Pasha, an Avatar story.

[archaic]

Irayo!   

[Toliman]

Kea tìkin

[archaic]

Part 42

Spoiler: Pointing and laughing.

Francis filled the foot spar with warm water, and slid it under the table.
"Ìì ..... " Pasha looked confused.
"Now you put your feet in the water." Francis explained.
"Ìì ..... " Pasha still looked confused.
Francis lifted one of his feet onto the table, he pointed at it, then placed two finger tips into Pasha's mug of warm water, it wasn't particularly warm now. He pointed to her feet under the table, and dipped the same two finger tips into the same not so warm water.
"Oe fmi."
There was a moment of hesitation, and then Pasha's expression changed.
"Lu mowan, sang sì."
"Hang on, where's the remote, hang on, hang on, hang on, ha' got it!"
Francis held up the remote.
"A stand alone remote?"
"I know, I thought  they went out with square wheels!"
"Me 'n' all!"
"So, where were we?"
"About to try out the remote? Look, if you electrocute Pasha, you're explaining it!"
"Relax, I estimate a probability of success of at least seven percent."
"Oh, that high?"
"Yep!"
"Based on what exactly?"
"Well, I've got my fingers crossed, so there you are."
"Nice. But if there's a big bright flash and she croaks, it's going to be you that's in hot water."
"And what I'm dead too?"
"Well, in that case, I'd call an ambulance, and make bleedin' sure they brung you back."
"And if I'm not killed?"
"Oh, well in that case, I'd leave you to die slowly and painfully on the floor."
"From what?"
"Abusive sarcastic comments from me."
"As long as we all know where we stand."
"It's not going to work now."
" 'Oh ye of little' ..... Nah, you're right, the batteries are most probly gonna be long dead!"
"As long as it's just the batteries."
"Sod knows how long this thing's been knocking around. Packaging looks pretty dated. Here goes nuffin'."
Francis pressed a button, and something under the table hummed softly. Pasha' expression was perplexed surprise, but wasn't unhappy. She looked down under the table for a while.
"Well?"
"Ìì ..... Stxong slä mowan."
"More?"
"M'r?"
Francis pressed the button again, the humming was just a shade louder, and Pasha's expression was essentially just shock.
"Good?"
"Ìì ..... y's?"
"You like?"
Pasha nodded "Layk."
"Well, my books not going to get a look in now."
"No, well, that's quite a book to give some one for their first ever book, I mean, that's some pretty heavy duty philosophy in there!"
"And you've read it?"
"Dipped. A bit."
"And?"
"And I bunged it back on the shelf where I found it."
"Uh' ..... huh."
"Myusìk?"
"Why not?"
Chris selected Pasha's play list, and hit play.
Pasha relaxed, leaning back, eye's closed, a broad smile, lost in the music, lost in the moment and it's sensations.
"Not really my taste in music, I'f I'm honest."
"The way I look at it is, I can play whatever I like, pretty much when and wherever I want, why shouldn't she have a bit of music she likes occasionally? I mean, we kidnaped her, took her from her home, everything she's ever known, friends, family, in the most brutal way imaginable. And we dump her in a crappy glass case that's cramped and uncomfortable. I figure mankind kinda owes her at least something."
"ìt sm'll pät tu."
"It smells bad?"
"Sran, lìk sngeltseng kewongtu."
"What?"
"Ketuwong."
"Huh?"
"ìt sm'll pät."
"Oh."
The three sat for a while, and just chilled.
"How are you feeling now?" Chris asked about ten minutes later.
"P'tr. Ay w'rm naw."
"Good. Now ..... what were we going to do next?"
"Err ..... Oh yeah, go see that creationist exhibit."
"Will there be pointing and laughing?"
"Nah, you should be safe, all the visitors went home hours ago. We could put a bag over your head if you like, you know, just to be sure."
Chris gave Francis a nasty look, Francis returned with a great broad toothy smile.

[Toliman]

Good reading

[archaic]

Thank you.


 

[Toliman]

Kea tìkin

[archaic]

Part 43

Spoiler: Towel.

