“Well… Yes?” Ailith seemed to not exactly understand why she would not think of them like that. “I mean…” She waved vaguely in the two drones direction as if it explained everything.

“The only problem is that I don’t understand their 'squonks' - or most of them at least - at all. Most of the time it’s not that much of an issue, but…” She grunted, pointing at the falling over button “Well…”

After a couple of seconds, she added, “That’s also why I told you to ask them before you tried to open them before you know.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 846):

Llewelyn shrugs.  I can't understand them either.  Or at least not as we are now.  I think I can work it so we can communicate.  But...

He seems to think.

If I can't...work on one of them...would you mind if I tried working on the ship here?  Maybe I can find some kind of...uh...scroll library...that would answer some quesitons.

That elicits a long and loud series of angry sounding squonks from both Hammer and Foot.

Llewelyn sighs.  It's up to you.  They'll do as you say.  Honestly, if you want answers, this is the only way I can think to find them.  Not just about Hammer and Foot.  But about...a lot of things.

Ailith considered Llewelyn for a moment. “Does it really matter if they’ll do as I say? I certainly don’t know enough to decide one way or the other.” She shrugged. “Feel free to convince them, but I’m not going to force them to do anything, particularly something I don’t understand.”

“Plus, as you say, they are their own persons, it would not be right.”

“As for that 'library' thing…” she glanced at the two drones, then looked back at Llewelyn, “Looks like they don’t think that’d be a good idea… Though I would be interested to see that.” With a frown, she turned to Foot and Hammer, “That being said, while I do understand what you don’t want… What are we supposed to be doing now? Didn’t you say there was danger or something? The whole reason we came here in the first place?”
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:25, Fri 03 Mar 2023.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 848):

He has an expression you can't read.  It's a new one.  He says nothing about Hammer and Foot, but he gestures to the pole in the center of the room when you ask your final question.

"I think we took care of it.  This is going to be a bit difficult to explain.  But this ship...it's like Hammer and Foot in that it thinks...sort of.  It's not a person. But it does have a...brain I guess is the closest term I can come up with...this is so damn difficult.  Anyway, the ship is old.  Very old.  And something didn't work the way it was supposed to.  The injun was...getting too tired.  It was about to collapse.  And when that happens to an injun...well.  It's bad.

"So we have come here to do what we came to do.  But I think we need to look around.  You have to be curious.  Why is the language of this ship so like your own?

"And why does Hammer and Foot not want you to find it?"  He gives you a direct stare.  "You've been suspicious of me before.  And fair enough. I would be too in your circumstances. But why haven't you been suspicous of them?  Because they're cute?  If they are own people, that means they have their own agendas.  Maybe instead of worrying about mine, you should consider what theirs are."

“Oh.” Ailith looked around for a moment, “Well, that was easy then. But how did they know?” She pointed at the two drones, “Can they talk to the ship here, from, uh…” she looked around, “Home?”

“I don’t know what they want or why.” She grumbled under her breath, it would be much easier if she did. “But… I… have some ideas about the language. Thing is, it’s, uh, a touchy subject. And why wouldn’t I trust them?” Ailith shook her head, “They even saved me in the North when that crazy guy attacked me.” She shivered at that. “And they came after I found something in, uh, well… A place I wasn’t really supposed to be?”

“Aaaanyway…” The young apprentice looked around for a moment, clearly trying to decide on something. Finally, looking up at Llewelyn, she asked “Do you know anything about…” She scrunched her face in concentration, “ardy-fizuhl gin-hed-tik mod-e-fik-a-shun, _{or something like that}?”

Before Llewelyn could answer, Ailith jumped up, “Oh!” she turned to Coq, “Do you know what 'Yellow is not your colour' could mean? Besides the obvious? I mean, like…” she waved at the things around her.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Mon 06 Mar 2023.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 850):

Llewlyn makes a puzzled expression.  You've gotten to know that one well over the years.

ardy-fizuhl...where did you hear that from?  It's...yeah. I know what it is more or less.  But why do you know anything about it?

“Hmm…” Ailith looked around for a bit, as if looking for something that could distract Llewelyn from that line of inquiry.

Since nothing obvious came to her rescue, she shrugged. “I…had a dream about it? A…” She tilted her head to the side. “A 'modified memory' through ancestral blood? Or something? From my, uh, grandmother’s grandmother’s…many times over? I think it’s what it said?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 852):

Llwelyn makes another face you haven't seen before.  Then he rubs a hand over his face.  Then he makes another new expression.  More hand rubbing across his temples.

