Waiting Shapeless

Chapter 44. Pareyline

Lliui: Stram

It was a Capozeeri. And he couldn't speak Ruolten.

Officer Lliui shook his thick head in frustration as he walked. How a being could live in the Pentaverse and not know how to speak Ruolten was beyond him.

But apparently he could speak and read Oidian, the language of the extinct inhabitants of Gnumus.

Crazy hobbyist. Thought the Stram. Studies a dead language but doesn't know anything about the live one.

After receiving the news from Lieutenant Hoff, he had come to the Area Investigation tent as quickly as possible. It was there that he found the Capozeeri, surrounded by other species specialists and translators.

"Step aside, step aside!" Officer Lliui called as he forced his way through the crowd.

The Capozeeri was jittering away in his native tongue to a nearby translator.

The Capozeeri species had always seemed strange to Officer Lliui. They were all very short with stubby arms and legs, covered with thickly wrinkled, light-blue skin. It's head was nothing more than a thick tube like neck with a single large, veiny eye at its end.

Apparently the species spoke through their one eye, because as Officer Lliui watched the creature speak, he could tell that the voice was coming from the head area, but there was no visible mouth.

"...Gnumus was a planet of war, and it was war that led to its destruction." Said the Droni translator at his side.

The Capozeeri chattered on, raising both his hands and making obscure hand motions.

"The Oidians were not peaceful, but did not have a desire to conquer beyond their world" Spoke the Droni.

Officer Lluil butted his way to the front, interrupting the Capozeeri. "I'm Officer Lliui," he said bluntly, "head officer over this investigation."

Several of the surrounding beings glared at him with distaste, but he ignored them.

"I have questions that I need answered." He said to the translator. "Please tell him I am the head officer in this investigation." The Stram gestured at the Capozeeri.

The Droni turned to the blue creature and jittered quickly, motioning towards Officer Lliui.

The Capozeeri did the equivalent of a mouthless smile (if such a thing were possible), as an "ah" sound came out of his eye.

Officer Lliui cleared his throat. "First of all, what exactly is this thing?" He pointed at the burned object that they had all been examining before. It still lay on the table in the center of the room.

The Droni repeated the question to the Capozeeri and Capozeeri bobbed its head quickly, walking over to the object. He began pointing at various sections of the thing with his stubby fingers, continuing his jittering.

"He says that he was just in the middle of explaining that. It is a Oidian capsule meant for interplanetary travel. The strange thing about it is it's size; the capsule is way too small to have carried any Oidian, adult or child."

The officer snorted with a frown. "Then what did it carry?"

The Capozeeri seemed to know the question before it was asked, because he continued excitedly, pointing out the dark interior of the object.

"...The capsule is Oidian, but it was not used for Oidians." Continued the Droni. "On Gnumus, there was not just one intelligent species, but two. The Oidians and the invisible beings."