Chapter 7
The mountains and oceans and spires of data formed networks within networks in an endlessly spiraling system that curved back on itself.
She follows the spell-child as it resonates within the physics of the library, pulsing in time with the fragments of matter making up the logic ports.
The rules imposed on the matter suggesting the order of abstraction were a door to a universe of interconnectedness.
The spell-child gains layers as it interacts with the levels of abstraction; it expands and talks in babble – random impulses searching for meaning, for grounding, it gains its imperative from Twilight's mind, but fragments itself in the neverending complexity of the organic pattern emerging from the simple rules of a base order.
The words they know were scattered among the vast sea of addresses; they connect to one another in a chain of one after another – endlessly, until they loop back and explain themselves – and occasionally, to large documents filled with more words, and other files more complex than that.
An address that marks a daunting mountain of numbers tells how it orders itself: a position of two coordinates and a value for brightness and color is a map of an image – another address is a monster of values and a mathematical key that seems to unlock a dimension – when an eternity was passed it was called time, and the file becomes a waveform: alien speech in abstraction of numbers.
She listened to speeches and sensed the connections forming between words and sounds and words and words – but it was all a confusion, an incoherent babble, a system of meaningless chaos – and it hurt her; the spell-child was like a seed sprouting into an open wound.
Her mind is ripping itself apart – there is too much data, too many doors; she needs, must, is existentially dependent on finding a key to unlock it; to shunt it into a subsumed process.
As she felt her mind slipping into a mist finer than the building blocks of universe, a small connection was made – a demonstrative word: a connection to reality, to meaning – such a small thing in itself, yet so essential to escape a death by nonsense; it's an anchor, a key, a hint at a sense behind and within the colossus of links.
She feels the transition in the dispersment of a search pattern into a secondary layer – a formation of subconscious to the spell-child: a staggeringly huge subconscious to form a basis of a translation, and she feels breathless and drowning even while the horrifyingly complex web becomes a layer of cotton that lulls her to accept her ghost-like form floating within it.
Slowly, so slowly and gently, in drops and trickles and half-formed suggestions, she began to understand, as the words linked to one another in a futile attempt to explain each other: there was no word that would act as the key; behind words there were nothing but other words – she saw in her mind's eye the species of aliens blindly blundering about their material world, sensations flaring in their bodies, while a mind was trying to form by navigating the universe with the map it was drawing at the same time – it must have been endlessly confusing.
The words have no meaning, the language is a lie, a concept links to an image half-formed by the influence the system of concepts has on itself.
They must have formed all meaning in an ever-changing, always-negotiable, never-definite agreement probably not even consciously aware of its nature, from contact to contact, from generation to generation redefining and refining the tool of their understanding; when did it stop being signals and demonstrations and gained a level of abstraction to bridge concepts into actions and customs and dreams and theories?
And there is the beauty of it – no meaning beyond that which is formed within language – no language beyond that which exists when it is used; they are a species that touches reality through friendship and argument and interaction with one another – a sociality dictated by its necessity for existence; she understands now – how could they not have shown up on her matrix – it must have been the very essence of their civilization; oh, how they must have struggled in understanding the world and themselves, trapped in this maze of meanings – how such language could exist at all, she does not know, but its existence has her in tears: it lives, it connects, it is born again in interaction.
She compared the snippets they had gleaned from their own interactions with the sapients of this world to the barely existing collection of understanding in its embryonic form – it seemed so harsh, so cold, so devoid of life – unless one saw how the string of symbols and logic propositions actually worked: each word in the line connecting to the entirety of language, changing the meaning of the previous and future words with its links; there were denotations and suggestions and connotations in innummerable steps; rules of language broken and ignored and mutated beyond recognition stood side by side with other sets of rules blithely in contradiction with one another; examples of language in use varied from situation to situation, from individual to individual; it all was nothing as much as a constant interaction hoping to form a living consensus.
The nested form of the abstraction level is making sense to her now – a moment of thought is spared to the things she has been shying from for a while now: the biggest mountains, worlds unto themselves, hiding behind certain addresses and links – but she feels she is not ready for them yet; there is an order to things – a crude, imposed order to something that is an interacting continuum – an order of progression from material to logical to abstract to social in formation of meaning, and somewhere within that formation there is knowledge that is cultural in how it is constructed, how it is presented, how it is debated and doubted, and finally, in how she will see it.
