u/jpitha

First / Previous / Next

Well fuck.

I didn't recognize the model of pressure suit at least, so I didn’t think we're dealing with time travel stuff.

At least I hoped not.

But looking up at her, I wasn’t so sure. She had a beautiful face, framed in long hair that was spilling out of her suit’s helmet ring. She wasn't wearing any accessories other than the suit, no gun on her back, no tools on her belt. She was making a grand gesture, pointing out towards the promenade, back the way we came.

Our hosts caught us gawking and Starlight on a Moonless Evening (I was pretty sure) said, "The Builder Aeche. She watches over us and keeps us safe.”

"Well, now I see why everyone is so nervous around us." I said more jovially than I felt. "Everyone sure didn't seem pleased to see us walking down the promenade though, lots of glares and unhappy looks."

When I said that, both Captain Q'ari and Fer'resi's head snapped over to me. They had not seen that. Q'ari looked at Fer'resi and quickly said, "I apologize Holy One, but I can't say your name because it will give away that I am talking to you and not my friend here. I am speaking ancient k’laxi. Are we in danger? Indicate yes by looking at me, no by looking at the statue."

I didn't know if we're in danger or not! I don't think we're in ‘shoot and run away’ danger yet. I decided to split the difference and look exactly between them, down the Promenade, and I hoped they understood my meaning. "Rapid River Roaring, how many people live here? I've never been on a station so expansive."

Rapid River Roaring's feathers ruffled slight annoyance. I don't think they were expecting much small talk. "Oh, I'm not exactly sure, but well over 10 million at last census I believe."

What.

"10 million?" I said, legitimately surprised. "I had no idea it was so many."

"Oh yes" They said absently. "Come, I am very hungry, let us go eat."

With a resigned sigh, I turned and followed. We might as well see this through, but I couldn't shake the feeling we were in trouble. Inside the administrative offices was a grand entryway all polished stone and evenly lit lighting and then it was just an office building.

It was almost comical how boring it was. It could have been an office on any colony in human space, other than the panoply of different people at work. We walked down a carpeted hall until the smells of food being prepared became prominent. We turned a corner and it was... a canteen. Like, every canteen I've ever been to in the Navy has looked like this; I never realized it's universal. There was a long empty table in the back that was set with linen and plates were set, and Zemmlin led us to the table. The octopus people took up station at one end of the table and the bird people took up station at the other while we were directed towards the middle. As we sat, one of the insect people I saw earlier walked up to Smell of the Ocean carrying something small and black. With a little bow they handed to Ocean and walked away. They examined it, pressed a button and saw lights illuminate on the side. Battery level? Seeming satisfied he sat and spoke to Fer'resi. "Here. This is our latest translator. Please see if you and your ship can integrate our language models to further facilitate communication."

Fer'resi took the box smiling, the lack of understanding painted plainly on his face, but then looked at me and flicked his ear. I said "It's a translator module. They're giving it to you."

"Ah," he said and visibly relaxed. "Thank you Melody." He turned and tried to speak. "Ah, thanks many for this."

Ocean gave a brittle smile and said nothing.

People started to bring out steaming trays of food. It looked like they were going to feed us family style. I saw things that looked like bread, stews, maybe some kind of grain dish, a few things that might be fish or other marine creatures, and things I were pretty sure were vegetables. I ran my personal mass spectrometer over all of them and they were completely fine to eat. They looked to be fine for even k’laxi too. The others were in agreement that the food was safe to eat, so there was nothing else stopping us.

I had to admit, the food was good, all of it. Being careful not to eat too much - in case we had to run - I tried a little bit of everything. It was all very very good. Gun to my head, I couldn’t describe the spices they used, but they were tasty. Lost of savory flavors, not too spicy, a touch of sweetness here and there, but it was all well balanced and made with skill.

As we ate, our hosts ate as well, but I couldn't help but notice that they were spending their time looking - glaring really - at each other the whole time. I wondered if they were in something like a competition about us or something.

