"Welp, that was just poor timing..." Korg Tells Meek who's standing not far from him.
"Gurgle..." Meek responds.
They are both watching the drop ship, which functioned as their home for the last month or so, fly away.
Korg and meek look at each other and contemplate what to do next. "You don't suppose they have some sort of taxi service, do you?"
Meek just shrugs his shoulders.
They both turn and look back at the city, contemplating if they should head in. Korg looks down at his bag of rummaged fruit and nuts he found nearby. He is wondering if he should eat his perishables early. Meek hasn't wasted any time, and is already digging through his bag.
"If I had known we were going to be stuck here, I would have asked the Terrans for survival tips." Korg chuckles to himself.
The sound of giggling fills the air as a little boy pops his head out the grass and throws a pebble at Korg. It bounces off his chest and rolls into the grass. "That wasn't very nice, was it?" Korg asks, thinking aloud. The laughter of other children hiding nearby fills the air.
Despite being distracted, meek actually saw what happened. He points his bladed arm toward the area where the rock came from and gurgles something.
"No, it's fine Meek." Korg responds. "I do believe they are merely grublings."
Meek nods, and proceeds to rummage through his stash again.
"Well, I suppose it does no good just sitting and waiting around. Let's head into the city." He says to Meek. Meek chews on a date he pulled from his bag as he composes himself and starts to follow Korg. The giggling children make no attempts to keep hiding as they follow the two strange aliens.
***A short walk later***
Korg and Meek seem to have accumulated a huge crowd of children and young adults as they make their way into the shopping district. Korg turns to wave at them, but the children seem to have made a game of hiding from him.
They make their way into the first little shop they see and a wide eyed man in a colorful outfit has to crane back to get a good look at Korg.
"Good day, Terran." Korg says. The man jumps, not expecting the creature to talk. "Would you happen to know where I might commandeer a ship?"
The confused man never breaks fearful eye contact from Korg, and mutters something in Wakandan.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Korg says, interrupting the man. He pulls out a small device with straps and proceeds to try and fit it around his enormous wrist. "These universal translators never work well for Kronan's." He tells the man.
Korg barely manages to get the device clipped, then starts pressing buttons at random. His voice changes frequencies a few times and he speaks several strange alien languages before it loudly snaps. "And I've broken it..." Korg says, in disappointment. He looks toward Meek who once again, shrugs his shoulders.
He turns back toward the shop owner who seems a little less afraid and a lot more confused now. "Would you happen to know..." Korg starts to ask very slowly, "Where I might find..." Korg is now gesturing in a very exaggerated way. "A spaceship?" He mimes a ship flying through the air and makes the sound effects for it flying and crashing.
"Maybe not one that crashes..." He says realizing his foolishness.
The confused man points out the shop and either gives Korg directions, or asks him to leave, Neither Korg nor Meek is really sure.
"Okay, thank you." Korg says with a wave as he walks out. Children are still giggling and smiling as they rush away from the shop for Korg to exit.
"Hello." Korg says in Kronin to some of the older children who did not flee. Even they continue to giggle and smile. "Very social creatures, aren't they?" Korg asks Meek, who nods in return.
"Hello!" One of the children asks in English, with a wave. Korg recognizes this because the kids have done it several times.
"Hello." Korg says in English, waving back. The kids get very excited and start waving back. Several repeat "Hello" also.
Krog continues to wave but points at the first child. "Look Meek! I have established first contact!"
Meek gurgles and seems too happy to wave at the child as well. The kids absolutely love it.
Another little kid risks running out in front of Korg and after he knows he has the aliens' attention he now says hello in Wakandan, while crossing his arms in the cultural greeting.
Korg does his best to copy the child, which makes many of the others continue to giggle.
"I do believe they are trying to tell us something." Korg tells Meek.
The children continue to laugh and make jokes. Most just repeat greetings in Wakandan, English, and any other language they know of.
*** A short while later ***
"Clear the way." Shuri says loudly as he tries to make his way through the crowd.
"Yes, my King." One of the Wakandans responds, which garners him an angry glare from Shuri. Despite having T'Challa's old look, not having the same royal guard has made him less noticeable as he tries navigating through the streets. Especially when something confusing is going on.
It takes some time, but Shuri is able to make it to the front of the crowd to find something he was not expecting in the least.
Korg and Meek are sitting on the ground, both absolutely covered in children. Korg is making a show of lifting several children at the same time with a single arm while Meek seems content to let the children simply poke and prod him.
There are more than a few parents nearby who are trying to pull their children away and discourage them from touching the intergalactic space aliens. One of the children has Meek's bladed arm, and despite it looking like any normal blade, he is pretending to shoot lasers from it. Korg points at the child, says something, and laughs.
When Shuri gets close enough, her guards seem a little more concerned than him, and immediately point their spears at both Korg and Meek.