"I'll get you a towel?" Francis offered.
"Tawl?"
"Yeah, get her the towel, I don't s'pose Pasha's had a lot to do with towels to date."
"Nah, well, I've never tried dating a towel."
Chris rolled his eyes, and tried not to smile.
" 'Ere we go, one towel."
Francis handed it to Pasha, who took it, and immediately looked in wonder, as she felt the texture.
"Towel."
Pasha spent some time, feeling the surface in wonder.
"You use it to dry yourself."
"Ìì."
Chris lifted a foot up, and mimed drying it off with a towel, then pointed to towel in Pasha's hands. 
"Feet."
"Fit?"
"One foot, two feet."
"Tu f'ts?"
"Err .... no. It should be, but it isn't."
"See, English is kinda a mess."
"Oh god yeah, English makes no sense what so ever. Every rule has an exception."
"Actually most rules have more that one exception, and some have lots, it's a mess. And that's before you get into spellin', which witch is which, is it night out side, or a knight outside, polish and Polish, laughter and slaughter. the monarch reigns and the weather rains."
"Yeah, we have rain, it doesn't rain here all the time, it can some times stop raining for anything up to fifteen minutes!"
"Not necessarily fifteen consecutive minutes minutes though."
"Well, no, be reasonable. And there's a place called Rayne, had to post a parcel there couple of weeks back."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, they'd left a prosthetic arm here."
"So you're into arms trafficking now?"
"Yep!"
"Who did you send it to?"
"Someone called Hal."
"A man with one arm named Hal."
"Yeah."
"What was his other arm called?"
"Jeez, that's old."
"It made Pasha laugh."
"Srane, ìt meyt mi laf."
"Fair enough."
"Your feet dry?"
"Y's."
"Right, lets go see 'Creationism'!"
"Ay kip?" Pasha, indicating the coat.
"Well, for now, yeah, but you can' keep it in Xenobiology."
"Ay naw now sh. w't, ìì, hay?"
"Huh?"
"Sh ..... " Pasha said, then gestured to move on a step.
"Next. Th?" Francis, helpfully.
"There's two th's, th and th."
"Mmm, guess that complicates things."
"Things," Chris pronounced things correctly "or things?" here Chris pronounced the 'th' the same way as it is in then.
"Lets' leave that for another another time."
"Ch."
"Yeah, good idea, and there's only one way to  pronounce that."
"Yeah, otherwise it'd be total chaos."
"True."
They walked to the travelator in silence, Francis swiped his ID on the control panel and fired it up.
They were almost at the end before Francis spoke again.
"Hang on. Chaos is 'C' 'H' and is pronounced 'K'! "
"Yup."
"It's not a mess, it's worse than a mess, it's, its ..... it's ..... err ..... What's worse that a mess?"
"The English language?"
"Yeah! It's .... err, oh ..... Forget it."
"Ch."
"Ty."
"Close."

A while later, they arrived at the exhibition.
"Behold, 'Creationism'! " Francis said with an expansive hand gesture and way too much relish.
"Milking it."
"You do know, you can't say you don't believe in creationism any more."
"I don't believe in creationism. I didn't before, and I still don't now."
"Yeah, but, 'Creationism' is an exhibition here in the museum, which you can see with your own eyes."
"I believe in the existence of an exhibition here in this museum called 'Creationism', what I don't believe in, is creationism."
"Whatever."
They wandered round, none of the interactive exhibits were powered up, neither were any of the monitors, or 3D projected displays.
"I notice there's not a lot of artifacts that are what you call clinchers for creationism being real."
"Nah, well, what did you expect."
"A more compelling case?"
"It's probly more compelling when the power's on."
"Couldn't be a lot less compelling."
"True. Where do we wanna go next?"
"Human evolution?"
"No such thing, it's all a conspiracy, God created everything in seven days. Period." Francis, with a fairly straight face.
"You don' believe in Human evolution?"
"Nah, like I said, it's all just a myth."
"Fine."

