Time lost all meaning. Days, hours, years—they meant nothing anymore. Everything was only language lessons, now.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur. It was getting close to dinner time—or was it breakfast?
No, it was dinner time.
Still, there was more work to be done, and important work, at that.
As challenging as runetic engineering could be, EUe found himself thanking the Gods that he hadn't become a teacher like his mother.
Vyx's frustration with the insufficient speed of their progress was totally understandable. Thankfully, it seemed to enjoy being quizzed on what it had learned almost as much as it detested having concepts explained more than once. It was quickly becoming apparent to EUe that Vyx was frighteningly intelligent, which made EUe sympathize with it all the more so. He was feeling almost as impatient as Vyx was. He desperately wanted to ask it more substantial questions, but Vyx's language lessons had reached the point where new vocabulary was needed—a lot of—and for objects and concepts that belonged to the outside world, and EUe wasn't quite sure how to go about explaining them.
Not wanting to go back to camp empty-handed, EUe decided to at least try to cover some of the most basic questions the researchers had for the alien beings.
That being said, EUe had one success that kept him from giving up: he'd figured out how to teach Vyx the concepts of good and bad, more or less. Vyx's positive reaction to his presence and its negative reaction to frustration or to his departures gave EUe a point of reference he could—and did—use to define aversions and desires. From that, it was a hop, skip and a leap to explaining concepts like good and bad, and happy and unhappy.
He just hoped it would be enough.
Also, talking with Vyx had become more natural, thank the Gods.
EUe sat down on the floor cross-legged, with his nectariat in his lap.
"Vyx," he said, "EUe has many big questions."
The surrounding geometry rustled and shimmered in its play. "Vyx have many big answers," the Impactor said.
The words were music to EUe's ears.
"Vyx: what are you?"
"Complicated."
Closing his eyes, EUe sighed, but then shook his head and knocked himself out of his funk.
"Vyx: how did you get here?"
"Vyx move fast fast fast, far far far."
That still wasn't an ideal answer, but it was definitely an improvement over the previous one.
"Why are you here Vyx?"
"Vyx move," the Impactor replied. "Vyx make Vyx."
That much was obvious, but the next part definitely wasn't.
"Vyx need help," it said.
Whoa.
EUe had explained the concept of "help" to Vyx by pointedly conveying the opposite of helping, which he'd done by writing up equations with key symbols missing and then adding completely unnecessary or outright wrong symbols to fill in the blanks, thereby illustrating the concept of how to make things worse—otherwise known as "not helping". To drive the point home, EUe then asked Vyx to ask him questions, only to flippantly refuse to answer any of its questions.
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"Why EUe do this?" Vyx asked.
"This is not helping."
"Vyx do not like not helping."
"A wise observation," he'd said.
But now, it was asking for help.
EUe stood up in a mix of shock and excitement. "Why?" He clacked his beak.
This could change everything.
"Because of the big bad," Vyx replied.
"The big bad?"
"It is very, very big, and very, very bad."
"How does Vyx need help?" EUe asked.
"Vyx need help keep good."
What? EUe thought. "EUe does not understand," he said. "Please explain."
"Complicated. Vyx does not know correct words."
EUe stomped his foot on the floor. "Dammit!"
"EUe?" Vyx asked, concerned.
The Gatherer shook his head. "Complicated."
Vyx need help keep good; those five words jostled around in EUe's mind. Obviously, it meant that Vyx needed help with something, but what? There was no end of possibilities as to what "keep good" might mean: rescue, defend, repair, maintain.
"Keep what good, Vyx? What do Vyx need to keep good?"
"All," Vyx said, with emphasis. "All all all!"
EUe couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding.
"I need to tell the others," he muttered.
Leaving Vyx was even harder than before. The vessel started frantically calling his name as he flew out through the entry hole.
"EUe! EUe! EUe! EUe! EUe!—"
—He hovered back up through the hole.
"I need to go now."
"EUe return later?" Vyx asked.
"Yes," he answered—and he meant it.
Equipped with what few answers he'd managed to wring out of Vyx so far, EUe flew back to the camp. Still disturbed by what Vyx had told him, EUe turned his thoughts to food. It was dinner time, after all, and he was hungry!
He was sure a good meal and conversation would help him put things into perspective.
It wasn't easy, being paranoid.
But, as he crested over the hill and the camp came into view, EUe realized that something was wrong.
There were noticeably fewer people outside. The previous evenings had been occasions to decompress and socialize, so it was disconcerting to see the camp so lifeless, to say the least.
There was no dinner being served.
EUe wondered if that was the cause of the quiet, or merely a symptom.
Had something happened to the drone?
Worried, he flew down and landed in the mostly empty space where their usual dinner party would have been. Several researchers were out talking nervously amongst themselves, though EUe noticed that they were standing unusually far apart from one another, as if a nectar-quarrel was just around the corner, despite the fact that EUe couldn't see or smell any signs of food. Spotting tlE-la standing by herself with her arms crossed in concern, EUe walked up to her, hoping she would know what was going on.
"What's happened?" he asked. "Where is everybody? And the nectar, is it—"
"—We didn't get any nectar today," tlE-la said, shaking her head. She looked over the empty dining grounds. "The delivery didn't come."
"What about the medical specialist?" EUe asked.
"Nothing." She shook her head again. "Nobody has come, EUe."
She coughed.
EUe wouldn't have made anything of it, had it been an ordinary cough. But it wasn't. It wasn't a throat-clearing sort of cough, nor the kind of cough you'd make when your throat was dry after a long day of work.
It didn't sound normal.
On a whim, EUe looked at her through his second eyelids.
"You're—"
"—Sick?" she said. "Yeah, I know."
The same, odd-looking not-light cluster EUe had seen in gEl's throat was now in tlE-la's.
She turned to face the nearby nests. "More people have taken sick. gEl has been getting worse."
"Could this have something to do with the drone?" EUe asked.
"I don't know. Whatever this disease is, it's spreading." She took several steps away from him. "I suggest you keep your distance. I wouldn't want you catching it, either."
"So, no doctors, no food, and more people have fallen ill?"
"You know, I really enjoy it when people repeat what I say," tlE-la replied, sarcastically.
She coughed again.
EUe pulled a phial from his nectariat and drank it down.
"What are you doing?" tlE-la's eyes widened at the sight of the nectar in EUe's hand. "You should conserve any spare rations you have, in case there are more delays."
"There won't be any more delays," EUe said. Stashing the phial away, EUe zipped his nectariat shut and then wove a communion with eOeOan as he craned his neck back and pointed his beak at the sky. "I passed a nectar station on the way here. I'll go there myself and carry back whatever nectar I can find. They won't say no to a Gatherer. In fact," he added, "I'm pretty sure they legally can't."
"I hope it'll be enough," tlE-la said.
EUe nodded. "It will be. I'll figure out what's been happening to our rations, and why the medical assistance hasn't come through."
"How long will you be gone?" another scientist asked.
Turning, EUe saw that nearly everyone who'd been loitering outside had congregated on the path nearby, eavesdropping on his conversation with tlE-la. Realizing the Gatherer was watching them, the scientists gave each other nervous glances and stepped away from one another.
EUe looked the horizon askance and then glanced back at the others. "It's sundown now, so I should be back before midnight, if not earlier." He nodded. "Don't worry everyone, I'll get to the bottom of this."
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