Qui Habitat Sixteen
"They didn't have anything more useful than that for you to buy?" Cam asked holding out his hand for Jonas to give him the bracelet. It was lighter than it looked, with surprisingly delicate designs etched on the front. "Teyla's going to yell at me and not you, you know."
"It's supposed to be from Oano," Jonas said, ignoring Cam's chiding and gesturing for him to return the bracelet. He did. "Which is apparently another world that emptied out suddenly and without the Wraith helping out. But Oano was -- is -- a subsistence-level farming planet; they have poor natural resources and little to trade with other worlds."
Cam made a face totally unrelated to Jonas demonstrating once again that he'd been staying up too late reading the Ancient database. "Okay. So..."
"So this," Jonas replied, turning over the bracelet and holding it up so that Cam could see the inside. It was etched with another design, one not at all similar to the one of the front. It took Cam a moment to realize was in fact script, albeit not in any language he'd seen before. "This is not Oanan. They don't have a written form and they probably don't have the ability to do this level of fine craftsmanship with copper, which they don't have on their planet and don't have the wealth to trade for. Certainly not for use as jewelry."
Cam cocked an eyebrow. "So someone dropped it while scavenging Oano?"
Jonas grimaced. "Whoever dropped it wasn't from Pegasus," he said, then waited for Cam to react, which he did. "I think I've seen this language before, but not with this kind of stylized script."
"Back when we were pirates in another galaxy," Cam asked, not really making it a question.
Qui Habitat: Chapter 16 (8700 words) | Book Two
overview | series cover page
At some point, I am going to have to 'close' Book Two and start Book Three, if only to keep the one-page version from getting too long. Thematically, this could either be the first chapter of Book Three or the last chapter of Book Two. Or I might wait until the story more clearly has an obvious breaking point.
For the record, the total tonnage of the series stands at 184K words, 100K being the main story. (No, it's not the longest story I've written yet.)
With thanks, as always, to sevenall for editrixing and ileliberte for reading it in draft. Anything bollixed is my doing.
"It's supposed to be from Oano," Jonas said, ignoring Cam's chiding and gesturing for him to return the bracelet. He did. "Which is apparently another world that emptied out suddenly and without the Wraith helping out. But Oano was -- is -- a subsistence-level farming planet; they have poor natural resources and little to trade with other worlds."
Cam made a face totally unrelated to Jonas demonstrating once again that he'd been staying up too late reading the Ancient database. "Okay. So..."
"So this," Jonas replied, turning over the bracelet and holding it up so that Cam could see the inside. It was etched with another design, one not at all similar to the one of the front. It took Cam a moment to realize was in fact script, albeit not in any language he'd seen before. "This is not Oanan. They don't have a written form and they probably don't have the ability to do this level of fine craftsmanship with copper, which they don't have on their planet and don't have the wealth to trade for. Certainly not for use as jewelry."
Cam cocked an eyebrow. "So someone dropped it while scavenging Oano?"
Jonas grimaced. "Whoever dropped it wasn't from Pegasus," he said, then waited for Cam to react, which he did. "I think I've seen this language before, but not with this kind of stylized script."
"Back when we were pirates in another galaxy," Cam asked, not really making it a question.
Qui Habitat: Chapter 16 (8700 words) | Book Two
overview | series cover page
At some point, I am going to have to 'close' Book Two and start Book Three, if only to keep the one-page version from getting too long. Thematically, this could either be the first chapter of Book Three or the last chapter of Book Two. Or I might wait until the story more clearly has an obvious breaking point.
For the record, the total tonnage of the series stands at 184K words, 100K being the main story. (No, it's not the longest story I've written yet.)
With thanks, as always, to sevenall for editrixing and ileliberte for reading it in draft. Anything bollixed is my doing.