"Shane Tourtellotte - String of Pearls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tourtellotte Shane)

STRING OF PEARLS by SHANE TOURTELLOTTE


Illustrated by John Allemand
****
Any tool has multiple uses. Language, for example, can be either a bridge or a
barrier....

The doortone sounded, but Marcus Parrish didn't answer. He had set aside these hours, almost all his
hours on the ship, for study in his cabin. He had to make the breakthrough, before planetfall if he could.
The task allowed no time for casual socializing.

If his caller were just casual, he wouldn't have to worry. He settled back into the glossary before him,
letting the deep white-noise hum of the FTL engines suffuse him, shutting everything else out.

The door sounded again, twice in succession. Marcus laid the tablet aside. So much for casual. "Is that
you, Jun Hua?" he asked in his best New Mandarin.

"Did you expect someone else, Marc?" came the reply in English.

The familiarity with his name grated, but he ignored it. "Come in."

The door hissed up. Jun Hua slid his rotund frame inside, a move made harder by the large canvas bag he
carried with him. "You've been avoiding me, Marc," he said, as he looked for a place to sit.

"I'm avoiding everyone." Marcus threw a couple of pillows to the other side of the low table where he
sat. Naha Uchusen was a cramped ship, but it did try to provide comfort in its small spaces. "What
brings you?"

Jun Hua folded himself down. "I wanted to give you a deeper briefing, about your sponsor on Obrith,
and other things about the Kevhtre Union, including some pertinent social details."

"I've been studying the Kevh for years." He caught Jun's scowl. The aliens used "Kevhtre Union" as a
corporate noun to describe both their race and their polity. They didn't seem to have a more succinct
name for themselves. "Kevhtre" and "Kevh" were common abbreviations among humans, and humans
only. Jun Hua was probably afraid he didn't know that. "If you've got info I haven't, I'm all ears."

Jun handed him a tablet slip. "These are some personal observations on Bunwadde, from embassy staff
and Language Section officers. They have found him one of their most receptive private citizens."

"That helps when you do a lot of business with Earth," Marcus said, "even in the Kevhtre's particular
style. Comes of speaking five human languages, I guess."

Jun nodded slowly. "That, and he is unusually tolerant of humans who try to speak his."

Marcus's cheeks burned. It was a failing all humans shared, but it still felt personal. He took the slip from
its sleeve, and plugged it into his tablet. Reading it meant he didn't have to look at Jun Hua right now.
"Must feel good for the language experts to find a Kevh who'll do as much as tolerate them."

That struck home. "We don't need reminders of our shortcomings. We get them every time we speak