"Stand down!" Shuri shouts immediately. "They're surrounded by children." He lightly scolds them. Both the guards are male, previously female, so Shuri assumes they're still a little hormonal from the changes.
Korg and Meek notice the hostility coming from the guards, but neither seems threatened in the least. Korg studies the three and quickly deduces that Shuri is the leader. "Hello." He says, waving with his one free arm.
Uh, hello." Shuri responds, a little surprised to hear English.
"Hello! Hello!" Several of the smaller children repeat and wave toward Shuri, his guard, and the two visitors.
"So you speak English?" Shuri asks Korg.
Korg looks at him confused, then says, "Wakanda forever." In Wakandan.
Once again the children repeat after him, giggling the whole time.
"Wakanda forever?" Shuri repeats, unsure of what Korg is getting at.
"Do you understand me?" Shuri tries asking in Wakandan.
Korg tilts his head a bit, then repeats, "Uh, Hello." Once again the children copy him.
"He must be copying the children." Shuri says, turning toward one of his guards.
"It could be, sir." One of the guards responds. "They do teach English in the schools."
Shuri kneels in front of Korg, and gets his attention. Meek leans in as if to listen in. "Hello," Shuri repeats. "My name is Shuri." He touches his chest. "Shuri."
Korg picks up the hint quickly. He touches his chest. "I'm Korg." He then points at his friend. "Meek. Korg. Meek." His gestures work, as Shuri gets the meaning.
"Hello, Korg." Shuri says.
"Hello, Shuri." Korg says with a casual wave. The children start to repeat after him. A few recognize the name and climb off of Korg to check out Shuri now. They haven't seen him since before the change.
"Why are you here?" Shuri asks slowly, while trying to make grand gestures.
Korg seems to understand the question. "Our ship flew off, and forgot us." Korg tries to gesture also. It seems to somewhat work, as Shuri suspects he understands.
Korg then points to the device on his wrist and taps it. "Our translator is broken." He taps it a few times and Shuri spots it flashing.
Despite his earlier concerns, the sight of alien technology excites Shuri. He moves closer without realizing it. "May I?" He asks, pointing at the device.
Korg realizes what he is being asked, and does not mind offering. "Be my guest." He responds.
Shuri takes Korgs wrist in his hands and looks at the device. "LED?" He says to himself with surprise. 'Somehow I expected something more advanced.' He thinks to himself. He spots what look like buttons on the side and tries to press one. "Hello." The bracelet randomly says in Wakandan. Shuri's face lights up. "It's a translator!"
The device mumbles something in an alien language for a second, before making random incomprehensible noises.
"Yea, I think I broke it." Kork says tapping the screen again. The band suddenly breaks and it launches off his wrist hitting the nearest child. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" He exclaims.
Aside from the shock of the unexpected, the child seems completely fine. He holds the device for a second, then offers it back to Korg. Korg gestures to hand it to Shuri.
Shuri's eyes light up brighter than any of the children immediately in front of him.
"Sir," One of the guards calls out. "We should probably get off the street."
Shuri looks up and nods. He is still very excited to look at his new toy.
*** A short while later, back at the Palace ***
"What the Hell is that thing?" Maria Hill asks loudly. He is looking at Korg with a serious concerned face.
"Hello." Korg says with a wave. Maria Hill does not return the wave.
"Maria, this is Korg." Shuri says, pointing at the Kronan, "and this is Meek."
Maria is surprised to hear there is another creature in the lab and looks down to see that somehow Meek had not only gone unnoticed, but he was standing less than a meter away from him. "Holy!" Maria Hill jumps, dropping what he was working on. Meek waves.
Maria Hill walks away from Meek and approaches Shuri. While he is not trying to hide, it's obvious he wants to stand behind Shuri.
"Are you okay?" Shuri asks.
"Yeah..." Maria replies. "I'm just not used to aliens that aren't... humanoid." He tells Shuri, before thinking for a moment. "They are aliens, aren't they?"
"Yes, I believe so." Shuri responds. "I thought you and Nick Fury were working with aliens in space."
"Yes, but they don't look like that!" Maria says, pointing at Meek. Meek seems to light up and waves at Maria again.
"I think he likes you." Shuri says with a mischievous smile.
"Yea well, I don't like him." Maria makes a shoo like gesture, which Meek mistakes for a returning wave. He happily wonders off.
"You know," Shuri says to Maria. "If I didn't know you were a girl before, I think it would be pretty obvious right about now.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Maria asks Shuri, in an offended tone.
"I'm just saying, you're a lot more squeamish around the unknown than most of the men I have met." Shuri tells him. "Especially for someone who's seen and fought aliens before."
"I've never fought an alien." Maria Hill responds. "I mean not an inhuman one."
Shuri tilts his head in curiosity.
"During the battle of New York, I was the eye in the sky. After that it was mostly human battles. I didn't even get to fight Ultron's robot army."
"Really?" Shuri asks. "They kept you out of all the fun."
