Chương 66: 043 – Just Like Them

Time is at our back, but be warned. I lack the word things to properly impart thoughts of complexity.

"Water From The Sky said." While freespeech was learned through your historical documents, they do not often have the word things for scholarly scholarship scholarness." Another triple repetition. Could it be related to the previous one, or was three just a ceremonial number for the Kaydekeen? Tiikasia clicked his claws in acknowledgment of their statement before remembering.

"Yes, historical dramas are not renown for their great accuracy on matters of scholarship. This one understands. Would it be of assistance if a scholar were in attendance?"" To hinder is unlikely, and if they should know other speech, perhaps a bridge could be built towards understanding." Tiikasia clicked his claws again.

"Then if you would be willing to wait, I can summon one of the ship's scholars, and perhaps one of the ship's linguists." Water from the Sky tilted their head." Punching?"

"No, not 'punching', 'linguist'." He spoke slowly to differentiate the two admittedly-similar words." Our thanks!" Raising up the utility tool he'd been holding, Tikasia tapped the controls gently as he accessed its communications to contact Rirris directly. She'd surely know— The airlock door cycled immediately, and Rirris stepped into the prepared battleground, her harness laden with scanning equipment, styluses, small scrolls, notebooks, and a pouch that he knew contained her snacks.

In one hand she was dragging a seat.

"I am here as requested, Ohmadia!" He turned to face her, his antennae and face still.

"Rirris, were you just standing out there and listening in this whole time?" he said flatly.

"I don't see how that's relevant, Ohmadia," she said cheerfully, her eyes all turned towards their guest.

"Welcome, honored guest! This one is Wozyogen Rirris, Chief Scholar of the Science Department of the Dhekhajhyde. I hear you need a scholar to either translate or make up technical-sounding words! I'd be happy to assist with either!" The alien reacted immediately." Bawipu guranah weepuh ninibong!" they greeted, the syllables unfamiliar and not even close to anything in free speech.

"Greetings Free One! We come in peace! Allow us to offer you our hands, so we may hold each other as friends!" Rirris' wings—currently furled so only a short length was folded on her back—fluttered with excitement as she set down her seat, forming a triangle with theirs. He knew his friend too well to think it was anything else. This was the madwoman who'd agreed to infiltrate human society for all the miscellaneous knowledge she'd have access to, after all— Wait, what was that last?

"What do you mean 'make up technical-sounding words'?" he said.

"It's called 'translating', Ohmadia," Rirris said as she sat down, utility tool in her hands.

"What, you think we had a word for 'nanobots' before we encountered the concept from rakido-translated human novels, or a word for 'Essence Alchemy' before we encountered the primurfoh? The science department has to generate as much vocabulary as the communications department, ours are just specialized towards technical materials." Water From The Sky tilted their head. He was getting used to that gesture, and was starting to think he knew what it meant." Na-no-bot?"

they said, sounding out the multiple syllables slowly, clearly unfamiliar with the word.

"It is our translation of the human speech word, ' nanobot', which means—"" H ate demon disease-smaller demon machine demon slave demon evil demon dust demon machine demon!" Tiikasia's antennae flicked at the recognizable vehemence of the long string of words. He hadn't been able to parse it the first time, just that it was something that the Kaydekeen had thought could be equated to the tsokeri in their translation, but this repetition carried a wealth of emotion with it that…

well, that showed that there were some grounds for the cultural equivalence. And on a second listen, the string of words actually did contain some of the syllables of the word 'nanobot', he just hadn't realized because the word 'demon'—the singular form of Tsokeri—had been placed between each of them.

"I'll log that alternate spelling in my report, though I don't think it's likely to catch on," Rirris said, parsing the word faster than he could.

"Though I hope you understand if I use the shorter form of the word if it comes up." Water From the Sky… nodded… and Tiikasia managed not to tense up this time." This one understands. Our thanks, for already your presence has been most teaching. Best always to use the real words than to hammer-slap words from translation. Accursed nanobots." That last was said slowly, as of one trying to get used to saying something new, but the vehemence was already slipping in.

