In reply to Ailith (msg # 838):

AND EVERYTHING EXPLODES IN FIREY DEATH!!!!!

Or not.

The shaking stops.  The lighting in the room suddenly turns blue.

Foot and Hammer seem to be bumping into each other, squonking joyously.

The door opens and Llewelyn, supported by Coq.

Llewelyn glances around.  His "bird" squeaks.

How did you know to jeddy sun tho eggs host?  We were in trouble.  Good job

“_{What does everyone has with funny eggs?}” Ailith mumbled under her breath, before shaking her head and pointing at Foot and Hammer. “It was their idea. They agreed about that one. They also agree about this one,” she pointed at the drone-like one, “but to say that I don’t want to touch it. And,” she pointed at the last, about falling over, “they disagree about that one, but I’ve no idea why.”

The young apprentice turned to Coq, “Do you have any idea what it does?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 840):

Coq peers at the symbols.  "That...egg one.  It's not egg.  It's...uhm.  Tired maybe?"

"I think the closest you can get in your language would be...uh..."waste".  This room is...I think...this ship's power.  It what makes the ship move and work.  I am guessing that the power...new word... Injun say it with me.  The injun got broken because it hasn't been used in a while.  Maybe.  This is a guess.

"What you did was to tell the ship to throw out it's waste.  Which was probably stacking up.  If an injun's waste gets too...high...it can make serious trouble."

He peers at the icon related to Hammer and Foot.

"This is another guess but that must make Hammer and Foot...uh...wake up or sleep.  I bet if you touched it, they would go to sleep."

“An injun?” Ailith faithfully repeated. “Hmm, alright.” she then added once Llewelyn was done explaining about what it was and how her touching that icon had been good. Which didn’t prevent her from muttering “_{Stupid egg.}”

“Oh.” was all she commented about the drone one. “I guess it makes sense why they didn’t want me to touch that one then.” she squinted playfully at the two, but didn’t add anything.

Instead, she pointed at the one Foot and Hammer didn’t agree about. “So, what about that one? Any idea Coq?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 842):

Coq shrugs.  "Falling over?"

Llewelyn's bird squawks.  He looks at it, touches it, and mutters something to himself you can't hear.  Then he says out loud, "Falling Over" might mean...uhm..."Clear the Table".  I think.  I'm not an <blue>injun ear</blu> But it's kinda like...oh.  This one is hard to explain.  It might have been like telling the ship to stop moving but not do everything needed to be done to stop moving.  But that's a guess."

Llewelyn seems to look at Foot and Hammer with renewed interest.  Bit surprising they disagreed about something.  Usually, things like Hammer and Foot think about things in a certain consistent way.  It's odd they disagreed.  Do they do that often?"

“That’s what I got too, but…” Ailith shrugged, “Somehow I doubt it’s anywhere near close to the real thing.”

Ailith shrugged, then tilting her head, took a moment to think about Llewelyn’s question. “I don’t know about often, you know Foot usually stays with Master Matah, it’s not like there have been all that many occasions for them to disagree on anything, at least in front of me. But…” She shrugged, “It has happened yes. Why would they always think the same thing? It’d be boring…”

“_{But convenient…}”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 844):

Llewelyn continues to study them a moment.  They seem to study him back and make low squonks to each other as they do.

They also seem to communicate verbally.  Those...squonks...

He seems to consider something than shrugs.

Hammer and Foot are like my bird.  They are...built instead of born I guess is one way to put it.  But my bird doesn't have a personality like they do.  And it doesn't have...it can't think for itself. It can only think as far as doing what I ask it to do.

These guys...they seem more like people than...built things.

Do you think of them as people? Or maybe animals?

“Well… Yes?” Ailith seemed to not exactly understand why she would not think of them like that. “I mean…” She waved vaguely in the two drones direction as if it explained everything.

“The only problem is that I don’t understand their 'squonks' - or most of them at least - at all. Most of the time it’s not that much of an issue, but…” She grunted, pointing at the falling over button “Well…”

After a couple of seconds, she added, “That’s also why I told you to ask them before you tried to open them before you know.”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 846):

Llewelyn shrugs.  I can't understand them either.  Or at least not as we are now.  I think I can work it so we can communicate.  But...

He seems to think.

If I can't...work on one of them...would you mind if I tried working on the ship here?  Maybe I can find some kind of...uh...scroll library...that would answer some quesitons.

That elicits a long and loud series of angry sounding squonks from both Hammer and Foot.

Llewelyn sighs.  It's up to you.  They'll do as you say.  Honestly, if you want answers, this is the only way I can think to find them.  Not just about Hammer and Foot.  But about...a lot of things.

