just like humans, Evie noted automatically.
Safa stopped moving at the same time as the rest of the aliens began to shuffle around, each grabbing an instrument from a table Evie hadn't noticed before moving toward one of the humans.
Evie searched the room frantically until she locked eyes with a blue speckled Rohtet with full lips and a round stomach. They wore a silver tunic and loose black pants. Or maybe a skirt. In their hands was a massive needle, cradled like a child.
"Oh hell, no!" Gwynn said. Evie turned to see her stepping away from the Rohtet who was approaching her. Gwynn scrambled backward and the Rohtet stopped in place. But Gwynn hadn't stopped moving, still pulling away from the others, she fumbled near her belt for only a moment before pulling out a small, black gun, pointing it right at the incoming alien.
The Rohtet didn't lower the needle, but tilted its head to the side in a strangely human motion before looking around the room. Confused, or maybe startled.
"Get the fuck away from me," Gwynn said, her face flushed with fear.
Evie hadn't noticed that Gwynn and the others had armed themselves before leaving the ship, each with a small gun that could easily be hidden beneath their clothing—probably not the friendliest of signals to the aliens they were now trying to befriend. At least, that was what Evie had assumed they were doing. Maybe there had been a different plan all along, one that no one had trusted her with.
One that was probably now about to get them all killed.
Chapter Twenty-One – Oliver
Oliver's fingers grazed the cool metal of his gun as his eyes stayed fixed on Gwynn. “It’s okay, we’re okay.” Their weapons would be no match for whatever these aliens possessed, and he knew it. But if Gwynn shot first, he wasn't about to let them take her. Even Sprocket had grabbed his own gun, even though he'd resisted when Oliver had first suggested bringing them on board. They were in this together, and they weren't going down without a fight.
The Rohtet weren't giving any indication of how they intended to respond to the threat. And they didn't need to be experts in human behavior to realize that Gwynn meant them serious harm.
A bead of shimmering sweat rolled down the forehead of the Rohtet standing closest to Oliver, his fingers still wrapped around the needle he'd been approaching Oliver with. He was scared, and so were his friends. And fear like that was the kind that could get them all killed.
Safa moved first, raising her hands up, palms out. Automatically, Oliver's hand wrapped around the hilt of his gun, pulling it from its holster. But before he could raise his arm and take aim to defend his crew, Lincoln mimicked Safa's motion, showing his own hands as he tried to demonstrate that he didn't mean anyone any harm.
Oliver froze, waiting. But still there was no response. He resisted the urge to raise his own weapon as a precaution.
One of the aliens took a step back, muttering something to the others that Oliver had no chance of understanding. The others followed suit, backing away slowly without ever turning as all the humans in the room stayed as still as they could. Thankfully Gwynn didn't feel the need to add any commentary to the situation.
The door shut behind the last of the aliens, leaving them alone. And still Gwynn kept her gun held out in front of her, eyes darting around the room. "They're probably going to send in the armed guys that were waiting out there for us!"
"Or they were uncomfortable having guns pointed at them." Safa let out a long breath, shaking her body a little at the same time.
Gwynn's grip only tightened. She'd been jumpy for days now, ever since she, Oliver and Sprocket had found the aliens. Oliver had ignored the way she'd never fully relaxed since Linna and Torque had come on board, and how she'd resisted working with them whenever she could. She was freaked out, they all were. But coming here had been too much for her.
Although, to be fair, he hadn't loved the sight of the needles they'd been coming at them with either.
"We're okay," he said, more from the need to say something than actual belief in the words. "But shooting these people isn't going to do us any good." It would probably get them killed faster than the void would have managed on its own.
"They aren't people."
"Technically . . ." Safa said before Oliver shot her a warning look. Safa had adapted to all this new information better than most, and maybe one day he'd have a chance to sit and get her perspective, but this wasn't the time for a debate. Or a lecture.
Through the silence that followed it was impossible to miss the sound of the door opening again. As one, all six humans spun toward the noise, three guns raised now.
Three guns pointed at a very startled looking Torque. His eyes went wide as his hands mimicked Safa and Lincolns. "I mean no harm. Councilor Sha sent me to see what has troubled you. Those were some very startled doctors." Torque tried to force a laugh, but the noise cut off abruptly.
"Doctors?" Gwynn asked as Oliver lowered his gun. "So they were, what, trying to infect us with something?"
"No, no. I have explained. They wanted to communicate more easily with you so you would not need an... I do not know the word. What I have been doing, describing your words and their words."
"Translating," Safa said.
"Yes. You were each to be gifted with a chip of your own, so you could understand their words. Then, we would work to include your English in the Haphzha system so they could understand you also. It was a very generous offer. I had thought you understood."
Oliver frowned, working through everything he'd just been told, but his body was already relaxing, at least some part of him believing he was no longer in danger. At least not right now. "How does it work?"