Some time later they arrived at the mythical Human evolution exhibition, it was considerably larger that Creationism. Almost as if the museum took it rather more seriously.
"Human evolution."
"Myth!"
"You do know, you can't say you don't believe in Human evolution any more."
"God put fossils and stuff out there for people to find, to test their faith. Human evolution is a myth."
"Yeah, but, 'Human Evolution' is an exhibition here in the museum, which you can see with your own eyes." Chris pointing to the entrance to the Exhibition.
"Fair enough."
"That's that then?"
"Yep."
"I was just getting into it as well."
"Tuff."
"Spoil sport."
Like Creationism, none of the interactive exhibits were powered up, nor were the monitors, or 3D projected displays. They came to an informational plaque, it showed a succession of images. A single figure, labelled 'Individual'. Beside this was couple, tagged 'Couple'. Then there was a small family group, two adults and three children of various ages, tagged 'Family'. Next was a larger group, twenty individuals a mix of adults and children, this was tagged 'Extended Family'. Next was a larger group, perhaps a hundred or so, 'Tribe, or Clan'. This was followed by what was clearly twenty five carefully laid out groups of one hundred-ish, there was a slight gap between them, and they were arranged into a grid, five by five, 'Kingdom' it went on to list several other potential names for such a group. Next was a far larger group, arranged in a grid, twelve by twelve, were smaller representations of what were clearly the 'Kingdom' image, this was tagged 'Empire'. Each of these images had a screed of text with it.
Pasha looked at them.
"Tute."Pointing to the lone individual "Mesmuk." pointing to the couple "Soaia."pointing to the family "Ìi, Soaia apxa?" pointing to the the extended family, and then "Olo." Pointing to the Tribe.
"Ollow, that's your word for tribe?"
"Trayp?"
Close enough, actually, when were there with 'ch' we can have a go with 'b' and 'd' if you like."
"Srane, ìì, y's.'
"Need to work on those vowel sounds at some point too."
They lingered for moment, before moving on. Another plaque, this took up much of a wall, perhaps fourty feet in length, it showed a progression of structures. At one end, an early ape like hominid was sat within what looked like a nest, holding a large plant leaf over it's head, a picture of the ISV Gavesha at the other.
Pasha looked at them one by one.
"Kelutral lu ke."
"What's that?"
Pasha didn't reply, just looked down and shook her head sadly.
"Pasha?"
"Ayhetuwong ke lu teng. Nì'eng kehe. Aynga sì ayoe lu keteng."
"What's up?"
"Ay n't now wurts, tu sey."
"Hey, it's OK, you gut us ..... and this world, it isn't all bad. I mean, I know it's got some pretty crappy bits here and there. But ..... it's not all bad."
Pasha threw her arms around Chris and sobbed into his shoulder. He hesitated a moment, before hugging her back. He squeezed her tight.
"I won't lie to you, life's going to be very different here to ..... to what I expect your life was probly like back on Pandora ..... err, a-wer-eeveng? And I know not everyone is going to be nice, and not everyone will always have your best interests at heart, but, we're here for you."
"Chris, that was just about the worst ..... " Francis began, but trailed off as Chris waved at him to give it a rest.

[Toliman]

Next good piece!

[archaic]

Part 44

Spoiler: Men's room

Three people sat in the security suite, the mood was best described as somber. They sat in silence. Pasha, elbows on the table, held her head in her hands. No one spoke. Midnight came and went.
Finally Pasha took a deep breath, and sighed deeply.
"Pey."
She took the mug of now cold water, and pretended to drink from it.
"Oh, I didn't think of that. Commercial face masks have a valve thing in them that allows a straw in, so you can drink. At least some do ..... Come on, let's get you a bottle of that distilled water you have."
Chris and Pasha went to Xenobiology, without a word, Pasha knew how to operate the machine. She ducked into the airlock to vivarium, but no further, changed the air and drank her water. She changed the air again, and stepped out.
"S'kyurìti."
"Sure."
They went back.
"Hang on, I gotta visit the men's room. Pasha, wait here."
Chris visited the mens room. He opened the door to the stall, and found that Pasha hadn't waited there.
"You aren't supposed to listen at doors like that, it's not polite. Oh god, how do I even begin to explain that one?"
Pasha looked at the inside of the stall, it didn't make sense her, that was obvious.
"Wot tu?"
"Oh boy! OK, so, err, well, you see, err, mmm." Chris sighed deeply.
"OK, so, you drop your pants." Chris pretended to drop them.
"Sit on the seat. The seat piece with a hole in it, otherwise ..... let's not go there." Chris sat on the seat.
"You then, err, well, you know."
Pasha looked at him blankly.
Chris pretended to struggle and strain, and pulled a variety of funny faces, to lighten the mood, but mostly to cover his embarrassment. He gave a two handed gesture to show something moving downwards. Pasha giggled.
Chris looked very relieved, stood up, pretended to use the paper, pretended to pull up his pants, and then flushed. Pasha looked past him at the water flowing, she looked bemused more than anything else.
"Now we wash our hands."
Pasha watched as Chris washed. The soap dispenser was an object of fascination. He dried his hands, and shoed her out.
"Men's room." he pointed to the pictogram on the door "Men's room, men's ..... room. Ladies' room, or women's room." Chris, pointing to the pictogram on the next door "Ladies' room." He pointed to Pasha "Ladies' room." he pointed to himself "Men's room."
"So, what did you do today Chris? Oh, explained rest rooms to an alien child from the stone age." Chris said to himself.
"Come on, need to make sure Francis isn't getting himself into trouble again."

