Bridgebuilder

Tour Guide

"It still says that your right arm should be complete this afternoon. Your left two days after that." Carbon thumbed her way through his readout on a tablet, sipping from a bottle of water as she scanned the text scrolling by.

Alex had been asking about his progress every day since his head and neck were released more than a day ahead of schedule. "That'll be a relief. It'll be great to feed myself again. Not that I don't appreciate the help."

"You are welcome." She returned the tablet to its cradle on the wall, stuffing the empty containers from lunch into the recycler. "It estimates that you will be halfway to full recovery when it releases your other arm. In perhaps two more weeks you will be able to do your stuff."

If Alex didn't know any better he would have thought that Carbon was teasing him. There wasn't any hint of it in her voice that he could detect. She knew he was eager to be up and able to be productive again, but had a nebulous idea of what he'd be doing. With his neural interface destroyed and the ship's reactor still cold, he'd fallen back to wanting to do 'work' or 'things' frequently, and 'stuff' most often.

"Is there something wrong?" Carbon floated over to the side of the mediboard, a curious look in her eyes.

"Oh, no. I was just thinking." He had screwed his face up as he had been working through that, brow furrowed deeply in concentration. "Sorry."

"Apologies. While they often seem familiar, I do not know if I am interpreting your expressions correctly."

Alex considered that and nodded with approval. "You've been spot on, as far as I can tell."

"Have I?" She eased back to where she normally placed herself, a hint of a smile on her face. "Good. You will tell me if I appear to interpret them incorrectly, yes?"

"Of course." If he noticed, anyway. He'd never really thought about his expressions unless he was trying to get out of trouble. "Hey, since we're kind of on the subject, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"You know you do not need to wait until a subject has been broached to do that?" Her eyebrows quirked down and she tilted her head nearly imperceptibly, apparently perplexed by his statement.

"Yeah. Of course." Alex wasn't sure if he did, now. There was something about the way she said it that made him think there were people who did not enjoy that luxury.

"Good. Please, ask your question."

"Since we are talking about interpreting things, and not being sure that we were getting it right, I was wondering if you could tell me more about your culture. You know. Because culture often holds the key to properly interpreting actions." He winced as that spilled out of him in a semi-organized mess of thoughts.

Carbon drew back, her antennae pulled low and lips pressed together tight. "I could, yes."

"I'd really appreciate it. I've read the primer that our diplomats use, and while it was helpful..." The diplomatic primer was a scant twenty pages, and that was the sum of human knowledge of the inner workings of the Tsla'o. It wasn't bad - so far it hadn't steered him wrong - but it was obviously short on details. Given that they had signed their first peace accord more than sixty years ago, it had to be intentional.

"It is not good." She sucked on her cheek for a moment and looked away. "I have been told that when our species first made contact, there was a concerted effort to... conceal ourselves."

Of course she had read it. "So it's wrong?"

"Not a majority of it. Those that worked with humans knowingly kept much of our traditions and culture hidden, and what they did not was simplified."

At least his hunch was correct. "Given that, have I done anything particularly stupid?"

"No. You have carried yourself well despite the lack of knowledge."

He relaxed a fair bit, surprised at how glad he felt that he hadn't been a jerk by accident. "Good. I would still like to know more, though. I'd prefer a whole view, but I will settle for something more complete. Or even just less simple."

Carbon worked over that for a few minutes, whatever internal conflict she was having clearly etched on her face. "We are allies, now more than we have ever been before. It is past time for the Tsla'o to stop hiding from you."

"So that's a yes?"

"It is." She closed her eyes and tipped her head forward, eliminating any doubt. Carbon blanched and looked back up at him with intense blue eyes. "I do not know where to begin. I have never given thought to how I would explain... Tsla'o to an outsider before."

Alex gave an easy laugh, the smile that came to him honest. "Why not start with dinner?"

Her eyebrows went up as she looked over at him. "Have you ever sampled our food?"

"No. I am willing to try it, though." He had heard the requisite horror stories about alien food, but they were always so over the top he couldn't really believe any of them.

Her hand brushed over the door controls and she rotated out of the room. "Good," she sounded pleased, "I will see you at dinner."

He might have caught a flash of an actual smile as the door closed behind her.