Earth Strike by Ian Douglas

Author:Ian Douglas [Douglas, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780061840258
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-02-22T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

15 October 2404

Koenig’s Office

TC/USNA CVS America

Inbound, Sol System

0940 hours, TFT

“Dr. Wilkerson, Dr. George, and Dr. Brandt are all ready to link in, Admiral.”

Koenig looked up. Lieutenant Commander Nahan Cleary was his personal aide, which meant he often served as admiral’s secretary as frequently as Koenig’s secretarial AI. “Very well. I’ll take it here.”

He switched off the report he was currently writing and reclined his seat back. His office was fairly luxurious as military quarters went, more luxurious than he cared for, actually. There was a small lounge area over by the door, but he generally preferred to stay at his desk.

It was just as well he hadn’t gotten too used to the place. He couldn’t imagine that they would let him hold on to it much longer.

He brought up the link codes in his mind, letting the circuitry in the office connect with his in-head display. A window seemed to open and he stepped through… entering the carrier’s main med-research center. Earnest Brandt, the center’s senior medical officer, was already there. The virtual images of Dr. Anna George and Dr. Phillip Wilkerson winked on a moment later. Wilkerson was the head of America’s neuropsytherapy department, while George was a psytherapist on loan from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, and both had considerable experience with nonhuman psychology.

“Welcome to RC Central, Admiral,” Wilkerson’s virtual image said. “Thanks for linking in.”

“Does this mean you’ve gotten something, Doctor?” Koenig asked. “Something useful?”

Wilkerson shrugged, his lined face momentarily twisting in an expression of frustration. “That, sir, you’ll have to decide for yourself. We have established communications.”

“You know, sir,” Dr. George said, “it took over five years to establish basic communications with the Aglestch a century ago.”

“Yes,” Koenig replied, “and what we learned was LG. I thought you were using that with these… people.”

LG—Lingua Galactica—was an artificial language learned from the alien Aglestch. Evidently, it wasn’t one of that race’s native languages, but it was the way they communicated with the Sh’daar, their galactic masters. Koenig had assumed that the Turusch would know LG as well.

“We did, Admiral,” Wilkerson replied. “But it’s not that simple.”

“It never is.”

Wilkerson took a deep breath. “The Aglestch speak using phonemes generated through vibrating vocal cords like we do… except of course that they use air expressed from their first and second stomachs instead of from lungs or air sacs. The Turusch speak, we think, by modulating a humming or thrumming sound generated by vibrating diaphragms set within the dorsal carapace.”

“Meaning they don’t use words,” Koenig guessed.

“Exactly. Variations in pitch and tone, and the shifting harmonies created by four separate diaphragms, convey the information. Even the name ‘Turusch’ comes from the Aglestch. We don’t know What they call themselves.”

Brandt chuckled. “Maybe something like…” and he hummed the opening bar of a popular song, “We Were Strangers.”

“In four-part harmony,” Dr. George added.

“In any case,” Dr. Brandt said, “we did use LG as a basis—without it I expect it would have taken another five years or more to break the Turusch language and figure out how to speak it.

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