"Took your time."
"Yeah, had to explain rest rooms to Pasha."
"You know, it's a good job no one ever asks what we actually do here. Pretty sure no one would actually believe it, if I did tell 'em."
"No, I know what you mean."
Francis's stomach growled.
"So, dinner?"
"Why not?"
The two men microwaved their dinners, and went to sit at the table, Pasha was fast asleep on the bench, flat out, still wrapped up in the coat, she looked peaceful, perhaps even happy.

"OW! Bollocks! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"
"Nice one. You've woken up our guest."
"Sorry Pasha. Christ that hurt!" Paul said, holding his left hand under his right arm, and wincing.
"Well, that' teach you to look where you're waving your arms."
"Look, it's drawn blood. I could pass out, die even, if I die here, you can forget about Christmas prezzies!"
"Sorry Pasha, we tried to get the early shift in without disturbing you, but it's Paul, so ....."
"I said I'm sorry, what more do you want?"

[Toliman]

Read, very good

[archaic]

Part 45

Spoiler: Ladies' room

Pasha Yawned.
"Ay go bak."
"I'll take you, then I'm off home to ..... " Chris yawned.
"Bed?"
"Mmm."
Chris followed Pasha, who was keener than usual.
They arrived at floor S, Pasha went to the ladies' room door, and gave Chris an imploring look.
"Go for it, you don't need my permission."
Pasha went in, Chris leaned casually against the wall to wait, but Pasha came straight out, grabbed Chris and dragged him inside.
"I can't come in here, this is the ladies' loo."
Pasha opened the nearest stall, and gestured around it.
"And?"
Pasha pretended to use the paper, the thing was, there wasn't any paper, there wasn't a roll, or a dispenser.
"Ah, right, this one has a water spray bar."
Pasha looked at him blankly, so Chris demonstrated. They watched as the spray bar extended, and sprayed. Pasha looked bemused, Chris gave a friendly smile and a nod, and hoped she would understand. Pasha hesitated for a moment, before pushing Chis out of the ladies'. He went back to leaning against the wall, then changed his mind, he went and leaned against the opposite wall, then shuffled along to lean against the opposite a few feet further a way.
He waited.
Pasha came out, with an odd expression.
"So?"
"Ìì ..... "
"Yeah, I remember feeling like that, first time I used one. You get used to 'em."
Pasha looked at him for a moment, before leading to the door that separated the public area from the staff only area. Chris swiped his ID, and Pasha lead to the vivarium. As had become standard practice, Pasha went in to the airlock, cycled it to change the air, went into the inner chamber, cycled the airlock from inside, and Chris retrieved the rebreather, wished her a good day, and returned to the Security Suit, stashing the rebreather in it's hiding place on the way.
"Right guys, see you later."
"See you later."
"Yeah, see you later Chris."
Chris went home, and slept like the dead. Metaphorically speaking.

"Morning Candice."
"Morning Jean, anything to report?"
"Yeah, actually. Wide awake again, but no stool and urine this morning."
"Yet, presumably. What goes in's gotta come out some time."
"Mmm, true. I'm concerned that it may be planning on, you know, while we're taking samples."
"As an act of defiance?"
"Mmm, it has the potential to contaminate the samples."
"It has, need to be prepared for that."
"Changing the subject, how's that bite doing?"
"It's healing up nicely, and I'm extremely pleased to report, no signs of any adverse reactions. So far, at least."
"Fingers crossed then."
"Thank you. Any issues with the Stupitapan?"
"Well, no, it appears to have understood that that's a good thing."
"Unlike the samples."
"It's not particularly keen on those, is it?"
"Well, if I'm completely honest, I probably wouldn't be either."

