Tisis

Relearning to communicate (N)

Hmm...the human seems to have realized that I cannot understand his words.
So he's switching to pictures...that's remarkably smart of him.

Let's see...this...looks a bit like the rescue capsule Sirus and me came in.
The...swamp monster? Maybe? Oh Garkla, this feels like a game children would play...but as it stands, it's the only thing we can do, isn't it?

Communication is key, after all.
If we cannot communicate, I cannot ask what happened to Sirus...or Zero.
I need to make out a pattern in the sounds he makes, since I cannot expect him to learn my language any time soon.

Think Nym...alright, the human clearly knows how to write and Sirus taught you, what a few of his words look like.
Maybe I can match his words to the writing...?
It's a straw, but it's the only thing I've got.

Keep talking human...keep talking, so I can learn to understand you...

Unfortunately, I can hardly discern any sort of pattern from the gibberish he's spouting.
Not a big surprise, the people who built the translator must have studied the humans and their language for years.
Who am I to expect to master it within hours?

Alright, first things first...who is this person in front of me?
And how do they know so much about my time with Sirus?
Why is Zero here and probably dying, but Sirus is not?

The man does not appear to be hostile and I'd rather keep it that way.

"Und du verstehst kein Wort, oder Nym?", he suddenly says, apparently directing some sort of question at me.

'Nihm'? That almost sounds like what Sirus keeps calling me, because he cannot remember my name...wait a second...what if...?

I remember what my father told me back on the ship, that our technology is our greatest strength and our reliance on it our greatest weakness.

What if...what if whatever is causing the translator to malfunction is also disturbing my perception of the man in front of me?
I mean, he does look a lot like Sirus, he is here with Zero, he acts as if he's known me for a while...and didn't he mention Sirus' name a number of times?

What if he wasn't saying that he's a friend of Sirus...but actually Sirus himself?
That would explain a number of things.

But how can I be sure...?

Hmm...something no human from the ship pretending to be Sirus would have...clearly that person knows a lot about my life with Sirus, but Sirus could have told him all of that.

There must be something they can't have copied easily...his hand is hurt, just like in my dream, but he didn't have that injury before we parted...I need something else...something that cannot be reproduced easily...

I briefly close my eyes, trying to remember what I could us.

The smell of the roasted vabbit pierces my nose and my face distorts into a grimace.
I hate that smell...but humans need meat and this way, at least the animal death is not in vain.

Suddenly, a memory pops up in my mind.
I know how I can prove that it's him!

I quickly ask him to remove his shirt.
When he doesn't react, I underline my request with a gesture.
But still nothing.

Honestly, just how dense can you be?

I crawl over to him and start pulling at the man's shirt, which causes him to struggle a little.
He seems...uncomfortable.

He does that gesture Sirus always does to tell me to wait and finally starts to remove his shirt...but...why is my heart suddenly beating faster?
This is an examination and nothing else!

After he removed his shirt, he gives me that 'And now what?'-look I've grown to know so well.
Alright, let's see...where is it?
I sure hope it hasn't healed completely, otherwise I'm back to square one...it should have been somewhere around...

I trace his abdomen, over the ripples of his muscles...it must be around here somewhere...ah! There it is! It's actually there!
The scar from that vabbit that bit him shortly after we arrived on Tisis.

There's no way an impostor could copy that one easily.

But this can only mean one thing...that this man is indeed Sirus and my perception or maybe my memory got warped into believing that he is not.

If this is the doing of that 'voice', I'd really like to know what the heck the purpose of this crap is...but unless I can figure out how to talk to him again, I'll probably never find out.

Only now I realize that I've apparently been staring into his face for quite a while and my heart begins to leap again.

My fingers brush over something, which feels surprisingly solid, almost like a bone sticking out.
I briefly look down to where my fingers had wandered.
What in Garkla's name...oh...oh no! Oh, he did...I did not...

Blood rushes to my head and I quickly scuttle away.

Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
He must think that I am...oh Garkla, how am I ever going to get out of this one?!

My eyes quickly dart to Sirus, who seems to be just as flustered as I am.
Okay, what to do, what to do, what to...oh, I know!

I start laughing to hide my complete embarrassment.
He should understand laughing, right?
When he also starts laughing, a wave of relief washes over me.
Good thing that there are some things that are indeed universal.

After we both stop laughing, I try to imagine a few of the written words I know from him and how they might be pronounced.
I have a few samples from his writing and, at least what I assume was him reading it for me.

"Gedächt-nis k-kaputt. Du...Sirus?" I stutter, almost getting a knot into my tongue.
How can these people actually speak like that?
He gives me a nod, a bright smile and replies, "Ja, bin ich. Freut mich, dich kennen zu lernen...nochmal."

Would you look at that.
He actually seems to have understood what I tried to say.

Still, it's going to be a lot of work to relearn how to communicate.
I just hope that my translator will kick back in soon, otherwise 'learning his language' won't matter all that much any more...because one or even both of us are going to be dead.

I look over to Zero and let out a big sigh.
The wound is pretty bad...and that he didn't get up again by now doesn't bode well either.

Unless one of those Tisis miracles happens, I think we'll be needing a grave for him...soon.

That's going to break Sirus' heart.
He loves that canine, after all.