The Whisper of Damkina Part Fifty Two

February 25th, 2015  |  Published in Whisper of Damkina  |  1 Comment

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The next day Amanpreet found Niobe sitting at her station even though she wasn’t due on duty for a couple of hours. She had a line open to the contact ship and was deep in conversation with Lin. Amanpreet hadn’t realised that Lin was from Cels like Niobe until she realised they were using Trava, an obscure Anglic language that was spoken in parts of Western Cels’ but not many other planets. Amanpreet knew the odd word, enough to recognise that they were discussing translations of one of the Coronan languages but not enough to follow their conversation exactly. She listened for a moment before clearing her throat.

Niobe looked around and grinned. “You should have told me Lin was the team linguist. We used to play together when were little.”

“Yeah, and we went to college together,” Lin said. “It’s all her father’s fault. He was so famous he made everyone want to be a linguist. I wish he was here. He’d be able to figure this out.”

“Hmm?” Amanpreet said. “A translation problem? Can’t the Coronan system help?”

“Not exactly a problem, just a slightly unusual sentence structure in one of the lowland language families,” Niobe said. “The meaning is clear enough but working out which form to use when using their languages is not straightforward.”

“It’s not an unusual problem with interspecies communication,” Lin said. “You should read Paula Egeland’s notes on the first contact with the Ishtari. Apparently it took them six months to agree on definitions of plant and animal.”

“Well, yeah,” Amanpreet said. “That’s because of the Tkin.”

“True,” Lin said. “I’m amazed she and her team managed to pull it off. I would love to have lived back then it must have been exciting.”

“When are our guests arriving for the journey to Aletheia?” Amanpreet asked.

“Not long,” Lin said. “They can’t get here under their own steam so Promise is sending two bubbles for the delegation. It says it’s already prepared areas internal areas of the ship for both species including light and temperature preferences. Summer is just making sure it understands first contact security protocols.”

“Has anyone explained those to the Coronan System?” Amanpreet asked.

Lin laughed.”Oh, yes. It said it would be concerned if we didn’t have measures in place.”

“Well they are mostly common sense,” Amanpreet said. “So any more updates on the situations?”

“Well there’s still no sign of the Vaians,” Niobe said. “But the Council are taking your idea that they might be the ones who attacked Kiath seriously. They’re currently trying to insert a small scout ship to see. It’s proving difficult though.”

“Ugh!” Amapreet said. “That’s dangerous. What if they are spotted?”

Yes, that’s why it’s proving difficult,” Lin said. “Summer has been talking to Promise privately about it.”

“Promise is too large to sneak anywhere!” Amanpreet exclaimed.

“I know, but apparently Summer thinks our new allies may still be able to help and Promise is the one here.” A frown crept into Lin’s voice. “Summer knows an awful lot about the sophont Fish, even the other Mez are surprised. He says his ancestors were part of the project and he has their notes.”

“And you don’t believe him?” Amanpreet asked.

“I’m not sure,” Lin said. “I know him well, and he’s a good person but this is strange. I think he’s hiding something.”

“We should ask Promise what it thinks.” Amanpreet paused as the sensors detected two bubbles emerging from Corona’s atmosphere. “But first our guests are here.”

A/N: No Haventon chapter this week but we are on track to have one next week.

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One Response to “The Whisper of Damkina Part Fifty Two”

  1. mjkj says:

    Suspicious…

    PS: Typos and stuff:
    It says it’s already prepared *areas* internal areas of the ship for both species including light and temperature preferences. => one *areas* too much => …already prepared * internal areas of the ship…

    *Yes, that’s why it’s proving difficult,” Lin said. => missing opening quote => *“*Yes, that’s why…

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