"Evening."
"It is, well spotted."
"Pass phrase?"
" 'Life is but a charade.' "
"That's deep, man. Especially for this time on a Saturday."
The buzzer sounded, the door opened, some moments later Chris arrived in Security.
"No Mark?"
"Loo."
"Did he have something planned for my arrival?"
"Oh yeah."
"Oh, I'm so nearly disappointed."
"Nearly, but not quite."
Chris shrugged expansively.
"Last cup of tea?"
"Nah, I've beer in the fridge when I get home."
"Chris you're in."
"Urine?"
"Urine."
"You have something for me?"
"It'll wait."
The buzzer sounded. Francis's face was visible on the monitor wall. Mark hit the intercom button.
"Can I take your order please?"
"Err, big mac, large fries, large diet soda, to eat in."
"Anything else sir?"
"Nah, not tonight."
"If you'd like to make your way to the next window for payment, sir."
"OK, and where do I collect my food?"
"Round by the bins."
"By the bins."
"Well, more kinda in the bins."
"Self service."
"Pretty much, sir."
"And is it edible?"
"This is a McDonalds, what were you expecting?"
"Fair point. Can I come in, only it's flaming well freezing out here!"
Mark hit the button, and buzzed him in, by the time he arrived in Security, Chris had already made him a cup of tea.
"Hand over?"
"Earlier on, we logged an assault rifle into lost property."
"An assault rifle." Francis sounded doubtful.
Kyle held up a toy an assault rifle that looked impressively unrealistic.
"My, my, you have been busy. Anything else?"
"Nah, nada."
"Anything happen with the replacement Santa?"
"Nope."
"Reindeer?"
"Nope."
"Santa's elves?"
"Ah, now, funny you should mention them."
"Yes?"
"No."
"I see."
"Well, that makes one of us, Chris."
"And, now you've been fully brought up to speed ..... Night!"
"Yeah, bye, and good night, there's a cold one waiting with my name on it."
"I hope you choke on it!" Francis, tongue firmly in cheek.
"Tea." Chris, handing Francis his mug of tea.
They watched Mark and Kyle leave on the monitor wall.
"Biscuit?"
"Nice one! Cheers!"
"You're welcome, they went out of date beginning of last month."
"Tastes OK, still crunchy. I reckon they're still OK."
"Yeah? Well, I might try one too."
"So, you're just using me to make sure they're OK before you risked eating one yourself?"
"Yep."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"What exactly's in it for me?"
"A biscuit."
"I'm cheap, aren't I."
"You know it."
Tea was drunk, and dubious biscuits eaten.
"I'm going for Pasha."
"I'll provide covering fire." Francis took careful aim with less than convincing sniper scope "DRRRRRRRRRRR!"
"You know, I sometimes think I'm the only sane person here."
"I wouldn't worry about that."
Chris considered this.
"See you in a while."
"DRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Francis, putting down a wide spread of covering fire. Presumably.

[Toliman]

Good work

[archaic]

Part 46

Spoiler: Arboretum.

Pasha wanted to use the ladies' room on the way down, Chris waited in much the same place as before.
He heard the flush, he heard the hand drier. Pasha came out, the same look on her face.
"What do you do on Pand ..... err, a-werr-eeven?"
"Eywa eveng?"
"Yeah, err 'sran'?"
"Ay show."
"You got that 'sh' spot on."
"Irayo."
"You're welcome."
Pasha smiled, and lead Chris back to the Pandoran exhibition.
Pasha pretended to take a stick from the display case. She gestured to the walkway, then went to the wall, three steps away from the walkway. She looked very intently at the ground, then went down on one knee, and dug a hole with the imaginary stick. There was a lot of soil loosening. She placed the stick on the ground and scooped out the soil with her hands.
Imaginary hole now meeting her requirements, she stood up, walked over to a different display case, this had pictures of plants and trees on the back. She counted three trees from the right hand end of the case, pretended to pick something from it, which Chris didn't get, but he went along with it. She picked and counted another four, counting them on her fingers Pasha returned to the hole, squatted, imitated Chris's selection of facial expressions, the two handed downward gesture, even a slightly more exaggerated look of relief. She held something up, at least she pretended to. She pointed to it, then pointed to the glass case with the tree's, and then at the thing that would have been in her hand. Then demonstrated using it as paper.
"Ah, you took some leaves, gotcha."
She held up a finger and repeated for three more leaves and fingers, pushed the earth back in to the hole with the side of her foot, before bending down and cautiously sticking the final imaginary leaf into the top.
"You leave a leaf stuck in the top to mark it so no one comes along and digs it up."
"Ìì srane."
"Always the same leaf?"
"Ìì ..... Ay n't n'tx'stänt."
"Come on, I know where to show you a leaf."
Chris took Pasha to a very different exhibit, a large greenhouse on the roof of the main building. Inside was warm, humid and full of plants. Pasha was blown away, laughing, twirling around and around with excitement.
"Na'rìng! Ayutral! Ean! Lu ean. Ay lìk fitseng."
"I take it you approve? Err, 'you like' even?"
"Ay lìk."

