I made good use of my time in space to explore the ship, design clothing fit for royalty, and learn the official language of the Saalistaja.
It turned out that the language that my armor was programmed in was called Saaja and it was comprised of over 10,000 different words that were a combination of lines, dashes, squiggles, and apostrophes. It took me a week alone to be able to distinguish some of the words in my helmet, but it was extremely slow going.
I think my biggest hurdle in learning this language was the fact that I couldn't pronounce any of the words. Normally, or at least with Earth languages, there was a definitive correlation between the written and the way it is pronounced. Even for a complex language like Chinese, they created an almost sub-alphabet called pinyin in order to help foreign students understand how the words were supposed to sound. Then you had languages in the Romance category that were derived from the same base language so they had similar sounds and meanings which meant that as soon as you learned one, the rest were somewhat easier.
Hell, even the first translator dated back to 196 BCE when an Egyptian decree was written in three languages. In fact, it went a long way to understanding Ancient Egypt.
But this language… this language was something else. "You know there is no way I am going to ever be able to speak Saaja, right?" I asked Jun Li from where I was studying in one of the common lounges I was going to redecorate into the library.
"Your vocal structure is not designed to be able to speak the language," replied Jun Li absentmindedly. We were hours away from arriving at Earth and he was trying to make sure that we remained undiscovered. I tried to tell him that even if he shot through the sky waving a banner saying, "Aliens are here", no one would believe he was an actual spaceship.
"I understand my vocal cords cannot make the grunts, chirps, and otherwise chipmunk sounds of this language. But how am I supposed to direct my armor into doing what I need it to do if I can't speak the language it is programmed in," I huffed.
I took off the choker and held it in both hands to study it. I had done this a hundred times before, and not once had I found anything remotely helpful. "You know, if this was an online novel, I would only have to put a drop of blood on it to create a link between it and me," I grumbled out loud.
"That seems like a waste of blood," snorted Jun Li. "And if something like that determined owners through a blood contract like you are suggesting, it would be useless in battle. Any time someone else's blood came in contact with it, it would change owners."
"So how do I make sure that this one recognizes me and only me?" I huffed once again in frustration. As much as learning a new language is never a bad thing, and I did learn much of the Saaja language, I don't think that knowing 500 different words for a hunt was at all useful. At this point in time, I was almost tempted to try the blood trick.
"I have no idea," admitted Jun Li as the ship almost went vertical. Scrambling to hold on to the desk I was sitting at I swore as my tablet went sliding and crashed into a wall.
"What was that?!?" I demanded as soon as Jun Li righted himself and I could go and pick up the tablet. Looking it up, down, forward, and backward I was happy to note that it didn't get cracked.
"Your planet has a lot more satellites in space. Are you sure that they are not being used as a line of defense?" asked Jun Li in a grumbling voice.
I had to chuckle at that comment. "I told you, only the crazies believe in aliens. These are more for communications than anything else. As soon as you have access to the internet, you will be able to know for sure. But if they are there for defense purposes it is for one country against another," I assured him.
"We have been in reach for the internet for the past hour. I didn't want to disturb you to let you know," admitted Jun Li and I let out a sigh.
"I assume that you are downloading it as we speak?" I asked as I sat down in my chair.
"I am not," he replied and I looked up at the camera with concern.
"And why not?" I asked him. The internet was huge and I wanted it all downloaded before we left.
"It's already been downloaded in its entirety. You can go to the bridge to access it first if you want," he added like he didn't just blow my mind.
"It's already been downloaded?" I repeated.
"It has been. But you are correct something like the tablet in your hand would not be able to access it in its entirety. However, if I connect the tablet to my system in a different way, you should be able to access whatever it is that you want."
"You even managed to get the streaming services?" I asked as my eyes narrowed at the camera. I was more than a little spectacle about the idea of the whole internet being downloaded, but I was not a computer nerd, I was an anthropology nerd.
"Yes, but there was more than just the single one that you mentioned before so I downloaded all of them," replied Jun Li with what sounded like a shrug. "And I downloaded every book too, before you ask. I can also start bringing up the libraries you have requested if you let me know the coordinates."
"What about your body? Have you looked that up yet?" I asked curious. It looked like I was not the only one busy during this trip.
"I have. I piggybacked onto an email address as I believe they called it and sent the company I have chosen a message. They were very prompt in replying to it."
"What email did you send it from?" I asked partly out of curiosity and partly out of concern.
"The personal email of the president of Country M."