Signs

Posted on 01 Apr 2016 @ 2:59am by Ensign James Langley & Petty Officer 1st Class Pieter Van Zyl Ph.D.

2,133 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo; Deck 2; Mess Hall
Timeline: MD50 - 2236 Hours

[ON]

Acclimating with the new crew. The tradition was as timeless as it was varied. It could range from formal introductions to philosophical open debates all the way to a winner-take-all B'aht Qul tournament to the (not quite) death. James' current method of getting to know some of the crew probably found itself somewhat afar from the later most option, but at current he probably would have preferred it to the mind-boggling beating he was now taking. It seemed as if his cunning and intellect was getting him nowhere in this horribly convoluted Fizzbin game. Even the name drove him crazy. Fizzbin!

There were five people at the table, two with goofy grins and three, James included, with increasingly frustrated looks in their eyes. James couldn't keep quiet any longer. “Look, I still don't know how you can get away with saying it's not Tuesday! It is! Just because Beta Antares doesn't have Tuesdays doesn't mean that there aren't Tuesdays! And since Earth has Tuesdays and it is Tuesday I say that it's Tuesday!”

“But it's a Beta Antares game so we play by Beta Antares' cycles.”

“Then why even have a rule for Tu-!” James stopped himself, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Alright, not Tuesday. But then why is it night time? I checked and it's only twenty-one hundred hours. They have a Forty-four hour cycle! It's still daytime there!”

“But it's always night time. Look out the viewport.”

James couldn't help but clench his fist. This was a terrible way of acclimating. He could have argued for hours about the intricate rules of the game, but now all he wanted to do was either jump out an airlock or just finish this God forsaken game and never play it again. Clearly these people where not the intellectual type and thus debating them would be futile. Better to just get it out of the way.

“Right! Cards!” He tossed his cards on the table and waited for everyone else to show their hands.

Shouting. Cards thrown. Bets lost. In short: James lost and now he had to pay the dues. First to lose divulged an embarrassing detail about themselves to everyone else in the room. He wasn't one to renege and he certainly wasn't one to cheat, but that didn't mean he had ways of getting around telling everyone a humiliating detail about his past.

He stood up on the table paying no heed to the cards and the drinks still on the table. “Excuse me everyone! I have a confession to make!” He then gave a smirk to the other players, a gesture without words that seemed to say he would best them in their little game of wit. It was only the first of many gestures he would make.

He brought his hands up in front of him and proceeded to 'speak' in sign, much to the chagrin of the other players. Amidst heckles of cheating and unfairness he proceeded to detail one particularly embarrassing moment in his life. At first he couldn't help but cringe as the event resurfaced in his mind, but then he began to chuckle as he signed away, laughing both at the past and the present event with a most victorious look about him. Not a single soul would know what happened.

As James' story reached its climax, the sounds of his disgruntled players was suddenly overpowered by the uncharacteristically loud laugh coming from one of the crew members in the back of the mess Hall. Sitting there, Pieter couldn't help the fit of laughter that overtook him as he watched the crewman he didn't know talk about what must have been the most humiliating moment of his entire life. At the sight of a few people turning to look at him oddly, Pieter realised he must have made some kind of noise while laughing and promptly covered his mouth but couldn't disguise the tell tale shaking of his shoulders.

One of the people to look at him oddly was the very person to tell the outlandish tale. But rather than a quizzical look James' was one of shock and embarrassment. Somebody had heard his story loud and clear. He turned flush at the realization. After the moment of shame had faded, the realization that just one person knowing the tale was still far better than everyone in the room knowing giving him some comfort, he shot a bit of a grin to the other man and signed our secret?

Through laughter, Pieter managed to somehow give the younger man a nod. Despite the hilarity of the story, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. After all, it couldn't be easy to know that you'd inadvertently let a total stranger know such an embarrassing detail of your life. Still, at least he was handling it with as much grace as one could muster.

Both went back their respective evenings, the short exchange all but forgotten until Langley received a drink, with the waiter letting him know it was from the tall blonde from across the lounge.

At first James had not bothered to wonder why the other man had not signaled him to come and join him. Better to just let the man keep that tidbit of information and perhaps hope it would be forgotten. But now he had just received another sign which seemed to speak where words or hands did not. Maybe he was interested in a bit of continued exchange. He grabbed his drink and stood up, pivoting and then making his way towards the only other signer in the room.

As James approached the table, the man looked up. Though he didn't seem much taller than James, he appeared much larger, with pale skin and blonde hair characteristic of someone who spent very little time in the natural light.

He motioned to the seat next to him with his drink - a glass of red wine- before taking a long sip.