"You're back! I was starting to think you'd been abducted by aliens!"
"How long have you been working on that, Francis?"
"I've had it up my sleeve a while, just waiting for the right opportunity."
"I shoulda' guessed."
"Pasha seems ..... troubled?"
"We visited the arboretum. I think it reminded a certain person of home."
"So all good, then."
"Well, there were tears. There's some pretty painful memories it brought up, I could tell."
"Oh."
"And also, she was explaining about how they go to the loo in the jungle, back on Pandora."
"Eywa eveng."
"Err, yeah, a-werr-eeveng."
"Do I want to know?"
"I'll tell ya' later. I think a soak in the foot spa might might be good for ..... Well, you know."
"Good for the sole?"
Francis looked pleased with himself, Chris rolled his eyes.

[Toliman]

Again very good writing

[archaic]

Irayo.   

[Toliman]

Kea tìkin

[archaic]

Part 47

Spoiler: Weekends

"Who's turn is it to make tea?"
"Err, yeah, I can take a hint."
Chris made Tea, Pasha listened to her music and enjoyed the foot spa's massage feature. Tea made, and delivered to the table.
"So, what we got lined up for this evening?"
"So, there's a good few English language sounds we could work on, and a near infinite amount of stuff to look at round the museum."
"Arboretum?"
Chris glanced at Pasha, he looked pained and shook his head.
"Too many raw nerves, I think. At least for now." He said softly.
"Ah."
"I still haven't explained shift patterns to her."
"You got tonight, tomorrow night and then Monday night, then we're not back till the twenty eighth, on lates, so won't get to see a lot of Pasha for four days, then not at all for four days ..... "
"Miguel was hoping to swap his nights, January fifth to the eighth. I could take him up on that."
"Err, you do realize that means working the night shift on the eighth and then the early shift on the ninth?"
"Ah, yeah, hand over to myself."
"And no sleep. Sixteen hours straight, no thank you very much!"
"I could ask Mark and Kyle if they wanted to swap."
"I'd ask Mark."
"Why?"
"D'you really wanna spend a whole shift hanging out with Mark?"
"No. Been there, done that, it's a bit, you know ..... "
"HANG ON, what am I saying? You swap with Kyle, coz I don't wanna spend eight hours with Mark's sense of humor. Four days on the trot! You work with the flake!"
"That's not fair!"
"You wanna swap shifts, not me!"
"What if we both swapped?"
"Err, that might work, but then they both need to wanna swap."
"It lines up with getting to the January Sales early on the first, second, third and fourth."
"True."
"Kyle was talking about that back in January."
"He was, wasn't he. Christ, that's almost a year ago now, what happened to the last eleven months?"
"I think you blinked and missed them."
"It wasn't like we weren't busy!"
"You can say that again!"
"It wasn't like we weren't busy!"
"You can say that again!"
"It wasn't like we weren't busy!"
"You can say that, actually, probably best not."
"Spoil sport."
"Mark's rubbing off again."
"Mmm."
Chris and Francis both noticed it in the lull in the conversation, Pasha was trying not to laugh.
"Yu txu meyk mi laf."
"Which makes what I need to explain even harder, more difficult."
Pasha looked at Chris, suddenly worry was visible in her face.
"I don't live at the museum."
"Me either."
"Ay lìv hir."
"Yeah, but we just work here, when our shift is over, we go home."
"Except poker night."
"Ìì ..... Ay n't n'tx'stänt."
"No, OK, we, me and Francis, we here now. We here tomorrow, we night after tomorrow." Francis made gestures on the table in a way he hoped might make things clearer.
Pasha looked at him blankly.
"This might help." Francis, handing Chris his pocket view screen, their duty roster on screen.
"Ah, yeah, now ..... Err ..... Here were are. This is tonight, now."
Chris turned it round to show Pasha, she looked at the screen.
"We, here, here, there and there. That's tonight, that's yesterday, tonight, tomorrow, and one more."
"We work four, then we're off for four."
"Then we come back and we work at a different time."
Pasha's blank look remained.
"This was never going to be easy."
"Nah, I don't suppose they get weekends off. Let alone four on, four off."
"That's where to start, weekends."

