Chapter 11

Lambert was glad to be back aboard a human ship, though that wasn’t to say he didn’t appreciate touring the alien carrier. He was constantly asked what he’d seen out there by the crew, and he was all too eager to recount his tale, enrapturing the entire mess hall with the help of Carl to add some extra flare.

Just like the Balokarids had been curious with the two men, the Gallipoli’s crew was all too eager to engage with the aliens, their capacity to mimic anything a comical point nearly everyone took advantage of after their initial wariness wore off, the medbay becoming an attraction since the aliens were confined there.

Lambert spent most of his spare time explaining to Mezul the details of the surgery, Doctor Cairns’ earlier words tempering his excitement. It was a big decision the Captain wasn’t taking lightly, warships sent on long voyages like this one, where communications with superiors were either impossible, or took too long to send and receive orders to be practical, had to act independently, and the blame would fall squarely on the Gallipoli’s crew if a member of an alien race died on their ship.

The Gallipoli already had a stark reputation before its turnover, and Lambert certainly didn’t want Mezul’s death on his conscience. Killing humans was one thing, he’d been indifferent to killing for a long time, but something about an alien was different, unnatural. He wondered how the UEC felt about attacking the Balokarids. Lambert knew they were warmongering scum, but what reason did they have to fight an alien race? The Balokarids had to have the answer.

Lambert spent most of the next couple days with Doctor Cairns and Mezul in the medical bay, Carl joining him now and then between his hours of sleep. The bay had been the gathering place for the few other scientists and medical staff who could fill the role of linguists best (Lambert’s presence a necessity because of his sheer exposure to the Balokarids), but they got a helping hand later on by the aliens themselves, when a whole team of them turned up to the bay, dressed in white, form-fitting suits that covered them from toes to neck in synthetic threads. On the sleeves of their suits was a strange symbol Lambert had no basis to describe. Did that signify what roles they served in their culture, perhaps?

There were seven of them in total, and according to Mezul when he asked, these were: “Translator scientists.” She must have called for them when he wasn’t looking, or maybe Shaliyya had. Lambert guessed Carin’s team wouldn’t get far on developing communications unless both sides put some effort in.

Lambert was sidelined out of most of the technicalities, but so was Mezul, and Cairns encouraged him to immerse her into English to see if he could make any progress on his own front. It was interesting to see the Doctor’s team engage with the alien scientists, it was a little like watching a documentary about parrots, the way the conversations went back and forth, until slowly it almost looked like the team of scientists were working as one cohesive unit.

Lambert noticed that all the aliens had helmets like Mezul, secured to their hips and never once setting them down. Perhaps they were afraid of decompression, maybe that was a common occurrence on their ships. Their feathers were so dynamic and colourful, from white to black, green and even a purple one, no two alike as their shimmering feather tips sparkled in the room’s light.

“We’ve been able to develop our dialogue with the Balokarids considerably,” Cairns said when Lambert asked how she was going a day later. “By mutually reciprocating our words back to each other and going from there, our efforts have snowballed to a level where we can convey both the context and meaning of almost three hundred words. Unfortunately this is not nearly enough to satisfy the level of communication necessary for tactical movements and coordination between our fleets. We have to resort to more unconventional methods.”

“Like what?”

“The Captain shares your sentiment in installing a translator implant, as do the Balokarid. I’ve gone over Mezul’s brain patterns with the help of Caleesi, that’s their head scientist, and believe with some adjustments to our translator template, we can install such a device inside her. It should act as an accelerant in laymen’s terms, but this seems the only path left open to us.”