Engineering could be done with far fewer people and by smaller clades!”
Querlak swung her lower manipulators, “We don’t have a shortage of people.”
Keenar seemed to consider this a moment. Then he slowly and contemplatively said, “I think if we had machines that could do such calculations… that we would find more and more uses for them. From one of the things Sigwald showed me I think they send messages consisting of large numbers within which they use calculation to encode data. Then they use reverse calculation to decode the data at the other end.”
“But we can send information from one location to another using a wire passed through a port.”
“Audio and video.”
“We can send that over the same wire.”
Keenar’s eye swung to fix on Querlak, “I think they can send much more information, much faster with this ‘digital encoding.’”
Querlak tilted her eye curiously, still not sure that fast encoding would provide that much benefit, but glad that Keenar seemed mollified.
Keenar said, “You know how everything Sigwald says in our language sound s like he’s exactly copying something you’ve said to him? He sounds exactly like you, though the words are chopped up wrong?”
Querlak bobbed her eye in agreement.
“I think he’s just recorded your words with that ‘digital encoding.’ Then I think he brings your words back from where he’s recorded them by de-coding them.”
Querlak swung her manipulators, “We can record words.”
“ But , we can’t bring them back one at a time in a different order like Sigwald does. Well, we could, but it would take a long time.” Keenar had a somewhat distant look as he mused on this but then he returned to his primary focus. He snarled, “This ‘digital technology’ is interesting, but it’s just distracting us from the fact that what we really need to know is how Sigwald got here and where he came from!” He got another distant look as his TS considered, then said, “What our race needs is a place to expand, not a better way to do calculations or communicate.” He turned, “We’ll be able to form a TS soon and I’ll be able to speak to Sigwald directly, then we’ll see what’s what.”
Querlak felt apprehensive about the TS that would merge Osnak into Delnitch. Occasionally a smaller clade dominated a larger clade when they merged… but Delnitch was huge . Obviously Keenar expected to be the senior partner once the fetus of Ezan and Nonas matured enough that its 5 th dimensional connections to its mother and father joined the two clades. Keenar expected to use what Querlak had learned of Sigwald’s language without learning it himself. Since Querlak’s brain would be the main repository of that knowledge Querlak would likely find herself a minor but almost constant partner in that Delnitch TS.
She didn’t think she was going to like it. She blew air through her spiracles and turned back to Sigwald. She tried to generate more good will by attempting to further clarify to Sigwald the pressure-temperature and charge conditions inside the constructor that were necessary when it rapidly formed diamond.
Perhaps if she could get Sigwald to tell Osnak clade something of importance they could a bort the connection to Delnitch?
Chapter Four
It was 6:30 in the morning when Shan stepped into Ell’s spare bedroom and said, “What’s up with the sigmas?”
Ell said, “Querlak, please wait.” She paused a moment, then said, “Allan, pause waldo function.” She pulled her hands out of the waldo gloves and pulled off the head set. She lifted her feet out of the toe clips and leapt off the saddle into Shan’s arms. “Hey there good lookin’,” she grinned up at him.
Smiling down at her Shan said, “Hey yourself. I wonder what Querlak thinks when Sigwald goes motionless like this?”
“I don’t know what she thinks. I think I’m desperately in need of a kiss.”
Shan grinned, “There you go, thinkin’ only of
Querlak swung her lower manipulators, “We don’t have a shortage of people.”
Keenar seemed to consider this a moment. Then he slowly and contemplatively said, “I think if we had machines that could do such calculations… that we would find more and more uses for them. From one of the things Sigwald showed me I think they send messages consisting of large numbers within which they use calculation to encode data. Then they use reverse calculation to decode the data at the other end.”
“But we can send information from one location to another using a wire passed through a port.”
“Audio and video.”
“We can send that over the same wire.”
Keenar’s eye swung to fix on Querlak, “I think they can send much more information, much faster with this ‘digital encoding.’”
Querlak tilted her eye curiously, still not sure that fast encoding would provide that much benefit, but glad that Keenar seemed mollified.
Keenar said, “You know how everything Sigwald says in our language sound s like he’s exactly copying something you’ve said to him? He sounds exactly like you, though the words are chopped up wrong?”
Querlak bobbed her eye in agreement.
“I think he’s just recorded your words with that ‘digital encoding.’ Then I think he brings your words back from where he’s recorded them by de-coding them.”
Querlak swung her manipulators, “We can record words.”
“ But , we can’t bring them back one at a time in a different order like Sigwald does. Well, we could, but it would take a long time.” Keenar had a somewhat distant look as he mused on this but then he returned to his primary focus. He snarled, “This ‘digital technology’ is interesting, but it’s just distracting us from the fact that what we really need to know is how Sigwald got here and where he came from!” He got another distant look as his TS considered, then said, “What our race needs is a place to expand, not a better way to do calculations or communicate.” He turned, “We’ll be able to form a TS soon and I’ll be able to speak to Sigwald directly, then we’ll see what’s what.”
Querlak felt apprehensive about the TS that would merge Osnak into Delnitch. Occasionally a smaller clade dominated a larger clade when they merged… but Delnitch was huge . Obviously Keenar expected to be the senior partner once the fetus of Ezan and Nonas matured enough that its 5 th dimensional connections to its mother and father joined the two clades. Keenar expected to use what Querlak had learned of Sigwald’s language without learning it himself. Since Querlak’s brain would be the main repository of that knowledge Querlak would likely find herself a minor but almost constant partner in that Delnitch TS.
She didn’t think she was going to like it. She blew air through her spiracles and turned back to Sigwald. She tried to generate more good will by attempting to further clarify to Sigwald the pressure-temperature and charge conditions inside the constructor that were necessary when it rapidly formed diamond.
Perhaps if she could get Sigwald to tell Osnak clade something of importance they could a bort the connection to Delnitch?
Chapter Four
It was 6:30 in the morning when Shan stepped into Ell’s spare bedroom and said, “What’s up with the sigmas?”
Ell said, “Querlak, please wait.” She paused a moment, then said, “Allan, pause waldo function.” She pulled her hands out of the waldo gloves and pulled off the head set. She lifted her feet out of the toe clips and leapt off the saddle into Shan’s arms. “Hey there good lookin’,” she grinned up at him.
Smiling down at her Shan said, “Hey yourself. I wonder what Querlak thinks when Sigwald goes motionless like this?”
“I don’t know what she thinks. I think I’m desperately in need of a kiss.”
Shan grinned, “There you go, thinkin’ only of
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