Mingling with the Locals

Posted on 02 Jun 2023 @ 9:20pm by Lieutenant Maralen Seitha & Captain Bane Plase

3,782 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Timeline: Between "Meeting The Antiocians" and "Patient Zero"

Maralen stood on the balcony of the temporary quarters he had been granted for his stay on Antioch looking out over the city. The explorer in him wanted to explore the city, learn everything he could about it and its inhabitants. He was hesitant to do so, however. Given the reaction he had elicited from the planet's leaders, he was fairly certain that would not be a good idea. So here he stood, watching from the balcony where he could see them but they could not see him.

After several hours, he turned from the balcony and made his way out of the room. He might not be able to explore the city, but he could learn about the planet from the leaders... assuming any of them would talk to him. But the only way to find out was to go and see if he could find one of them. So he left his quarters and made his way silently through the building.

In the main security office for the Government Delegation Office and Quarters, Junior Minister Third Class Rhock'haven turned out the overhead light. He did so he could better see the monitor screens. For some reason, the lights caused a glare on the screens, which were in black and white, making it even more difficult to see. As he systematically went from one screen to the next (there was a bank of fourty-seven screens), something caught his eye. He went back to it, only to catch in the bottom corner what looked like a tail to a very large feline predator that only hunted in the mountains of the northern continent, pass out of the screen. His eyes immediately went to the screen that had the camera that was exactly opposite that one in that particular hallway. It was there that he saw it. It was not the predatory feline of the mountains, but something altogether different. It was standing upright, and wearing clothes! Rhock'haven blinked his eyes and looked again, and indeed, there it still was, walking towards the camera. He pushed his chair back, causing it to roll backwards with him in it. In a deft move, he clutched the pass-on book and opened it up. Reading over the last several shift reports, he finally saw it, three days back, when he had been on his off-duty time. Aliens had arrived, and were being welcomed by the highest levels of the government, and they would be staying, with little restriction, in this building.

"No way," he said, under his breath. This had to be a joke, right? Placing the book back, he stood up and exited the room. Either this was a huge prank being pulled on him, or he was about to meet an alien creature from another world in just a few moments. Maybe all those entertainment programs he saw on the television were correct, that aliens had visited Antioch III at some point in the ancient past and helped them to build their most treasured monuments and taught them math, science, reading and did gene manipulation.

He closed, and could hear someone walking towards him. Slowing his heart racing, he called out with as much confidence as he could, "Who goes there?"

Maralen paused in his walk through the corridors. The voice came from around the next bend in the corridor, so he moved slowly around that corner, stopping just after becoming visible. He had to look up at the very tall individual standing there, and he reflected -- not for the first time -- that it felt odd to have to look up to talk to someone. Granted, he was around 6 feet tall, but that usually meant that folks looked up at him, not the other way around.

As he came to a stop, he held his hands away from his sides so that it was clear that he meant no threat. His tail was wrapped, as it often was around others, around his waist, looking for all the world like a furry belt. "I am Maralen Seitha," he introduced himself in response to the demand for identification. "I am one of the Cygnus crew who has been allowed to stay on your lovely world to learn about your people." His voice and manner were calm, and he kept his manner as unthreatening as possible. "May I approach?"

The moment the creature spoke, in Rhock'haven's own language, no less, he let out a colorful expletive known to the less fortunate of those that lived on Antioch III, and followed it up with, "Sweet Gods! You're real!" Several years later, Rhock'haven would replay this first encounter with another person from another world, and the days that followed, in his mind, and shake his head with embarrassment at what his first words were to that person.

Maralen had not meant to upset the man, though he did seem to have that effect on these people. He had spoken in the native tongue to, hopefully, mitigate some of that effect by adding something familiar.

Flawed, his mind pointed out unnecessarily in the voice of the Executive. He ignored it.

"Real? Quite," he answered the observation with his usual calm. He should be used to this reaction, but it still took him aback each time he got it. He recovered quickly, though, and offered, "I am sorry for unnerving you."