"I..."

He rubs his face again.

"Okay.  Let's...huh.  I...I don't know where to begin.

"We should look around this place.  I'd like to take pictures of everything.  And take time to think about what I'm supposed to say to all that.

"Sound good?"

Ailith frowned, then muttered darkly under her breath for a few seconds. “I guess.” she finally answered, “But again, that depends mostly on them.” she pointed at the two drones, “Is there something we should have a look at?”

Before they could answer, she added, “And before you say no out of hands, remember that without him,” She pointed at Llewelyn this time, “we wouldn’t have been able to come here fix that, uh, Injun situation.”

I think we need to go back to the room we first came in.  Some answers should be there.

The five of you head back towards the front of the ship.  Hammer and Foot stay close to you, though you think they are watching Llewelyn.  He on the other hand seems to ignore them.

When you arrive, Llewelyn walks over to one of the pannels.  He points at some of the runes.

Coq...what do these symbols say?

Coq peers at them, then at you, almost like he's askign you if it's okay to translate them for Llewleyn.

Ailith shrugged, “Sure.”

“But,” she pointed at Foot and Hammer, “You should ask them rather than me. It’s their place, not mine.”

Though they probably would say it was her decision too… Ha, well. She was curious herself anyway, so…

In reply to Ailith (msg # 856):

Llewelyn sighs.  No.  It's not their place.  They're part of this place.  It's not the same thing.

He glances at Foot and Hammer, who squonk back at him.

This is all guesswork.  But I'm pretty sure the reason these two wanted to come here was to make sure nothing bad happened to it.  Because if it did, they would be dead.

He cocks his head and crosses his arms, staring at Hammer and Foot.  Oddly, they don't squonk back at him.

They were lucky this time, as the problem had...a lot of warning.  They had a chance to fix it.  Or bring us here to fix it.  But what happens if a problem comes up that doesn't give them any advance warning?

Besides. He turns and looks again at the panel.  The only way you got here to fix the problem was because I gave you a ride.  So consider this the fare.  Coq?  The symbols?

Coq shrugs and studies them.

"This one is...The first among many?

Then...Pull.  Yeah.  That one's easy.

Let's see...Smooth

And...Tumble maybe?

And-"

That's good enough.  Sounds like these control the way the ship moves.  Which would make sense, given the...

He points at a short, squat column.

Ailith...will you sit there for a moment please?

Ailith simply shrugged as she looked at Coq and the two drones, as if to say. he has a point.'

“Sit?” She looked at the column. “Here? Uh, sure, I guess?”

She didn't sound terribly sure, but it was more surprise than doubt, and she went to sit as instructed without much hesitation.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 858):

Llewelyn studies you.   How's it feel?  Comfortable?  Try reaching out to the panel from where you're sitting please

The chair isn't uncomfortable.  But not comfortable either.  It feels a little too tall.  You have to bend your feet to keep your toes on the ground.

The panel is just out of reach if you don't hunch forward a bit.

Llewelyn nods and motions for you to sit.  Now Coq?  If you could try that as well?

Coq is a little taller than you.  So he doesn't have the issue with his toes, but the panel requires him to reach over as well.

Llewelyn scratches his chin.  He turns to you.  Ask Foot and Hammer to show you pictures of the people who used to...live here before you please  He considers them.  I doubt they'll do it for me.

“It's not bad, but...” Ailith shrugged. She stood when asked to, but instead of watching Coq do pretty much the same thing she had, she looked  curiously around. Tempted, for a moment, to give her curiosity free rein.

The question to know if she would have wasn't to be answered however as Llewelyn brought his attention back to her. “Those who lived here? Sure,” She waved at the two drones to invite them to do it, “but didn't we already see them in the shuddle under the river?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 860):

The...craftsmanship here is different than there.  Kind of.  Just indulge me if you don't mind.

You ask Foot and Hammer.  They squonk amongst themselves, then Foot floats over to one of the panels.  It extends a little arm you didn't know it had and...does something.

The panel lights up and then in mid air there's a ball of light.

The light twists and reforms.

You are looking at something...gray?  It's kind of like a person.  With two legs and a head.  There's three arms.  Two on one side and a larger one on the other.  But the head looks like a proper person.  Except it's too...hairy?

