The last thing Jasmine remembered before fading to sleep was Xant lifting her body off the ground. When she awoke it was to more comfortable surroundings, well, as comfortable as an alien barracks could get, she supposed.
The bed was a bunk cut into the wall in a hexagon shape and was large enough to fit her and 20 of her closest friends. The 'mattress' that lined the bunk was made of a thick gel that warmed to your body temperature on touch, something that Jasmine still had not gotten used to.
She was alone in the gigantic room, made for someone closer to Captain Rynard's size than her own. A military base filled with enormous dinosaur space marines needed to be impressive, but she was still wracking her mind around the scope of it all.
Jasmine yawned and stretched her hands above her head, happy to see that some food and her clothes, neatly folded, were at her feet. The second-skin-like grey jumpsuit, the blue sari and a selection of scarves were waiting for her, as well as her custom pressed 'citizen grade' plastic armour. The entire suit split open in the back and would 'snap' into place once she had activated the suit with her chin. Jasmine scratched her head, figuring out what she would wear when her fingers brushed against a short curl of hair.
Her second hand joined the first, running through almost five centimetres worth of hair. She was finally past the stubble stage! She let out a small squeal of glee and jumped to get dressed, now if only she could find a mirror...
The jumpsuit and armour were first. She slipped the grey suit on and zipped it up at the back. It was incredibly, almost embarrassingly form-fitting, especially snug around the waist and chest. The armour was no better, since it had been purposefully moulded to fit her exact measurements, it conformed exactly to her physique, but it definitely held everything in a little better.
The room, like most of what she observed of the aliens, was devoid of personal items. A desk and stool to work and eat at, a meal dispensary in the corner, a bathroom closer to a carwash than an actual bathroom and an inbuilt, voice-activated, automatic wardrobe.
There were a few more things that made the room a little more noteworthy, the hexagonal, steel tiles of the walls tessellated together like snake scales, a change from the sterile white on Uleesia station. A holographic projection of alien language repeated itself in a screen saver-like fashion next to an enormous glass weapon safe - she recognised the build from the security wing, back when she was in Esaanders company, perhaps this was for more personal use? Next to the safe was Rynard's power armour, looking like a zord stepped right off a Power Rangers set, bulky, angular and littered with battle damage. Pinned to its left shoulder was a faded but cared for green captain's cape, with a white trim and two small medallions of silver, or maybe steel? Ranks earned in battles long passed.
Jasmine nibbled on the standard-issue preserved waurdess ration while she looked for her companions. She could certainly hear them, despite the thick steel walls Rynard's voice rumbled through. Xant's was practically non-existent, but then the Zenthi didn't speak with 'words' like humans and sulin did. Xant's thoughts filtered through his translator, projecting them out into sound for others to hear, a universe-changing piece of tech that didn't just translate words, but thoughts and ideas. The same translator technology had been grafted into Jasmine's brain, projecting not only her thoughts, but her personality and emotions for others to feel. Xant's presence permeated her senses, he felt like a cool river’s stream.
It was comforting to know she could feel him wherever he was.
Rynard was right beside him, his presence as large as he was in life, brute strength concealed in a warm, lazy haze. Jasmine giggled, Rynard felt like a bear taking a nap. In between the pair were three distinctive auras she was already very familiar with. They were the other survivors of the Rajavan abduction, fellow earthlings of the canine persuasion: Sieglinde, Kimiko and Spades.
The door opened automatically on approach, and the human was ambushed by the pack of excited dogs.
"Namegiver!"
"She's awake!"
"Namegiver came back!" was the welcoming call of her four-legged friends. Jasmine knelt down, hugging and petting them as soon as she was able.
"Of course I'm back! I'm not going anywhere! I hope you were all well behaved for Friend Xant and Friend Rynard!"
"They were as pleasant as can be expected," Xant replied cordially. "Welcome back Jasmine. I trust you are well-rested?" Xant was a curious-looking alien, like a cross between a pangolin and a killer whale. Shiny, smooth black and green skin, long snout with hidden razor teeth, kind brown eyes and two, long and expressive antennae-like ears that wiggled when he was happy.
Rynard seemed to snicker at the remark and Xant did his best to ignore the jolly giant dino.
"I am surprisingly refreshed." Jasmine smiled back, rising to her feet to hug her friend. "I'm a little stiff in the joints, but I'm sure a little walk around the place will sort that out! After all, I was in stasis for…how long?"
"Two [weeks]," Xant reminded her, happy to be talking with her again. "But I'm afraid our walks will be limited to the office and hab room for now." Xant offered her a crate to sit on at the makeshift table, a larger steel crate of some sort with a white stencilled logo moulded into the plastic. A single planet with a 13 pointed star above it.
"Huh? Why?" she asked, confused. "And where's Nako?"
"The Lieutenant Commander is currently making arrangements for us, safety measures and clearances for certain wings of the facility," Xant explained.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
"I thought my translator made me safe…" Jasmine's shoulders slumped.
"You are safe now, relatively," Xant began, while Rynard interrupted,
"But the facility ain't safe for you. " He chuckled. "Military ships and stations aren't exactly built for someone of your shortness, you'd be more likely to be stepped on or run over than be freq-fried like a citizen. Xant's armour might be up to protocol but Jasi, you might as well be naked with that flimsy shellac." Jasmine patted down her grey armour. She'd already grown very attached to it.
"So until you both have military-grade armour and can function in it properly," Rynard looked pointedly at Xant, "you're both to be escorted around the facility, either by myself or Sir Nako, and I don't have orders to let you leave."