Rhock'haven blinked twice. Not only was this thing real, but it was talking! It somehow knew his language, and quite well. It almost reminded him of what the upper class used to sound like, before the class system was abolished. He had seen videos and had made fun of those people many a time with his friends and with his brother. Even with the proper speak, the syntax was just slightly off, like he was still learning the language, but was clearly fluent enough to get around. "I, uh, I don't know what to say," he said to it, honestly. "I, uh...I mean you no harm." He mimed to the creature. "Welcome to planet Antioch Prime." Again, he mimed, arcing his arms into a wide circle, then pointing at the ground. "My name is Rhock'haven." He pointed at himself. "You can call me Rocky." As he continued to speak, his voice got louder and the pace and rhythm of his words got slower and more pronounced. By the time he had introduced himself, he was yelling at the top of his three lungs, and speaking in a jerky manner, each word almost punctuated, with emphasis, with a period.

At first, Maralen's head tilted off to the side, confusion flickering in his warm brown eyes. Why was this Rocky -- the being had told Maralen to call him that, so he was willing to oblige -- miming for him? Am I not speaking his words correctly? he wondered briefly, playing what he'd said over in his mind and coming to the conclusion that he had indeed spoken them correctly if a bit stiffly. That 'properness' would disappear with time, though, he knew. The basic language syntax he picked up in minutes; dialectic and colloquial speech took longer, so when he first learned a new language, he sounded like he'd learned it from a dictionary. That was likely part of the problem, he guessed.

However, as Rocky kept speaking -- why was he raising his volume as he went and slowing his words as though he were teaching a very slow and hard-of-hearing child? -- Maralen found himself wincing inwardly at the volume. Feline hearing being what it was, the shouting so close to him was deafening. "I am pleased to meet you, Rhock'haven," Maralen responded, using the man's proper name, though he did roll the r a bit -- that was the effect of being a cat; r's got rolled and s's got hissed. "I am Maralen Seitha." He kept his own voice at its normal volume and as calm as possible. But how did one tell his host to stop shouting at him? That could be misconstrued, and that would not be a good impression to give. "May I ask a question?" he asked finally, unable to find a better way to approach this particular question.

Rocky was pleased that he was communicating with intelligent life from another planet. Just wait until the guys in the locker room heard about this. They would never believe it. "YOU. MAY. ASK. YOUR. QUESTION. MISTER. ALIEN," he responded carefully and loudly so the creature could understand him better. It had not dawned on Rocky that he could easily understand the being, so therefore it could understand him just as easily.

Maralen winced again internally at the shouting -- his feline hearing was definitely protesting this! Calmly, though, he looked up at Rocky. "Why do you speak so loudly to me?" He tried to convey only confusion and curiosity and hoped desperately that he would not offend the being before him.

Rocky was just about to ask what the alien cat was talking about when he realized that he was, in fact, yelling. More than that, he was stuttering his speech pattern, accentuating each and every word. He honestly had not realized he was doing so, and immediately blushed, his forehead and cheek turning a decisive blue. "Oh the Heavens, I am so sorry about that. I hope my rudeness did not offend you in any way." He was genuine about it, too.

Maralen smiled slightly, making sure not to show his fangs in doing so. "You didn't offend me at all. I just didn't understand why you were doing it." He paused for a second then added, "I was afraid that I would offend you by asking that. I'm glad that I didn't." And like Rocky, he was completely genuine. "May I ask you a semi-personal question?"

Rocky was flabbergasted. This intelligent person from a whole different world was interested in him. He couldn't wait to tell his wife and friends all about this! "Yes, please do," he said rapidly. "Anything you'd like to know about me or us as a people, I will do my best to answer!"

Eager was the first word that slipped into Maralen's mind regarding the being before him; though that was not a bad thing in the mind of the feline. He suspected that Rocky was as curious about him and his crewmates as Maralen himself was about Rocky and his culture. Perhaps a trade of information was in order.

"I'm curious to know what your job here is," he admitted. "And if there is somewhere more comfortable you would like to talk, I'm open to that." Part of the reason that he had added that last statement was that he was hoping that such a statement might encourage Rocky to take him somewhere that showcased even a tiny bit of the culture here.