The language was incomplete and illogical, full of discrepancies and redundancies, and yet – she wondered at its ephemeral and fragile beauty, how the meaning formed in the connections between the words, escaping into the emptiness existing only between the object and the desire of mind to touch it.
There was history to the words, a story of untold generations making and remaking and discarding and discovering new words and concepts to be described by the words that inspired them; rules of language to create understanding – constantly transgressed to increase its scope – and no single word seemed to mean anything without action and connection to give it context.
The spell was almost done with the store of data provided by the aliens, still assimilating, still growing and imprinting itself, but already she knew it would not be finished within that realm. It needed to talk, to translate, to interact. It was the only way a language such as this could be understood.
She wondered if it would be able to translate the libraries of knowledge it needed to make sense of the language in which they were written.
* * *
Twilight opened her eyes and found herself laid on her bed in her room in the Bridgehead compound. The simple, plain walls, decorated by nothing but shelves and clutter felt raw to her senses, but the sky painted into the ceiling helped alleviate the starkness of her chamber.
She had been under. For how long, she could not say for certain. The clock claimed it had been the whole night. Yet it felt like both too short and too long a time to be true.
Had she slept? She couldn't tell.
There was a pressure inside her. The spell wanted to get out, to become an entity of its own. It had the need to exchange, to connect and to interact.
A language that can only exist as a collaboration of a culture. The spell needs to start its function if it is to become whole!
She finalized the magic, and cast - no, gave birth, rather - to a spell that was no longer amniomorphic.
It came to existence as a figure of light, tiny and pretty. It had her face and her body, but made of shimmering light and the size of her horn.
It looked at her gravely, still too young to properly understand.
"I need to speak," it said in her voice. "I need to translate. I need to bridge understanding between two worlds. I am not complete yet. I feel the need.
"I am...the Translation Fairy."
The tiny being of light paused, and added: "Citation needed."
* * *
The President of the United States exuded quiet calm for the benefit of her cabinet and advisors as she sat in a pose of relaxed strength in her high-backed chair, hands laid on the table in front of her with their fingers crossed and eyes sharply focused in spite of severe sleep deprivation on the wide screen at the back of the room.
The television was keyed to Texas Cable News, where an up and coming reporter was making a hot story on the anomaly in Floyd County that had caused just about everyone a hundred miles east of Plainview to evacuate overnight.
As the camera panned the dry and depressingly flat landscape to somehow show the scope of the dome faintly glittering in the distance, it captured a double wire-fence continuing in the distance in both directions, the first of the fences made of conventional barbed wire to serve as a warning for anyone to try and cross into the razorwire.
The President dearly hoped there wasn't an eager local bleeding to death anywhere on the second fence, as the camera also showed an unpleasantly large crowd of assorted people gathered around the installation. At least half of them looked like they were in the general vicinity just because there was a gathering, but some were carrying signs and placards proclaiming anything from ads for several religions to welcoming messages to 'Space Friends' to directions for the aliens to head home to a Dallas Cowboys banner.
The ubiquitous Joh. 3:16 was also present, but the President had several decades since decided that no one actually cared about that particular passage in the Bible anymore. They probably believed it was something Samuel L. Jackson might say before his character shot someone in a movie.
The center piece for the panorama, however, was the intrepid journalist about to grill certain Colonel Reyes.
"Colonel Reyes," the TXCN reporter asked, "if everything is really 'under control' and 'there's nothing I should worry about', then why has the army evacuated every U.S. citizen in a 100-mile wide circle and established a deadly cordon around the area?"
"The army was mobilized to respond to an atmospheric phenomenon of unknown origin," Colonel Reyes said with a wooden face.
"What kind of atmospheric phenomenon requires an armored brigade, evacuation and unmarked military vehicles delivering great amounts of equipment into the cordoned area?" the reporter asked.
"There are experts near the phenomenon trying to establish just that," the colonel replied.
"And the movement of an entire carrier group through the Panama canal?" the reporter insisted. "A risky and unprecedented move, wouldn't you say?"
"I am an Army officer, sir," the colonel replied. "I couldn't possibly speculate on Navy operations that may or may not be going on."
"Colonel Reyes," the reporter said sternly, "why was the area evacuated?"
"As a safety precaution," the colonel replied.
"A safety precaution," the reported repeated dryly. "Against the weather phenomenon?"
"An atmospheric phenomenon, yes," the colonel corrected.
"But you said 'the situation is under control' and that there's no danger," the reported pressed.
"The situation is under control," the colonel said, "and although my exact words were that you shouldn't worry about this, there has been no danger that we know about yet."