"So we're stuck here until everyone else is finished with the red tape?" Jasmine asked for clarification.
"Bureaucracy at its finest," Xant chuckled, lifting up a dataslate for Jasmine. "But we do have some work to help us pass the time. Would you be interested in running through some topics with me, Jasmine?"
"Please accept, Jasi," Rynard insisted with a laugh. "He's been compiling 'subject matter' for you two to talk about for the entire journey ship-side."
"Ignore the captain, he's just not one for intellectual discussion." Xant retorted with a smirk.
"I ain't designed for sittin' still and burping facts all day!"
"I'm glad that you've come to terms with your insurmountable shortcomings, Capt’."
Jasmine looked between the pair, wondering where the tension that used to be between them had vanished to. They were bickering like old friends.
"You two seem to be getting along better," she stated, taking a sip of water out of the shallow bowl on the table. “Ugh, the water here’s not so great.”
"Yes, well, we had quite some time to discuss matters, intellectual or otherwise, while quartered on the Refined. I've been teaching him the finer points of formal discussion and he's showing me the value of banter in camaraderie." Xant tilted his head to the side. “Perhaps the water would taste better if you did not share the bowl with the dog’s.”
Jasmines face turned green as she immediately put down the ceramic bowl.
“You said something about work to help pass the time?”
Rynard laughed so hard he began thumping his tail with amusement.
Xant rightfully ignored him, and Jasmine's embarrassment, and opened a fresh dataslate.
[Transcripts of Dr Uru’Nav Xant, Unaffiliated. These Transcripts are for research purposes only, Source these transcripts with accreditation to Dr Uru’Nav Xant to comply with the Corporations act and in service of the Cultural Expansion initiative. Rejuvenation Dynasty ]
Dr Xant: This is Dr. Uru’Nav Xant, unaffiliated. Subject, would you state your name and title for the record?
Jasmine: I am Jasmine Anne Howe, the Namegiver, sole surviving human of my Rajavan abduction from Earth.
Dr Xant: Thank you, Namegiver Jasmine. For this record, we will be discussing, as best we can, the human language.
Jasmine: Well, first off, there is no human language, we have hundreds of languages, thousands if you want to count dialects into that. Geeze, when I think about it there’s probably more than a hundred dialects of English alone...
Dr Xant: Then we will speak in broad terms - human language as it refers to writing, speaking, pictographs and the ability to convey concepts.
Jasmine: Okay, well that does narrow it down. So, it's more about how we exchange information, rather than the words themselves?
Dr Xant: That is correct. The GC translator allows for the instantaneous transfer of information, so comparing a Creator level language built without such technology is a fascinating conceit for discussion.
Jasmine: If you say so! I’ll do my best, but I'm not an expert, I haven't had to worry about studying English since I dropped out of university!
Dr Xant: There we are with our first concept, ‘studying’ the language, how long does it take to learn a human language fluently?
Jasmine: Uhhh, heh, well, there’s an old joke that some people can speak a language their whole lives and never learn to do it correctly. But for the record’s sake, I’d say 15 to 16 years, with continuous expanding vocabulary.
Dr Xant: Could you explain, ‘continuous expanding vocabulary’?
Jasmine: Uhh, yeah okay, umm, well, English is my native tongue, which means its the language I was born learning and can speak the most fluent. I know a few words in other languages, mostly ‘please’ and ‘thank you’s’ and a lot more swear words from other languages, but the point I’m trying to make is that my native tongue is forever changing. English picks up words from other languages easy and incorporates them into the whole, it’s also very easy to change the meaning of established words and make up whole new ones entirely!
Dr Xant: Are other human languages not as adaptable?
Jasmine: Well, I know a lot of them have waaaay more rigid grammar structures and don't change as quickly as English does. With English, the rules are more like guidelines.
Dr Xant: And these guidelines require vigorous study?
Jasmine: Yes, you can get by with everyday words and phrases, but if you want to do anything in academia, law, politics or literature you need to study. Word meaning and context can change every 5 to 10 years in living speech, what was corrected 20 years ago may not be correct now, and ‘legalese’ is different entirely.
Dr Xant: Does this continuous metamorphosis of your language contribute to the difficulty of human translators? [for context according to Jasmine, humans have not developed an accurate universal translator]
Jasmine: Well, you’d think so, but it is actually the opposite! Because the world is changing so fast and becoming more and more connected through the internet (our planet-spanning communication/information system) people are picking up other’s languages and using them in everyday speech more than ever! Some people even combine alphabets to convey different sentiments!
Dr Xant: Different alphabets? Can you demonstrate that for us Jasmine?
Jasmine: Oh damn now you’ve put me on the spot, uhh, can I have the illustration dataslate for a moment?
[note: Jasmine’s illustration]
(ಠ益ಠ) ( ;ﾟдﾟ) ( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉﾟ
Jasmine: These use different alphabets and syntax to create new context for sentences because most of our translation is words and not the text we have to create little ‘emoji’s’ to express tone and emotions with the written word!
Dr Xant: The human frequency equivalent! Absolutely fascinating that your species despite not being sensitive still implemented such measures into your lexicon. Can you give me an example?
Jasmine: Of course! Ahem,
(Happy/Curious) What do you mean? ( ﾉ^ω^)ﾉﾟ
(Worried) What do you mean? ( ;ﾟдﾟ)
(Angry) What do you mean? (ಠ益ಠ)
Dr Xant: The expressiveness is absolutely incredible! Oh! The expressions match your facial motions because humans read emotion through such interactions, fascinating, fascinating. I will have to create a separate transcript for this discovery.
[Session Terminated]