Communication Gaps
Andrew McKinley, captain of the Omega Dream, was commanding the beginnings of colonization on this alien moon. Scouting the area for required resources would take a good crew about five hours. McKinley organized the people into groups and sent them off to scout everything in a four-mile radius. Once all he could do had been done, he went back inside the Omega Dream to watch the monitors and have a chat with Dr. Kreller.
Milan Walters was one year younger than Dr. Kreller. He had a natural ability to pick up on languages almost immediately. He had worked up a reputation on Io as being an ornery curmudgeon with nothing useful to do - and it was true. There was no need of a man who could speak twenty languages on a small colony that had only one. He felt his talents were wasted in gathering rock samples. He would sometimes get an idea to take a small craft and fly it around for a while, but he invariably crash-landed and had to be rescued from steep craters and cliff ledges. He had no piloting ability by any measure.
When the news came that they were going off into an uncharted region of space with possible alien life, Milan was as excited as a young boy who has just received a shiny new bike. He contained his enthusiasm and focused it into a cohesive force that was now with him on the main deck of the Omega Dream.
"Captain McKinley! A word please!"
Andrew sat stock still in the captain's seat. It was Milan. Andrew shot a quick glance at Dr. Kreller, as if pleading for help. It was such a comical gesture that Dr. Kreller suddenly sputtered into snickers that were only partially contained. Milan was sure that they were laughing at him.
"What's so funny? I demand you stop laughing at once! I have rights too, you know! I'm a human being!"
McKinley swiveled about in his captain's seat to face Milan, with a cocky, annoyed, and yet somehow interested expression and voice. "Mr. Walters! No one is denying your rights, and we were NOT laughing at you - specifically. What would you like to discuss?"
"I want to go down to that planet. In a shuttle. Now, you know we picked up alien transmissions from this area. Some would say that they could have simply been freak radio waves, but I know better! I looked them over in visual translation, carefully, and listened to them. They have a clearly defined pattern that is not characteristic of random radiation. I believe that the life forms who sent that signal live on the planet below us. If so, I should go down there and begin establishing communication with them."
"Just a minute. Are you telling me that you have the ability to pick up their language?"
Milan drew himself up proudly and spoke with true confidence for the first time in his life. "Captain, I can pick up ANY language. For over 20 years, my talents were wasted on that infernal dead moon of Jupiter. Please, give me a chance to use my skills for the benefit of humanity! Let me go down there!"
"Wow. I'm certainly impressed! Of course I'll let you go. You'll need a pilot..."
"Oh, no I don't! I'll have you know I've been reading all the literature on piloting spacecraft, and I scored a 96.3% average on all the Self-tests!"
"...you'll need a pilot. Dr. Kreller, if you'll take charge of the colonizing operations, I can fly Mr. Walters down to the planet below. The scouts will be reporting back here in about four and a half hours. When they come back, take their reports and look them over thoroughly so we can start mining and construction after some food and sleep. Mr. Walters, pack whatever things you need and meet me at the shuttle bay in twenty minutes!"
Dr. Kreller waited until Milan had left, then began a furiously neurotic, inquisitive assault on the captain. "Are you really taking him down there? Do you really believe he's the best choice for a first contact situation? Do you realize that you are going into a situation that could quickly turn on you in any direction? Have you taken some sort of pharmaceutical? ARE YOU INSANE!?"
"The answer to all of those, Dr. Kreller, is twenty bananas and a bowl of Martian linguini. We'll be fine. I can steer Milan in the proper direction. We're taking a dimensional communicator with us, so we can always keep in contact. Chin up, as they say. You're in charge for a little while."
With that, Andrew McKinley jumped up from his chair and started off towards the shuttle bay. He realized that some food stores would be needed if they hoped to remain for a few days. Along the way, he grabbed handfuls of various fruits growing in the orchard. After plucking a good load, he stepped out of the forest region and onto the cold steel floor of the shuttle bay. Milan was there, waiting for him.
"Captain, I've been waiting here for almost two minutes! I've got all my stuff, so why are you wasting time? Come on!"
"Two minutes...O, mon Dieu, precious loss! Well, here I am, so let's go. Dimensional communicators on! Get in, Mr. Walters! You need to sit in the back."