"Most of the aliens I have fought, have been in training, and they look human... or fairly human."
"Well, just over a month ago, the only aliens I had ever met were international." Shuri jokes. "Now I've met alien gods, warriors, royalty, monsters, and there is a bug man and a rock man chilling in my lab."
Maria Hill looks toward Korg who is leaning on one of the computer's panels. He lightly waves and says something he can only assume is "Hi."
"I believe that one over there wants me to fix his translator." Shuri waves back toward Korg. "It's hard to imagine you being anything more than excited."
"That's a translator?" Maria Hill asks, pointing at the wrist device. He moves in to get a closer look. "Nick Fury would kill for one of these."
They stare at the device in awe for a moment before Shuri asks, "You want to take it apart?"
"Hell yeah!" Maria Hill responds.
They take it to the work station that Korg is leaning on and Shuri digs for a few tools. He pulls out a little electronics kit and carefully picks out a screw driver that looks similar enough to the bolts holding the device together. He fiddles with it a bit, but they won't turn.
"You have to put a little pressure." Korg advises.
Shuri looks up toward him and smiles. He cannot understand him, but he is certain Korg is trying to give him hints. He makes a pushing motion, which Shuri tries. It still doesn't work. He looks at Korg and Korg reaches out his hand for the device and tool.
Shuri happily obliges, handing both things over.
"You have to push a little inward, as you try to turn it." Korg tries to explain as he uses the tool. Unfortunately his grip is too strong, and it cracks the device open like a nut. "And I've broken it again." He hands it back toward Shuri feeling embarrassed.
"Is that how it works?" Maria Hill asks.
"I'm not sure," Shuri answers, "But at least it's open." Shuri pulls both parts of the device and it pops as the plastic-like material breaks open a little more. "Are you ready?" Shuri asks Maria Hill, excited.
"Yes!" He replies with equal curiosity.
The translator does not offer much more resistance as Shuri pulls it sets the entire device down, near each half. The top is attached by a small wire and ribbon. All three study it in slight awe.
"I was expecting something more fancy." Maria Hill says.
"Not gonna lie," Shuri responds, "Me too."
"It's just a circuit board." Maria adds.
"I wasn't expecting that." Shuri replies. He lifts it closer to his face. "This looks water damaged... and burned... and cracked. If I had to guess, that looks like the main processor." Shuri points at what looks like a computer chip. "Where is the speaker?"
They study the device for another minute.
"Maybe it doesn't have one." Maria Hill says. "Most of the aliens I have met, have their translators surgically implanted. A speaker wouldn't work from inside a body."
"That would make sense." Shuri replies. "Ok, first thing I'm going to do is move everything from this board to a new one." Shuri places the device on a small scanner which projects the device.
Little mechanical arms pop out from the scanner and make quick work of removing all the components then replicating the board. It highlights all the broken traces on the original board. "It looks so much like Earth technology." Shuri says aloud.
Shuri's computer finishes moving all the pieces to the new board and begins to solder them to it, while continuing to attempt at identifying components. "I still don't see what might function as a speaker."
"Oh it's that plate there." Korg responds.
"Whoa!" Both Shuri and Maria jump at the same time.
"It functions as a signal transmitter shooting out low frequency energy." Korg turns to Shuri and smiles at his ability to help. "It's quite similar to telepathy, actually."
"You can speak English!" Maria Hill says, in utter surprise.
"I heard Wakandan..." Shuri tells him.
"No, I only know Kronan." Korg responds. "Never even heard of those other two.
"Fascinating!" HIll responds.
Meek suddenly jumps up on the counter and starts flailing and saying something. The translator does not seem to work on him. Maria Hill steps away quickly and makes a cringe like gesture.
"Wait a second." Shuri says. "Why doesn't it work on him?" He asks Korg.
"Well he's insectoid." Korg responds. "Their vocal cords don't work like everyone else's."
"But you just said it works based off energy signals, similar to telepathy." Shuri protests.
"Well yeah, but..." Korg replies. "Well, to be honest, I don't really know how it works."
Shuri turns away looking at the device. "I bet if I could add an external power source, I could create an amplifier that could pick up non vocal cues, and..."
"Shuri, are you sure we should be modifying this?" Maria asks.
"He says he's hungry by the way." Korg tries to get a word in.
Shuri grabs Maria by the arms and shakes him. "Maria! Don't you see? If we can figure out how this thing works, we can change the world! Wakanda could go down in history as the nation that led to world peace."
"That's a bit of a stretch..." Maria responds.
"Come to think of it, I'm a little hungry too." Korg says aloud.
"We have to keep working!" Shuri says mostly to himself, walking away briskly.
"And he's gone." Korg says, watching Shuri rush off. "He is a he isn't he?" Korg asks Maria while pointing at Shuri.
Maria thinks about it for a moment and responds by shrugging his shoulders in uncertainty.