Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Unpacking More Than Books -

Posted by Civilian Karilan Massat (Owner, Quill and Parchment Books) in Unpacking More Than Books -

Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Unpacking More Than Books -

(snip)

She laughed. “While that sounds lovely, it would drive me crazy. So I think let’s keep subjects together and maybe alphabetical by author if the section is really big. If it’s only a handful of books, that’s easy to skim.’

Eela considered Karilan for a moment. “I’ve been feeling the need to say things that are really obvious but should be said anyway, because…” She shook her head for a moment unsure how to qualify her words. “Save for one person, it’s been a long time since I’ve had really good friends at my side, Karilan. Mine went on with their lives after my accident and I left Starfleet, as they should. And I’ve been wandering alone, afraid for reasons I wasn’t aware of. Just know that meeting you, and having you in my life means so much to me.”

~Eela

The bald head of the Deltan flushed red and they smiled at Eela and said “Obvious maybe… but always welcome to hear.” They cleared their throat a little and looked back at the books, setting them in cases and on shelves carefully. “And I have never been one to make friends easily… or at all. I am very happy that I was able to shed that standard when it came to meeting you. Your friendship has meant… it is very special to me.” and they hurriedly went back to looking at the books.

Karilan

“I am glad we can share that.” She studied Karilan for a moment as she stood and carried books to the shelves, gathering her diplomacy books together. “Do you know how to read Haliian? Or did you have it translated?” Eela asked.

~Eela

Karilan smiled and said “Ahh… now there is a good question.” They stopped what they were doing and they went to their tool kit. Opening it, they pulled out a small, white cube, one side of which was a blank screen. They activated it, and suddenly the screen showed… the cube itself. Karilan smiled and said “Hand me that book there. The one in Haliian.”

Karilan took the book and looked at it, and the screen showed the book as if being seen from Karilan’s eyes… except over the Haliian script was Federation Standard in shining gold letters. They looked at Eela and smiled and moved very close to her, looking directly into her eyes. “Look closely, tell me what you see.”

Their eyes were a deep purple color, but the closer Eela looked there seemed to be something else there… glowing points of light in lines across their eyes. “What you see as dots or points of light, I see as letters and numbers. I created these contacts so I could read whatever language a text is in. The cube is a direct interface to a current model Star Fleet Universal Translator, tied to the language database at the Daystrom Institute. It knows what langauges I can read, so it leaves those texts alone. The ones I cannot are translated and superimposed in my field of vision over each letter or symbol. It’s not perfect, but its about eighty-eight percent accurate.”

Karilan