Chapter 650

Ship

The next morning as Ship transported Arlene, Ann and Selina from the entrance hatch to the bridge, they found Jeff and Kayla already there and enjoying themselves. Jeff was sitting in the big Captain’s seat with Kayla in his lap, both involved in a deep kiss.

Kayla hurriedly came to her feet while rearranging her clothes. “Sorry, Selina,” she apologized.

“For what?” the little genius asked as she pretended to be puzzled. “I have certainly seen nude females before. Unfortunately, we were a little early, and my Prime is still fully dressed,” she teased.

Jeff could feel his face flush, but he tried to act normally. “Everyone ready?” Then to the genius, “Navigator, or should I say astrogator? I think you’re up.”

Selina grinned at him. “It will only take a short time,” she said as she seated herself at her console.

A few minutes later, they were standing near the main hatch as they viewed the holo of what was below them in 2214’s early morning sunlight.

“I hope we aren’t too early. I would hate to awaken them,” Selina commented.

Even as she spoke, the wolves came out the entranceway, looked above and returned to the cave.

A moment later, Morales came out, rifle in hand as always, and motioned for them to come down.

“If they weren’t up before, they are now,” Kayla said with a grin.

Apparently they hadn’t awakened anyone because they were already dressed for the day, but the women were just starting breakfast.

Jeff’s women, including Selina, joined in but only accepted a cup of coffee since they had already eaten.

Morales’ wives ran him out of the kitchen, telling him to go and sit with Jeff.

“We didn’t mean to upset your morning,” Jeff apologized. “I wanted to talk to all of you, primarily Morales, so I thought I would come with my women.”

Selina blushed at again being included as a woman, but she was pleased, indeed.

“So, what’s going on?” Morales asked.

“Nothing to be concerned about, but let’s wait until your breakfast is over.”

With the meal over and the dishes in the washer, the Morales family found seats and waited expectantly.

Jeff looked over at Lobo and Lila who were lying several feet away. “Lobo, would you and Lila come and be with us?” Jeff asked.

The wolves passed a glance, much as Jeff’s wives sometimes did before the animals got up to move to the group.

“Just as I thought,” the Prime said.

When Morales frowned and looked at Jeff, he nodded his head. “You are probably much more aware of how intelligent our two friends are, but I had a thought. Well, to be fair, several people have contributed to the idea, including the First Officer. If you’ll remember, he told us that the Miadax usually mapped their language into the minds of the races they conquered. Now, our two friends here are obviously understanding more and more of our language, but I got to wondering if we could speed that up. After all, it’s difficult enough to learn a foreign language when there can be input both ways, but they can’t tell us much — at least not verbally.” He hesitated for a moment before, “But ... what if they could?

“With Ship’s help, the First Officer had the equipment to map English into his brain. When it worked, he had it done to all the Miadax. Oh, it wasn’t perfect, and their accents were terrible to begin with, but it did work. With another run-through with the equipment and some practice, most have near-perfect English now.

“With Ship and the AI that operates the language mapping equipment, we hope to be able to speak the native language to the races we meet in our travels. If not, we will be sorely limited in our search abilities. However, we fully expect that the mapping equipment will eventually be able to do its job, but we are leaving someone out, or rather two someones,” he said as he turned to look at the wolves, both of whom looked at the other for a long moment.

When they turned their gazes back to the group, there was no one there who didn’t believe the two had agreed among themselves.

Jeff spoke up. “Morales, I wanted to approach you first with this. If you say no, then that’s the end of it. We agreed that you would have to give your permission before we would even think about proceeding. Again, I have no idea about the danger — or whether there is any. The First Officer says that he has never heard of any complications, and his race had conquered many others and consequently mapped Miadax into their brains. But, our friends here are ... different. Ship and the First Officer are still adamant that it will work, and at worst, it will cause no harm if for some reason, it doesn’t work properly. It’s up to you and them,” Jeff said as he turned his gaze to the wolves, who stared back at him.

“Probably, they still won’t be able to speak,” Jasmine broke in to say. “Their throats and vocal cords must be very different.”