"So Ottarn... " I said; I was trying to speak to all of them, it gave be a better gauge on how they were reacting. "This is all amazing food, thank you for sharing with us. Where do you get it? Is it all grown locally?"

Ottarn did their version of a laugh. "Of course it is, Holy One. As you have no doubtless seen, our system has no planet. We have a planetoid a few hours travel away that was hollowed out by the Builders that has good soil and an artificial sun so we can grow crops. We only have to provide water and as water ice asteroids abound in this system, we have what we need. It's the only reason that we can live here at all."

Turning to the other end of the table, I said, "Rapid River Roaring, Vivvex had mentioned that you thought the Gates were disabled. How do you traverse the stars if the Gates were closed?"

"Holy One, I mean no disrespect, but... we do not." Vivvex said, sadly. "All you see is all we have. The Gates have been closed to us for many solar cycles.”

I stopped. I made the effort to switch back to Colonic so that our hosts wouldn’t understand - it was so easy to switch now! - I spoke to Captain Q'ari. "They don't use the Gates! They said they have been disabled and what we see is all they have."

Q'ari almost choked in surprise. Taking a breath to compose herself and finished her food she looked up and said "They're stuck here?"

I nodded. "Many years according to Rapid River Roaring. I don't know long specifically it's been but I can extrapolate that it's..."

She looked around. "This is serious. How are they providing this food? We're not taking it from people who need it more, are we?"

I shook my head no. "Vivvex says they grow it all in a hollowed out planetoid a few hours flight time away. They said it's why they can support a population of ten million."

Omar looked up from his lunch at that and said, "Ten million? That can't be right, you must have misheard. That's insane. Either this place is way larger than it looks, or everyone is living in a closet or..."

"Or they're lying." Fer'resi said. "I don't feel safe here. I have a feeling that Melody speaking their Holy Tongue is the only thing keeping us alive right now."

"Please, friends!" Ottarn says with a - fake - smile and - forced - joviality. "I'm sure you're excited about our new relationship together, but there's no need to chat amongst yourselves secretively. Let's collaborate our resources on the translator and open a dialog."

I managed to not show my fear when I say "Thank you Ottarn, you are quite correct. In fact, we should be returning to our ship to examine your translator and integrate it with our own." I moved to stand.

Ottarn and Starlight on a Moonless Evening shot up as I stood. "Oh, I don't think that's necessary." Starlight said. "I'm sure given your position as a Holy One that of you could wear the translator and have it work right away."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood. That was bad. Why were they rushing for me to wear it unless it was a trap. Oh fuck.

"Oh, I'm sure that's the case." I said, trying to sound easygoing and not rush my speech. "But it wouldn't work for our friends the k’laxi here." I said, gesturing to Fer'resi and Q'ari. As I did I locked eyes with them and then my eyes darted to the exit. Captain Q'ari's tail flicked a nod. "And so, it is with much thanks and great sadness that we must go." When I finished speaking Q'ari made a gesture and she and Fer'resi and Omar stood as well.

Looking at our hosts, I saw that all the bird people looked to Starlight on a Moonless Evening and the octopus people looked to Vivvix for next steps. With my newfound ability to read body language they were both deliberating very hard about what to do next. Starlight broke first. "Of course. Please examine the translator and integrate the language model with your own, and we shall speak again - all of us - shortly." and bowed dramatically. Vivvix made a gesture and one of the insect people appeared. "Tem. Please lead out guests back to their docking umbilical." Tem made a gesture of acknowledgment and looked at us. I turned to the team and said "Looks like we follow Tem here back to the dock."

I turned and looked at Starlight and Vivvix again. "Thank you for hosting us. This has been very... educational."

Starlight and Vivvix both smiled broadly and completely falsely. "The pleasure is ours, Holy One." Starlight said.

As soon as we left the Administration building, the promenade that felt open and lively as we came in felt oppressive and claustrophobic now. Tem led us along slowly back the way we came and this time more people were out and once again, they stared as we walked.

"So Tem," I said, trying to talk to our guide. "Do you work for the Administrators?"

Tem turned to look at me, then turned forward again. “Yes.” He said.