It was a familiar vehemence, learned instead of personal, but for something that they had been taught was terrible enough to warrant the hate.

"Now, let us begin!" Rirris said, the scientist's wings continuing to flutter with barely repressed excitement. He'd compare her to a softshell, except kivahr softshells didn't have wings.

"As you say, you do not have the vocabulary for a technical discussion in freespeech, and we have no familiarity with your own speech yet, but you said earlier that you had met with humans before. Are you familiar with human speech?"" Yes, we are!" Water From The Sky said in human speech, and warriors all around the room twitched. Like Tiikasia, they recognized all those words, though possibly never in that order.

Well, ' we are' was a familiar pair, usually prefixing various human speech verbs that were probably not wishing them peace and long life." I am quite familiar with the common form of 'human speech'."" Then communication should be much smoother," Rirris said, the words coming out naturally due to… whatever magicshaping it was that she'd done to her throat for her to get her human voice."

Now, I believe there was a lengthy tale to tell to explain why your people look human, sound human, speak human, but aren't human?"" Oh, yes! You see, the Kaedekin are not originally from here. That is, we didn't naturally evolve in this system. We were originally from another planet entirely, but due to a high-differential Void breach phenomenon during the middle of a battle, our fortress was violently displaced here. We have been living here ever since." Did you know this text is from a different site?

Read the official version to support the creator. The plates of shell that made up Rirris' face shifted into what passed for a thoughtful expression among the kivhar." I believe we're having either a translation error or a misalignment of concepts," she said.

"Can clarify what you mean by 'void-breach? Are you describing a hole in the hull of a vacuum-going ship, or are you using one of the words in a manner that's not human-English standard?"" Oh, a Void breach is the general term for when the Void intrudes into real-space. Technically, the proper term is a Void-space phenomenon, with a Void breach being a specific kind of phenomenon, but everyone just calls them Void breaches." Writing that down, Rirris nodded."

Ah, so you're not using it as a term for the vacuum of space?"" No, although I realize why you might think so. We didn't choose the name, that's just how our creator was told it was called. Argh, I know there's a term for it in freespeech, but I can't recall… ah, wait, I remember now. Ohmadia Tiikasia said it earlier. The term in freespeech is ' the Void'." The scientist became very, very still, all the muscles in her body tensing at once and locking her limbs in place as Tiikasia leaned forward.

"You are aware of the Void?" he said, before realizing he'd spoken in freespeech." It is yet uncertain. Is it also found behind the curtain fabric of existence, home to great and powerful creatures that feed upon magic itself, and whose magic may change the very soul of those whose…." Water From The Sky paused, obviously trying to think of the words in freespeech. Rirris raised a hand, her movements stiff because all the muscles in her body had tensed up again."

No, no, you don't need to keep talking,"she said, still in human speech, the vestiges of her wings curling up even smaller as the blood drained from them." While we will need further confirmation at a later point, for the moment we can continue on the tentative understanding that we are speaking of the same concept." Taking another deep breath, she slowly began to relax her body again, or at the very least loosened her arms so she could continue writing." V-very well, then.

So the Kaedekin originally arrived in this star system because of a… a 'Void breech'. Does… does this mean you also utilize the Void beneath existence to travel between stars?"" Oh no. The phenomenon actually affected a fortress in planetary orbit that had been modified to act as a troop carrier,"Water From The Sky said, replying to her in the same."

While we know it's possible to go far by going into the Void and coming out somewhere else, we don't really have the magic or technology to do the same thing. No, this happened because the invaders the Mass Production Models were attacking were hiding in the Void, or actually a layer between the Void and the surface of the universe.

The invaders had been using it as a position to attacks the world so they could prepare to invade and conquer it, so the Mass Production Models asked a wizard who could travel the Void for help to let the fortress sink into the Void with everyone inside it so they could take the fight to the enemy. The battle that happened messed with the layer, dropping the fortress into the Void.