Ailith considered Llewelyn for a moment. “Does it really matter if they’ll do as I say? I certainly don’t know enough to decide one way or the other.” She shrugged. “Feel free to convince them, but I’m not going to force them to do anything, particularly something I don’t understand.”

“Plus, as you say, they are their own persons, it would not be right.”

“As for that 'library' thing…” she glanced at the two drones, then looked back at Llewelyn, “Looks like they don’t think that’d be a good idea… Though I would be interested to see that.” With a frown, she turned to Foot and Hammer, “That being said, while I do understand what you don’t want… What are we supposed to be doing now? Didn’t you say there was danger or something? The whole reason we came here in the first place?”
This message was lightly edited by the player at 21:25, Fri 03 Mar 2023.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 848):

He has an expression you can't read.  It's a new one.  He says nothing about Hammer and Foot, but he gestures to the pole in the center of the room when you ask your final question.

"I think we took care of it.  This is going to be a bit difficult to explain.  But this ship...it's like Hammer and Foot in that it thinks...sort of.  It's not a person. But it does have a...brain I guess is the closest term I can come up with...this is so damn difficult.  Anyway, the ship is old.  Very old.  And something didn't work the way it was supposed to.  The injun was...getting too tired.  It was about to collapse.  And when that happens to an injun...well.  It's bad.

"So we have come here to do what we came to do.  But I think we need to look around.  You have to be curious.  Why is the language of this ship so like your own?

"And why does Hammer and Foot not want you to find it?"  He gives you a direct stare.  "You've been suspicious of me before.  And fair enough. I would be too in your circumstances. But why haven't you been suspicous of them?  Because they're cute?  If they are own people, that means they have their own agendas.  Maybe instead of worrying about mine, you should consider what theirs are."

“Oh.” Ailith looked around for a moment, “Well, that was easy then. But how did they know?” She pointed at the two drones, “Can they talk to the ship here, from, uh…” she looked around, “Home?”

“I don’t know what they want or why.” She grumbled under her breath, it would be much easier if she did. “But… I… have some ideas about the language. Thing is, it’s, uh, a touchy subject. And why wouldn’t I trust them?” Ailith shook her head, “They even saved me in the North when that crazy guy attacked me.” She shivered at that. “And they came after I found something in, uh, well… A place I wasn’t really supposed to be?”

“Aaaanyway…” The young apprentice looked around for a moment, clearly trying to decide on something. Finally, looking up at Llewelyn, she asked “Do you know anything about…” She scrunched her face in concentration, “ardy-fizuhl gin-hed-tik mod-e-fik-a-shun, _{or something like that}?”

Before Llewelyn could answer, Ailith jumped up, “Oh!” she turned to Coq, “Do you know what 'Yellow is not your colour' could mean? Besides the obvious? I mean, like…” she waved at the things around her.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:52, Mon 06 Mar 2023.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 850):

Llewlyn makes a puzzled expression.  You've gotten to know that one well over the years.

ardy-fizuhl...where did you hear that from?  It's...yeah. I know what it is more or less.  But why do you know anything about it?

“Hmm…” Ailith looked around for a bit, as if looking for something that could distract Llewelyn from that line of inquiry.

Since nothing obvious came to her rescue, she shrugged. “I…had a dream about it? A…” She tilted her head to the side. “A 'modified memory' through ancestral blood? Or something? From my, uh, grandmother’s grandmother’s…many times over? I think it’s what it said?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 852):

Llwelyn makes another face you haven't seen before.  Then he rubs a hand over his face.  Then he makes another new expression.  More hand rubbing across his temples.

"I..."

He rubs his face again.

"Okay.  Let's...huh.  I...I don't know where to begin.

"We should look around this place.  I'd like to take pictures of everything.  And take time to think about what I'm supposed to say to all that.

"Sound good?"

Ailith frowned, then muttered darkly under her breath for a few seconds. “I guess.” she finally answered, “But again, that depends mostly on them.” she pointed at the two drones, “Is there something we should have a look at?”

Before they could answer, she added, “And before you say no out of hands, remember that without him,” She pointed at Llewelyn this time, “we wouldn’t have been able to come here fix that, uh, Injun situation.”

I think we need to go back to the room we first came in.  Some answers should be there.

The five of you head back towards the front of the ship.  Hammer and Foot stay close to you, though you think they are watching Llewelyn.  He on the other hand seems to ignore them.

When you arrive, Llewelyn walks over to one of the pannels.  He points at some of the runes.

Coq...what do these symbols say?

Coq peers at them, then at you, almost like he's askign you if it's okay to translate them for Llewleyn.

Ailith shrugged, “Sure.”

“But,” she pointed at Foot and Hammer, “You should ask them rather than me. It’s their place, not mine.”

