The Whisper of Damkina Part Sixty Four
April 6th, 2016 | Published in Whisper of Damkina | 3 Comments
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Once they dropped out of hyperspace Amanpreet and Prima swapped with Mark and headed to the Whisper’s galley as Prima was hungry. Prima’s diplomat companion was already there and preparing a soup while Vanna stood at one of the counters preparing some sort of hearty salad for human consumption. In order to reach the hob the Talisian had to stand on a box which Vanna must have fetched from the hold.
“Merit and I have been talking,”? Vanna said. “He was getting nervous because he couldn’t sense Prima while she was in the dome.”?
“Merit?”? Amanpreet looked at him. “That’s the name you picked for yourself?”?
“I like the meaning of the word,”? he said. “It is a thing I hope to have as I grow.”?
“I think you already have it,”? Prima said. “But why were you nervous? You knew you wouldn’t be able to sense me while I was in the dome.”?
“Instinct,”? he said. “I imagine the others are a bit nervous as well with you being so far away. You’re the only Queen we have at the moment. We can’t lose you.”?
Prima made a sort of trilling noise. “It’d be fine. One of the workers would transform if anything happened to me and I had to see hyperspace for myself. I can’t share the memory of it and I wanted to know what it’s like.”? Her hands hesitated over keyboard and she turned to Amanpreet. “But he’s right about the others. Could we call them before we jump back into hyperspace? I want to check they’re okay and reassure them that I am.”?
“Of course, though you’ll only be able to send them a message. A full contact relay at this distance is a bit resource intensive for non-critical use. You’ll probably get the reply after the next jump.”?
“That’s okay,”? Prima said.
“Good.”? Amanpreet offered her hand. “Let’s go find Niobe before you eat and get her to help you send a message before our next jump.”?
***
Niobe was only two happy to help Prima send a message back to Talis and hurried the young queen over to her console.
“We’ll need to route through Talis Station,”? she said. “There’s still a formal lockdown on communication.”?
“I know.”? Prima gave an amused trill. “Until we’re officially accepted onto the Council of Planets we’re still technically quarantined. It’s a sensible rule. I don’t imagine the administrators will have any problems with passing my message on.”?
“No,”? Niobe agreed. “It’s just protocol to prevent some random people muscling in and trying to exploit you.”? She activated the console. “Go ahead and record your message. Try to keep it fairly short.”?
“Okay.”? Prima turned to the camera and began talking in her own language while waving all four arms around in an animated fashion. Whatever she was saying made Niobe giggle a little. True to her word Prima cut off her message after less than two minutes and looked up at Niobe though she clearly wanted to say more. “That wasn’t too long was it?”?
“No, that was fine.”? Niobe was still grinning, “I’ll send it before Mark jumps us back into hyperspace.”? She did as she said and then grinned at Prima. “And shouldn’t lunch be ready now. Your eating cycles line up with ours only occasionally we should make the most of it.”?
“We should!”? Prima agreed happily. “And then language class. Merit and I need to know at least the most widely spoken Mez and Ishtari languages by the time we reach Althea and we only know Amanpreet’s and Mei’s so far, and apparently Mei thinks in some obscure dialect.”?
“Sheesh!”? Niobe sounded amused. “You’re an overachiever, Prima. No one expects that of you. That’s why we have interpreters. The Council will be happy for you to speak in your own language.”?
“But it’s polite,”? Prima insisted. “And the journey is going to take a while so we might as well.”?
“It is but languages are complicated to learn and you can’t cheat this time,”? Niobe grinned. “We don’t have the equipment for the sort of neural scan your system did to learn from Am and Mei.”?
“I know,”? Prima said. “But I’m a quick learner and when it comes to communication methods Merit is even better. I’m sure we’ll be able to pick up enough to give greetings at least by the time we get there.”
Quite interesting π
They must be really worried since Prima as their queen is gone.
…and Prima is quite the thing – and quite happy to learn.
PS: Typo suspected:
Niobe was only *two* happy to help Prima send a message back to Talis and hurried the young queen over to her console. => *too*
I finished reading the first arc of the Dragon wars saga and this entire serial. My finding that this was an interest read and I plan to read all of your Dragon Wars books.Keep up the good work and do not give up.
I am currently writing three ongoing web serials of various genres(Fantasy/Sci fi/ action adventure with strong super hero elements).
You were one of my first web fiction writers and you had done a good job of helping me become a better writer. Thanks!
Thanks for the kind comment. I must say I’m impressed that you had the fortitude to read it with the current encoding problems.