NEW ENT Alpha Shift 1/11 [PG] (R, S)
JustVisiting
Author: JustVisiting
Contact: just_v...@hotmail.com
Series: ENT
Part: Alpha Shift 1/11
Rating: PG
Codes: R, S
Summary: The universal translator isn't working again. What's a
linguist to do? Hoshi struggles with a complex new language
and with first contact.
Archive: ASC*, Linguistic Database, Fanfiction.net
Disclaimer: Enterprise is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures.
Enterprise concept and characters belong to Paramount. This story is
created purely for fan appreciation and no infringement is intended.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Alpha Shift
By JustVisiting
Hoshi tried to rub her eyes without attracting attention. The Grolan
text continued to scroll across her display. Too many hours spent
staring at the blue screens always hurt her eyes. She managed to
suppress her yawn and blinked rapidly several times to clear her
vision. Five minutes from shift change and she still hadn't figured out
why the universal translator garbled the alien language.
She ran through her checklist again. Trip's new diagnostic program
confirmed the UT was in perfect working order. No problems there, she
thought. Grimacing, she turned to the adjacent display to look over her
coding. Vocabulary samples, grammatical structure, spelling, and
pronunciation seemed to all be in their proper places. The database
appeared accurate and complete. She had spent days planet-side
recording this language. What was she missing?
Baffled by the problem, she plugged her earpiece back in. She touched a
control and closed her eyes. The breathy voice of M'Restral filled her
left ear. Grolans constricted their vocal cords during speech. They
aspirated their consonants and vowels. Spoken in staccato bursts of
air, the Grolan language defied her attempts at translation.
"Isn't that the fourth time you've run that program?" said Reed, softly
near her other ear. He was currently in command of the bridge. The
command team had cloistered itself in the ready room an hour ago.
Hoshi met his gaze evenly. Frustrated by her lack of progress, she
ended the diagnostic run. Reed straightened and rested his weight
against the console.
"Sixth," she said, annoyed with herself.
Reed folded his arms across his chest. "Haven't figured it out yet?" He
kept his tone mild.
"No." She did not mean to be curt, but failure was not something she
handled gracefully. "Malcolm, I've been at this for the last nine days
and I'm no closer to figuring out why the UT doesn't work."
"You're being hard on yourself, don't you think?"
"The Captain needs the UT to work," she said. "Starfleet wants him to
negotiate for the Grolan shield technology. We could really use it out
here."
Reed glanced away towards the rear of the bridge. He stared
meditatively at the briefing area, before trying another tack. "Tell me
what's working so far," he said, trying to be helpful.
Hoshi felt like tearing at her ponytail. She had tried that particular
approach hours ago. Mentally chiding herself, she called up samples of
translations instead. She pointed to the screen above her. "That's the
problem. There is no problem." She glanced up at him. "You sure you
want to hear about this? It has nothing to do with weapons."
"I asked, didn't I?" A muscle by Reed's jawline twitched. "What do you
mean 'there's no problem'?"
"There is no problem," she said, emphasizing each word. She waved her
hand towards the display. Elegant looking symbols scrolled past at a
leisurely pace. "Everything's accounted for. By all rights, the UT
should work. It can duplicate the sounds and words of the Grolan
language. We can understand them but, most of the time, no Grolan can
understand us. We can't even tell them that we understand everything
they say."
Reed looked puzzled. "I've watched you talk to the Administrator. To
M'Restral."
"You saw me having extremely simple conversations with her. Hello. Good
food. Sleep is needed. Happy to see you again. Help me please. See Jane
run. I've been speaking in pidgin Grolarian." She pressed a control.
"He hayt heyt nyat hyou nohua thuatd," said a female Grolan voice.
Hoshi pointed to the English translation on the left display.
"According to all the algorithms I've designed, she's saying 'Are you
hungry?'"
"Faulty algorithm?"
She shook her head, taking no offence at the suggestion. She had
thought of the same thing earlier. "When I showed a written version of
this sentence to M'Restral, she seemed to understand me well enough.
That first recording was her when she read this out to me." She held up
the UT with one hand. "Are you hungry," she said, speaking into it.