Milan climbed in slowly, grumbling all the way about "unlimited travel speed, intergalactic communication, and we're still ridin' around in ships built from old, rusted two-door pieces of - "
"Sit down and buckle up, good buddy! We are 10-4 and flyin' overtiiiiiiiiiiiime!" Andrew McKinley strapped himself in, closed the doors, and initiated the undocking sequence. Milan was thoroughly unhappy with the prospect of a possible madman at the helm, but he remained silent and thought about what he would do when they arrived and found alien life.
None of them had yet considered the possibility that the alien life was searching for them as well. The satellites orbiting the planet had picked up on an unidentified ship that had suddenly appeared on one of the moons. When the planet's chief military and scientific leaders found out, they quietly sent a small, automated observation probe to investigate.
Dr. Kreller was tapping his fingers on the control panel and whistling the same tune for the 359th time in a row. He was bored, and there was nothing to do but wait. As soon as he finished the last note of his tune, Dr. Kreller saw traces of something dancing on the edges of the monitors. He went out for a closer look, and what he saw terrified him. It was no more than a yard in length, but it had a metal frame shaped like the fins of a manta ray, and more than fifteen cybernetic arms, each fused at the end with a special precision tool, jutted from its central processing unit. Dr. Kreller slowly backed away and closed the ship's door when he was inside again. He turned on his dimensional communicator and said, "Captain? There's a...thing...scanning us. It looks like it could dissect this ship in a matter of hours. I think it came from the planet."
Andrew McKinley grabbed Milan and pulled him behind the shuttle with one arm as he answered Kreller with the other. "I'm on the planet with Walters right now! I can't go back up to deal with some alien thing! I dunno...try talking to it! McKinley out!"
Dr. Kreller was about to shout "WAIT!" when he heard the signal power down. He slumped dejectedly in the captain's chair. "Talk to it, he says. Talk to it? Didn't THEY go down there to 'talk to it!?'"
Dr. Kreller walked outside the ship and began flailing his arms in the air like a castaway calling a plane. "Frax dibb slarch drey karsippon, frez nymby lescot narschiven."
The probe promptly rolled into a ball and exploded.
Down on the planet, a member of the unknown race had spotted movement passing along three of its eight eyes. Sensory organs on these creatures formed a circular pattern on their heads. They could see and hear everything around them. This creature near the shuttle was of slightly smaller stature than an average 10-year-old human child. It crouched on its two strong, nimble back legs and moved its arms about wildly, then it leapt clear over the shuttle to the other side and turned its body to face the two humans, who had just tested the atmosphere and taken off their spacesuits.
Varying degrees of red and purple pigment covered the creature's body. To describe its appearance, one might use the term 'Satan frog fly.' It certainly could frighten anyone who was unprepared, which was the case with Milan. He stood behind Andrew, whimpering "Naaah. Naaa-aaah-aah."
Andrew knew the drill, or thought he did. He brought himself down to the height of the creature. He tried to look it in the eye, but that was difficult to do. He started to get dizzy staring cross-eyed at the single eye of the creature on its front forehead. The creature cocked its head to one side and scratched its head.
"Geh?"
Milan slapped himself across the face and stood next to Andrew, facing the creature. It was time to develop communication with it. Milan said, "Geh?"
The creature blinked all its eyes and hit its hands to its mouth. "Du du du!" It quickly stretched its arm out and pointed one of four long fingers at Milan. "Mei dogeh pasima. Dolan mean gehnqua?"
Milan thought for a brief moment, then, "Mei meane lan. Dolan mean genhqua?"
The creature started rolling on the ground, making sounds that seemed like laughter. "Du du du! Dozolinez essan drehmo val nido sikalan!"
The creature regained its composure and squatted upon its two legs again. It turned around and beckoned Milan and Andrew to follow it. It took them into a village a few miles from the place they had landed. The inhabitants stared out their windows at the strange creatures who were being brought into the town, but their guide allayed all his people's fears. He continued to lead Milan and Andrew through the village, stopping to have a few whispered conversations along the way. These secretive parleys bothered Andrew, while Milan simply listened to whatever words he could catch. He did not hope to immediately grasp this new language, but within a few days he would have some good ideas about it. He had one skill, and it was developed to a highly superior level.
