Chapter Two
Tumult
"NO!" O'Cathain exclaimed. "I didn't!"
"Then why did she –?"
"She wanted me to teach her to act! Like in 'Henry the Fifth'!"
Hoshi whirled on the startled Auran. "Is this true?"
"True it is," she said, not able to understand Hoshi's anger. "Anston … Apologize. Sorry I am. 'Act' and 'behave' I confuse, but said he that 'it takes discipline'."
"And the 'bitch'?" she demanded of O'Cathain in white fury. If he was taking advantage – but no, he would never do that.
"I don't know! I swear!"
"Says that here it does," Tia explained, turning the padd around and pointing to the reference. "Said he did he 'a dog' is. If learn from him I am to, female dog I would be. Says it right here does: 'bitch, a female dog'."
x
The table was utterly silent, but then Malcolm could control himself no longer and burst out in laughter. The more he tried to contain his mirth at Seamus' distress, the harder it became. But then he felt a foot under the table nudge his leg, hard. He regained enough control to look at them. The expressions on the faces of his shipmates were reproving, but Tia's was utterly stricken. She stared at him, tears glistening in her golden eyes.
"Know I English do nyasi…" she gasped, tears trailing slowly down her cheeks as she fought desperately for control she could not get. "…know I your culture nyasi…" her expression crumpled. "…but know when a gisnart … a fool made of me I do!"
She got up and hurried out of the room. Hoshi stood up, leaning over the table toward him.
"We had another deal, remember? No laughing at her!" She stalked out of the room, hoping that she could find the young Auran.
Malcolm looked at his two remaining friends. "I'm sorry!" Their expressions did not soften. "I am!"
"We're not the ones you have to say it to."
xx
Captain Jonathan Archer stepped off the turbo onto deck 6 and paused in surprise. Of all the shipboard sounds he had grown used to over the past year; barely muted sobbing was not one of them. Concerned, he followed the easy trail to the juncture of the next corridor. As he turned the corner, his surprise was intensified as he saw their new Biologist standing several feet away, clad in white blouse and blue skirt, her back to him, weeping. "Miss Anlor?"
She turned, startled, and tried to pull herself together. "Miss Captain! I – I …" She dissolved again, turning from him, unable to regain her control. He approached her, stepped around to face her.
"What is –?" He was astonished when she threw her arms around him and pressed her face to his chest, sobbing brokenly. It was in that position, the young Auran clinging to him, crying as through her heart had shattered, that Hoshi Sato found them when she turned the corner, following the trail.
"Tia?"
"AWAY STAY!" she cried into Archer's chest, clinging more tightly to him. Archer waved her back and she retreated to the far wall. He held Tia gently, patting her back, not trying to press her. "Trying am I!" she sobbed. "Grishnik…Stupid am I not! Stubborn, yes, but stupid nyasi! Why did he –?" She couldn't continue, unable to endure the misery.
"Miss Anlor…" he began softly, "May I turn on the UT?" Normally he would not ask, but he felt sure that it was somewhere at the heart of this display. She nodded and he glanced meaningfully at Hoshi.
She had been carrying her own UT, and keyed in the activation command, giving the Captain a brief nod. He waited patiently while she clung to him for her to cry herself out. "Now, Miss Anlor, please tell me what's wrong."
"I have been trying to learn English…" she began, and he could see from the movement of her lips that she had reverted to her native Auran, while the device instantly translated her words. He doubted if he would ever get used to the effect. "…so that I may be understood if I leave the Enterprise."
"I know."
"I get things wrong. A lot. I keep trying, but Reed – ." She stopped, unable to continue, barely clinging to her control.
"If I may, sir?" He nodded. "We misinterpreted something she said, which seemed to imply an … inappropriate situation. When we understood, it was very funny. We had agreed never to laugh at her, but Malcolm could not help himself."
"I do not want you agreeing not to laugh at me!" Tia said tightly. "I know I am making mistakes, but I am not an idiot!"
"No one said you were. You misunderstand. He was not laughing at you; he was laughing at Seamus."
"And is that any better?"
x
Hoshi thought about it. "No, I don't suppose it is." She stepped closer. "Tia, we do respect you. Barely one person in a trillion could do what you have done; take a language you have heard for only a few days and become almost fluent in it."
"You can."
She shrugged. "I'm the other person. Most cannot."
"On Aura, anyone could." Hoshi looked at Archer in surprise at this simple declaration of fact. "It is nothing special."
"Believe me, among humans it is something special." She smiled. "You could put me out of a job."
"I do not want to put you out of a job! I like biology! I thought I was contributing something …" she paused to consider, "…and I suppose I did over-react a bit when Lieutenant Reed laughed."
"Sometimes, when we put so much into trying so hard, we become very sensitive."
"So," Archer began, "better?" Tia reached out for the UT, took it from Hoshi and turned it off. She smiled up at him.
"Better, miss Captain."
"Er, about that…."