Page 57 of Across The Stars
“Really?” I said. “How many languages do you know?”
“Seven,” Salukh answered for him with a proud grin and a mouth full of food. “He knows seven.” He slapped him on the shoulder, but Vahko seemed entirely unamused. “English, French, Latin, Mandarin, German, Portuguese, and Russian. Right?”
My eyes widened at the idea. Seven languages was excessive for someone on Earth and he wasn’t even from my planet.
“You know all of those?” I said, staring at him in awe.
“I know them in a communicative sense,” Vahko said flatly. “But I wouldn’t say I am fluent.”
“You seem pretty fluent in English.”
“And those are just the human languages,” Salukh added, throwing his arm around him. “He also knows Jiraki, Lohnria, Kasperial, and Takesh. Then again, most of us in the military know Lohnria, Jiraki, and Takesh.”
“What the hell are those?” Sam asked.
“Lohnria is the only surviving monrian language. Jiraki is the most common tongue for the gek’tal and Kasperial is the second most used language on Valer after the most common valerian tongue, Takesh.”
“That’s… a lot of languages,” I said, trying immediately to memorize them all.
“It’s much less impressive when you consider how closely related many of the languages are,” Vahko said, downplaying his accomplishments. “For instance, your romance languages use many similar structures and patterns. It is the same for valerian languages.”
“Right,” I nodded before chuckling to myself. “And here I am being from Earth and knowing English and about enough French to get me to a bathroom in Paris.”
Everyone at the table had a laugh over my comment except for Vahko, who just watched me until I ceased my amusement. I wasn’t sure if he was judging me or studying me. Perhaps it was both. In truth, I had almost been fluent in French for a time. Now, I would have been surprised if I could read it. I must have looked like a half-wit to him. It sucked the laughter right out of me.
And somehow, I’d let him feel me up like I was some desperate, high school virgin…
“To be fair,” Salukh said. “Vahko is a ship captain and knowing how to communicate is a requirement. Especially whenhe has to be diplomatic, which he has to be more often than he’d like.” His eyes shot toward me. “As a linguistics specialist, it would have been your job, too. Had your records been real, that is.”
So he knew everything. Everyone probably knew and it made me want to hide in a corner. If anyone was out of my league, it was Vahko and it was better to admit it sooner rather than be disappointed later when he realized how obvious it was.
“Shut it,” Sam said bitterly, glaring fearlessly at the valerian.
“It is no harm to us,” Salukh said. “It seems dishonorable to lie to your own people, though.”
“People have done worse things,” I said under my breath.
“Yeah,” Sam said. “You’re all acting like this is some huge scheme. We’re just a couple of women who didn’t have it too good on Earth and we wanted something new. If it seems too simple, it’s because it is.”
Salukh lounged back in his chair and said something in their native tongue. The language sounded flowy and graceful, but whatever he’d said made them both laugh.
I couldn’t deny that Vahko’s smile was a nice one. He had little fangs that made him more otherworldly and his smile was almost bashful yet prominent. My heart skipped a beat and I had to look away.
What the fuck, Innifer. He’s an alien.ALIEN.
“What’d you just say?” Sam said.
“Nothing, geshi,” Salukh said.
“What’s ‘geshi’?”
“It is an animal here on Sylos,” Vahko explained, hints of his smile still remaining on his lips. “A very feisty rodent with large ears and eyes.”
Sam was dumbfounded, caught between being offended and being confused by the comparison. I couldn’t help myself, though. I giggled and she threw me an annoyed glare.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But that is you.”
“You’re all pissing me off,” Sam said, poking at the food remaining on her plate until Solukh reached over and took one of her fruits.