James took no time in taking the other man's offer for a seat by him. He at least owed the person who had ordered him a drink and understood his strange story at least a few minutes of his time. That and meeting another person who could sign was always exciting. Differences in the languages. Differences in their portrayal. It was like every person had their own accent in the way they gestured. But all that could wait. For the moment he at least had to introduce himself properly.

Hi, my name James Langley, he signed with a warm smile.

With his VOICE off and on the table beside him, Pieter's speech was not followed by monotone interpretation of the device. Somehow, it made him seem more open, softer somehow.

Pieter Van Zyl, he replied. Department?

Intelligence. Cryptology. Pushing pencils. James couldn't help but grin playfully at Pieter. It wasn't often that he got to sign with someone and so with each gesture it almost felt to him as though he were catching up with an old friend. You?

'Botany,' Pieter replied. Why did you learn to sign? He was curious. After all, it was an almost unknown language beyond the community nowadays, apart from a few counselors and communications officers. He could see the benefit it would have for a cryptologist but, considering the large amount of other methods of gather and hiding intelligence, it seemed an odd choice.

An immediate look of smug self-satisfaction crossed James' facial features. Evidently by the look on his face had told the story before and had no problems telling it again. It was an epiphany that I had while researching encryption methods used by various peoples. Signing is really effective in conveying messages over short distances with little to no chance of other people understanding, especially when line of sight is monitored. Interesting, but not the real reason I learned. The real reason I learned was because people born deaf who have no other basis for communication actually think in sign. Ergo, if I could teach myself to think in sign then telepaths would have a much harder time reading my thoughts. I mean, what are the chances of finding a signing telepath who wants to dig into your mind?

Thinking about it for a while, Pieter found the idea fascinating and kind of brilliant. He himself thought almost exclusively in sign, especially concepts he'd learned much later in life. Although he hadn't been born deaf, the fact that his vocal abilities had been limited at best at the time of his illness manifesting, by the current point in his life, the idea of people thinking in another language beyond sign was baffling to him.

That's a fascinating argument for using it, but I'm not sure we fully understand how telepathy works. Whether the telepaths read our thoughts as words in a book, or if they read our own understanding of the words, in which case, the language in which you think is not relevant. Despite that, you would still leave yourself open to reading by empaths, whose abilities are different.

Pieter was often baffled by Oren, especially during their time as roommates. Though he had tried again and again to explain to Pieter the difference between reading thoughts and reading emotions, the entire concept was completely foreign to Pieter. Still, he couldn't deny the strange feeling of having someone around who knew how you felt most of the time.

Perhaps it depends on the ability of the telepath on what they understand? So far in my limited trials I haven't run into any problems. It wasn't a thought that occurred to James, but it was definitely something worth looking in to. As for emotion, we all know they can be misleading at best sometimes. But I like your thinking. I haven't thrown myself to the sharks just yet and I'll be sure to test that out, too. You wouldn't happen to be a telepathic botanist, would you, he questioned with an eager smirk.

Pieter smiled, but shook his head. I'm sure there are plenty of telepaths on the ship willing to help you run trials. This is a science vessel. You could speak to the CRO, see what resources might be available.

Great idea! It was obviously exclaimed by the look on James' face, but beneath the excitement he secretly cursed his foolishness. He had been so eagerly trying out his ideas that he had never actually bothered to apply a scientific method to it. The chief research officer could certainly change that. And who might that be? Do you do introductions, or shall I take care of that myself?

'I don't think any introduction from me will help. You can find Dr. Idris yourself. You can find him during alpha shift, on deck four. You can pop in any time you like.'

Well thank you for the recommendation, James signed back happily. Then another thought crossed his mind. If science was to be applied then surely he couldn't be the only signing subject to be involved. Maybe This interesting fellow who at least seemed to somewhat know the CRO would be interested in some of his tests. Would you be interested in being a part of any tests I would need run? I'd love to have another person that can sign help me out. I promise it'll be fun!

Fun and research don't usually go together, Pieter explained but smiled. But I'm always up for exploring new methodology. Though Botany was his main area of research, Pieter enjoyed exploring other sciences. After all, he'd been in a vastly different field before switching to his current field.

The Chief Research Officer is an empath. His perspective could be valuable.

Well thanks for all the insight, James signed in satisfaction. I'm glad we had this “chat,” he continued, mouthing the 'chat' so he could emphasize the quotations with his hands and an accompanying smirk on his face. I suppose now we're even in divulging information, though I ask that you kindly still keep my little display our secret?

If I did say what you did, who would believe me? Pieter returned, grinning.

He was probably right. It was quite the doozy of a tale, after all. With a chuckle James simply replied, touché.

[OFF]

PO1 Pieter Van Zyl
Botanist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Idris]

Ensign James Langley
Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

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