The drop was so hard it sent the fortress flying until it was popped out of a Void breach, which was when the fortress crashed into the planet we live on now. So now we live here." It was a deluge of words, and Tiikasia could barely manage to hear and understand most of them. However, from what he understood, the Kaydekeen were the descendants of some kind of fighting force? Rirris' antennae were twitching in either shock or disbelief, but she was keeping her muscles relaxed and taking notes…

or possibly just directly recording what Water From The Sky was saying." I would very much like to have further discussions about what your people know about the Void," Rirris said, " but that's best saved for another time. How does this explain why the Kaedekin have elements of human culture without being human?"" Ah, yes, that. That will require a term that I don't know the word for in freespeech, which I'll need your help with." Rirris moved her head in a nod." Which is?""

What's the freespeech word for 'clone' or 'cloning'? Or is it a word you don't recognize?" Tiikasia didn't recognize the words that Water From The Sky was asking about, but Rirris clearly did. Her facial plates were shifting into an expression of dawning horror, and Tiikasia braced himself for the worst.

"The word we use," Rirris said with slow delicacy that told him he was right to be bracing, " is' to clone', or'cloning'." Tiikasia felt his shell try to writhe off him as he heard those words, and from the way all the other warriors in the airlock shifted, so did theirs. He snapped up an arm, ordering them to stand down again, even as Water From The Sky's helmet turned towards him at the sudden movement." Is all well?" they asked in freespeech.

"All is well," Tiikasia said, and he hoped they didn't realize he was staring.

"We simply… didn't expect that the discussion would turn towards speaking of… cloning." Water From The Sky tilted their head." Tool making…" she said, saying 'cloning' slowly, syllable by syllable, and once more breaking it apart into the word's components. It was one of those words from the tsokeri that the Free Peoples had never really found any reason to replace, because the word itself was so disquieting it made people avoid using it." Tool. Making. How does this be the components of the word?"

Their voice rose in pitch, possibly from some kind of emotion. Distress?

"The accursed demons," Rirris said, which was explanation enough. At least, it would be under normal circumstances." This one does not like what they are understanding…

"Water From the Sky shook their head, before their words changed back to human speech." We can talk about that later. It's not a good idea to get distracted, otherwise we'd never get anything done!"" Yes…

"Rirris said, switching back to human speech as well." What does cloning have to do with the Kaedekin?"" Everything. You see, the ones who came before us, the Mass Production Models, were originally cloned to fight the invasion force we talked about a little bit ago from infiltrating and sabotaging human society," the alien said as Tiikasia listened with renewed intensity, and he didn't think he was the only one." And… well, their creator— our creator—was human, so they used human DNA to make them. Well, us."

Tiikasia felt his claws clenching into a fist, and it was all he could do to keep his forearm spike from extending completely from its sheath. To his side, Ahgido had clasped his hand behind his back to hide that the fact that his forearm spikes had popped out all the way despite his best efforts, his emotional state simply too intense to prevent the natural bodily mechanism from triggering." I see…

"Rirris said." Is that why you are familiar with human speech and human script? Because that's how you were all taught?" Water From The Sky made a sound that Tiikasia recognized as a human laugh, although it seemed like it contained far less mockery and malice than he was used to in human laughs." Basically! I mean, if it's working, why change it? And it's not like we knew any other language.

That didn't happen until later, when we were able to start decoding the signals coming from civilizations like the Free Peoples'."" But you don't think of yourselves as humans,"Rirris said, and it sounded more like a statement than a question." Why is that?"" Because we're Kaedekin," Water From The Sky said, as if that was the only explanation needed. And in a way, it was.

The Free Peoples could understand not wanting to be think of yourself as being the same thing as the remnants of mostly-dead and never-to-be-sufficiently-accursed creators. After all, when making the first of the Free Peoples to be their slaves, the only sentient raw material the tsokeri had originally had on hand… were other tsokeri. Even if they looked nothing like the accursed demons now… They were the Free Peoples, not anything else.

They were the Shinkamrai, the Kivhar, the Isauna, the Tijaka, the Girefa, and the Mirha, and any resemblance they might have had to the accursed Tsokeri were simply very unfortunate coincidences. And the Kaydekeen were just like them.