Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 552(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
“Translation bacteria?” Torri asked as he got up and went to search in the back part of the ship.
“Bacteria that enable you to understand almost any language in the known universe,” he said, coming back with a small black box.
“Including the foreign languages in my own world?” Torri asked excitedly. How cool would it be to get a job as a UN interpreter or something like that when she finally got back to Earth?
Vic shrugged as though speaking and understanding any language in the world was no big deal.
“Of course. You will instantly understand what anyone is saying because the bacteria will cross your blood-brain barrier and live in the parts of your brain that control speech. They will render instant translations to you and allow you to reply in the foreign tongue, though to you, it will sound as though you are speaking your own native language.”
“The blood-brain barrier?” Torri looked askance at the little black box, which he had opened to reveal a rather large syringe with a multi-tipped needle at one end. “Um, are you sure it’s safe?”
“Oh certainly—it’s safe for all humanoid species,” Vic assured her. “But if you’d rather not take it, I can translate for you, if you wish to talk to any of the Gemmites,” he added.
“No…” Torri took a deep breath. “No, I said that I trust you and I meant it. Go ahead—stick me.”
She pushed the sleeve of her sweater up and offered him her bare left arm.
“You should only feel a mild pinch,” Vic told her as he pressed the multi-tipped needle to her upper arm.
There was a moment of pain, a cool sensation under her skin, and then it was all over. Torri waited to see if she would have any kind of reaction but she felt fine. In fact, she felt completely normal, which was a little bit of a disappointment.
Maybe it didn’t work on me, she thought. Well, Vic could always translate for her if it was necessary to talk to anyone.
The pinkish red dot in the sky got larger and larger until it was a planet with continents and oceans just like Earth. Well, except for the coloring. While Earth appeared bluish-white from space, Gemma Alpha Three was much more red and orange with swirls of purple and white.
Either they’ve got a lot of iron in their soil like Mars or their vegetation and oceans are really interesting colors, Torri thought as Vic guided the ship into the alien world’s atmosphere.
“Let’s see now,” he murmured, frowning. “It has been some time since I visited this planet, but the Gemmites are a long-lived species—hopefully the mechanic I am looking for is still living.”
They flew lower, over a busy urban area with skyscrapers that put any on Earth to shame. They were bigger and broader than Earth buildings, as though they were meant to house larger people than humans, Torri thought. Most of them were shades of gray or brown, but they seemed to be covered in vegetation—climbing vines with orange and red and purple leaves. But each of the leaves looked to be as big as a car—was everything bigger on Gemma Alpha Three?
“Uh, how big are the Gemmites, anyway?” she asked Vic, as he circled even lower, over an area that seemed to be a kind of marketplace.
“Oh…about the size of the Earth animal called a rhinoceros, I suppose,” he said thoughtfully. “But don’t worry—they aren’t aggressive,” he added. “Though they can be somewhat acquisitive and greedy—especially when it comes to sweets.”
“Sweets?” Torri asked, frowning.
“Sweet foods. The Gemmites have what they call a ‘sweet tooth’ right in the center of their mouths,” Vic explained. “It senses the presence of anything sweet or sugary, which they will go to great lengths to get.”
“Interesting,” Torri remarked. “When we say someone has a ‘sweet tooth’ we just mean they really like candy and pastry and that kind of thing.”
“Oh, the Gemmites are renowned for their pastry,” Vic assured her. “Maybe while we’re here you can try some. It’s supposed to be the best in the entire Tau Quadrant.”
“I would love to,” Torri said. “But how long will it take us to get to this, er, mechanic friend of yours?”
“I wouldn’t call him a ‘friend’ exactly, but we have done business before and we respect each other,” Vic said. “That’s his shop, down there.” He pointed down to a long, squat building below them. “I’ll land in his back lot,” he added. “And ask him to take a look at the com-link.”
“Should I stay in the ship or come with you?” Torri asked anxiously, as the big Kindred finally set his ship down in a clear spot, in the middle of a lot with a bunch of other spaceships in various states of repair or disrepair. “I mean, since you two are going to be talking business.”