"Oh," Rocky said, surprised, and inwardly kicked himself. "Yes, we have a small lounge right over here," he said, motioning around the corner and opposite in which he came from. He started to move that way, and made sure the Starfleet officer would be following him. Falling in stride with each other for the short distance to the lounge, Rocky answered Lieutenant Seitha's question. "I am a lowly security guard here. I work overnights, three days on, three days off. Tonight is my first night."

He turned into the lounge. It was anything but small. It had multiple seating areas with couches that were luxurious by Starfleet standards, multiple refreshment stations, and one area that was made for preparing food. There was also a gaming device in the corner that beeped and booped and flashed colors and scenes. Taking the initiative, Rocky asked a question. "What is your job on your, uh, spaceship? Is that what your people call it?"

Maralen fell into step with Rocky as they made their way to the lounge -- though upon seeing it, Maralen thought that 'lounge' was a decidedly inaccurate word for the space. Lounges were small; this was... not. The luxuriousness of it secretly pleased him as a cat, but his well-trained controls kept him from showing that... mostly. The soft purr that issued from him was a dead giveaway for anyone who knew cats. Though it was likely that Rocky didn't... unless they had cats on Antioch III -- that would be a question of personal curiosity to be addressed later.

As Rocky answered his question, Maralen felt pleased to be talking with a fellow Guardian -- Security Officer, he reminded himself to use the Starfleet word for it as he moved farther into the room and patted a very overstuffed cushion before sitting on it. "I am Security also, though I lead the department on our starship," he answered, giving the proper word for the ship as if it was simply part of the sentence and not a correction. "In my opinion, there is nothing lowly about Security Guards; they keep the people safe. Everyone always covets the department head position, but it is the guards who do much of the fieldwork of security," he offered by way of both a compliment and an insight into his thinking.

Rocky felt a kinship to this alien creature, and that pleased him greatly. "What is that rumbling sound? It sounds like it is coming from one of your instruments, maybe," he asked, pointing at the utility belt and the instruments this person was wearing. "And, how do you know our language so well? It is like you have spoken it your entire life.

Rumbling? Maralen had not realized that he had been purring and mentally chastised himself for the lack of realization. What had happened to his vigilance!? He put that away for now, though, as it had not distressed his new friend. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's not an instrument; it's me," he admitted. "The sound is called a purr. Felines -- that's what I am -- do it mainly when we are comfortable or happy. The lounge made me feel comfortable; thus the purr. But if it bothers your hearing, I can stop," he offered just out of consideration.

"As to how I speak your language this well, I have a natural gift for languages. After a few minutes, I gain a very basic understanding of a new language. The more I listen to it, the greater that understanding. I have listened to the elders and others in this building speaking since we arrived. This has given me a fairly large sample to learn from."

Rocky nodded. "That is incredible that you can pick up language so rapidly, especially on a planetary scale! And please," he said, going to the first point of Maralen's reply, "don't stop. It is somehow relaxing. We have creatures in the Northern Mountains that have a somewhat similar resemblance to you and your people, but you are decidedly larger. And they don't," he paused working to formulate the word in his mouth, "Purr."

Maralen was pleased that the sound was relaxing to Rocky. He did not stop the purr, therefore. "Smaller cats -- that's what some of my shipmates call the small ones -- do also purr, and people have said that it is relaxing or comforting. I'm glad this holds true for your people as well."

He paused, considering the first statements then shook his head. "I wouldn't say on a planetary scale. On most planets, different regions have variations in a language, dialectical differences or colloquial phrasings. I know this region's language, what I am guessing is the 'base' language. But to be this fluent in other areas, I would need to listen to them, and hear the changes they make to the language. If I did this in each region of your world, then I would know this world's Language Set, or as you put it, the language on a planetary scale." He hoped that was not too much information, more than Rocky wanted or needed to know.

Rocky shook his head. "I do not understand what you mean. Do you mean on your world, there are different languages? We do not have that here. Everyone understands everyone everywhere, and we all speak and write the same language. Well, that is, except those that are mathematicians. Those people write math in languages that only they can understand, especially in the more advanced stuff. Algebra and Calculus and the like," he said, wrinkling his nose up at the very thought of math. "Tell me more about you and your world and your....starship," he said, remembering the word that was used. "Does everyone look like you? Or do others have fur that is different colors like the animals we have in the mountains do?"