Llewelyn sighs.  Foh bahnk ay.  Wasn't expecting that.  But the cranial structure...huh.  Okay.  I think things are starting to make some sense.

Ailith.  Coq.  Meet your...hmm.  How do I put this?  Do your people have a practice where you can own each other?  Like one person can become another person's legal property?

Your call if the institution of slavery exists on Ailith's world

And #5000 is mine :)

“Oh.” Ailith blinked as she considered the creature Foot was showing them. “Ah, slaves? I’ve heard about it, but…” she shrugged, “I’m not sure if it’s a real thing anymore.” Or if it ever was anything more than stories. She…hadn’t exactly been the most studious as a kid, all focused as she had been on her crafts.

“They look ugly.” She declared, most categorically. “You think the shuddle in the river was trying to escape from them?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 862):

I didn't even notice we were at 5K.  Thanks for pointing it out.  Happy 5,000th post to you

Llewelyn considers the image.  Not sure.  But...

He seems to think aboug something for a while and then shrugs. I suppose I can tell you this.  You may not want to spread it around.  Your people might not take too kindly to it.

But there's debate among my people who have studied your planet.  There are some who say your people were not born here.  That you might have been...brought here or came here in shuddles or something similar.

That race... He nods at the image Foot is still showing. Is...I think...a people who were known to make slaves out of other peoples.

So you know...I used to think your people did come from here.  But this shuddle and that image...they make me doubt.

What I don't understand is why Hammer and Foot listen to you and Master Matah.  Can you tell me how you found them?

“Some people are never taking anything well.” Ailith muttered, obviously annoyed to even have to care about it.

“In the dream, I was told that we couldn't stay here for too long and had to go back someday.” Ailith shrugged: obviously, the news that her people may not originate from their current planet disturbed Llewelyn more than it did her.

Not that she wasn't curious or wanted to know more. Not at all. She just wasn't disturbed by it. Why would it matter?

“We... Well, I found a stick with buttons. I showed Master Matah, we tried a couple of them and next thing we knew, Foot and Hammer were with us. Telling us we were the captains or something. Sort of.” She clearly wasn't sure about it.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 864):

Llewelyn makes that face that makes you think he's thinking about something.

I'd like to see this stick.  But for now...

I'm not sure what else we can do here.  The question now is...what do you want to do with this place?  I mean...  He glances at Hammer and Foot.  ...this is yours now.  Right?

From the squonks that rush forth, Hammer and Foot seem to have some opinions on that statement.  But what they are, you have no idea.

Llewelyn looks at you and Coq.

Coq, who's just been listening to all this, shakes his head.  He too looks at you.

“You’d have to ask Master Matah, he’s the one who has it.” Ailith shrugged.

Hearing the concerto of squonks, the young apprentice frowned. “Can we go back to the one squonk for no, two for yes please? Oh, wait. Is there something in here that would allow us to better communicate with you?” It probably was too much to ask for, but…

In reply to Ailith (msg # 866):

They both squonk twice.  Hammer floats over to one of the pannels and squonks rapidly at it.

Llewelyn walks over and studies it.  Might be a port.  Uh...a way for my bird to...you know what? Never mind.  I'm just gonna do it.

He reaches up and pulls some long strands from his bird and fiddles with the part of the panel Hammer was floating at.

After a while he stands and touches his bird a few times.  One of those pictures-in-the-air he calls haul ohg arams is floating in the air.  Llewelyn seems to study it.

This looks like...a sort of translation of sorts.  I can use this to establish a...to understand the speech.  If you give me a few days...I think I can come up with a way to speak to Hammer and Foot.

“Great!” Ailith exclaimed, obviously happy she would be able, finally, to properly communicate with Hammer. And Foot of course. Even though she wasn't quite sure how Llewelyn learning to do it would translate to her, but one thing at a time.

The news that it was going to take a few days was met with less enthusiasm though. “Uh, where are we going to sleep? And we don't have anything to eat, do we?” Or to drink for that matter...

In reply to Ailith (msg # 868):

Well.  I was assuming we would go back to the village.  You do remember we have my shud del. Getting back home won't take long.

Is there anything else you wanted to do here?

If not, we can return planet side next post.

Thanks

“Oh, uh... Eh eh.” Ailith rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “I thought you needed to stay here for the translation thing.”


“But, uh, no? I guess we can head back?” She looked at the two drones and Coq, looking for confirmation.