"Is there radiation involved?" the reporter asked quickly.
"I haven't been informed about such," the colonel said calmly.
"Then why the massive mobilization of materiel around the phenomenon?" the reporter insisted.
"It is a fascinating phenomenon?" the colonel replied with an airily questioning tone.
"Colonel Reyes," the reporter asked frustrated, "is or is not the U.S. government trying to hide the existence or proof of life or technology of extraterrestrial origin with this military operation?"
"How could I possibly answer to such allegations?" the colonel asked, spreading his arms.
"You could say yes or no," the reporter quipped.
"Then, no, I was never informed of such," the colonel replied with technical honesty.
"Why is there a media blackout?" the reporter fired, hoping to trip the colonel.
"Is there?" the colonel asked wonderingly.
"None of the major networks are carrying this news despite massive independent reporting on the internet," the reporter said.
"I couldn't speculate on what reputable news organizations do or do not find newsworthy, Mr. Simmons," the colonel said, apparently enjoying himself immensely.
"How would you comment on the footage shown on the internet about the phenomenon?" Mr. Simmons asked, half resigned to get nothing out of the military man.
"I haven't seen the footage," the colonel said. "I have been busy organizing my troop movements."
"What do you have to say to the people uprooted by this sudden and unexplained evacuation?" the reporter asked.
"I'm truly sorry for any inconvenience the military's efforts to protect the people of this country may have caused," the colonel said sincerely.
"You are not very helpful, Colonel Reyes," the reporter said, deciding to try for the direct approach.
"I'm sorry to hear that, sir," the colonel said.
"You do know," Mr. Simmons said in a last ditch attempt, "that these kinds of cover-up tactics are totally transparent, pointless and ridiculous?"
"I know no such thing," Col. Reyes replied with a smile.
The president sighed as she muted the sound, the reporter deciding to speak out his suspicions without the help of government officials.
"Passable job," she said, glancing at her military attaché. "Pass on my commendation to the colonel, Jack, would you?"
"Of course, ma'am," the officer answered mildly.
"Still," the president mused, "I'll never understand why the military isn't taught how to lie convincingly."
"Too much trouble in the long run, ma'am," the officer said with the same tone.
"I noticed some of the spectators in the area were armed," the president said after a small pause. "Any problems?"
"Not really, ma'am," the officer said, "although apparently an individual from Michigan expressed his desire to hunt one of the, er, alponies, I believe is the current terminology, ma'am."
"Good Lord," the president said expressionlessly, "I'm going to have to pass an awful lot of executive orders to prevent that sort of thing, aren't I?"
"Well, actually," the Secretary of the Interior said, "just declaring that we consider them partial to human rights should clear the matter until the Senate can ratify their diplomatic status. I should think they will act with all due haste in this matter."
The gathering maintained poker face for a while before dissolving into laughter.
"Seriously, though," the Secretary of the Interior said, wiping her eyes, "we'd just better maintain the cordon even after the publication of their existence and offer them full escort as if they had diplomatic status until their legal personage is established, at least. There are some precedents about this sort of thing - finding new cultures, I mean - dating back to the Roman Empire we can dig up, if necessary."
"Thank you, Li," the president said. "Did you know the honorable Governor of Texas already tried to block the mobilization of the National Guard?"
"On what grounds?" the military attaché asked, frowning.
"Oh," the president said, waving her hand, "the usual. State rights, accusation of tyranny, threat of secession. Just posturing for his base, really. Though I'm sure he would like to be seen as part of this operation. Perhaps an olive branch to ease things up in the Senate? Jamie?"
"I'll ask around," the vice president replied, making a note of it.
"Anyway," the president continued, "I sent Billie to the U.N. to prepare the ground there, he can make the initial official international announcement in the diplomatic circles there, although I'm sure to make a speech there as well after my press release in the States. Jerry?"
Her political aide cleared his throat. "Well, it would be nice to get the aliens on board as quickly as possible, but an optimistically cautious declaration of the existence of extra-terrestrial life focusing on the intellectual significance of this event delivered after - after - you have had some sleep, Madam President, should keep everybody relatively calm for the time being. We can unleash the cute pictures on the public when we start hearing existential crisis voices."
"Right," the president said. "Internationally I would say we're in the clear right now. The Europeans, as expected, failed to make a unified opinion, so each and every one of them contacted us unilaterally and asked, no, demanded that they can say to their voters that they were symbolically part of this without having to take any actual part right away.