After about an Earth halfhour of walking, they stood before a great palace. Their guide turned to face them. In an effort to make them feel more comfortable, he closed six of his eyes and straightened his legs up as much as he could. He held out his left arm with his hand up and attempted to impart the command 'Wait here.' After he felt his message had been received, he fell back into his normal gait and entered the palace through the great doors. A pair of guards escorted him to the throne room of the Magistrate of his region.
When the doors to the throne room had been closed, he bowed to the Magistrate and gave his report.
"Magistrate, the Human ones are here. I am between decisions, Magistrate. Should we let the Human ones know that we have known their language since long ago?"
"No, my faithful one, no. It would be wiser to control the methods through which we open relations with other races. We made a mistake like that once. Let us not be compounded with two errors at the same time. I shall put in my bid with the Emperor, and push a decree that we shall not open communication with another race."
"Magistrate, I fear that the Human ones may be able to learn our language. One of them seemed quite adept at linguistics."
The Magistrate laughed heartily. "A master of linguistics but clearly a failure at biology! They don't have enough vocal chords or the proper oral structure to even try anything more complicated than 'I am called Dummy.' Don't worry about it. Go, lead them back to their ship and send them off. They will be a concern of another day."
The guide bowed to his Magistrate and departed from the chamber. Milan and Andrew were still waiting outside, slightly impatient and very bored. The guide led them back through the village and back towards their ship. Milan started to say "wait a minute, we're not leaving yet" when the guide turned to him, glaring, and covered his mouth with his hand. Milan understood and stayed silent as they continued their march. They had reached the central village circle market when the guide seemed to cock his head to hear a noise from far away. He fine-tuned his senses and stared with one open eye in the direction from which the sound came. A black silhouette was coming closer on the horizon. The guide suddenly threw the humans to the ground, pinning them with his own body as the ship came into view of the entire region. A small shuttle was launched from it, a shuttle that headed in the direction of the Emperor's palace. The guide squatted up again and shook his fist in the air, shouting, "Dolumanzi! Signe radixo garin, Neopenti! Neopenti!"
The male citizens of the village came running from their homes with whatever they could find that passed for a weapon. They all stood blocking the way of Milan and Andrew in all directions except the way back to their ship. They started moving in. Andrew grabbed Milan's arm and yelled "Come on!" They both started running as fast as they could back to the shuttle. Behind them, they heard indistinct shouting, but the tone was very clear. They were no longer welcome. They scrambled into the shuttle and blasted off while slamming the doors shut and buckling themselves in. Fifteen minutes later, they were docked in the Omega Dream again. Dr. Kreller was in his quarters, looking over the scout reports and shaking his head, when Andrew and Milan burst in on him. Their expressions were wild, and Kreller was instantly unsettled at the sight of them.
"My God, Andrew, what's wrong?"
"We were just run off that planet! I don't know what we did wrong! Everybody was peaceful one minute and the next, they went crazy!"
Milan pushed Andrew aside and stepped into Kreller's room. "Dr. Kreller, Andrew is telling the truth. We were being guided through a town by one of the inhabitants. He took us to the edge of a palace and signaled us to wait. When he came out again, he took us back towards our ship. When I protested, he stared at me in an unsettling way. We continued our journey back, but in the center of the town, our guide stopped and seemed to be listening to something. A few seconds later, he threw us to the ground as a black ship appeared in the sky. I saw it in the corner of my vision for a brief instant. He shouted some words in his language, presumably at the ship. I heard the word 'Neopenti' repeated several times from him and others in the village. Then, they suddenly came out of their houses with knives and staves, yelling things at us and menacing us. We had no choice but to leave. The people down there have a bizarre double nature, and the only thing we have to go on is the word 'Neopenti' and the black ship."
They all fell silent and stared at their feet. What was this 'Neopenti,' and how did it relate to the planet below them? As Milan and Andrew filed out slowly, Dr. Kreller started flipping through the scout reports. He soon grew weary of reading them and began simply flipping through the heavy stack, paying no attention to any of it. Amid the hundreds of papers, Kreller put his head on his desk and didn't pick it up for several hours.
On the planet, the Emperor sat on his throne with his head in his hands. When he heard his doors creaking open, he slowly pulled his hands down and opened all of his eyes. Yes, it was he. The Emperor put out the candles between his fingers, one by one, until the last source of light in the room was nothing more than smoldering wax and a thin stream of fine smoke.
"What must I do for you now?"