Free Leaving Blue 5.1 by Thadd Evans

make some of them last longer.
    Within several hours, after inspecting altimeters, all three of us entered Exp One through a hatch.
    As we walked down a corridor, UE said, “Greg, Caldur wants to know how many corridors, halls and shafts this ship has.”
    “Altogether, one hundred sixty-three.”
    “He wants to know if all the corridors are as large as this one.”
    “Tell him to say text. When it appears, say corridor length. The answer will pop up as a box with corridors, their lengths and location.”
    UE said, “There may be a problem.”
    “The language barrier?”
    “Yes. Caldur’s English is terrible. He doesn’t understand all of the interferometric telescope or any other equipment’s instructions. I’ve upgraded your SAN. Now, it translates portions of Reen and Sila. However, since I don’t understand all the Reen hieroglyphics, I will need Irea’s help.”
    I exhaled, frustrated. “I hope Caldur, Irea, Rhea and the other translators can adapt quickly, then figure out which language software will benefit him.”
    UE said calmly, “They won’t give up. All of them will study around the clock because they want us to reach D Thirty-Six. “
    “Excellent. However, the diagnostic software has at least sixty viruses and there are thousands of unchecked conduits. The cameras can’t inspect all of the conduits. I hope Caldur understands that.”
    UE faced Caldur.
    “Can you explain what Caldur is saying?”
    “Not yet. It’s hard to translate what he said into English. The two languages are extremely different. Although English and your mathematics deal with randomness in proteins, subatomic particles and quantum mechanics, Reen hieroglyphics are far more obsessed with quantum movement inside proteins.
    “Tomorrow, after I organize my notes, I’ll email the results to you. This is going to be one of many steps. Understanding the translators and their language thoroughly will take years.”
    I nodded. Then I looked at Caldur, trying to find out what he was doing.
    At the bottom of his eyes, a V with two stacked dashes inside it, one of three side-by-side hieroglyphics, changed into a circle.
    “UE, are the hieroglyphics in Caldur’s eyes static?”
    “Some are static, others change.”
    I blinked, amazed. “They change ?”
    “Yes. Another point is that when a hieroglyphic transforms faster, that means he understands my Reen hieroglyphics, the ones he has just seen in my eyes. The more Caldur grasps, the faster his hieroglyphics change .
    “If two or three hieroglyphics vanish and are replaced by new ones, that means he is picking up the information even more quickly.”
    At the bottom of UE’s eyes, four hieroglyphics morphed.
    “How many hieroglyphics are in each of his eyes?”
    “There is always one row, not two or three. In that row, there are anywhere from one to five hieroglyphics, depending on how much he understands about what I just said.
    “There is something else I just learned. It will be difficult for the humans to understand the translators because the translators never laugh, cry, shout or frown.
    “Fortunately, Darwin and the rest of them will labor incessantly because they don’t want to die in space. They’re beyond tears. Disappointment is not an option.”
    “Understood.”
    UE drew an oval in the air, responding to symbols in Caldur’s eyes. “Greg, in the meantime, if Darwin or the other translators learn more about a dosimeter or any other piece of equipment, they can instruct me.”
    I nodded. “Just a minute. I have to check my new messages.”
    Jen’s email indicated that Rhea was helping her. Now, Jen knew more about the Reen ship’s navigation software.
    “UE, can you learn as fast as the translators?”
    “No. Irea grasped English in several days. Now, she can read, write and speak it. Her ability to adapt is astounding. None of the Dcou can learn that quickly. I’m watching the other translators to see if they can pick it up as fast as she