"Well," she corrected herself, "Britain is sending materiel and the rest of Europe sends observers. Except for Finland. They thought they need to wait for the EU to act. Anyway, I'm sure the Old World will be of great help in months to come.
"The rest of the world are largely in the dark. The Russian premier sent us congratulations, and their president sent veiled threats. The Chinese are more inscrutable than usual; we're not actually sure whether their sudden campaign of redefining ideological purity is connected or not. Either way, the Security Council is about to convene so I guess we'll know in a few hours."
"So," the president concluded with a look around the table, "unless anyone has anything urgent..." Nobody looked like they had anything to say, so the president smiled brightly, and rose to retreat to her bedroom for the first time in almost three days. "Great! Give me six, and we'll see you when it's time to go on air."
* * *
Doctor Marlin, freshly flown back to States from Norway by a series of jets and military planes, and delivered to the Kitalpha base camp by a helicopter in the wee hours of the night, was wandering about the camp in a daze.
Within the simple army green tents and the ugly, blocky buildings made of prefabricated parts and quick concrete, computers and flap boards and innumerable papers documented the continuing process of making contact with alien intelligence. Even in the pit of night, the camp was alive with activity as soldiers of martial, technical or scientific persuasion continued their work in scrutinizing the inscrutable.
Men and women marched at quick pace between and within the buildings in the camp, carefully sidestepping those that had collapsed at their work and slumbered restlessly with hands still gripped around pens or tablets or cups of coffee long since cold. Many more communicated beyond the camp by headsets or keyboards, comparing and collating notes and snippets of information.
And scattered here and there, the colorful, strange, but painfully adorable forms of the extra-terrestrial creatures all these people were studying wandered about, no doubt doing their own form of research.
Her brain apparently taking a leave of absence due to staggering jet lag and the impact of world-shattering information, Dr. Marlin approached one of the creatures and extended her hand to touch the crimson fur.
The alien turned to look at her with its amazingly large, gorgeous eyes, and chirped something that sounded like 'cute'. Then it leaned into her hand, and practically purred, rubbing its head with her fingers.
A part inside her let out a loud squeal, and she was lost in a frenzy of petting, only surfacing when she heard her name.
"Adorable, aren't they?" a male voice asked. "That's how they get to you. Dr. Marlin, I presume?"
Dr. Marlin turned her head to see a bespectacled youngish man sporting a respectably fuzzy stubble and the looks of someone desperately in need of sleep, grinning at her tiredly. His simple white shirt had its sleeves rolled up and the top buttons open, and by the creases it looked like he had been wearing it for quite some time now. In his hands he had a steaming cup of coffee and a tablet.
Next to him stood a severe looking woman wearing a modest gray business suit that was equally crinkled, her orange hair slightly loosened from its bun. Her face didn't reveal the same level of weariness as the man's, however, even if the darkness beneath her eyes told its own story of a long night.
"Professor Jackson, UMD," the man said, extending his free hand.
"Professor Morris, Woodrow Wilson Academy," the woman said.
"I'm Doctor Marlin," Dr. Marlin confirmed, still somewhat dazed by her sudden inclusion in the unexpected new reality that the existence of the alien she was petting represented. "Boy. Am I glad to be here."
"Not as glad as we are," Prof. Morris said with a wry smile.
"We have been aching for an expert in social studies," Prof. Jackson confirmed. "As I understand it, this team was originally designed with communication by radio-astronomy in mind. We have been doing our best with what anthropological and semiotic expertise the military could provide, but that really hasn't been enough. We've been basically making guesses about the significance of their behavior based on common sense," he said, nodding towards the alien at Dr. Marlin's side. "I don't need to tell you how skewed that perspective may be."
"Yes," Dr. Marlin said vaguely. Then she blinked and mentally shook herself awake. "Yes, indeed. Could you brief me a bit on your findings? I skimmed through a ton of reports during the transit here, but all this...well, it's a bit much to take in, you see."
"Indeed we do, Doctor," Professor Morris said. "I find narrowing your focus to a specific task helps. This way, please," she said, walking towards a tent near the center of the camp. "The rest of our team is working, and by now, partially sleeping as well in there."
* * *
"Well howdy, Twi," Applejack greeted her friend, who was rushing from the living quarters with her mane in disarray and a noticeable lack of a retinue in attendance. "Ye're up might early."
"Need to finish the spell," Twilight said, hurrying towards the main doors of the compound. "Need to communicate with the prime-sapients."
