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<blockquote data-quote="Capellan" data-source="post: 1280516" data-attributes="member: 6294">&quot;Blast Off!&quot; - Part 19This Savage S'Ondra stares up at Fury, who stands silhouetted against the red glare of the Venusian sky, smoke still curling from the fused power capacitor of his atomic pistol.&nbsp; Then , with a choked off sob, she hurls herself into his arms, kissing him passionately.&quot;My,&quot; Archie observes, sensors whirring as he analyses the dirt-streaked Venusian girl, &quot;How unsanitary.&quot;&quot;Yeah.&quot; The Q-Ship's version of S'Ondra scowls and steps forward, pulling her twin's arm, &quot;Get away from him - he'll give you all kinds of nasty Earth diseases.&quot;Savage S'Ondra at first tries to pull free of her civilised counterpart, but when the latter persists, the fur-clad princess turns to face her.&nbsp; Instantly, her face goes pale, and she huddles behind Fury, peering past him at her doppelganger.&quot;Oh, for goodness' sake, pull yourself together.&quot; S'Ondra snorts, in a tone of voice that sets her twin cowering further behind Fury: a development that the Captain does not seem to mind at all.&quot;I do not zink she can understands English.&quot; Gustav observes, peering over his glasses at the two S'Ondras. &quot;How vill ve communicate?&nbsp; Perhaps I can be making ze translation device.&quot;&quot;We shouldn't need to.&quot; S'Ondra - the original - sighs, and then, softening her tone, calls out to the cowering woman, &quot;It's alright, I'm here to help, but you need to move away from that man.&nbsp; He's diseased.(1)&quot;Savage S'Ondra's only reaction is to look confused, and her Q-Ship counterpart throws her hands in the air.&quot;Bah!&nbsp; She's too stupid even to understand her own language.&quot;&quot;So she doesn't talk?&nbsp; My kind of woman.&quot; Fury smirks, &quot;Maybe we can get her to take us to the nearest settlement.&nbsp; We might be able to find some way to communicate with them.&quot;&quot;Ja.&nbsp; I am sure I could rig up a machine to allow communication, if ve could only hear zere language.&quot;&quot;If they have one.&quot; S'Ondra mutters darkly.&quot;Well, sign language should work.&quot; Fury suggests.&nbsp; Pointing at the body of the creature they slew, he mimes eating, then rubs his belly as if satisfied with a meal.&nbsp; His actions prompt a timid smile from the fur-clad Venusian, and - after a little more coaxing - she gestures for them to pick up the body, before pointing to the west and repeating Fury's eating mime.Shying away from the fire, Savage S'Ondra leads them along the ravine floor.&nbsp; Archie brings up the rear, carrying the creature's body and muttering plaintively about the unsanitary fluids and bacteria.Eventually, their slow progress brings them within sight of a cliff face, which is marked with many cave entrances.&nbsp; There is no sign of any huts, nor fire-pits, but there are several fur-clad figures moving around.&nbsp; Savage S'Ondra stops and points, exclaiming &quot;Dogar!&quot; again and again.&quot;Definitely a settlement of some kind.&quot; Fury shades his eyes, &quot;Not large, though.&quot;&quot;Given ze apparent lack of technology, zey could not gather in large groups.&quot; Is Gustav's analysis.&nbsp; The Doctor has an electronic device in hand.&nbsp; The back of the device is open, and he is probing with it with a screwdriver, muttering about the 'spectromic converter'.&quot;What's that for?&quot; Fury asks, taking a half-step away.&quot;Zis was a biological analysis device from ze ship.&quot; Gustav explains, &quot;I am attempting to convert it, so zat ze machine will pick up and analyse sounds waves.&nbsp; Perhaps zis vay we can interpret ze language of these primitives.&quot; He glances at S'Ondra, &quot;No offence meant, leibchcn.&quot;S'Ondra, who has been listening to her counterpart's excited chatter, grunts and holds up a hand,&quot;I don't think we'll be needing the device, Doctor.&quot; She nods in satisfaction, &quot;I didn't recognise it at first, because the accent's all wrong, and there grammar's non-existent, but she is speaking Venusian - just with a very limited vocabulary.