“Do you like it?”

Without turning Tem said, “It is a job. It is not to like or dislike.”

Omar looked at me. “Melody?”

I looked over and shrugged. “Just making small talk. With my upgrades I seemed to have gained the ability to ready body language as well. The bird people and the octopus people hate each other." I turned back to Tem and said, "So the bird people and the octopus looking people don’t like each other?"

Tem looked at me with a pitying expression. "You know how the Aviens and the Mariens feel about each other, Holy One."

"Am I holy to you too?"

"All Builders are Holy."

"But, we didn't build the Gates. We didn't even have any Gates around our home world. We never even knew they existed until the K'laxi here showed them to us."

"Nevertheless you are a Builder. Even if you did not build them yourself, your kind did."

I'm speechless. Everyone here utterly believed that I was a Holy One and a Gate Builder. I mean, with the statue out front and the fact that I was speaking the Gate Builder language I guess I could see it. But still. Woof. This was going to be trouble.

We approached the docking area and Tem leads us back to our umbilical. "Uh, Thank you Tem for your help."

Tem nods. "Be well, Holy One." and they turned and walked away at the same speed they led us here.

"Well. that was odd." I said. Captain Q'ari nodded. "Let's go inside and figure out next steps.

As we approached the umbilical door, one of the bird people, an Aviens, ran up to us. "Holy One! Holy One!" they shouted, out of breath.

I turned. "Yes?"

Saying nothing else, they whipped out something from the pocket of their clothes, small and tight in their hand. Oh no, it looked like a weapon and of course, they fired it at me.

First / Previous / Next

Standing in front of the line of us waiting for the airlock to cycle, I don't think I've ever been this nervous! During graduation, or waiting to find out if I was selected for Far Reach's mission; nothing was as nerve wracking as this. But, I could do this. I was going to represent humanity here. I took a deep breath, held it for two, and let it out through my nose. Here we go.

The outer lock door cycled and the first thing that I noticed was the smell of the umbilical. It wasn't bad so much, as it was unfamiliar. My nose was inundated with smells I've never smelled before. Stations always had a smell about them. They're self contained units where sometimes thousands of people lived, worked and played together, of course they're going to smell. Doesn't matter how fastidious you were about cleaning, something just permeates the walls. To be honest they always had this underlying smell of dirty socks too. It was never overwhelming, but it was always there. This was just that but different. The smells of thousands of people I've never seen before.

The second thing I noticed was how warm it was! It was warm and moist like a hot summer day. We don't normally keep our stations this warm or moist. Moisture promotes corrosion and heat was cheap to make, but expensive to dissipate. It felt wasteful.

Walking down the umbilical the small differences jumped out at me. Like my boots. They have a certain clang noise when you step on the deck plates. It sounds a little different on k’laxi stations and ships, and here it sounds different still. The walls were a different color. We tended to prefer off-white, while this one was more of a brownish tan. At the end of the umbilical was an airlock. It was different than ours, but it was still an airlock, I could see how it worked. There was a pad on the left side that I would have to touch to activate it. Why do I know that? Must be a nanotech thing.

You know, I feel like I should be more worried about the nanotechnology stuff than I am. According to Fer’resi, it rewired my brain, and gave me all these abilities. That’s worrying, isn’t it?

<It’s fine.>

And that too! I’ve been hearing a voice for the last couple of days, and I’m not panicking over it. I should at least tell Fer’res-

<No. You don’t need to tell them. This is all normal.>

<Is it? It doesn’t feel normal.>

<It’s normal for what has happened to you.>

<So what has happened to me?>

<All in good time.>

“Far Reach, you're sure the gasses on the other side are breathable?" I asked, pushing the mental conversation down. I couldn’t worry about that now, I was on the clock.

"Sensors indicate that they're pretty close to Earth and K'lax, Melody." Far Reach said. "The specific gas mixture is a little different. A touch more xenon than what we use, maybe just a bit less carbon dioxide. Oxy levels are fine though, you can breathe it without trouble.”

"Okay then, here goes..." and I touched the pad.

