Night 50: M61-M70 Hallway
[M66]
Kirk went rummaging through his desk the moment Landel mentioned the "reward" in the drawer, but unless "Portal Ring" was some obtuse term for the metal circle which held the two keys which locked his drawer and the door to their room, there wasn't anything worth noting. (Although he had forgotten about the power packs in there, and quickly ( Read more... )
Kirk went rummaging through his desk the moment Landel mentioned the "reward" in the drawer, but unless "Portal Ring" was some obtuse term for the metal circle which held the two keys which locked his drawer and the door to their room, there wasn't anything worth noting. (Although he had forgotten about the power packs in there, and quickly ( Read more... )
VUX translation technology was so advanced that it was able to translate languages that it hadn't even previously encountered before with a relatively small margin of error, something that had led to the unfortunate Insult incident. What that meant, however, was that ZEX had had little to no experience with unfiltered Human. When he'd spoken to them on those few brief occasions during the War (and when his Captain had visited him), their speech had always been translated. Even his few rare artifacts of Human culture acquired before the shield went up were mostly relegated to writing, and the few videos translated automatically through his computers.
So hearing Carter speak Human, raw Human, was a strange shock. ZEX was accustomed to understanding everyone, even before he came here. Not only on a spiritual level, but on a basic auditory level as well. Hearing Carter emit a strange series of bizarre sounds for no reason startled ZEX out of any comfortable mood he may have attained. It was a sharp reminder that Carter was alien, foreign, a strange creature. Was he dreaming? Was this another nightmare?
Carter was pointing at the book again, jibbering nonsensically. He didn't seem to have noticed anything amiss at all... and despite the fact that the sounds had no meaning to him, he could distinguish at least some rudimentary pattern. Had the technology software they'd implanted in them all malfunctioned? Was that what that sound was?
"Excuse me, Carter..." ZEX put a hand on his arm, trying to speak slowly. "I can't understand you at all. I hope you aren't playing a human trick on me... I'm not in the mood for such games tonight." If Carter could not understand him in return, then he'd know for sure something was definitely wrong.
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LeBeau had a habit of regressing to French when he got annoyed and ZEX appeared to have done the same thing, but Landel hadn't even said anything bad. Confusing, yes, but that was normal. Carter patted ZEX's hand and gave him a comforting little smile, waiting for permission in English to continue rambling about arctic wildlife.
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ZEX gestured at where his trunk would have been, had he been a VUX, to try and indicate speech. He spoke slowly and more loudly... maybe that would help? Perhaps the technology was just on the fritz for a little while. "I can't understand you. You don't understand me either, do you? I think we have a problem."
Given this place's track record for unpleasant surprises, this was most likely no accident. As if to punctuate the thought, a shallow cut appeared across ZEX's cheek, his phantasmic pests deciding to make their presence more known. He winced and touched the wound gently with his hand on instinct, and he glared at the darkness around them. They had the worst timing.
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But Carter could never stay irritated for more than a few moments and his anger quickly broke when ZEX touched his cheek. "Hey, are you hurt? You look sort of hurt." He quickly pulled ZEX's hand away and peered concernedly at his poor injured cheek. There was nothing there to do it, that couldn't be good. "What happened to you?"
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Unfortunately, ZEX knew very little about human gestures, and was at a loss as to how to communicate without using his voice. He couldn't even master the simple human head movements typically associated with "yes" or "no"... that kind of movement made him nervous. This left him in a rather awkward situation.
Apparently Carter had noticed the wound that had suddenly appeared on him, and ZEX hoped that look on his face wasn't negative. He was touching him (something that ZEX always approved of at least), so hopefully he was concerned? That was a small comfort at least.
ZEX tried to think of how he could get across what was going on to a Human without resorting to their language. He moved his hands for a few moments in a series of VUX gestures before he recalled that Carter wouldn't understand those either, most likely. "Something attacked me." How closely did Human match up with VUK ZIX sentence structures? Either way, ZEX tried to keep each word clearly separate, and he moved his hand near his face on 'attacked', where the cut had appeared. "Something..." He gestured vaguely to the area around him, visibly frustrated. He had difficulty getting across this idea when he COULD speak Human... this wasn't going to be any easier now, certainly. "Something... I don't know what, but something invisible..." A thought occurred to him, and he put a hand over his one remaining eye. "Invisible, something invisible..." Connecting gestures together, and he moved his hand near his face again, by the new cut. "Attacked me." With a final tap to his chest.
If he could hear them, he was sure the things that tormented him would have been laughing. As it was, they were swirling just outside his range of vision, clearly present although thankfully not attacking him again. Yet. He was sure it'd be a matter of time.
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"You didn't see how you got hurt, yeah? Is that it? And your chest hurts? Is that it?" he asked, not quite grasping that ZEX still couldn't understand him. It was shadowy in the room and still entirely possible that it had been some kind of flying animal or bug that had marked the alien's cheek. Still didn't explain why he'd stopped speaking English and couldn't seem to start up again.
Carter leaned in further and tapped ZEX on the temple before making a show of peering into his ear canal. "You didn't hurt your brain or nothing, did you? Or your heart, do you keep your brain in your chest?" Some aliens, he'd read, had powerful enough brains that they didn't need to bother speaking English. They could just read your mind and pull your words out that way.
