10000 characters. Exactly.
Patrian Patrach stood there, looking foolish, arm out in front of him. The five creatures, four of whom might or might not be Galactic Rabbits, were looking at him. The female advanced, and tremulously extended her arm as well.. and contact was made. Evidently, the cultures were not too different. Unless they were like the primitive Galonquins, who imitated what you did. Further testing the level of intelligence, he spoke.
"Who are you?" No formal pleasentries, no elegance, just a short and simple question. Would they speak the same language? It was unlikely. But what's a possibility is worth trying.
The rabbit with the irish accent jerked as Gurgi huddled against him. Evidently, alien species were not a usual experiance to the thing. Which was odd for a spaceship co-pilot. But Gurgi didn't really behave like a spaceship co-pilot in many other ways, either, so it wasn't too much of a surprise.
It was evident what had frightened the furry creature. The apparent head of the alien group had extended an arm. Tyf stepped away from their group, and extended her hand. The two hands - he supposed that thing the alien had on it's arm was a hand - met. This was a monumentous occasion, now he came to think of it. Establishing contact with a new species.
Then the alien spoke. The rabbit with the irish accent was fairly sure it was speaking, as it seemed coordinated, and not a sound made out of shock. But the words, as they probably were, made no sense. A different language. How aggravating. Well, it was only to be expected. You could hardly expect aliens on an unexplored planet to speak the same language as you. But it made diplomacy harder. Not to mention getting home.
Patrian Patrach saw the look of non understanding on the face of the creature in front of him, so he pointed at himself. "Patrian", he said. Even if they spoke different languages, surely they would recognize naming.
"Tyf" said the creature in front of him. An interesting name, only one syllable. But syllables might not be a form of rank wherever these aliens had come from.
"Propulsion" said one of the maybe rabbits, and "Gurgi" quavered the furry, disheveled creature. The other two did not appear to have names. Maybe they were servants.
He gestured, hoping they would understand, for them to come with him. Surely their thinking would bring them to the conclusion that it was pretty much the best option. Fortunately, they understood the gesture, and so both parties walked towards the direction of Aranselum, the nearest settlement. You got all types in Aranselum - maybe someone there would know the language the aliens spoke.
BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ waited until Speedy finished grumbling, then got up. "Come on, don't just sit there. This place is probably still in danger of collapsing totally, considering the various crashes I've been hearing. Let's not waste time wool gathering, and try to get out onto the planet."
Speedy grumpily got up, and the two proceeded along the passage, until they came to where the door had been. Evidently, it and most of the ship surrounding it had collapsed, preventing progress.
"Here we go again." said Speedy, and the two began trying to clear away the rubble. But apparently, this blockage was much more severe, for for each load they moved away, another fell into place.
"Well," said BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ, "we have two choices. Find another route, or look for something in this backpack which is probably copyright infringing on Batty Buddy's."
"Let's try the backpack." said Speedy, and reached inside. The PlotHole Gate-Jump, which had apparently somehow gotten back inside the backpack, came out.
"Worth a try." said BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ, so the obligatory red button was pressed.
Frang Frajine mumbled sleepily as the alarm bug climbed in through the window and bit him on an ear. "Five more minutes.." he said, but the alarm bug was not equipped with a snooze antennae, so the biting continued. At last, he brushed the thing away, and got up. School was back. No more vacation. Walking into the vacumn tube, Frang grabbed the acid-proof hologrambag from the table.
A few short time lengths later, Frang walked into the school. All about him were the disgruntled countenances that meant they did not appreciate the first day of school either. The first class was Mythology. What rubbish. Three clockrounds of listening to that batty teacher lecturing on about the god of this and the god of that, and what their ancestors sacrificed, and all that. Who cared?
"And so," said that 'batty teacher', "the gods of wisdom and stupidity vanished from the planet. But it was said, that they should come again at some later date. And, if you should be present when they do, remember this. The god of stupidity can be distinguished by the large trout he carries, and the god of wisdom by the fact that he shamelessly associates with someone who carries a large trout."
There was a pop, and two creatures were standing in the room. They were furry, and their ears were almost as long as Frang and the other inhabitants of the planet. One wore a bag, which was strapped to his shoulders, and the other carried a large trout.
BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ looked around the room, warily. It was filled with aliens, all staring at them, wide eyed. One, who seemed older then the rest, was bouncing up and down in exhilaration, crying out to the other aliens in some other tongue. Easily remedied. BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ pulled out a couple of translators, and put them on the throats of Speedy and himself. They had not been used since Miyamoto.. did they still work? Yes, now the older alien's cries could be understood. "The gods of wisdom and stupidity!"
Maybe the translators needed readjusting, thought BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ, and inspected them carefully. But no, they were working fine. So they were thought to be gods. That couldn't be too bad.
"I am the God of Wisdom!" cried BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ, hoping that was right. If it was wrong, and they thought he was the god of stupidity, he couldn't say too much for their intelligence, so they probably wouldn't notice. Whispering to Speedy to play along, BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ tried to strike a godly pose.
"I am the God of Stupidity." said Speedy, sulkily, waving the trout around a little. It was understandable, of course. Who would want to be thought the God of Stupidity by an entire species?
Propulsion strode along beside Gurgi and the rabbit with nothing to distinguish him. Evidently the alien were taking them somewhere, and it was likely to be better then being abandoned on the surface of an alien planet. It was really quite phenomenal that there was air they could breath. He would have thought all planets with air had been discovered ages ago. Just where were they, anyway?
After not too long a time, they came to what was evidently a city. The lead alien pointed at it and said "Aranselum!" importantly. But was Aranselum the name of the city, or some word describing it? For all he knew, "Aranselum" could mean "Prison Colony" in this alien tongue. But they had been treated fairly, and it would be kind of rude to run out on the aliens now.
They got inside the city without much difficulty, there being no guards to halt them. Evidently, this was either a time of piece, or Aranselum was protected by far more subtle means. The city was built much like any other city, with buildings and streets. The streets were packed with aliens, some holding up signs of some sort, reading unintelligle words. A large hovercraft seemed to be coming down one street, and was probably the source of the comotion. As it drew nearer, Propulsion made out details. It was quite elaborate, and two figures were sitting in the back of it, waving at the crowd. One wore a backpack, and the other swung a large trout around. And they didn't look like the other aliens did. In fact.....
"BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ!! Speedy!!!" cried Propulsion, and broke away from his group, running towards the hovercraft, pushing indignant aliens out of the way.
"Propulsion!" cried Speedy, and leaned over the side. "What are you doing here?"
"After we got out of the ship, we met up with some aliens, and they brought us here. But aren't you dead?"
Speedy laughed. "No, I -" he broke off as an alien in some sort of uniform spoke to him in the unknown tongue. But Speedy spoke back to him in the same, and the alien went away.
"You can SPEAK to them?"
Speedy slapped his forehead, accidentally using the hand with the trout in it, before leaning back into the hovercraft.
"BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ! I need a few more translators." After looking inquiringly at Propulsion, who held up five fingers, "Five of them."
BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ handed over the translators absent mindedly, apparently in deep conversation with some alien. Soon, Gurgi and the four rabbits Patrian had found had translators on their throats.
Patrian Patrach, along with four of his findings, watched in puzzlement as one of the could-be-galactic rabbits broke loose and ran towards the hovercraft. Apparently, the people of Aranselum were convinced that a couple of gods had come down, and were touring them in some hovercraft. But that did not explain the galactic rabbit - if it was one - 's sudden sprint.
He called to a civilian, and asked who were in the hovercraft.
"The Gods of Wisdom and Stupidity!" cried the civilian, exuberantly. "They have come to show us our mistakes, and probably impose high taxes!"
Well, that sounded like gods. Couldn't leave well enough alone if you told them to with a hot poker.
And the god of... Stupidity, by the looks, was talking to the galactic rabbit - assuming that was what it was. Could it be that they weren't just aliens, but other gods, as he had thought at first? But if they were gods, why hadn't they been able to speak the languages he had spoken in?
The God of Wisdom gave something to the God of Stupidity, and the other four aliens (or gods) that he had found went over to the hovercraft as well. The God of Stupidity, from what Patrian could tell, was giving them something. Apparently, they knew eachother, at least.
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