"He hayt heyt nyat hyou nohua thuatd," said the UT voice.
Reed frowned. "Sounds the same to me," he said.
"Sounds the same? It is the same," replied Hoshi. "I know it's the
same." She pointed to the adjacent display. "Look at the vocal
inflection patterns. See the peaks and troughs of the sound waves
generated? They match M'Restral's pronunciation precisely. I even
accounted for harmonics, overtones, undertones, cadence. Everything I
could think of."
"And?"
"The first time I tried this with M'Restral, she turned mauve with
laughter. When she calmed down, she said that the UT was talking like a
Grolan toddler."
"She couldn't explain why?"
Hoshi shook her head. "No." She massaged the back of her neck with one
hand. Staring upwards at the displays always strained her neck muscles.
"That's been the problem. The UT will only translate simple
conversations. And text-based communication isn't any better. I can
only get basic concepts across. Simple ideas. Like a child."
"Not enough information for your database?"
"I have all the information I need, but the Grolan culture is aurally
based. Their written language is used only with their young, their
children. Once Grolans reach adolescence, they rely exclusively on
speech."
Reed's eyebrows shot upwards. "Then how the hell do they remember
anything? Do they have perfect recall?"
"I don't know." Hoshi sighed. "I don't have an answer for that. The
doctor could probably find out, but he hasn't been able to run more
than a preliminary scan. I've tried to arrange for a medical exchange,
but the Grolans don't seem to understand what I mean. Whenever I ask
M'Restral about it, she keeps talking about an exchange of song."
"Grolans sing?"
Hoshi couldn't blame Malcolm for his scepticism. The Grolan language
was filled with rapid, breathy rhythms, but nothing that could pass for
music to the human ear. "I'm not even sure she meant music. She
could've meant an exchange of words."
"Conversations."
"I don't know that for certain."
"So, as far as the Grolans are concerned, we're talking like kids." He
seemed vaguely amused.
Hoshi hated admitting defeat. "Right."
"Are you sure they understand we're not kids?"
"Not exactly. I mean, I'm not sure."
"Which means?"
"M'Restral told us that in their culture, you become an adult when you
start talking." Hoshi shook her head. "Everyone down in Behavioral
Sciences has been going wild trying to figure out what that means."
Reed looked intrigued. "Why's that?"
"Grolan children talk the same way as adults do. At least, they do in
what we've heard so far. Grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary. All
identical. The UT can't differentiate between the two and neither can
I."
"But somehow the Grolans can tell the difference."
Hoshi nodded. "That's not all. Adult Grolans understand only a fraction
of what their children are saying. Unless the conversation's about
basic concepts, the rest apparently sounds like gibberish to them. So,
there must be a difference, but what?" She rubbed her temples in slow,
circular motions.
"Headache?"
Hoshi heard his concern, but ignored it as she thought about the
problem. She was missing something crucial; she could feel it. She
stared at the small display mounted at eye level.
"Maybe you should take a break. Stop forcing a solution."
"The Captain's expecting a report tomorrow and I don't know what I'm
going to tell him."
Reed shrugged. "Tell him what you've told me."
"That I've failed."
"That you tried." He looked sympathetic. "You can't translate every
language we run into."
"I have to," she said, her voice serious.
He laughed. "That's pretty arrogant, Hoshi."
"What if you couldn't get the weapons to work properly?" Hoshi
challenged him.
He stared at her before nodding abruptly to concede her point. "It's
going to be hard to convince the Grolans to take us seriously if we
sound like children," he said, changing the topic.
She rubbed at her cheeks once with the palms of her hands. "I know, I
know. I know that, Malcolm." She stood. "Damn it. I hate it when I
can't figure things out."
Reed pushed himself off the console, his shoulder brushing hers. He
hesitated, about to speak, when the lift door slid open. Members of
beta shift spilled onto the bridge. Reed gave her an encouraging smile
instead. Hoshi sighed as he walked away to talk to his counterpart. She
grabbed her data padd before leaving. Alpha shift was finally over.
Ventura33
Looking forward to more!
-- Ventura33
http://www.gemair.com/~bwhite/ventura33/