With a whoosh, both doors snapped open, startling me. That was way faster than home. Why would you have your doors open that fast? It’s dangerous. I probably made a stupid expression as I looked out, and saw them.

It was a group of 6 people in front, with a small crowd behind them. Three of them had iridescent feathers! They looked almost like gigantic birds! They even had wings! I wondered if they could fly, but looking closer the wings didn’t seem long enough. Why would I know that? The other three looked like they were a sea creature long in their past. They had tentacles they stood on, and looked like they had no bones. If you squinted, maybe they looked like Octopuses, but they didn't really look like octopuses. Just the tentacles and the lack of bones and the large, wet eyes, though they weren't dripping or anything. They were standing apart, with a large space between them. That's odd; I would have figured that they would be all together.

One of the bird looking ones took a step forward and said, "Welcome to Reach to the Might of Vzzx. I am Starlight on a Moonless Evening, this is The Smell Of The Ocean and that is Rapid River Roaring."

They took a step back and then one of the octopus people took a step forward. "Welcome from us as well! I am Vivvix, this is Zemmlin and over here is Ottarn."

Then, Vivvix took a step back and waited. Maybe this was some kind of ritual. Mentally, I shrugged and took a step forward. I took a breath and said "Thank you for your warm welcome. My name is Melody Mullen, with me is my Captain Selem Q'ari, our linguist Fer’resi Perinem and one of our engineers, Omar Adel." At each mention of their names, everyone nodded or did something to indicate which person I was talking about. Fer'resi did a little wave!

After I finished and the ritual seemed complete, I took a step back. Only then, did I notice how they reacted. Everyone was shocked.

If they were humans, they'd be jaws on the floor shocked.

Damnit. This keeps happening to me.

One of the bird people, The Smell of the Ocean I think, spoke. "S-So, you can understand us?" They asked, haltingly.

I nodded, then realizing they might not know that gesture, and said "Yes, I can understand you..." Was I not supposed to be able to? "Can you understand me?"

The Smell of The Ocean's feathers ruffled. Maybe they were embarrassed? They were uncomfortable about something. “We can, yes. But you are..." They stopped. Their head rotated slightly. Their eyes are more forward on their face than Earth birds so they must have binocular vision but for the life of me it looked like they were trying to get a look at me out of both eyes. Maybe an ancient instinct that has turned into body language. They took a deep breath and started again. "I am speaking my people's standard spacefaring tongue. Can you understand me?"

"Yes,” I said, puzzled. I couldn’t even tell their voice had changed.

They did their version of a nod. Why did I know that? They spoke again, "Now, I am speaking the language of the Northern Continent of my people's home planet. It hasn't been spoken outside of legal briefings for five thousand solar cycles. Today, it is more a ceremonial language than anything. Only people like me can understand it, and even then only haltingly. I was a student of it, which is why I can speak it fluently. There are fewer then one hundred of us." They stopped and stared at me. "Do you understand me?"

My eyes went wide. "Y-Yes, I understand you." I answered quietly.

With an expression that I could only describe as their version of raised eyebrows, Zemmlin looked at them, then at me, and spoke. "I see what they are doing, let me try. I am speaking my people's home planetary language. My colleague The Smell of the Ocean does not understand it. Do you?"

It felt like ice was injected into my veins as understanding dawned. "Y-Yes, I understand it." I whispered.

It was my turn to reply. "When you speak to me, and I reply, am I replying in your language, or the same language every time?"

Starlight on a Moonless Evening replied this time. "Every time you speak, you are replying in the Holy Tongue, which is understood by all."

I blinked. The what? "I'm sorry, the what?"

Starlight made a gesture that I knew was a shrug. "The Holy Tongue. The language of the Builders. When they spoke, all understood, all listened.”

That last one struck a chord. I could hear the proper noun. "Do you mean the builders of the Gates?"

Rapid River Roaring laughed. "Who else would we mean, Holy One? They built everything."

And I thought being called Lieutenant was bad.

