Chapter 2: Greetings
Presently,
the computer beeped, the transparent encasement lifted, and I
stumbled out onto a plane lower than the one I was on.
The
first thing I did was walk up to the green being on the plank fixed
to the wall.
He
was lanky, green and… well, weird. His head was thin and elongated,
compared to mine and Jumba Jookiba's. He had large googly-eyes.
"Hi!"
I said.
The
being nodded, and, with his fingers, started making strange symbols.
I figured it may be some kind of sign language.
"Um…
I don't understand," I told him.
He
hopped down from the plank, grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards
the door, towards a world beyond mine.
The
being took me down several corridors, up a few flights of stairs, and
into a room much larger than the previous one. Literarily hundreds
of… things were in this room, ranging from ridiculously
small to redundantly large, from weird to freaky to just plain wrong.
One
of the creatures came up to me and shook my hand.
"A
newbie, eh? I'm 302, pleased to make your acquaintance. And you
must be…" – here he checked a piece of paper pinned to a
noticeboard – "… 500, am I correct?"
"No,
419."
"Ah,
a fequant!"
I
didn't ask what that was, as I felt it would be rude to do so.
"Well,
419, welcome to Jumba's galley, I see you've already met 113."
The
green experiment smiled and waived.
"He
doesn't talk at all, instead he uses Turo Sign… this means some
of the experiments have no idea what he says…"
"Like
me," I finished.
"Yes…
there's a translation guide on the door, written in Qweltian,
English, Turian and Galactic Standard, depending on what language you
speak or write."
"I…
I think I'll stick with English," I said nervously.
"Y'know,
there are some experiments that can speak perfect English, but can't
read or write in it? And yet they can type out entire novels in
Turian, and read it as if they were born there, but don't even know
how to say 'hello'? Weird, eh? Well, I better be off. I'd dare
say Jumba'll be wanting you."
As
if informed of this statement by some unknown ability, some kind of
fixture on the wall echoed Jumba Jookiba's voice through the room.
"419,
will you please to be coming to Ex-Exa-Roo room immediately?"
I
stood, fixated by the device, wondering how it could project Jumba
Jookiba's voice from another room…
"Hello?
419?"
302
waved a hand in front of my face.
I
tried to come up with a statement to the best of my brain's
ability. Something witty, but subtle…
"Huh?"
is what came out.
Stupid
brain.
"You're
needed in the examination room!"
OH.
That's right.
"But
I don't know where it is!"
"113
knows, just follow him…"
"Okay,
but if I get lost… ahhh!"
For
the second time that day, 113 grabbed my hand and pulled me towards
the door.