"You're a fast learner" Amy said to Kra'tak, who was listening to her reading through a selection of books.
Kra'tak simply replied with "meat", the word they were currently on, which he had already said earlier in the mess hall.
Amy was sitting on a chair next to Kra'tak. She turned the drawing of a cooked headless chicken towards him so he could see more clearly what it was.
"In fact, this is what you just ate" Amy continued.
They were sat in the library, Kra'tak sitting on the floor after he had completely squashed one of the children's weak plastic chairs. The chairs were strong enough for most human adults, but Kra'tak was no human, he weighed more than twice an average 6 foot adult male would.
Kra'tak had simply imitated Amy, when she had shown him how to sit on the chair in the mess hall. What he did not know was that this chair was different and it had ended with him hitting the floor with a loud thud and his immense weight vibrating the whole library floor. Kra'tak simply decided to stay sitting with the remnants of the chair removed.
Heather and her team were acting as escorts now and they too were sitting around Kra'tak in the library, some on the floor, and some on plastic chairs. They were helping Kra'tak out in learning the English language but had found out quite early on that Kra'tak was learning extremely fast all by himself.
The library itself took up quite a large section of a floor of the civilians building. The majority of the rest of the building were made up of living quarters which civilians and some soldiers and scientists called home.
The library had a large selection of thousands of books, from the simple 'ABC' children's books all the way to advanced theory of relativity for the adults, or scientists to be more precise. There were also plenty of fiction books as well as specialist subject books.
The Company had known in the planning stages that to keep the occupants of the base as happy as they could, new requests for books always had to be followed up. The books would come in as part of the regular supply ships cargo.
Kra'tak now knew a large volume of the common and some not so common words. The basis of his new language was there, now it was time for him to learn the grammar, so that he could put the words he had learnt into context.
Once he learnt basic grammar he would be able to communicate with others on a basic level. This would be a good start for a possible alliance.
Amy was well aware that time was against them, but this was an important step to take with Kra'tak.
She set the current book down and picked up a simple story book, one that was made to be read by adults to toddlers so that they could follow along and learn the beginnings of English grammar.
"You're a fast learner Kra'tak. It's time to move on to grammar, and then hopefully we can hold a conversation with you pretty soon" Amy said in an excited tone.
Having the first conversation with a new species. An event she could never have dreamed would ever occur. An event that would go down in untold human history forever, as the first time a human ever communicated with another species not Earth.
An event that belonged in all human knowledge, but would most likely be kept away from the people of Earth if the Aliens didn't make it that far.
--------------------------------------------
Baseer and Hartwell walked carefully into the storeroom, their weapons ready. The first thing they saw was the bloody cloth that had been covering Duante on the floor.
Halden was sitting on a stool next to Duantes body, staring blankly towards his friend.
"Hey, you alright?" Baseer asked in a low voice, almost a whisper so as not to frighten Halden.
Halden turned towards them and nodded slowly.
"You gave us a scare there, walking off without telling anyone" Baseer continued.
Haldens expression didn't change.
"Come on Halden, we gotta get back to the communications room. We need to stay together" Hartwell spoke this time in a slightly angered tone.
Halden whispered a few words to his friends, which Baseer and Hartwell did not hear. He then stood over his friends body and reached into one of his pockets.
"What're you doing?" Baseer asked, confused at Haldens actions.
"His will" Halden simply replied.
Halden took the will from Duantes chest pocket, it was covered in dried blood. It would need to be re-written onto another paper if it was to survive. He carefully held the will in one hand as he covered Duantes body with the bloodied white cloth with his free hand.
"Lets go" Hartwell said, softer and with more respect in his voice. He understood Haldens irresponsible actions better now.
All three of them took one last look of respect at Duantes covered body and closed the door. They were heading back to the communications room. Baseer reported the situation in to Adams.
"Oh, wait" Baseer said, stopping suddenly, breaking the groups thoughts.
"What is it?" Hartwell asked concerned, turning towards him.
Halden looked at Hartwell too, his expression changing to a slightly worried look. He had his rifle slung over his shoulder. He readied the weapon without thinking about it, his military training reflexes coming into action automatically.
"Coffee" Baseer replied, "Three's just over there" he continued, pointing towards a door further down the corridor, behind them.
The group of three soldiers turned and walked slowly and warily towards three, with their weapons at the ready, Halden now just as cautious as Baseer and Hartwell.
------------------------------------
Smith climbed back up turret 3A and sat on the bunk he had been sleeping in earlier.
"What's new?" he asked Hurst, whilst closing his eyes to go back to sleep.
"Adams informed us over the radio that the two invisible things are actually from the same species as that creature that was brought in a while back" Hurst replied.
"The one Amy and the others have been studying?" Smith asked
"Yeah that one"
"Well there goes your theory, Hurst" Smith replied, eyes still closed.