Vivvex came forward now and said, "It seems we all have something to learn from each other. We would like to learn how you came to us through the Gates which we had thought long deactivated, and are speaking in the Holy Tongue, and you probably have things to ask us too. Do you take food? Come. It's meal time for us. We can eat and speak afterwards."

"L-let me talk to my companions for a moment, please." I said as I took a step back. Suddenly the floor felt like it was spinning. Hold it together Melody, you can do this.

Vivvex nodded and took a step back as I turned around and faced everyone. “How much of that did you get?" I asked.

Fer'resi was the first to reply. “We could understand you whenever you spoke, but Melody how many languages do you know? I noticed they kept taking turns talking to you in clearly different languages and you replied every time."

"I think I know... all of them?” I said awkwardly. "It sounds crazy, but they said I'm speaking "The Holy Tongue."

"The what?" Omar asked, incredulous.

"I know, right? They called it the language of the Builders, who they said built everything including the Gates. According to them, when a Builder speaks everyone understands them. They also said they thought the Gate was disabled until we came through it."

"Disabled?" Captain Q'ari said, thinking. "Given what we saw at the previous address, I hope we didn't unlock the door for something to come through here."

I didn't even think of that, shit. "I hope you're right." I clicked my radio "Hey Far Reach, Gene, please keep an extra sharp eye out for anything following us through the Warp Gate. The locals said they thought it was disabled until we came through it."

"You got it Melody." Gene replied. "How's the meet and greet going?"

"I don't know Gene. I think they think I'm a god."

"In a good way, or a bad way?" Gene asked in that joking but not really joking tone.

"Too soon to tell." I said honestly. "We're about to go to lunch I think,"

"Ooh, tell me if you eat anything good, tell me and I'll try it when I get to go ashore."

"Will do, Gene. You take care. Far Reach, I admit this is a long shot, but how's the language model coming?"

Far Reach chuckled. "I was just chatting with Fer'resi. It's tough to build a language model when you can understand everyone but keep replying in one language. We're getting somewhere. Fer'resi thinks it might be enough to be understood. The problem results from everyone understanding you. We can hear them speak their language, but then you speak and we understand it. Decoding a one way conversation from context clues is not easy. They must have translators though, let's see if we can buy or borrow one; that’ll help. Even if we can't interface it with our computers, someone could wear it and speak to us and we could accelerate our language training."

"Good idea. They invited us to lunch or something, I'll ask them then.”

I turned to Captain Q'ari, "They want to invite us to lunch. Do you want me to say yes?"

Her ears twitched in a way that signaled resignation and frustration. Hah. I can tell K'laxi expressions better with these nano machines helping too! "We should probably accept, yes." She turned and looked at us. "Did everyone bring their portable mass spectrometers?"

We all have a small mass-spec on our wrists. It can scan food and drink and make sure there aren't any obviously poisonous things or k’laxi allergens in it. It won't tell us if things taste good, but it'll tell us if we can eat them without going into anaphylactic shock or ruining our livers.

Nods of yes all around. "Go ahead and accept the invitation Melody." Huh. She didn't call me Lieutenant Mullen. Interesting.

I turned back around. "After deliberation with my team, we would be grateful to accept your invitation to dine together. Please lead the way."

Again, they were taken aback at my speech. I had a hunch that they were just not used to someone speaking to them in the language I'm speaking to them in. It's like a language they had only read or studied in school and here I was speaking to them in it like it was normal. At least they understood me, and I could understand them in any language they spoke.

Starlight bowed low spreading their arm wings and said, "Wonderful. Please follow me." They led us away from the dock and as we walked I looked around.

The station was different from any place I lived on before. It was more organic? Maybe it was a function of the fact that it was built out of an asteroid, but it definitely felt more grown than built in places. There were curves and smooth walls and dark grays and browns. The lighting was more organic than back home too. It was warm and bright and led an airiness to the place that it would be lacking otherwise. We were pretty far from this system's star and we were not in orbit around a planet, so the cheeriness was appreciated.