[Toliman]

Very good

[archaic]

Part 48

Spoiler: Level five.

"I don't understand it, that's more than thirty six hours without eliminating waste."
"I know."
"Well, I confess I don't understand it. It's going to wreak havoc on urine and fecal studies."
"I know."
"Did we miss something?"
"No, the chamber's not a big place to search."
"I mean ..... Was our assumption that 'because it has urinated and defecated previously, it must logically continue to do so', incorrect?"
"It's beginning to look as if it might be."
"Do they normally urinate and defecate? Is there some other unknown mechanism that's previously been inactive due to ..... some reason?"
"I'd like to know that too."
"Has it only urinated and defecated previously due to environmental factors? A change in gravity, air pressure, stress?"
"Who knows?"
"So, given that we're the ones studying it, and we haven't the foggiest, I'm gonna go with 'nobody knows'."
"Seems like a sound assessment."
"A sound, but not especially helpful assessment."
"Granted."
"Good morning ladies!"
"Morning Warren."
"Morning Warren."
"Developments?"
Jean and Candice exchanged uncertain looks.
"Too early to tell."
"Mmm, at this stage, it might be prudent to think of it being, at least potentially, more of a hiccup, or a blip."
"Do they teach indeterminate vagueness as part of doctorate studies?"
"Ah, the matter of indeterminate vagueness, it's always had a certain je ne sais quoi."
"Jean, would you agree, or disagree with that?"
"Oh, without a doubt."
"I don't know why I bother."
"Trust me, we get that."
"Get what precisely?"
Jean and Candice looked at Warren intently, expectantly.
"Oh, again with the vague and indeterminate, I see. If It sounds like an insult, et cetera, et cetera."
"He's learning."
"He is!"
"Don't you two have some samples someplace to torture and humiliate?"
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"

"Saint Elspeth's home for retired Santa's, how may I help you?"
"Evening Mark."
"Not going to play along?"
"Not in this rain! I now know what the rocks at the bottom of Niagra falls feel like!"
"Irritable?"
"WET!"
"Pass phrase?"
"I'm drowning out here!"
The buzzer sounded, Chris got out of the rain. A short while later he appeared in the security suite, toweling his hair with a, well, a towel.
"Nice Towel."
"Thanks, brung it from home."
"It didn't get wet?"
"I kept it under my coat."
"Clever."
"I didn't get an advanced Doctorate in clever thinking for nothing."
"You do not have an advanced Doctorate in clever thinking." Kyle, could tell a fib, at least when they were that blatant.
"Exactly!"
Mark sniggered, he'd seen that one coming a mile off.
"No Francis yet?"
"Havin' trouble with his wet suit."
"I didn't know he had a wet suit?"
"Well, it was dry until it started to rain."
"I see."
The buzzer sounded again, Francis's face appeared on screen, he looked miserable.
"Lingerie department?"
"Just let me in, I'm soaked to the skin."
"Pass phrase?"
"Lemme in or I'm going home!"
Mark hit the button. By the time Francis appeared, Mark and Kyle had already left the building. A nice fresh mug of tea was waiting for him.
"You know, it's not as easy as you'd think, drying your whole entire body under the hand dryer. Think I've probly burned my scalp, and my hair's still not dry!"
Chris held up his towel.
"Where'd you nick that from?"
"Brung it from home."
"No one likes a show off."
Chris smiled and looked generally pleased with himself, Francis gave him a mean look.
"You know, there are times when I genuinely hate you."
"Not all the time then?"
"Nah, well, I'm asleep some of the time."
"How's the tea?"
"Bloody marvelous."
They sat and drank in silence.
"So, what ya got lined up for tonight?
"More of the same. If that's what she wants."
"Soak in the foot spar, with massage on level two, some of that tribal music, and more English lessons."
"Mmm."
"You know it goes up to five."
"The foot spa's massager?"
"Mmm."
"I do now. You know, given the expression on her face on level two, I might wait till she's older before you let her try out level five."

[Toliman]

Good writing