Entry 41

John was waiting for me in the mess hall. His clothes still fit poorly and were unfortunately matched, as if Ven was purposefully trying to make John look awful. My attention was quickly distracted from his clothes to his joints. The skin was still loose on his elbow and hand. I could not see his knee. It pained me to see him still in disarray.

“Did you sleep well?” John asked with brotherly concern.

“I slept like a rock,” I answered with a bright smile to reassure him that I was ok.

“How odd, since it is my understanding that rocks are not alive and don’t sleep,” Blaue said, appearing suddenly in the room. Today she wore a different outfit, a long flowing dress that was quite the opposite of yesterday’s form fitting outfit.

“It’s a phrase,” I answered with a smile for the Artificial Cognizant. “It means I slept really well and nothing could disturb me.”

“I see,” Blaue said. “I will make a note of the phrase in my English language database.” She paused and smiled. “Having you here will definitely increase my knowledge of English.”

“You and Ven speak German, right?” I asked.

“Yes, fluently,” Blaue answered. “German is Ven’s first language. Speaking of Ven, he set the table with breakfast for you before going to the cockpit.” I glanced at the table in surprise, not expecting Ven to be hospitable. However, on the table was a basket of muffins as well as a pitcher of a thick yellow liquid that looked similar to milk.

“Why German?” John asked as he selected a muffin. “Is that the primary language of the human colony?”

“No,” Blaue answered. “The primary language of the human colony is Latin, which Ven also speaks fluently. However, many languages are spoken on the human colony. For example, Ven speaks German, English, Mandarin, and Latin.”

“Latin!” I said in surprise. “No one on Earth spends Latin anymore.” I took a bite of my muffin and was surprise to find it tasted exactly like a lemon poppy seed muffin. I began to eat it eagerly.

“That may be true, but you have to understand that the human colony is made up of descendants of people just like you,” Blaue answered. “Most of those end up out in space because of a war and an androids untimely end. The Society does not want to abduct humans, but they can’t take the androids out without taking their owners with them. Leaving the androids would contaminate the culture.

“Therefore, many of the first humans taken by the Society were Roman. Originally everyone at the colony was Roman because that was when the Society first identified Earth and started studying it. The Romans were also very warlike and therefore many of the androids sent to Earth met untimely ends.

“Because of this, Latin has been the main language since the beginning. Most of the humans, like Ven, are direct descendents of those Romans. They are all taught to speak Latin in school, even if they don’t speak it at home – like Ven’s family, which speaks German.”

“Are John and I going to be required to learn Latin?” I asked in horror. French II had been treating me well, but I could not imagine try to figure out Latin.

“No,” Blaue answered. “First generation are never required, though you’ll pick up the basics over time: like how to say ‘hello’, how to say ‘thank you’, things like that. If you have children while living at the human colony they will be required to learn Latin. But you will be fine speaking English.”

“That’s a relief,” I said. I was thirsty so I picked up my glass of yellow liquid. I did not want to try it, but there was nothing else on the table to drink.

“It’s just fruit juice,” Blaue noticed my hesitation. “It’s sweet but creamy. Ven loves it.” She had broken my don’t ask don’t tell policy, but I was relieved. Yellow fruit juice was something I could handle.

I took a sip and discovered that her description was accurate. It tested both creamy and sweet, sort of like how orange yogurt was creamy and sweet, but it was only as thick as milk.

“So,” I said when I was done. “What are the Android Acts all about?”