"The chip would be implanted under your skin, soon it would begin interacting with the language centers of your brain as well as your ears. They help you to hear what is being said rather than the words themselves if you do not understand a language."
"Bullshit," Gwynn said. "I understand you just fine, we all do. And we don't have these chips now. There's something else going on here."
Torque's expression shifted, scrunching together slightly as the fear in his eyes disappeared, replaced with confusion. "No," he said slowly. "That is not how it works. Without both having the Haphzha device, communication is not possible this way. My chip has helped me to understand you and learn faster, yes. But I speak with you using my own voice, yes? I had learned English before, from my wife. She loved languages, and had picked up English years ago from a friend. They traded languages like trinkets. This one was from very far away, so she found it interesting. Shared some with me."
"That's not possible." This time it was Sprocket speaking in disbelief rather than Gwynn, saying exactly what Oliver had been thinking. "Humans had never met any aliens before us, let alone been to wherever you're from. There's no way any of your people had heard English before."
Torque shrugged. "That is not the story as I know it. It is rare, yes. Not common enough to be in the Haphzha system. But you are not the first. You could not be."
Oliver shook his head, disbelieving. No.
"Please," Torque said. "Use the chip. You will see the difference right away. You are friends, I would not lie."
Oliver attempted to swallow the lump in his throat, but his body and mind both
seemed to have stopped listening to him at the same time. What Torque was saying was entirely impossible. How could it be possible for anyone outside of the Sol system to know English. Humanity had been firmly entrenched in their little corner of the galaxy for all human history.
Sure, they had sent probes out, usually from English speaking parts of Earth, with all sorts of information about the cultures of Earth. But the odds of someone here finding something like that had to be astronomical. He'd ask Safa about the numbers later, but there had to be more going on here.
Unfortunately, there were also more pressing issues to deal with. Like whether he had enough information to trust the fate of his crew to alien technology.
"Me first," he said, forcing the words out. "Send someone in, use the chip on me, then if there aren't any problems, everyone else can decide for themselves what they want to do.
Torque nodded, smiling with relief. "Yes. This is good! I will let them know, then we shall begin."
Before any of Oliver's crew had a chance to talk him out of what he'd decided to do, Torque was back, only one of the Rohtet doctor's following behind him. Torque chatted happily, but the woman who had apparently been assigned to him moved cautiously, rarely taking her eyes off the humans. Not that he could blame her.
"Can she explain what is going to happen?" Oliver said, speaking rapidly as the female Rohtet raised her hand toward him. As soon as the first sound came out of his mouth, she froze.
Torque spoke quickly as well, hopefully reassuring her that Oliver meant no harm. "She says it will pinch a little as the needle goes in. Then you will feel warm all over as the device interacts with your system, although it might be a little different because it was not designed for human—"
Safa interrupted. "How do we know it's safe for humans?"
Torque repeated the question. "You are a Haj-race, she says. It is a word we use as well. You walk on two legs, are capable of advanced reasoning. I am sure you can see the similarities."
"Yes, actually. I had a few questions."
"Maybe for a little later?" Oliver said, looking at Safa. "What are the odds this thing will kill me?"
"I don't know enough. They seem confident, but it's your decision. If you don't want to try, I'm willing to be the guinea pig."
"No. I'll do it. Tell her to go ahead."
Oliver braced himself as the doctor approached, doing his best—and failing—not to flinch as the thin needle pierced his skin near the back of his neck. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it might, but there was no denying the feeling of cool metal slipping in where it had no business being, and his body tensing in response.
Seconds later she pulled away, leaving Oliver waiting for any sign of having been changed.
"Anything?" Lincoln signed.
Oliver started to shake his head, but stopped before completing the motion. Heat was spreading through his veins, just cool enough to avoid being painful. Then his head started to itch, just below the surface.
Then nothing. Within a minute he felt exactly as he had before the procedure.
"How do I know if it worked?"
Torque opened his mouth to speak, but the words that came out weren't in English. It was the same language he'd spoken before on the bridge, and Oliver still wasn't understanding any of it. All he was getting were the same stilted phrases, all as foreign to him as Hindi or Mandarin.
Until they weren't.
"—prospect of no longer having to choose my words with care is incredibly exciting. There is so much I've been waiting to share with all of you. And I'm certain that the Rohtet will have information to share as—"
Oliver held up a hand. "Alright then. That's new." The words had been as easy to understand as if they'd been spoken in English, but the experience wasn't the same. On the surface he could still hear the sounds as they came out of Torque's mouth, but somewhere between the alien's lips and his own brain, they shifted, turning into something he could understand. "What about you?" he asked the doctor who was waiting nearby.
"Hello," she said cautiously.
Oliver grinned. "You guys have to try this."