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Maybe he could try a different dialect? ZEX switched to VUK KIZ, hoping that maybe that'd grant him more success. "I still can't understand you at all." He would have continued, but then Carter poked him in the head, for some reason, and ZEX couldn't help but flinch at the contact. It was too close to where his eye should have been, if he'd been a VUX. "What are you...?" And then he was looking into those things on the side of his head for some reason. What in the name of...
"What are you doing, human?" ZEX said, still disquieted at not being able to understand his speech, and then something occurred to him. Perhaps names could still cross their linguistic boundaries? Whether or not he'd understand depended on what VUX sounded like to a Human, but it was still worth a try. "KAR TER...?" Slowly, and as carefully as he could. At least Carter's name somewhat resembled a proper VUX one, although it was as usual too long.
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Finally a single word cut through the barrier. "Yes, Carter. Carter is my name." Carter tapped his own chest and looked at him with firm determination, starting to smile again. Progress! "And you're ZEX. Ad-mir-ral ZEX." He said the final word just a bit louder and poked ZEX in the chest to remind him of who he was in case he'd lost his memory along with the other parts off his brain.
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Carter repeated his name back to him, so at least that seemed to cross their language barrier! That was something. And while Carter's pronunciation of his name was a bit sloppy and bizarre sounding, it was still recognizable. Finally! Although he wasn't sure what he said before his name... "you are" perhaps? "I know you are?" It could have been any number of words with how randomly Human seemed to be organized.
"Yes, that's right." ZEX rested a hand on his chest. "Admiral ZEX. Hmm..." ZEX looked over to his desk, where he'd left his journal. While he could no longer read the book that Carter had brought, which seemed to indicate this lack of understanding went deep, it was worth a try if nothing else. He stood and went over to the desk, grabbing a writing utensil and scribbling down a few words with a shaky hand in VUK ZIX script. Can you read this at all?
He held it out to Carter, then waved away one of those Things that was lingering too close by his shoulder. Pests, all of them.
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Carter shook his head apologetically, saying, "I'm sorry, I don't know what that means. I guess we can't understand each other at all now." That really put a damper on his reading plans. At least ZEX could still look at the pictures but that wasn't the same as making sure he knew how a duck was different from a platypus. He took the paper and folded it together, setting it aside.
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Carter took the paper away from him and folded it up, for some strange reason or another. Presumably Carter couldn't read proper writing now either. This was getting very frustrating.
ZEX tried to think, and he pointed up at the ceiling, where he had last heard the Doctor's voice. Then he tried to get across the VUX gesture for no with his hands, although they couldn't curl quite right, and pointed to his head. If someone had turned off all the translating technology in the facility, there was really only one explanation for who could have done it.
He was trying to think of something else he might be able to get across without words or writing, and a series of scratches appeared on his arm, in a wavy, oddly precise pattern. He hissed and grabbed his arm, glaring into the darkness again. Ugh, would these things ever leave him alone?
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"Hey," he said, softer now. If ZEX couldn't understand his words, he might at least understand his tone. It was how you talked to dogs and horses. He gave ZEX's hurt arm a comforting stroke to try and calm him down. "The nurses will be here in the morning and they'll fix you up right, yeah, boy! And then we can read more about animals together. It'll be okay."
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Carter's tone changed, although that didn't bring him any closer to understanding what he was saying. Speaking softer now... hmm. Also rubbing his arm now... hmmmmm.
Was Carter trying to tell him something? Admittedly this would be one of the more peculiar ways a human had expressed interest in him, but on the other hand, Carter was one of those few humans that seemed just as enthusiastic about him as he was in return. This seemed like an odd time to try and make a move, though, but who could predict a human's behavior?
Besides, from what ZEX could recall, humans didn't need to speak while engaged in certain activities. At the thought, he was able to muster up a smile close to his usual one, although he was still too discombobulated to be in top lecherous form. "Mmm, is that so?" Carter couldn't understand him either way, but he felt like he should say something. "That's very interesting." Whatever it was he said. "You know, I can think of something we could do together that wouldn't involve much talking at all..."
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"And don't worry," he said, voice full of firm, eager certainty. "I'll stay here with you until the nurses get here to fix you up so you don't have to be on your own. And we can look at the pictures, even if you can't understand the words. Would that be good? I think you'd like that." One hand left ZEX's shoulder and reached behind him for the picture book. Poor innocent thing.
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He was still chatting and smiling at him, although that possibly could have been because he didn't understand what ZEX had just said, but there were always other ways around that. Now he was reaching over his shoulder... was he trying to embrace him? Perhaps the human was trying to hint at something... well, ZEX hardly needed more encouragement. The human was right there after all, even if they couldn't understand each other.
ZEX reached out and looped his arms around the human's waist, not as smoothly as he might have had he his normal arms, but it'd do for now. "Yes, exactly," ZEX said, since it was difficult not to say something about it. His smile was getting wider. "I'm glad you agree."
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It was a nice hug. You never got hugs in Stalag 13--patdowns, yeah, but those weren't exactly the same as a friendly slap on the back. Carter wondered how you'd do it with tentacles and if it would feel sort of squirmy like the tail of a snake. He was really looking forward to getting out of here and going into space like ZEX had promised, it was probably wonderful and would involve no invasive patdowns or other odd groping procedures at all.
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