&nbsp; I should be able to communicate with them.&quot;As the group approaches the settlement - and Gustav obliviously continues to work on his translator, despite S'Ondra's words - the largest and strongest of the male Venusians moves to intercept them.&nbsp; He brandishes a club and barks a greeting - and a challenge:&quot;Me chief.&nbsp; Who you?&quot;&quot;What did he say?&quot; Fury asks, hand on pistol.&nbsp; S'Ondra ignores him.&quot;Me woman chief.&nbsp; We friends.&quot; S'Ondra gestures at the carcass of the Grognor and thumps her chest, &quot;We kill beast. &quot;The chief grunts, staring at the dead beast for a moment, then giving S'Ondra and the others a thorough inspection.&nbsp; Finally, he nods.&quot;You mighty.&quot; He acknowledges, then points at S'Ondra's twin, &quot;You want girl?&quot;&quot;No.&nbsp; She weak.&nbsp; She fears.&nbsp; We not want her.&quot; S'Ondra waves her hand dismissively. &quot;You look her.&quot;&quot;No.&nbsp; She look me.&quot;The chief obviously does not understand the significance of this distinction, but he shrugs, then sweeps his club, gesturing at the motley group before him. &quot;You strange.&nbsp; What tribe you?&quot;&quot;Uh ...&quot; S'Ondra glances at the others, &quot;He wants to know what tribe we are.&quot;&quot;Tell him we're from the stars.&quot; Fury responds immediately.&quot;We can't do that.&quot; S'Ondra objects, &quot;They'll think we're gods, or something.&quot;Fury shrugs,&quot;And what harm will that do?&quot; he asks, &quot;They'll be more likely to help us, if they think that.&quot;&quot;I'm not making a bunch of humans into my people's gods.&quot; S'Ondra snaps, &quot;Even if my people are all ignorant savages in this world, they deserve better than that.&quot;&quot;We could help them, if they thought we were gods.&quot; Archie offers, &quot;Teach them the value of cleanliness, and dedicate them to the battle to destroy germs ...&quot;&quot;We from far.&quot; S'Ondra decides to ignore the 'advice' of her companions, &quot;You not know.&quot;The Venusian considers this answer for a moment, then shrugs, and thrusts his club toward S'Ondra,&quot;Me chief.&nbsp; You chief.&nbsp; We mate.&nbsp; Strong tribe.&quot;(1) everything in green text is translated from the original Venusian</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Capellan, post: 1280516, member: 6294"] [b]"Blast Off!" - Part 19[/b] This Savage S'Ondra stares up at Fury, who stands silhouetted against the red glare of the Venusian sky, smoke still curling from the fused power capacitor of his atomic pistol. Then , with a choked off sob, she hurls herself into his arms, kissing him passionately. "My," Archie observes, sensors whirring as he analyses the dirt-streaked Venusian girl, "How unsanitary." "Yeah." The Q-Ship's version of S'Ondra scowls and steps forward, pulling her twin's arm, "Get away from him - he'll give you all kinds of nasty Earth diseases." Savage S'Ondra at first tries to pull free of her civilised counterpart, but when the latter persists, the fur-clad princess turns to face her. Instantly, her face goes pale, and she huddles behind Fury, peering past him at her doppelganger. "Oh, for goodness' sake, pull yourself together." S'Ondra snorts, in a tone of voice that sets her twin cowering further behind Fury: a development that the Captain does not seem to mind at all. "I do not zink she can understands English." Gustav observes, peering over his glasses at the two S'Ondras. "How vill ve communicate? Perhaps I can be making ze translation device." "We shouldn't need to." S'Ondra - the original - sighs, and then, softening her tone, calls out to the cowering woman, "[color=limegreen]It's alright, I'm here to help, but you need to move away from that man. He's diseased.