her cell as the marines looked on. Liao couldn’t help but feel vaguely uncomfortable with their serious, dour faces as they studied the Toralii woman. There was a lot of continuing anger about her presence. Liao knew that, but they were there to follow orders.
“Where do you come from?”
Liao had asked this question before, but it was an important one. The Toralii could not physically speak their language and they could not speak hers. Instead they took turns, each speaking their own language.
["From... star."]
It had taken Liao a number of days to become accustomed to their phonetic structure, but she could understand what the creature was saying fairly well. They had learned the words of each others’ languages by pictures; they would show Saara a picture, then say the word until she learned it. Then she would say her language’s word until the humans learned it.
“Which star specifically ?”
Saara shrugged helplessly. How could she give them the exact location of her home system? The language barrier aside, it was clear that this information was something she did not want to divulge, even if she knew it. Liao tried another question.
“Why did you attack us?”
Another shrug.
Liao and Yu had prepared sketches for today’s lesson, which they produced. The first sketch was a variety of human foods which Liao gave names to. Both Yu and Liao were startled by how quickly Saara grasped their language. She usually only required them to show her a new concept once or twice before it was stamped into her brain. It was a remarkably quick process, although due to the nature of it, abstract concepts such as “economics” or “honour” proved difficult.
This was a two way street, as well. The two humans had to learn Saara’s strange Toralii language so they could understand what she was saying back to them. This proved easier than Liao had imagined. The Toralii dialect Saara spoke (at least, this is what Liao thought she was trying to say) was specifically designed to be as easy to learn as possible.
Even so, Liao observed that Saara learned as fast as she healed, which was almost supernaturally fast.
["Apple. Pear. Peach. Plum."]
“Apple. Pear. Peach. Plum. Very good. The apple – how does it taste?”
["Sweet."]
“Sweet. And the tomato?”
["Tomato... savoury."]
“Savoury. Again, very good.”
And so it went on for weeks as the Beijing hid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Liao and Yu broadened their knowledge of Saara and taught her their own. Liao and Yu together found that Saara was outpacing them both. She could hold a basic conversation within no time and, as they grew close to the Moon, her fluency was startling. When her language skills had improved enough they had given her a dictionary, which she had spent every last second devouring with a voraciousness that was surprising.
Three days before their arrival at the lunar colony, Liao and Yu stepped into Saara’s cell to begin their daily lessons. As they did, they saw that Saara was muttering quietly to herself – a kind of a chant or incantation, based on the rhythmic nature of her intonations.
“Are you alright?” Liao asked, causing Saara to jump – obviously she was not expecting anyone to listen.
["Yes. I was merely reciting one of the stories of my people."]
“Stories?” The Toralii’s grasp on the language improved daily, and Melissa remained impressed with Saara’s progress.
["That is correct. Of the Toralii, my people are called the Telvan... much as you are Chinese, from within the humans. The Telvan... we are documentarians and academics. We document and record what we can about everything we find. A useful way to store this information, and the way many lessons are taught in our..."] she struggled for a moment, ["...education buildings for children... is that we retell them as a story."]
“Education building for... you mean a school .”
["Yes... school."]
On a wild impulse, Liao smiled. “Perhaps
“Where do you come from?”
Liao had asked this question before, but it was an important one. The Toralii could not physically speak their language and they could not speak hers. Instead they took turns, each speaking their own language.
["From... star."]
It had taken Liao a number of days to become accustomed to their phonetic structure, but she could understand what the creature was saying fairly well. They had learned the words of each others’ languages by pictures; they would show Saara a picture, then say the word until she learned it. Then she would say her language’s word until the humans learned it.
“Which star specifically ?”
Saara shrugged helplessly. How could she give them the exact location of her home system? The language barrier aside, it was clear that this information was something she did not want to divulge, even if she knew it. Liao tried another question.
“Why did you attack us?”
Another shrug.
Liao and Yu had prepared sketches for today’s lesson, which they produced. The first sketch was a variety of human foods which Liao gave names to. Both Yu and Liao were startled by how quickly Saara grasped their language. She usually only required them to show her a new concept once or twice before it was stamped into her brain. It was a remarkably quick process, although due to the nature of it, abstract concepts such as “economics” or “honour” proved difficult.
This was a two way street, as well. The two humans had to learn Saara’s strange Toralii language so they could understand what she was saying back to them. This proved easier than Liao had imagined. The Toralii dialect Saara spoke (at least, this is what Liao thought she was trying to say) was specifically designed to be as easy to learn as possible.
Even so, Liao observed that Saara learned as fast as she healed, which was almost supernaturally fast.
["Apple. Pear. Peach. Plum."]
“Apple. Pear. Peach. Plum. Very good. The apple – how does it taste?”
["Sweet."]
“Sweet. And the tomato?”
["Tomato... savoury."]
“Savoury. Again, very good.”
And so it went on for weeks as the Beijing hid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Liao and Yu broadened their knowledge of Saara and taught her their own. Liao and Yu together found that Saara was outpacing them both. She could hold a basic conversation within no time and, as they grew close to the Moon, her fluency was startling. When her language skills had improved enough they had given her a dictionary, which she had spent every last second devouring with a voraciousness that was surprising.
Three days before their arrival at the lunar colony, Liao and Yu stepped into Saara’s cell to begin their daily lessons. As they did, they saw that Saara was muttering quietly to herself – a kind of a chant or incantation, based on the rhythmic nature of her intonations.
“Are you alright?” Liao asked, causing Saara to jump – obviously she was not expecting anyone to listen.
["Yes. I was merely reciting one of the stories of my people."]
“Stories?” The Toralii’s grasp on the language improved daily, and Melissa remained impressed with Saara’s progress.
["That is correct. Of the Toralii, my people are called the Telvan... much as you are Chinese, from within the humans. The Telvan... we are documentarians and academics. We document and record what we can about everything we find. A useful way to store this information, and the way many lessons are taught in our..."] she struggled for a moment, ["...education buildings for children... is that we retell them as a story."]
“Education building for... you mean a school .”
["Yes... school."]
On a wild impulse, Liao smiled. “Perhaps
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