Once those willing had given their consent, it didn't take long at all to outfit them with Haphzha chips of their own, and before long both Evie and Sprocket were conversing readily with anyone who would speak to them, while Safa seemed to study every conversation happening around her at once.
"This is insanely cool," Sprocket said, turning to Gwynn. "You're sure you won't try it?"
"Well, that's great for you guys," Gwynn said, half-amused and half-serious, "but there's no way I'm letting them put one of those things in me. Lincoln and I will stay on team human."
Lincoln raised his eyebrows, likely reading her lips before waving her off. There was nothing a chip could do for him. Oliver made a mental note to remember to sign whenever possible. He knew how intense it could be, surrounded by people you couldn't understand, and who couldn't understand you. He'd have to remember to help where he could.
"I'm shocked," Oliver said, deadpan, returning his attention to Gwynn, "just shocked." It was easy to joke now that he was confident his brain hadn't been taken over by alien nano-probes or whatever. There was nothing he could say that would convince Gwynn to change her mind, at least not without seeing for herself that everyone else was fine. But he wasn't going to let her ruin this experience for him.
He could understand alien languages! There was still some legwork to go before they would fully understand him, but this was a step in the right direction. Something they could really consider a win, something that might actually give them a chance of getting out of this alive.
Chapter Twenty-Two – Evie
Evie sat, eyes wide, trying to keep up with the ebb and flow of conversations going on around her. Most of what was being said wasn’t even in English, but she could make sense of every word.
Mind blowing.
Now if only she could actually understand what was being discussed. This was all so far above her non-existent pay grade, it wasn’t even funny. All the talk about faster than light speeds, the physics of the void, and the tactical strategies of the aliens they were fighting may as well have been in a different language. Oliver and Sprocket were both doing their best to keep up, attempting to give humanity a voice in the discussions, while Gwynn stood watch anxiously behind them. Mostly the others either spoke over them or ignored the humans completely.
Safa stood back with Linna and Lincoln, eyes darting around the room as her hands moved rapidly. Lincoln's eyes stayed transfixed on each gesture, but it looked like Linna had lost interest. Her race had probably interacted with others before they'd come to the void. It was possible she had a way to track conversations using telepathy.
And it was possible Evie would never know for sure.
Evie leaned back in her seat, considering getting up to stretch her legs if she could find a moment to stand that wouldn't draw half the room's attention. So far, the Rohtet hadn't seemed concerned about the humans, but it would only take one person to get jumpy before the humans were thrust back out into the void, on their own all over again.
"This is quite something, yes?" a light voice said beside Evie as she rocked forward in her chair, trying to find its source.
One of the Rohtet had taken up the chair beside her while Evie had been too busy watching everyone else. "Excuse me?" she asked to give herself a chance to steady her nerves.
"We so rarely have the chance to collaborate with other species," the alien said. "The exchange of ideas is wonderful, but this is not often our custom. Despite the circumstances, I'm doing the best to enjoy the exchange, even if I can't be much help." Bright yellow eyebrows rose knowingly.
Evie nodded in silent acknowledgement. "What is it you do? Actually, no. Apparently, I've forgotten how to behave with everything else that's going on. I'm Evelyn, but my friends call me Evie. It's nice to meet you."
"I am Shan, which is also what my friends call me. I'm the ambassador's assistant by t
rade, botanist by passion."
“You’re used to this kind of thing then?”
“Meeting new races, sharing ideas, exchanging pieces of our cultures. Yes. And I very much enjoy what I do. But there haven’t been many chances to interact with new species in some time. And once we were brought to this place, everyone we met was hostile. They wanted to protect their own, to survive. Your people are the first with any interest in an alliance.”
“We all just want to get out of here alive, I guess. And we’re not exactly equipped to fight our way out of anything.”
Shan frowned, an expression that looked more at home on his face than on Torques. “Do you mean to say that if you were not certain you would lose, the human way is to simply take what you need?”
Shit. She’d stepped into it this time. Just by opening her mouth, Evie could very well have shattered a fragile alliance from the corner of a room where she wasn’t actually involved in anything important. “No! I didn’t mean it like that. Captain Briggs is not the shoot first, ask questions later type. He’s a good man. A good person. And our race had never met any aliens before we got here, so we’re basically just making things up as we go along.”
Shan leaned forward. “That is interesting. Your vessel was brought here from a region of space where your species is the only occupant?”
“We thought we were alone in the universe.”
“Amazing. If things were different, I’m sure our people would have many stories to share as—”
Shan’s voice was cut out by the rising chatter from the other side of the room. Human and alien voices merged together, talking over one another. As far as Evie could tell, nothing was being said in anger, but every instinct reminded her to stay focused on what was happening around her instead of attempting interspecies small talk.
“I should go see if I am needed,” the ambassador said, rising to his feet. The woman that Evie assumed was his boss was waving her hands around dramatically, pointing at different components on a nearby screen.
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