Braids

Chapter 6
Translating


"What direction did the UFO come from?" asked Dib.

The old man pointed at the sky, "Right over there, from behind the shed."

Esther had a small notebook, and took notes of what the old man said, "And at what time?" she asked.

"About one 'o clock the other night."

"Can you give us any more detail... was there any specific way it fell? Was there any sound? Was--"

"Yes. There was this whirling noise... it sounded like a weird siren, made by some trumpet or something like that..."

"Thank you for your time, sir," Dib said, "Come on Braids, let's go."


Dib sat at his desk in the back room, looking over evidence. He was frustrated, and sat there for hours and did not get anything done. Esther walked into the back room, pulled up a chair, and sat behind Dib. She placed her hands on his shoulders and massaged them and the neck area, "How's it going?"

"Not too good," replied Dib, "I've got nothing."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll figure out something soon."

"I need to go to the library... there's a few books I want to check out."

"We'll stop by after work, OK?"

"Great. I think I know a few books that'll help me figure out what's up with this Razerken space craft thing..."


Later that afternoon, as soon as Esther and Dib left work, they headed straight for the library. There he knew just where to go, and knew exactly what books he wanted. They were out of the library within five minutes. On the way home Esther looked over the books Dib checked out... a puzzled look crossed her face "I don't get it," said Esther, "What does world wide language have to do with that UFO?"

The car stopped at a red light, and Dib pulled out the coin figure he had found, "There's some writing on here, very small, but it's writing... I was hoping I could decode it."

Esther studied the small object, "... what if it's no Earth language?"

Dib nodded, "Yes, I've thought of that too... but I guess if not any human language, then we're stuck..."

"You could ask Zim--"

"No. I don't need his help."

Esther sighed, "He knows a lot more then us two combined--"

"That doesn't mean anything."

"Whatever you say Dib, whatever you say."


Esther walked into Dib's room, "You still working on that case?" Dib sat at a small desk, dozens of books surrounded him, along with tons of paper, and his labtop. "Well, you decode it yet?"

"No."

Esther sighed, "Dib, you need to rest, it's almost midnight and you've been working non-stop." She shut his labtop, "You don't get paid over time."

"Braids, I still have tons of languages I haven't tried; one of them has to be it!"

"OK.... if you don't find this language by 1:00 am, can you promise you will stop for the day, and resume tomorrow?" begged Esther. She kissed his cheek gently, "Please?"

"OK..."


Esther picked up the phone, and dialed a number, "Hello, Zim? Hi, it's Esther. Sorry if I woke you. Uh, remember that little thing we found in the Razerken ship? There's some writing on there, and I was wondering if you could decode it?" there was a pause, "Really? OK. Well Dib finally fell asleep, so can I come over with it right now?" another pause, ".... Well, Dib doesn't want you to help, so I was thinking maybe you could write out the alphabet in whatever language it is, and I'll stick it in one of his books, and it'll look like he figured it out all by himself." another pause, "OK, see you soon. Bye."

Esther quietly sneaked out of the apartment, she crept down the hall, but stopped at the door of apartment 16. She listened closely and heard the silent strumming of something like a guitar. She gently knocked on the door, "Teq?"

Teq opened the door, "Uh hi, Esther.... what up?"

"What's that instrument you were playing?"

"Guitar."

"It didn't sound like a guitar... it sounded different.... It had a special ring to it."

"Well... uh, no... it was a guitar." He looked nervous, "Uh... I gotta go."

"Oh, OK. Bye Teq."



"What took you so long?" Zim asked Esther when she finally showed up

"I ran into Teq. He lives down the hall from me and Dib." she reached into her pocket and pulled out the small object, "Here."

Zim studied it, squinty his eyes, "OK, I see the writing... It's Kenzian. Lot's of species speak it."

"Can you write out an English translator?"

"Sure, it'll only take me a few minutes."

"Great."