And the people! All kinds of people. I saw more of the bird people, more of the octopus people and so many others. There were these large bipedal beings in very complicated looking pressure suits. Maybe they're from a world that uses a different breathing mixture than here? There were ones with long legs with knees that were almost parallel with their heads! They had large segmented eyes like an insect and it always felt like they were watching us as we walked by.

Come to think of it, everyone was watching us as we walked by, and they weren't too happy about it. My newfound ability to know everyone's body language was ringing alarm bells. Everyone hated to see us. Especially the Bird and Octopus people. We turned a corner and came upon what I figured was the main promenade.

I was so startled I nearly lost my footing, it was gigantic! Far larger and more dense than any city I ever visited on Meíhuā. I've never been to Earth, but I bet this was more crowded than most Earth cities! It was so tall; 200 meters of canyon made out of buildings. I could see bridges cris crossing way up high and the susurrus of millions of people gave the area a white noise that pressed down on me.

While we were walking Fer'resi was trying his best to speak with The Smell of The Ocean. Since I could understand both of them, the conversation was odd from my point of view.

“Um, what about this? Hello?"

"Oh, I got that one! Hello!"

"Amazing! Try this: My name is Fer'resi, what's yours?"

Ocean shook his feathers sadly, "I didn't get that, friend."

Fer'resi made notes in his pad. This time, his translator spoke "Do you understand this?”

Ocean's feathers rippled with surprise, "I do understand that. But your accent is very thick. How did you do that?"

Fer'resi smiled. "Our Ship, Far Reach helped. We're working together to build a language model. If you have a translator we can purchase or borrow, we can refine it further."

Ocean made an expression that I knew was a nod. "We do have them. I'll make sure you get one, yes. You can even keep it to help refine your language model, provided you provide us with an update so we can update our translators as well."

Fer'resi frowned and made more notes. "I got the majority of that, but I missed part of it. Oh well. We'll get more accurate with time."

I had a thought. "Hey Fer'resi. Speak to me in English."

He thought for a moment. "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party."

"Coming to the aid of what party?" I asked, confused.

He chuckled. "It's old filler text that people used to use on mechanical writing machines. It's nonsense. But, you did understand it?"

"I did."

"I have no idea what those nano machines did, but they clearly edited at least the language processing part of your brain. I wonder what the limitations of it are. We should experiment later."

“Is it bad?” I asked.

<It is not “bad” it is necessary for your role.>

“It doesn’t seem bad.” Fer’resi admitted. “But, there is much we still don’t know. You should see Dr. Irenimum if you’re worried.”

Vivvix turned back to me, "Holy One, why are you armed?"

"Please don't call me Holy One, my name is Melody. I'm the only one armed because I'm the best shot, and we didn't want to come across as warlike with us all being armed. It was a compromise."

Vivvix's skin subtly changed color, that must be their nod, neat! "I see, thank you... Melody. Will you be armed in future visits?"

I shrugged. "I don't know yet." I said carefully. If everyone is... not a threat then... I don't see a reason to come armed next time."

Vivvix gave their version of a smile, but I was able to tell it was fake. Why was it fake? Were they planning something? “That's very nice to hear. Thank you"

Now that sounded menacing. I think I'm going to continue coming to this station armed.

Rapid River Roaring led us towards a bend in the promenade. Maybe something like that was designed to make the area feel larger than it was. "Here we are. Around this bend are the administration offices for Reach of the Might of Vzzx. Inside is a cantina that offers many different kinds of food and I'm sure we can find something pleasing for you to consume here."

As we rounded the corner Captain Q'ari stopped dead. She was a couple meters ahead of me, and I could see her fur vibrate in the light as she shook in terror. Fer'resi, nearly plowed into her because he was not looking where he was walking. Once he followed her gaze up he also immediately was frightened. "M-Melody." Fer'resi said, his voice catching. "Look at the statue."

I rushed around the corner and skidded to a stop as I looked up. Omar noticed us, followed our gaze, and softly said "holy shit."

In front of a large stone building was a fountain and statue made of the same dark stone of the station. It was clearly a human woman - or nearly human woman - in a pressure suit, looking out onto the promenade making a grand gesture towards something unseen in the distance.