Maralen frowned slightly in thought as Rocky told him that there was only one unified language on this planet, no dialectical differences or colloquial phrasings belonging to sub-cultures. That was fascinating to him. In his experience, even worlds that were unified had at least some of these. So to find a world that had none was fascinating. He stored that away for later asking and shrugged slightly. "I don't mean completely separate languages. More like slight alterations in the way people from one part of the planet might say something as opposed to people from another. If your world indeed has none, that is fascinating, and unique in my experience."

At the last questions, Maralen shook his head. "The Cygnus has people of many different species. The United Federation of Planets which the crew represents is a collection of worlds bound together as a unit. So starships like the Cygnus represent that diversity." He hoped that made sense to Rocky. It seemed that Maralen was doing a fairly bad job of that so far, and that irritated him. After all, he had been trained as a Relations Representative at least by the Singers, so he should easily be able to represent an organization like the Federation!

Flawed, his mind chastised him, as it often did, in the voice of the Executive. Focus on the task at hand.

Maralen returned his focus to Rocky's questions. "As to my species, they did have various fur colors as most breeds of felines that I have encountered do," he informed.

Rocky was taking all that Maralen had been telling him, but his brain broke was the part where Maralen had noted casually that there were different species on the starship! Anything he said afterward, Rocky missed completely. "Wait, you mean to tell me there are different species on your ship? I mean, different than you?" Rocky had to sit down. More like collapsed into the cushy couch. "I, I don't know what to say. That is incredible! Do you think the other type of people will come down here and visit with us and introduce themselves to us the way you have?"

Maralen felt bad for distressing his new friend, but he was unsure how to fix the situation except by answering the questions. "I'm sorry for overwhelming you just then," he offered in a voice filled with warmth. "Yes, there are many species on the Cygnus. And a few did come down when I did on the first day we arrived, but they only spoke to the Elders then. A few have come down in the few days since, though we have kept the number small so as not to cause problems."

"Incredible," Rocky stated. "Will I get to meet more of your crewmembers? Will I get to talk to you again after tonight? I am so speechless. I know I have so many questions, but I can't think of anything," he said and laughed a little, embarrassed. "You know so much about us, and I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface about you and your crew and your people."

Maralen smiled again, still keeping his fangs as hidden as possible. "It's okay. First Contact is always a bit overwhelming," Maralen assured. "And I don't know all that much about your people, only the language really, and that your society seems to be structured into Guilds. There is so much left to learn, and I confess I want to learn everything I can." He chuckled softly then. "If there is one thing that seems universal in regard to felines, it has to be our curiosity. Insatiable." He gave a nod as he answered the last question. "I will speak with you any time you wish unless I have been summoned elsewhere," he assured. "And as to others, I can make no promises, but I think that there are those among us who would welcome the opportunity."

Rocky enjoyed the smile and the purring that was going on. Both had a way of disarming the security guard completely. The time, however had come to an end. Rocky was already in dereliction of duty but was sure he could talk his way out of it if push came to shove. "I must get back to my duties, and I am sure I've bored you enough. You have so many more interesting things to learn about us that I surely could not help with. It was my most sincere pleasure to meet you."

As a security officer in his own right, Maralen understood what was happening here. It was not that Rocky was bored with the conversation but more that he had duties to perform. Maralen would be the last being to keep another from their duty, so he nodded, the smile and purr still present. Likewise, his voice remained warm. "You haven't bored me at all, Rocky," he assured honestly. "I have thoroughly enjoyed this interaction and hope to do it again. And I'm sure there is plenty that you can teach me of your people when time permits. But for now, I understand you must return to your duties. So until next we meet, I wish you well."

"And I you, Maralen." Ricky stood and smiled, not sure what else to do. After a moment of awkward silence and the two smiling at each other, Rocky gave a curt nod and headed out of the lounge. Before long, his head would be swimming in questions not asked and opportunity missed, and wondering in the deepest recesses of his mind if all that had actually happened.


OFF

A JP by

Junior Minister Third Class Rhock'haven
Antiocian Security Forces

&

Lieutenant Maralen Seitha
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Cygnus

 

RSS Feed