The Communicator, Chapter 4

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screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU! screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU! screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU!

 

Brevix groaned as the shriek of the communicator invaded his sleep.  Emitting a low, gutteral growl, he pried his unwilling body from between the sheets and extricated himself from the possessive grasp of his First Officer and partner, Hourna.  Pulling on his tunic, he regarded his uniform trousers hanging neatly over the valet, then shrugged and turned to the door.  In the corridor, he heard the scrabbling sound of claws on the metallic deck plating as his Communications Officer, Powrlen, dashed for the Comm Center.  Brevix sighed.

 

screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU! screeeeeeEEEEEUUUUU! screeeeeeEEE… 

 

Brevix paused, then decided to await Powrlen's summons.

 

"Choorllargh! Markhta Brevix!"

 

As usual, Brevix imagined that Overlord Chklarna's overly loud growl was audible through the entire ship.

 

"A moment, Overlord.  I'll fetch him."

 

Brevix waited as the sound of steps on the plating neared his quarters, then, judging the time right, he flung open the door.  The dark red light on his blue skin seemed to cast a violet hue, with shimmers of a rather unappetizing shade of green.  He chuckled quietly at the surprise registering on Powrlen's face.  The dark band of fur around Powrlen's eye magnified the widenend eyes.  His bushy striped tail quickly wrapped around his torso in a reflexive effort at protection.  As quickly as he did so, he relaxed and shook his head in irritation.

 

"Overlord Chklarna, sir."

 

"Very well.  Lead on."

 

Brevix trudged after his communications officer, not for the first time admiring the fluffy tail that flicked jauntily as the R'Kaccy walked.  Entering the Comm Center, Brevix took his place in front of the caster, a little closer than before.  Before Powrlen could slap the receiver switch, Brevix growled menacingly "Powrlen, you better have this thing working.

 

"Sir, what can I say?  It would seem to have a mind of its own.  I tried to get ahold of Under-Overlord Phkrena, but he was unavailable.  The best I could do was an under-secretary to some Assistant Under-Overlord... I don't recall her name.  It worked fine for us.  We tried installing some new translation routines."

 

"Connect us.  But I'm warning you."

 

"UMlawuli we-Brevix, ndiyathemba ukuba unokuthile okuxabisekileyo?"

 

Brevix felt his jaw fall open, as he heard the approach of one of his associates behind him.  He turned.

 

"Uh, sir, according to my tablet, that language is Xhosa... it's a rather obscure language spoken by a subset of the indigenous sapient species on this planet."  His Chief Investigator, Nautewlus provided him with the translation.  "The Overlord says, and I quote 'Commander Brevix, I trust you have something of value?'"

 

"Lovely.  Drragh is spoken by billions of dragons, Keira by tens of billions of Keiran, and the communicator chooses some obscure language of a people we've not even encountered yet?  I swear Powrlen..."

 

"So!" snarled the Overlord on the vid behind Brevix.  "Once again I must run my tongue through the meat grinder of your ridiculous language!  Communications Officer, be thankful I am not in that place with you.  I'd eat you NOW!  Commander Brevix, the incompetence of your communications officer aside, does anyone on your crew have the brains to find my PEOPLE?"

 

"Sir, Chief Investigator Nautewlus has been hard at work."  He turned to her and beckoned her forward.  Taking her place at his side, she addressed the fierce Drragh.

 

"Overlord, our cloned investigators have spend several local days combing the planet for information..."

 

"And, just how do they do this?"

 

"We've taken the assumption, sir, that since the arrival of your people would have occurred several thousand local years ago, that the best place to look would be any kind of local information repository.  A library, if you will, sir."

 

"Carry on."

 

"Sir, there is nothing we can find of any event that would describe the arrival or your crew, such as the landing or crashing of a Drragh ship.  However, arround the time we are looking at, four thousand years ago, we start to find references to a species that we can find no evidence of.  Many different cultures here... let me explain.  There is only one species of sapient creatures on this planet.  However, due to the geographical barriers created by land and water, there are numerous widely different cultures.... Anyhow, many different cultures start telling stories of something they call 'dragons'.  We find the similarity between the word 'Drragh' and the word 'dragon' to be telling sir."

 

"I see.  And you are telling me that there are no longer any Drragh, er, dragons on this planet Earth?"

 

"There are no recent stories of them, no.  Sir, it seems the locals believed these dragons to spout fire, to destroy entire villages by flame or by stomping on them.  It would seem that the locals set out to hunt the dragons down."  She cringed as the Drragh appeared to expand hugely on the screen before them.

 

"You imply these local sapients, these Earthers, are capable of killing my Drragh?"

 

"Only, sir that they appear to have tried."

 

"I want more evidence of this.  Keep digging.  LITERALLY if you have to!  If they are dead, I want their bodies.  And if they are killed, I want the bodies of these sapients."

 

Reverting to Drragh, Chkarna turned to Brevix.

 

"UMlawuli we-Brevix, ndicinga ukuba ukhululekile nakwakho ... iindawo zakho ezingezantsi ... ziveze? Okanye udlala ngothando?"  Without awaiting a response, the Drragh terminated the connection, and screen flashed to black.

 

Brevix turned to Nautewlus "Huh?"

 

His Chief Investigator had turned a murky shade of crimson, and was struggling to contain her laughter.  She struggled to respond, then turned the tablet to show him the translation.

 

"Commander Brevix, am I to assume that you are more comfortable with your... your bottom parts... exposed?  Or are you flirting with me?"

 

"Flirting with him?  Oh by the Lords of Keir!"

 

Powrlen spluttered, then laughed out loud.  Brevix stormed off towards his quarters.  Nautewlus watched him go.

 

"His bottom parts are rather..."  She blushed, and slipped away, leaving Powrlen rolling on the floor in laughter.

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