"Yeah, but the reality of the situation is that these things ARE invisible and can do just as much damage as an invisible Alien could, if not more", Hurst stated, "Halden went missing too but he's been found"
"Where's your radio?" Hurst asked, knowing that if Smith had had it with him he would already know the current situation.
"I left it on the bunk, which was a big mistake" Smith replied.
He was on his own when he went down the turret to the toilet. If something had happened Smith would have had no way of knowing or getting help.
Hurst simply acknowledged his team mates mistake and took another look through the sniper scope.
"You took your time" Hurst said, half asking, half stating.
"Yeah, well um..." Smith had a slightly embarrassed one of voice.
"What is it?" Hurst now asked.
"Well" Smith decided to just tell him and sat up from his bunk, "I was kinda trying to hold it as long as possible, didn't really wanna go to the toilet on my own with one of those things out there"
Hurst looked away from the scope towards Smith and gave him a slight smirk.
"Hey!" Smith said in reply to the look, feigning a hurt feeling in his voice.
"Anyway, I don't feel sleepy now" Smith said, standing up from the bunk.
The conversation was refreshing break from the still eerily silent base for Hurst. He was looking into the scope again.
"Mind if I have a look" Smith asked.
Hurst set the sniper rifle down and got up from his sniping position, allowing Smith to take his place. Smith adjusted some settings on the scope and then placed his right eye onto it.
"How many did you get?" he asked Hurst, referring to the few rotting, burnt corpses of Aliens scattered at the line between the clearing and the forest beyond.
"Four" Hurst replied
"So how.."
"That brings my total up to sixty-seven" Hurst replied having expected the question.
"I got one-hundred and fifty seven. Still playing catch up!" Smith said light heartedly.
Since the beginning there had been a competition on base as to who had the most kills. At the moment Smith was fourth place. Three of the top four with the most kills were the snipers, which was to be expected with the nature of Alien attacks so far.
"Well, my count'll soon.." BANG!
Hurst visibly jumped at the sound of the sniper rifle piercing the deadly silence of the base. Smith didn't notice.
"A hundred and fifty eight" Smith said turning towards Hurst, with a wide smile on his face.
Hurst composed himself to calm again, and cleared his throat, pretending that he hadn't been affected by the sudden gunshot.
"As I was saying, my count'll soon increase" Hurst countered semi-seriously.
"Yeah.." was all Smith said in reply, whilst concentrating on the scope.
----------------------------------
"What is your name?"
"My name is Kra'tak"
"Well done, you deserve a cookie!" Amy said, smiling happily.
"Cookie?"
"How old are you?"
"I do not know"
Heather and her team were still watching in fascination, having not moved much at all since they had been helping Kra'tak learn English.
Kra'tak was learning a new language at a much faster rate than a fully grown adult could. It had been said that it is harder for an adult to learn a new language then a child because an adult would have a lot more set brain patterns and thinking methods, developed over the years. These would restrict an adults learning pace.
A child, however, does not come with this 'excess baggage' so therefore it would be a lot easier for a child to learn a new language. Kra'tak on the other hand seemed to be unrestricted by any previous knowledge or development as he was learning at a faster rate then any human, child or adult, was ever known to learn at.
Amy had been through a few of the basic story books so far. These books having been designed to build the basic English grammar skills. Amy felt that she was actually slowing Kra'tak down because she simply could not keep pace with his own abilities.
She had now had the first human conversation, as basic as it was, with an alien species. Heather and the others felt lucky to be here too.
Doran, the librarian, had now joined the group as they continued to watch in fascination. He was a historian, who loved Greek history and mythology. He was of Greek heritage, having been born on a colony.
Amys radio crackled to life.
"Tom here. How is it going Amy?"
She picked up the radio from the floor next to her, where she had placed it earlier.
"We're in the library with Kra'tak. He's doing very well, he's learnt the basics of English so far" she reported.
"Already?" Tom sounded surprised.
"You'd be surprised" Amy replied in an excited voice.
"I already am. We have another situation here that'll need to be discussed with Kra'tak" Tom continued.
"We'll need a few hours. At this rate he should be able to discuss it in English"
"Good" Tom said.
Kra'tak was holding and reading a book whilst Amy was on the radio.
"Did you understand that Kra'tak?" Amy asked.
"No" he replied, still mimicking Toms voice almost perfectly.
Kra'tak continued to read the book he was holding. A book about an Indian chief hunting an elephant. Each page was illustrated. The picture Kra'tak was looking at seemed very familiar to him. It was a picture of an Indian chief holding a spear whilst standing underneath the legs of a giant elephant. The spear was about to be plunged into the elephants stomach.
Kra'tak read the text on the page.
"Indians hunted elephants for food and for sport. They were called 'soft meat' by the natives, because of the high amount of soft meat contained in the elephants belly."
