[TheNoir] "History Lesson"
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: thenoir@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 04:59:03 -0800 (PST)
History Lesson
By Vanir Wagner and Bella Valentine, featuring Ethera
Well, shi- uh, sugar," Bella said, at hearing M.E.'s announcement. "So much
for shopping. Guess that's what I get for fuc- mmm, for getting to know Shane
instead of getting stuff ready." She wasn't talking to anyone in particular,
but was trying to be careful of her language for Ethera's sake who was still in
the room. Though she still thought the request was ridiculous.
Sitting down at the console, Bella activated the LCARS system and was surprised
to see it all come up wrong. "What the fuck?!"
Vanir had been showing Ethera her lesson when he heard Bella's expletive. He
looked up with a hint of smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Is there a
problem, Miss Bella?"
"What sorta tricks you pullin', boy blue? I can't read this! Now I gotta
reload the language program to Standard. Damnit."
"Tricks? It's no trick. I have been reading that language since I was a
child. Very easy to do if you are raised speaking two languages," Vanir said
softly, with just a hint of mischief. "Believe me, it is a very old Standard
Earth Language."
Ethera giggled. Now that Mr. Wagner was feeling a bit more comfortable with
her new friend Bella, she could sense his amusement. She grinned up at Bella.
"Mr. Wagner says he's going to teach me that language, too. After I get these
letters straight."
Looking up from beneath pale blue lashes, Vanir asked, "Soll ich ändere es
zurück?"
"Whatever. We're gonna have some serious problems if you don't put this back
to Standard. I don't think any of the other computer geeks on this ship speak
your very old Earth language either. Don't make me change it and block you
from being able to format it again...'cause I will. That just ain't right."
Bella was obviously frustrated. She didn't like being unable to read her
computer.
"Only because you asked so sweetly," Vanir said neutrally, moving over to the
main panel. The programming change took only a few taps here and there. After
it was done, he offered Bella a slight nod. "I hope this will suit your needs
but you should keep a piece of Earth history in mind. If nobody else can
understand a language, it makes a wonderful code or diversion. It happened
once...oh, maybe four hundred years ago."
"Mmm...okay. I do speak another language. It's called binary. And that's
good enough for me. But you can tell me your story if you want," Bella said,
sitting down at the console and beginning to peruse the files. She wanted to
see if the replicator bit was a computer problem or a hands on mechanical thing.
"Ethera, pay attention. This is part of a history lesson, liebling," Vanir
said with a smile. "It is actually closer to five hundred years ago that there
was a conflict among Earth's nations that they called World War Two. One of
the sides had a code that their enemy could not break. It was the only one
never broken. Years later, it was learned that this code was actually a
language of the native people of the winning side. They would use their
language's terms to describe troop movements and so on. As I said, very
useful."
Vanir, in his 'teaching' mode, was starting to feel more at ease. He looked at
Bella curiously. He would see to the replicator's mechanical problem if it was
indeed mechanical. Her comment brought a question to mind, though.
"Miss Bella, a question if I may. I am not out here very long but Allea told
me there was a race of people who really do speak binary. You appear Human to
me..." he began.
"Umm," she said, though she was still tapping away at the console. "I think
they're called Binars, but I don't know much about 'em. And I am human. I
don't actually speak binary out loud...I just know how to read it and do some
simple calculations in my head. That's better than most people can do, I
s'pose." She fell silent for a moment. "I'm not seein' a problem here, blue.
Everything looks good from the computer end of things. I think you got a
mechanical problem." Finishing her task, she turned to him, "And who's Allea?
Another crew member?"
Ethera had been watching over Bella's shoulder, trying to see what she was
doing, but she sensed Mr. Wagner's mood shift twice and very quickly at that.
There was relief that the problem was something he could actually put his hands
on and then there was a return of that sadness. Vanir gently moved Ethera
aside and knelt underneath the console, with just his feet showing.
"This should not be too terrible," he said, his voice somewhat muffled by
virtue of being under the console. Without a second thought, he reached for
the toolkit on his belt and pulled out the lighted laser scalpel. "Kaffee?
Somebody spilled coffee into this? Ach, how careless! It split some of the
connections. I can laser them back."
He hoped that if he took long enough that Bella wouldn't ask the question
again. He bit back a sigh. He didn't think she would let it go that easily.
"This should be fairly easy then. This ship is new enough."
"Well, good. Problem solved. So, you didn't tell me who Allea was... Someone
else I need to meet?"
Then Vanir did let out the sigh he'd been holding back. I knew it. I knew she
wouldn't let it go. "She...is...was very close to me. The first woman I ever
loved," he said softly as he touched the laser tool to where the connections
were burned through. "Unless she shows up before the ship leaves," Gott ließ,
der Ihr Wille ist, "then you will not be seeing her. She...disappeared."
"I'm sorry," Bella said softly, knowing the pain of loss all too well. "I
really am sorry."
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