Chapter Text
RECORDING… TRUE
"--nk I got it. Testing. Testing. Okay sweet. Here, Rocky, its up now."
"Is working, question?"
"Yeah, buddy, it's working. Recording in English and Eridian."
"Good. Thank."
"Okay. I'm going to go to sleep now."
"I observe."
"Thanks. G'night, Rocky."
"Good night."
THUNK.
…
Tptptptp.
Working? Yes. Introductions.
Hello, friends of Earth! Hello, friends of Erid!
My name is Rocky. I am 2509 (291 Earth) years old. My mate is named Adrian. We have been mates for 1607 (186.3 Earth) years. Adrian was 2658 (308 Earth) years old when I left. I do not know how old —- are now. I do not know how old I am now. Grace said that time does not move the same in space.
I am still in space.
I am an engineer. I was assigned to the Blip-A spacecraft mission to solve the Astrophage problem for Erid. I was happy. It was a good assignment. Out of thousands and thousands of Eridians, I was chosen for the ship's engineer. Adrian was very proud. — wanted to come too but — were not chosen. I am ashamed to say that I am now glad — were not chosen… knowing what I do now, I do not think I would have let Adrian leave.
If we had known how it would go, I do not think Adrian would have allowed me to leave either.
Humans have a saying: 'Hind sight is 20/20.' Grace has tried to explain this to me that humans are supposed to have perfect vision at 20 feet away. I do not understand why 'hind sight' is used as they can not see anything behind them.
Oh, I did not explain sight.
Sight is the word humans use to sense electromagnetic radiation with special organs called eyes. The organs receive radiation particles called photons, which then shows the environment. They can hear light!! They can hear the stars and the space and the environment with this radiation and use it in a similar way that we use sound wave frequencies to sense our surroundings.
Oh. I did not explain radiation.
Radiation is very very very, very very very fast atoms moving in–
…
This was a bad idiom to use at the start.
The meaning of this saying is that all answers are obvious when you are remembering. It means that you can not tell the future, and must live it to know what happens. I… If we had known…
Oh, if only we had known.
This is making the mission sound like a failure. We did not fail! We have found the solution to Astrophage! Me and Grace found the solution and it is called Taumoeba. It is a predator that will eat the Astrophage. It will save Earth. It will save Erid.
Grace has made recordings to send back to Earth about the Taumoeba solution. -– said I should do the same to help everyone understand what happened. There will be questions. It would help if those questions were answered before we arrive. And it would help to get the solution to Erid before we arrive so scientists can begin to work on solving problem as soon as possible. Problem of Taumoeba and… and problem of Grace.
Grace is a very good friend. – came back for me and saved my life when the Taumoeba escaped. — has chosen not to go back to Earth so that — can… — can…
Mm. Not working.
Tiktiktiktiktiktiktiktiktiktiktiktik…taptaptap.
"Grace. Recorder not function. Need words."
"What? Okay, hold on…"
Thmpthmpthmp.
"Oh right. I forgot to upload the pronouns."
Clkclcklclckclclckckcllckck.
PRONOUN TRANSLATION TRUE. UPDATE COMPLETE.
"There. It should work now. If there's anything else, I can always fix it after too."
"Thank. Back to sleep now."
"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome."
Making Erid language into Earth language is not easy. Many words do not have translations or function differently. Eridians do not have pronouns like Earthian. We have words for status - higher and equal and lower. Grace has taught me how to use he and him and his. Says that pronouns on Earth can be very important and in Earth culture are highly respected. So I will respect this.
Those are also pronouns that Grace also assigned to me. In Eridian culture, offering same status means you are equals. He assumed us as equals before he could understand me or knew if I was friendly or if we were going to be friends.
It is hard to dislike someone like that.
When writing the translation software, our words did not match for pronouns. Grace made his own Earthian translations, based off of the elements on Earth's 'Periodic Table' - the human way to catalogue atoms and their values.
Grace uses He. Since this was a human thing, I decided not to choose helium for our translation software. That will be special for Grace.
Instead we chose the following:
Xe for xenon for higher ranks. Xenon on Earth is called a 'noble gas', and Grace thought that noble meant it should be higher. I thought it should be lowest because it is a building material, and because it failed to contain Taumoeba, but… if it hadn't, we would not be traveling together again. It brought Grace back to me, so I will allow it to be used for higher.
Fe for iron for equal rank. We used this element to translate mass when we met. It helped to make sure each of us knew what the 'equivalent' was for our measuring systems.
Equivalent. Earth pun!
Finally Ge for germanium for lower rank. Germanium is also something called a 'flower', which grows in the dirt, and is low to the ground. Grace thought it would be good to use for low. I had no ideas that would be better, so that is what we chose.
Example: Adrian is always higher because xe is my mate. Grace is equal because he is my best friend.
Mark is lower because ge hurt Grace–
"Do not say that on the recording!"
"Go sleep! No listening!"
"Sorry."
Mark is lower because ge hurt Grace and stole his mate.
But Stratt is lowest. I do not have low enough word for Stratt. Grace says Stratt is higher because ge is in command of Earth. I think Stratt is lowest of low because ge was mean mean mean and horrible and tried to kill Grace and–
"Do NOT say that–!!"
"This is my recording! Go sleep!! Not listening!!"
"Give it here!"
KLUNK–BMTHMPTHMmpmpp
TIKTIKTIKTIKTIKTIKTIK
THUNK
"Hey! Rude!"
"Go sleep."
"So not fair…"
I will try to keep my personal grievances to myself.
It will be a long trip back to Erid. It has been long enough already. With many complications. I want our journey to be known in the event that something… happens… and we do not make it back. I do not want the fate of Erid to be left to chance. I have created what Grace calls a 'beetle', which is a self-contained drone that will travel ahead of us and deliver this message and the rest of our findings before we arrive.
It is crucial that this be received ahead of time. I know this is not a typical request from an engineer, as I am not a Big Important Eridian Captain. I do not care. I want scientists working quickly on how we can keep him safe. I am not making this journey just to have his squishy leaky space blob body implode when we finish it. I will NOT let him die.
I have already lost so much already. I will not lose anyone else.
Grace is stupid. He abandoned his only chance at– he refused to let me… I didn't ask him to.
Grace is very stupid. But very very very brave. Very…
There are so many words in both Eridian and Earthian and yet I can not find one that defines what I need it to.
This is confusing.
I will explain. You will understand.
Then we will fix.