Jeff nodded. “I thought of that. Ship says she can alter Lobo and Lila’s throats and vocal cords enough for speech, although it will probably be a deeper tone than we are accustomed to, and they may not be able to make all the sounds for perfect speech. In addition,” he said as he directed his comments toward Lila and Lobo, “it will also take time for you two to learn how to use those new vocal cords, should you both approve.” Turning back to the group, “The way I understand it, they will comprehend English — well, to some extent. We need to remember that they have never seen much of what we take for granted — cars, airplanes, malls, stores — literally thousands of things that are common to us, not to mention concepts that will be totally foreign to them. We all know they are extremely intelligent, but their lives before Mr. Morales were limited to the environment out there,” he said, motioning to the outside, “and their survival and search for food. Now, with English, their worldview is going to expand — enormously.”

“Uh, Jeff. What you’re saying is certainly true, but we mentioned that Lobo and Lila watch videos and movies with us, and they are very attentive while doing so. As intelligent as they are, I suspect that they’ve picked up some knowledge of Earth. They’ve seen cars, planes, cities — well, lots of things. How much they have learned is another matter, but you can bet they have gained, at least, some knowledge of Earth.”

After turning back to the wolves, “Lobo and Lila, I have addressed Mr. Morales and his wives in some of this because I don’t know how much you understand of our language, but I meant no disrespect.”

Both wolves whined and looked toward Selina, who stood. “I need to be closer,” she said as she began to drag her heavy chair nearer Lobo and Lila.

Jeff quickly moved her chair closer to the animals.

“Thank you, My Prime,” she said as she seated herself. “It seems that I will never grow stronger. With your permission, Mr. Morales, perhaps I can make what has been discussed a little clearer for them.”

“Certainly,” Morales agreed.

Selina leaned forward to position her head between the wolves’ the way she had back at the Retreat. With her hands touching each wolf’s head, the little genius tried to project a mental picture of the Miadax machine while also trying to tell them they would be able to speak and understand English just as she could. In still more detail, she again tried to project a picture of a machine on each wolf’s head with them talking to everyone. “This isn’t guaranteed,” she tried to project to them, “but it’s a chance to learn how to speak and fully understand our language.”

Frustrated, she realized they didn’t know what guaranteed was, nor what English was, either.

Selina could feel their puzzlement, which she had expected, so she continued trying to send mental pictures of them with the mapping equipment on their heads, then them talking to Morales, Jasmine, Ashley and Christine, before turning to speak to her.

The wolves stared at each other before returning their gaze to her. She could feel their inquisitiveness — actually feel it. A moment later, they changed their gaze to Morales.

“I think they are asking for your permission, Mr. Morales.”

“You’re certain this thing will not hurt them in any way?”

Jeff answered with a long stream of Miadax — at least he eventually told them it was Miadax.

“I’m certain my accent is terrible,” he responded, “and speaking the language tends to strain my throat, but the First says it will become easier. I stopped by before breakfast and had him use the equipment on me. It’s as if I have known Miadax all my life, except that I have trouble making some of the sounds. The First says my tongue will become accustomed to the new sounds with practice, and my accent should improve.”

It was doubtful that the wolves understood enough English to realize what Jeff was talking about, but both tilted their heads a little, obviously noticing the strange sounds when he spoke the other language.

Morales turned to his wives. When they smiled and nodded, he looked at the wolves before saying, “I can’t deny them the opportunity to talk and understand.” After a slight hesitation, he went on, “Do whatever is necessary, if they agree.”

“Guys, Mr. Morales has given his permission. Now, it’s up to you two. Do you want to know and speak our language?” Selina asked them, while trying to project the same thing.

As usual, the wolves were silent, but they stared back at Selina. A moment later, she could feel their pleasure.

The child turned to address the Prime, her smile broadening. “I think they want this very much. What shall I tell them?”

“I told the First Officer to be ready when we returned, so it should happen when we get back.”

As Selina put her head against the wolves’ heads to make sure they understood, Morales came to his feet. “I need to get the chickens in the brush fence and make sure it’s still intact.” After a glance at his wives, he continued, “After that, I’ll be ready.”

“Okay,” Jeff responded, “Then there’s just one thing. How much freezer room do you have left?”

“We have barely begun putting any vegetables into it. So far, we’ve canned everything, Jasmine said. “Besides, you can’t freeze tomatoes whole, and as far as I’m concerned, they couldn’t be any better for cooking than when they’re canned. You can freeze turnip greens, but they take up room very quickly. We’ll freeze some of them, but we’ll can the larger portion.