Kra'tak simply replied with "meat", the word they were currently on, which he had already said earlier in the mess hall.
Amy was sitting on a chair next to Kra'tak. She turned the drawing of a cooked headless chicken towards him so he could see more clearly what it was.
"In fact, this is what you just ate" Amy continued.
They were sat in the library, Kra'tak sitting on the floor after he had completely squashed one of the children's weak plastic chairs. The chairs were strong enough for most human adults, but Kra'tak was no human, he weighed more than twice an average 6 foot adult male would.
Kra'tak had simply imitated Amy, when she had shown him how to sit on the chair in the mess hall. What he did not know was that this chair was different and it had ended with him hitting the floor with a loud thud and his immense weight vibrating the whole library floor. Kra'tak simply decided to stay sitting with the remnants of the chair removed.
Heather and her team were acting as escorts now and they too were sitting around Kra'tak in the library, some on the floor, and some on plastic chairs. They were helping Kra'tak out in learning the English language but had found out quite early on that Kra'tak was learning extremely fast all by himself.
The library itself took up quite a large section of a floor of the civilians building. The majority of the rest of the building were made up of living quarters which civilians and some soldiers and scientists called home.
The library had a large selection of thousands of books, from the simple 'ABC' children's books all the way to advanced theory of relativity for the adults, or scientists to be more precise. There were also plenty of fiction books as well as specialist subject books.
The Company had known in the planning stages that to keep the occupants of the base as happy as they could, new requests for books always had to be followed up. The books would come in as part of the regular supply ships cargo.
Kra'tak now knew a large volume of the common and some not so common words. The basis of his new language was there, now it was time for him to learn the grammar, so that he could put the words he had learnt into context.
Once he learnt basic grammar he would be able to communicate with others on a basic level. This would be a good start for a possible alliance.
Amy was well aware that time was against them, but this was an important step to take with Kra'tak.
She set the current book down and picked up a simple story book, one that was made to be read by adults to toddlers so that they could follow along and learn the beginnings of English grammar.
"You're a fast learner Kra'tak. It's time to move on to grammar, and then hopefully we can hold a conversation with you pretty soon" Amy said in an excited tone.
Having the first conversation with a new species. An event she could never have dreamed would ever occur. An event that would go down in untold human history forever, as the first time a human ever communicated with another species not Earth.
An event that belonged in all human knowledge, but would most likely be kept away from the people of Earth if the Aliens didn't make it that far.
--------------------------------------------
Baseer and Hartwell walked carefully into the storeroom, their weapons ready. The first thing they saw was the bloody cloth that had been covering Duante on the floor.
Halden was sitting on a stool next to Duantes body, staring blankly towards his friend.
"Hey, you alright?" Baseer asked in a low voice, almost a whisper so as not to frighten Halden.
Halden turned towards them and nodded slowly.
"You gave us a scare there, walking off without telling anyone" Baseer continued.
Haldens expression didn't change.
"Come on Halden, we gotta get back to the communications room. We need to stay together" Hartwell spoke this time in a slightly angered tone.
Halden whispered a few words to his friends, which Baseer and Hartwell did not hear. He then stood over his friends body and reached into one of his pockets.
"What're you doing?" Baseer asked, confused at Haldens actions.
"His will" Halden simply replied.
Halden took the will from Duantes chest pocket, it was covered in dried blood. It would need to be re-written onto another paper if it was to survive. He carefully held the will in one hand as he covered Duantes body with the bloodied white cloth with his free hand.
"Lets go" Hartwell said, softer and with more respect in his voice. He understood Haldens irresponsible actions better now.
All three of them took one last look of respect at Duantes covered body and closed the door. They were heading back to the communications room. Baseer reported the situation in to Adams.
"Oh, wait" Baseer said, stopping suddenly, breaking the groups thoughts.
"What is it?" Hartwell asked concerned, turning towards him.
Halden looked at Hartwell too, his expression changing to a slightly worried look. He had his rifle slung over his shoulder. He readied the weapon without thinking about it, his military training reflexes coming into action automatically.
"Coffee" Baseer replied, "Three's just over there" he continued, pointing towards a door further down the corridor, behind them.
The group of three soldiers turned and walked slowly and warily towards three, with their weapons at the ready, Halden now just as cautious as Baseer and Hartwell.
------------------------------------
Smith climbed back up turret 3A and sat on the bunk he had been sleeping in earlier.
"What's new?" he asked Hurst, whilst closing his eyes to go back to sleep.
"Adams informed us over the radio that the two invisible things are actually from the same species as that creature that was brought in a while back" Hurst replied.
"The one Amy and the others have been studying?" Smith asked
"Yeah that one"
"Well there goes your theory, Hurst" Smith replied, eyes still closed.