Though they probably would say it was her decision too… Ha, well. She was curious herself anyway, so…

In reply to Ailith (msg # 856):

Llewelyn sighs.  No.  It's not their place.  They're part of this place.  It's not the same thing.

He glances at Foot and Hammer, who squonk back at him.

This is all guesswork.  But I'm pretty sure the reason these two wanted to come here was to make sure nothing bad happened to it.  Because if it did, they would be dead.

He cocks his head and crosses his arms, staring at Hammer and Foot.  Oddly, they don't squonk back at him.

They were lucky this time, as the problem had...a lot of warning.  They had a chance to fix it.  Or bring us here to fix it.  But what happens if a problem comes up that doesn't give them any advance warning?

Besides. He turns and looks again at the panel.  The only way you got here to fix the problem was because I gave you a ride.  So consider this the fare.  Coq?  The symbols?

Coq shrugs and studies them.

"This one is...The first among many?

Then...Pull.  Yeah.  That one's easy.

Let's see...Smooth

And...Tumble maybe?

And-"

That's good enough.  Sounds like these control the way the ship moves.  Which would make sense, given the...

He points at a short, squat column.

Ailith...will you sit there for a moment please?

Ailith simply shrugged as she looked at Coq and the two drones, as if to say. he has a point.'

“Sit?” She looked at the column. “Here? Uh, sure, I guess?”

She didn't sound terribly sure, but it was more surprise than doubt, and she went to sit as instructed without much hesitation.

In reply to Ailith (msg # 858):

Llewelyn studies you.   How's it feel?  Comfortable?  Try reaching out to the panel from where you're sitting please

The chair isn't uncomfortable.  But not comfortable either.  It feels a little too tall.  You have to bend your feet to keep your toes on the ground.

The panel is just out of reach if you don't hunch forward a bit.

Llewelyn nods and motions for you to sit.  Now Coq?  If you could try that as well?

Coq is a little taller than you.  So he doesn't have the issue with his toes, but the panel requires him to reach over as well.

Llewelyn scratches his chin.  He turns to you.  Ask Foot and Hammer to show you pictures of the people who used to...live here before you please  He considers them.  I doubt they'll do it for me.

“It's not bad, but...” Ailith shrugged. She stood when asked to, but instead of watching Coq do pretty much the same thing she had, she looked  curiously around. Tempted, for a moment, to give her curiosity free rein.

The question to know if she would have wasn't to be answered however as Llewelyn brought his attention back to her. “Those who lived here? Sure,” She waved at the two drones to invite them to do it, “but didn't we already see them in the shuddle under the river?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 860):

The...craftsmanship here is different than there.  Kind of.  Just indulge me if you don't mind.

You ask Foot and Hammer.  They squonk amongst themselves, then Foot floats over to one of the panels.  It extends a little arm you didn't know it had and...does something.

The panel lights up and then in mid air there's a ball of light.

The light twists and reforms.

You are looking at something...gray?  It's kind of like a person.  With two legs and a head.  There's three arms.  Two on one side and a larger one on the other.  But the head looks like a proper person.  Except it's too...hairy?

Llewelyn sighs.  Foh bahnk ay.  Wasn't expecting that.  But the cranial structure...huh.  Okay.  I think things are starting to make some sense.

Ailith.  Coq.  Meet your...hmm.  How do I put this?  Do your people have a practice where you can own each other?  Like one person can become another person's legal property?

Your call if the institution of slavery exists on Ailith's world

And #5000 is mine :)

“Oh.” Ailith blinked as she considered the creature Foot was showing them. “Ah, slaves? I’ve heard about it, but…” she shrugged, “I’m not sure if it’s a real thing anymore.” Or if it ever was anything more than stories. She…hadn’t exactly been the most studious as a kid, all focused as she had been on her crafts.

“They look ugly.” She declared, most categorically. “You think the shuddle in the river was trying to escape from them?”

In reply to Ailith (msg # 862):

I didn't even notice we were at 5K.  Thanks for pointing it out.  Happy 5,000th post to you

Llewelyn considers the image.  Not sure.  But...

He seems to think aboug something for a while and then shrugs. I suppose I can tell you this.  You may not want to spread it around.  Your people might not take too kindly to it.

But there's debate among my people who have studied your planet.  There are some who say your people were not born here.  That you might have been...brought here or came here in shuddles or something similar.

That race... He nods at the image Foot is still showing. Is...I think...a people who were known to make slaves out of other peoples.

So you know...I used to think your people did come from here.  But this shuddle and that image...they make me doubt.

What I don't understand is why Hammer and Foot listen to you and Master Matah.  Can you tell me how you found them?