Genre: StarTrek: The Next Generation

Title: New Civilizations

Summary: Problems in translation are discussed. Riker tours the Enterprise and D'Jang has discovered murder.

Chapter 11

"What progress have you had in the last two hours?" Picard inquired of Geordi and Lieutenant Bundawba

His deep black skin glistening slightly at the excitement of talking over important stuff with the captain, Lt. Bundawba said, "First, there's nothing technically wrong with the translator, Captain. Commander LaForge has double checked my diagnostics and reaffirmed the findings. I'm still checking for a bug in the software but I haven't found anything yet. If there is a bug, it's incredibly specific.

"Explain," Picard's voice interjected.

At this moment, Riker, garbed in the spectacular chapeau, appeared in the doorway of the room in which Bundawba and LaForge stood, but didn't enter. He merely stopped and looked about as if sightseeing. Though they couldn't help but notice him, neither LaForge nor Bundawba quite knew what to make of the sight so they said nothing, but stared in amazement.

Not knowing the reason for the pause, Picard's voice barked a reiteration, "Explain!"

Lieutenant Bundawba jumped. "Oh! Uh, yes sir. I think the bug is very specific because of the Kronatina's lack of complaint about understanding us. If they actually do understand what's being said, then the fault of the translator lies only on our side. The programming might be giving them the correct words and garbling the meaning to us."

"Is that possible?"

"Oh, yes, Sir. That's what I meant about the bug being specific. Of course, it could be that they don't understand us and don't realize it. That is, they may understand the words, but maybe not the meaning. Have you seen any hesitation in their answers?"

"Nothing I'd interpret as such, no."

"I didn't think so since we'd have recorded incidences of action-word-incongruence, by now, but I'm still keeping it in mind. I'm hoping that we've simply misunderstood the meaning of a few words, like 'he' or 'him'. Perhaps we even mistranslated their concept of who the Kronatina are in relation to their possessions. I mean, our translation of what we'd call their hat comes out sounding to us as if it's one of them, as if it can go visiting and make a good impression."

Up to now looking about the room aimlessly, at the mention of the Kronatina, Riker concentrated his gaze on the two engineers. The two were so involved in addressing Picard that they'd quite forgotten the commander's presence, but if they had noticed him, they would have seen a bit of a smile playing around his otherwise blank features.

Picard continued, "Yes, discussion of the hat seems to be the crux of the problem. What I want to know is, is this an isolated case, this lack of understanding the relationship with their headdress, or are we misunderstanding something else."

"As you suggested, I've taken the problem to the linguistics for re-examination. They've got recordings of every word spoken in the presence of the translator. They are going to run it all through the Gonzler/Sit-huhu Translation Test, which should take about half an hour. Depending on any inconsistencies, I can see if it's a bug or if perhaps it fits a second theory I've got.

"Which is?"

"That there's something about the Kronatina that we just don't know. That there's some aspect to their culture, life process or whatever, of which we have no concept."

"They were studied pretty thoroughly in the first contact phase, Lieutenant Bundawba."

"Which is why I think my first premise is more likely. Linguistics will have an answer for us shortly."

"Good. Part of being a diplomat means having to make sense of many unknowns. Let's not make the job any more difficult than it is. It sounds like you are close to a solution here. Keep up the good work. Picard out."

If the two men had not been so concentrated on solving the problem at hand, they would have noticed that Riker left them a few seconds before Picard had signaled out.

&&&&

As Dr. Crusher entered the Menagerie, D'Jang greeted her. "Not R&R time already?"

"No, I was passing by. You going to be ready for a break in an hour or so?"

D'Jang confirmed she was and asked where Beverly was off to. Beverly said that after running a few other errands, she was on her way to Commander Riker's quarters, that he'd called her. D'Jang blanched and asked if this was Bev's first time or if she went to Riker's quarters often.

Inquiring what D'Jang's meant, the chief medical officer shook her head in disbelief. "That's not at all like Will. I mean, he's not shy, but neither has he ever been that crude. Surely, you must have misinterpreted his actions!"