"Yeah, but the reality of the situation is that these things ARE invisible and can do just as much damage as an invisible Alien could, if not more", Hurst stated, "Halden went missing too but he's been found"
"Where's your radio?" Hurst asked, knowing that if Smith had had it with him he would already know the current situation.
"I left it on the bunk, which was a big mistake" Smith replied.
He was on his own when he went down the turret to the toilet. If something had happened Smith would have had no way of knowing or getting help.
Hurst simply acknowledged his team mates mistake and took another look through the sniper scope.
"You took your time" Hurst said, half asking, half stating.
"Yeah, well um..." Smith had a slightly embarrassed one of voice.
"What is it?" Hurst now asked.
"Well" Smith decided to just tell him and sat up from his bunk, "I was kinda trying to hold it as long as possible, didn't really wanna go to the toilet on my own with one of those things out there"
Hurst looked away from the scope towards Smith and gave him a slight smirk.
"Hey!" Smith said in reply to the look, feigning a hurt feeling in his voice.
"Anyway, I don't feel sleepy now" Smith said, standing up from the bunk.
The conversation was refreshing break from the still eerily silent base for Hurst. He was looking into the scope again.
"Mind if I have a look" Smith asked.
Hurst set the sniper rifle down and got up from his sniping position, allowing Smith to take his place. Smith adjusted some settings on the scope and then placed his right eye onto it.
"How many did you get?" he asked Hurst, referring to the few rotting, burnt corpses of Aliens scattered at the line between the clearing and the forest beyond.
"Four" Hurst replied
"So how.."
"That brings my total up to sixty-seven" Hurst replied having expected the question.
"I got one-hundred and fifty seven. Still playing catch up!" Smith said light heartedly.
Since the beginning there had been a competition on base as to who had the most kills. At the moment Smith was fourth place. Three of the top four with the most kills were the snipers, which was to be expected with the nature of Alien attacks so far.
"Well, my count'll soon.." BANG!
Hurst visibly jumped at the sound of the sniper rifle piercing the deadly silence of the base. Smith didn't notice.
"A hundred and fifty eight" Smith said turning towards Hurst, with a wide smile on his face.
Hurst composed himself to calm again, and cleared his throat, pretending that he hadn't been affected by the sudden gunshot.
"As I was saying, my count'll soon increase" Hurst countered semi-seriously.
"Yeah.." was all Smith said in reply, whilst concentrating on the scope.
----------------------------------
"What is your name?"
"My name is Kra'tak"
"Well done, you deserve a cookie!" Amy said, smiling happily.
"Cookie?"
"How old are you?"
"I do not know"
Heather and her team were still watching in fascination, having not moved much at all since they had been helping Kra'tak learn English.
Kra'tak was learning a new language at a much faster rate than a fully grown adult could. It had been said that it is harder for an adult to learn a new language then a child because an adult would have a lot more set brain patterns and thinking methods, developed over the years. These would restrict an adults learning pace.
A child, however, does not come with this 'excess baggage' so therefore it would be a lot easier for a child to learn a new language. Kra'tak on the other hand seemed to be unrestricted by any previous knowledge or development as he was learning at a faster rate then any human, child or adult, was ever known to learn at.
Amy had been through a few of the basic story books so far. These books having been designed to build the basic English grammar skills. Amy felt that she was actually slowing Kra'tak down because she simply could not keep pace with his own abilities.
She had now had the first human conversation, as basic as it was, with an alien species. Heather and the others felt lucky to be here too.
Doran, the librarian, had now joined the group as they continued to watch in fascination. He was a historian, who loved Greek history and mythology. He was of Greek heritage, having been born on a colony.
Amys radio crackled to life.
"Tom here. How is it going Amy?"
She picked up the radio from the floor next to her, where she had placed it earlier.
"We're in the library with Kra'tak. He's doing very well, he's learnt the basics of English so far" she reported.
"Already?" Tom sounded surprised.
"You'd be surprised" Amy replied in an excited voice.
"I already am. We have another situation here that'll need to be discussed with Kra'tak" Tom continued.
"We'll need a few hours. At this rate he should be able to discuss it in English"
"Good" Tom said.
Kra'tak was holding and reading a book whilst Amy was on the radio.
"Did you understand that Kra'tak?" Amy asked.
"No" he replied, still mimicking Toms voice almost perfectly.
Kra'tak continued to read the book he was holding. A book about an Indian chief hunting an elephant. Each page was illustrated. The picture Kra'tak was looking at seemed very familiar to him. It was a picture of an Indian chief holding a spear whilst standing underneath the legs of a giant elephant. The spear was about to be plunged into the elephants stomach.
Kra'tak read the text on the page.
"Indians hunted elephants for food and for sport. They were called 'soft meat' by the natives, because of the high amount of soft meat contained in the elephants belly."