While I was looking for my bunk, I found the mess hall. It's a nice place - kind of a cross between Ten-Forward on NextGen and Meg's in Stellvia. Gagarins are build by the Feds and this one was owned by Stellvia, so it made sense. The menu on the wall said they weren't serving today, and we'd get the lunch special at Miela's free if we showed them our contract. I'd just left Ultima and I didn't really want to turn around just to get something to eat, so I looked around for the cooks to ask if I could use the galley on my own - but I couldn't find them. I guess they were busy loading supplies on deck 5 or something. So I turned around and kept looking for my room.
Lucky! I'm two doors away from the mess hall - close enough to grab a midnight snack, but far enough to not hear everyone else having fun. I knocked, just in case Ms. LaCroux was there.
"Oui?"
She was - good thing I knocked! "I'm Brooklynne Bridges. I'm supposed to be sleeping here during the voyage."
The door opened. "Entrez, s'il vous plaît. Bonsoir, mademoiselle Bridges... ou dois-je vous appeler Brooklynne?"
While I put my bags beside the door, I looked at my commlock's screen, which told me what she had just said. "Please, just call me Lynne. That's what my friends call me."
As my commlock translated what I had said into French, Ms. LaCroux frowned, then said in English, "Your device's accent is atrocious, Lynne. And you need to know at least one language other than your native one in order to graduate. What do you speak other than English?"
I'd forgotten all about that requirement. "Well, I know some Spanish, but not really enough to have a conversation in it. But what's wrong with machine translation?"
"Le ver vert rampe vers le verre." My commlink's screen was filled with question marks, and not just because she had spoken quickly. "That is what is wrong with machine translation: it takes too long to be practical in a conversation."
My commlock finally showed what she had said. "That wasn't a fair test. How often would that happen?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "It only needs to happen once. And you may complain about the fairness of a test after you have passed it. But we will build upon what strengths you already have; I will ask Chief Engineer Garcia to tutor you in Spanish, and you will refrain from using your device to understand what we say to you."
Oh, good - I was afraid I was going to have to learn French as well as everything else while I was aboard. Good thing Spanish was accepted as a second language for my diploma! But no commlock help? That's not fair!
But she's my teacher. I put my commlock back on my belt. "Ma'am, you mentioned accents earlier. I'm having trouble figuring out your accent. What is it?"
"If I am to call you Lynne, then you are to call me Destinee. Do not make me feel old by calling me 'ma'am.' I was born and raised on l'Île Saint-Louis, Lynne; I speak Parisienne French. My English accent is not so good, I admit. I learned the basics in school, and more from the BBC World service, but I did not learn conversational English until 2015. That was when we explored Zeta Tucanae for the first time. I took in the accents of the other people in the exploration team, so I am a Frenchwoman who speaks English with a German accent. Perhaps I could sell beer?"
It took me a moment to remember the commercial she was referring to. "Maybe!"
![[Image: 750px-DL002_Roommates.png]](http://www.fenspace.net/images/thumb/5/53/DL002_Roommates.png/750px-DL002_Roommates.png)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Lucky! I'm two doors away from the mess hall - close enough to grab a midnight snack, but far enough to not hear everyone else having fun. I knocked, just in case Ms. LaCroux was there.
"Oui?"
She was - good thing I knocked! "I'm Brooklynne Bridges. I'm supposed to be sleeping here during the voyage."
The door opened. "Entrez, s'il vous plaît. Bonsoir, mademoiselle Bridges... ou dois-je vous appeler Brooklynne?"
While I put my bags beside the door, I looked at my commlock's screen, which told me what she had just said. "Please, just call me Lynne. That's what my friends call me."
As my commlock translated what I had said into French, Ms. LaCroux frowned, then said in English, "Your device's accent is atrocious, Lynne. And you need to know at least one language other than your native one in order to graduate. What do you speak other than English?"
I'd forgotten all about that requirement. "Well, I know some Spanish, but not really enough to have a conversation in it. But what's wrong with machine translation?"
"Le ver vert rampe vers le verre." My commlink's screen was filled with question marks, and not just because she had spoken quickly. "That is what is wrong with machine translation: it takes too long to be practical in a conversation."
My commlock finally showed what she had said. "That wasn't a fair test. How often would that happen?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "It only needs to happen once. And you may complain about the fairness of a test after you have passed it. But we will build upon what strengths you already have; I will ask Chief Engineer Garcia to tutor you in Spanish, and you will refrain from using your device to understand what we say to you."
Oh, good - I was afraid I was going to have to learn French as well as everything else while I was aboard. Good thing Spanish was accepted as a second language for my diploma! But no commlock help? That's not fair!
But she's my teacher. I put my commlock back on my belt. "Ma'am, you mentioned accents earlier. I'm having trouble figuring out your accent. What is it?"
"If I am to call you Lynne, then you are to call me Destinee. Do not make me feel old by calling me 'ma'am.' I was born and raised on l'Île Saint-Louis, Lynne; I speak Parisienne French. My English accent is not so good, I admit. I learned the basics in school, and more from the BBC World service, but I did not learn conversational English until 2015. That was when we explored Zeta Tucanae for the first time. I took in the accents of the other people in the exploration team, so I am a Frenchwoman who speaks English with a German accent. Perhaps I could sell beer?"
It took me a moment to remember the commercial she was referring to. "Maybe!"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012