8.21 - Riox learns to speak (correctly) | Stuck Station

8.21 - Riox learns to speak (correctly)

Jan 24 2012 Published by under Chapter Eight

Unruffled, Trak kept slogging through this odd First Contact situation.

“It is an honor to meet you, Riox the General,” Trak said, bowing. “If you would be so kind, please tell me where I can locate my friends and—”

“I remember!” Riox said, loudly. “You musht take the tour! You could be jettishoned if you don't!”

In a rambling, but well-rehearsed speech, Riox explained Trak’s predicament: while the Tour Guide tells visitors that they have a few days to decide to take the orientation tour, the actual allotted time is much shorter.

New arrivals, Riox said, have between 20 to 240 minutes to say yes or they get spaced.

“It can be even lessh if Tour Guide feelsh there ish no chance you’ll take the tour,” Riox said, listing to the side. “One guy was jettishoned after 15 shecondsh. … But that only happened oncshe.”

At this point, Trak, who found the slurs increasingly difficult to understand, ordered his translator to clear up Riox’s mumblings.

His language subroutine protested, saying that Trak was asking too much of it. This was the same subroutine that easily interpreted Daniel’s perpetually inebriated self, so Trak knew Riox was especially drunk. Trak ignored the subroutine’s complaints and forced it to comply.

In one second, Riox became clear, and his speech pattern became … different.

His pitch still waivered, his sentences still trailed off, his still forgot what he was talking about … but, to Trak's sensors, each word now sounded crisp and enunciated.

He was now the most well-spoken drunk Trak had ever encountered.

3 responses so far

  • Kree says:

    I wonder if the subroutine is protesting because of lazyness, or beacause it doesn't get to add the little flourishes to the translation process that makes its sub-life worth sub-living :P

  • CalLadyQED says:

    This actually makes me think of the arguments Christians have about the Pentecost miracle. The question being whether the disciples speaking in real human foreign tongues or whether the miracle was (or was also) in the hearing.

    Btw, great point, Kree.

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