[/color](1)" Savage S'Ondra's only reaction is to look confused, and her Q-Ship counterpart throws her hands in the air. "Bah! She's too stupid even to understand her own language." "So she doesn't talk? My kind of woman." Fury smirks, "Maybe we can get her to take us to the nearest settlement. We might be able to find some way to communicate with them." "[I]Ja[/I]. I am sure I could rig up a machine to allow communication, if ve could only hear zere language." "If they have one." S'Ondra mutters darkly. "Well, sign language should work." Fury suggests. Pointing at the body of the creature they slew, he mimes eating, then rubs his belly as if satisfied with a meal. His actions prompt a timid smile from the fur-clad Venusian, and - after a little more coaxing - she gestures for them to pick up the body, before pointing to the west and repeating Fury's eating mime. Shying away from the fire, Savage S'Ondra leads them along the ravine floor. Archie brings up the rear, carrying the creature's body and muttering plaintively about the unsanitary fluids and bacteria. Eventually, their slow progress brings them within sight of a cliff face, which is marked with many cave entrances. There is no sign of any huts, nor fire-pits, but there are several fur-clad figures moving around. Savage S'Ondra stops and points, exclaiming "Dogar!" again and again. "Definitely a settlement of some kind." Fury shades his eyes, "Not large, though." "Given ze apparent lack of technology, zey could not gather in large groups." Is Gustav's analysis. The Doctor has an electronic device in hand. The back of the device is open, and he is probing with it with a screwdriver, muttering about the 'spectromic converter'. "What's that for?" Fury asks, taking a half-step away. "Zis was a biological analysis device from ze ship." Gustav explains, "I am attempting to convert it, so zat ze machine will pick up and analyse sounds waves. Perhaps zis vay we can interpret ze language of these primitives." He glances at S'Ondra, "No offence meant, leibchcn." S'Ondra, who has been listening to her counterpart's excited chatter, grunts and holds up a hand, "I don't think we'll be needing the device, Doctor." She nods in satisfaction, "I didn't recognise it at first, because the accent's all wrong, and there grammar's non-existent, but she [i]is[/I] speaking Venusian - just with a very limited vocabulary. I should be able to communicate with them." As the group approaches the settlement - and Gustav obliviously continues to work on his translator, despite S'Ondra's words - the largest and strongest of the male Venusians moves to intercept them. He brandishes a club and barks a greeting - and a challenge: "[color=limegreen]Me chief. Who you?[/color]" "What did he say?" Fury asks, hand on pistol. S'Ondra ignores him. "[color=limegreen]Me woman chief. We friends.[/color]" S'Ondra gestures at the carcass of the Grognor and thumps her chest, "[color=limegreen]We kill beast. [/color]" The chief grunts, staring at the dead beast for a moment, then giving S'Ondra and the others a thorough inspection. Finally, he nods. "[color=limegreen]You mighty.[/color]" He acknowledges, then points at S'Ondra's twin, "[color=limegreen]You want girl?[/color]" "[color=limegreen]No. She weak. She fears. We not want her.[/color]" S'Ondra waves her hand dismissively. "[color=limegreen]You look her.[/color]" "[color=limegreen]No. She look me.[/color]" The chief obviously does not understand the significance of this distinction, but he shrugs, then sweeps his club, gesturing at the motley group before him. "[color=limegreen]You strange. What tribe you?[/color]" "Uh ..." S'Ondra glances at the others, "He wants to know what tribe we are." "Tell him we're from the stars." Fury responds immediately. "We can't do that." S'Ondra objects, "They'll think we're gods, or something." Fury shrugs, "And what harm will that do?" he asks, "They'll be more likely to help us, if they think that." "I'm not making a bunch of humans into my people's gods." S'Ondra snaps, "Even if my people are all ignorant savages in this world, they deserve better than that." "We could help them, if they thought we were gods." Archie offers, "Teach them the value of cleanliness, and dedicate them to the battle to destroy germs ..." "[color=limegreen]We from far.[/color]" S'Ondra decides to ignore the 'advice' of her companions, "[color=limegreen]You not know.[/color]" The Venusian considers this answer for a moment, then shrugs, and thrusts his club toward S'Ondra, "[color=limegreen]Me chief. You chief. We mate. Strong tribe.[/color]" (1) everything in green text is translated from the original Venusian [/QUOTE]

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