Notes: This is a belated birthday present for Stexgirl, as well as a tribute to the late Janet Kagan, and her book Uhura's Song.
"It's a planet of what?" Hoshi asked, looking up from her soup. The mess was extremely crowded and noisy and surely she'd misheard what Travis said.
"Cats!" he said again.
"Cats?" Trip said, frowning like someone was playing a joke on him. "The cap'n didn't mention cats. I'm pretty sure I'd remember that."
"Seriously, they're cats." Travis waved his hand, nearly flinging a forkful of pasta at Liz Cutler at the next table. "I overheard T'Pol telling the captain all about it. The planet is called, uh, Eaouw or something. It sounded kind of like a screech when T'Pol said it."
"A cat's language would sound like that, wouldn't it?" Hoshi said. "I wonder if I need to work on the translator?"
"Ensign Sato!" Lt. Amivari called from near the comm. "You're wanted on the bridge."
Hoshi sighed. "Well, that answers that question."
She took a last taste of her soup and grabbed some bread to tide her over. Somehow, she didn't see a good meal anywhere in her future.
Fortunately, the Vulcan database turned out to have more data than Hoshi expected and she had the translator almost working properly by the time they arrived at Eeiauo. She held her breath during first contact, but the translator held up and there were no critical breakdowns.
And for a wonder, the planet seemed friendly and peaceful and even Malcolm didn't seem nervous at the prospect of most of the bridge crew visiting at the same time.
Hoshi decided that if this was a dream, she hoped she didn't wake up for a long time. And so the first contact team headed down to the planet in a shuttlecraft, setting down at the appointed place.
But although she'd seen pictures and heard the Eeiauoan language for most of the past 24 hours, Hoshi still found herself gasping at the sight of her first Eeiauoans, and she could feel the others reacting similarly.
The pictures and video hadn't prepared her for how alive and how intelligent these beings were. They radiated curiosity, and Hoshi stifled a giggle at the thought. Jon shot her a look and she took a breath, relaxing into a waiting position as the Eeiauoans approached the shuttlecraft.
They were the most graceful not-quite-cats she'd ever seen. Okay, they were the first not-quite-cats, but Hoshi couldn't imagine any being more graceful than the elegant beings striding across the sunlit field.
The lead cat bowed. "I am Snowlight of Vensre. My companions and I welcome you to Eeiauo."
As Jon gave his standard "we're from Earth and we come in peace" speech, Hoshi watched the Eeiauoans. There were six of them, and Hoshi found herself describing them as "tabby" and other such words and immediately banished the word from her brain. They were not housecats!
After the usual exchange of speeches, Snowlight, who seemed to be some kind of local governor, invited the Enterprise crew to visit the nearest city. They began a somewhat surreal stroll out of the field and toward nearby houses.
Hoshi found herself walking beside the shortest Eeiauoan, whose fur was black as space and looked soft enough to cuddle with. It was a struggle not to reach out and stroke it. "Ensign Sato," the Eeiauoan said. "It is a pleasure to meet you. We don't have many visitors here."
It took Hoshi a moment to remember the Eeiauoan's name. "Thank you, Sunfall. I'm surprised. This is a lovely world."
"We are...insular," Sunfall said after a moment, her nose twitching. "We do not travel offworld often and we are off the most popular space lanes."
"Is it permitted to ask why you don't travel?" Hoshi mentally crossed her fingers that she hadn't inadvertently hit some religious taboo. The Vulcan database didn't mention any such thing, but then again...it probably wouldn't.
Sunfall stretched her arms in front of her, claws momentarily extending and retracting. "It is complicated, I'm afraid. But I am glad you came. It will do us good to have word of other planets."
At that point, the procession reached the Eeiauoan's groundcar and Sunfall was shuffled away to sit by Snowlight and Quickclaw.
Several hours of introductions and tours followed. Hoshi's head was filled with history and names and sights and she was the happiest she'd been since being plucked so rudely from her work in Brazil. It was fabulous to have a peaceful first contact for once.
The evening was heading to a close and the Enterprise crew was returning to their shuttlecraft when Hoshi was next able to speak with Sunfall.
"We appreciate your people's hospitality," Hoshi said. "Somehow things don't normally go this well."
"But it must be so exciting to visit different worlds," Sunfall said as they strolled down a street that looked like it belonged in a fairy tale. "To meet so many new people."
"Well, usually they try to kill us." Hoshi laughed a little, but even she wasn't sure how much she was joking.
Sunfall tilted her head. "Don't you enjoy the travelling? I would think a linguist would relish the opportunity."
"It wasn't entirely my choice to come, even with the lure of new languages," Hoshi admitted. "I liked my life on Earth."
"But you came."
"The captain needed me." Hoshi thought about it as she watched three young Eeiauoans playing a game involving a lot of jumping and yelling. "I've learned a lot about language I would never have learned on Earth. And I hope that maybe I've taught others a bit about humans."
"You can learn a great deal about a people from their languages and their stories."
"Absolutely. The difference between the Brazilians and the Portugese versions of the same language, the misunderstandings about Aleut languages...oh, there's so much there to learn."
"I wish that you could stay longer, so we could trade stories," Sunfall said.
"I agree." Sighing, Hoshi went on. "Which reminds me...I heard several stories this afternoon about Sunfall of Ennien."
"We like to reuse good names," Sunfall said with a brilliant smile full of sharp teeth. "There have been others named Sunfall of Ennien and there will be others after me. Perhaps one of them will get to travel to your world."
"I hope so," Hoshi said. "I hope our people can be friends."
"Then if we wish it, surely it shall be."
Hoshi smiled. "Thank you for the thought, but I'm not anyone special."
"You never know what your simple presence might accomplish, do you?" Sunfall showed her claws for a moment. "Shall we catch up with the others?"
--end--