"Guinan said about the same thing. So this is a new act for him?"

"I just can't believe he behaved like that." The doctor paused and looked chastened. "No, I don't mean that." She reached out to touch D'Jang's hand. "He did something that deeply disturbed you." Her lips tightened and her blue-green eyes narrowed in determination. "I'll talk with him and see just what this is all about." Crusher turned and was about to leave.

D'Jang called out, "Before you go, Beverly, I think you'd better be apprised of a situation I think I have here."

"What's that?"

"Someone on board this ship is mutilating and killing small animals!"

"What?"

"I don't know who or why, yet. The worst of it is, the animals are owned by children. It started before I came on board. Remember my being called out on emergency when the Kronatina first came aboard? Someone had killed a kid's little cuddlelover. You know, one of those harmless creatures from my planet, Dolanzia? A gentle thing and not much smaller than the little kid that brought it in. The hide had nearly been ripped off. Then, an hour after that, another kid showed up with his pet bunny. It wasn't dead, but it had severe lacerations on the central dorsal line, the same as the cuddlelover. Both kids had taken them for an outing in the Arboretum. Apparently, a lot of the kids who own these kinds of pets take them there.

"Yes," said Beverly, "I know. Keiko once explained that limited access by these animals does the Garden Room no harm, a little bit of good, in fact. I know it does their owners a huge amount of good in terms of exercise and fun. But someone attacked the animals?"

"Yes," confirmed the vet. "The little boy said he'd lost track of the rabbit for a few minutes when he heard an awful sound, like a squeal. He ran towards the sound and saw his rabbit on the ground. He said a nice lady had gotten there first and was about to pick it up, but that she ran off when he yelled about his bunny being hurt. His mother came on the run, and she said she saw no one. Apparently, this nice lady ran off too fast. I wish the little kid could have described her because, so far, she's the only witness I've heard of. No one else has seen whoever it is that's doing this."

Beverly flinched. "Are you sure some other animal isn't loose in there?"

"Positive. Every animal on board has been accounted for, carnivore or no. Also, I went over every inch of the place and sensed nothing higher than insect level."

"What about the lady that the child saw? Did he say anything at all about her?"

"Well, the kid is only about five years old. You know how they are at that age, they can tell a man from a woman, and they're either scary or nice. More than that—" She shrugged. "Anyway," the veterinarian looked tired, discouraged, "no description, so no way to find her. Five other kids in the past month have complained of animals missing. One parent has told me that, a week before I came on board, her little girl found only bloody parts of the hide of her baby bunny."

Beverly nodded, "Poor thing. But, D'Jang, why tell me? Shouldn't you inform Security about this?"

"I have and so did the kids' families. The missing animals aren't considered a security matter. As for that matter well, really, how much importance is given to three Earth rabbits, three Brinloidian mockerruggers, and a couple of Dolanzian cuddlelovers, all belonging to kids under the age of nine? Even if they had all been dismembered and nailed to a bulkhead, I don't think Security would get overly excited, right? It might be a matter for Deanna, though."

Beverly nodded in agreement.

"The thing is, these animals are cute, but they don't generally give up life without a struggle especially when someone is brazenly trying to divest them of their skin before killing them. Except for the cuddlelovers who have only teeth, the rest are equipped with claws, too, which I'm sure they'd use in defense of their lives. I'm thinking some must have done the attacker some damage, which is why I told you about it. Now you can be on the lookout for anyone that comes in with any sort of abrasions."

Beverly nodded again. "I'll do that. I'll also examine the medical records to see if any have come in the last couple of weeks. I haven't seen anyone with scratches on the hands and arms, so far, but that doesn't mean one of the other medical crew hasn't seen it."

Beverly turned again to go. "I have to get going. I'll see what I can find out about Will's behavior, too. When we can get together in Ten Forward, I'll tell you what I know."

Beverly left the Menagerie and the vet returned to her patients.

TBC to Chapter 12

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