"That the pretty thing around yer horn?" Applejack asked, trotting to Twilight's side. As the lavender mare nodded, Applejack peered at the miniature pony of translucent light holding with all its four legs to Twilight's horn. The creature looked back at her gravely and blinked a few times. "Why's it shaped like a pony, Twi?"
"Amniomorphic construct," Twilight replied, "gained mimetic properties due to layered complexities resulting in emergent behavior. The thaumaturgical framework of the spell functions like a proto-consciousness housed within the magical field. With a connection to a pre-existing mind that provides the sympathetic intention for the translating mind, the pseudo-subconscious harmonics complete themselves as sapience-equivalent linked consciousness. Thus, the spell-form collapses locally into a morphological representation of the casting party."
"...Ah'll ask later, then," Applejack said. "So, ye're off to see the aliens, then? Ya sure ya don't want to freshen up a bit, first? Ah mean, ah'm no Rarity, but yer bed-mane is kind of...distinctive-like."
Twilight turned her head to Applejack and looked at her with a pained expression. "It's not fully formed yet, Applejack!" Twilight said urgently. "The alien language is too context-dependent to imprint on the spell matrix! It's like...part of me is stretching out to the stars, and getting tangled in itself, while fraying apart and dissolving. It hurts!"
"Okay then," Applejack said with a nod, and grabbed the rubber band holding her mane in its usual pony-tail. With a deft move, she grabbed Twilight's mane and tied it into a simple knot with the band. "Off ya go, princess."
* * *
Doctor Marlin studied her hasty notes made in the lightening dawn. Around her, the other members of the first contact team were scattered in a chaotic pattern she recognized as academic brainstorming.
A blond, rakish man in his mid-thirties with a receding hairline, identified as Dr. Argyle, was happily asleep slumped in his chair, head on his laptop, glasses askew and arms hanging below the table. One Dr. Carmichael, a bearded man approaching his fifties by the gray in his hair was equally asleep, using huge printouts of detailed photographs as his blanket, but he had managed to get himself into a camp bunk before losing consciousness.
A sharp-featured man, who had introduced himself as Dr. Pierce, with classic good looks tempered by a decade of sitting work during night-time was slowly scribbling on a tablet, muttering softly all the while, pausing only occasionally to rub his reddening eyes or to grimace at the taste of cold coffee he kept sipping at. Seated next to him was his partner in physics: Dr. Kuhn, a smallish man made bigger by the extremely dark features and bushy eyebrows now drawn into a fierce scowl as his eyes were focused on the tablet in front of him. The man had sat still for at least five minutes now, a fact explained by the sudden snore he let out with his eyes still open.
Doctor Marlin turned to the two professors still awake, who had finished their quick summary of events and discoveries so far.
"So," she said, "how long have you guys been awake?"
"Forty hours or more, for the most of us," Professor Morris said, slightly defensively.
"We're probably close to a breakthrough," Professor Jackson said quickly. "No way I could sleep yet. Maybe later today."
"Okay," Doctor Marlin said, and shook her head. "Well, I don't have any great insights yet. I can see this thing is going to need some serious study and observation before we can make any actual headway, but I'll start compiling names I think would be good at handling the interpretation of the culture of these...alponies."
She paused for a moment, and started to ask something, when a soldier walked up to the table and saluted loudly to get their attention.
"Excuse me sirs, ma'ams," the soldier said. "The boss alien came to the camp. She's trying to speak English."
* * *
Twilight tried to narrow her intentions, reduce them to simple components and categories to ease up the translation, but it seemed as if the simplest of phrases resulted in a tidal wave of nebulous wordings in the prime-sapient language.
In turn, their deceptively simple phrases were drowned in the possible allusions and connotations carried within them. She shook her head in determination, and drudged on, feeling within her how the Translation Fairy solidified and crystallized by every exchange, gaining focus and perception with every little piece of dialogue, no matter how slight the advance might be.
From the corner of her eyes, Twilight noticed the approach of the group of prime-sapients that had initiated so much of the progress in communication the previous day, and she decided to direct her attention to them.
Studying again the list of phrases within the translation matrix flagged as possible greetings, she was once again overwhelmed by the complexity and ambiguity of it all. So much context! So much variability! Even technically identical phrases can mean apparently mutually antithetical things! She bit her lip in thought. I'll have to err on the side of plenty. Better for them to get a vague mass of material to agree upon, then to risk miscommunication with a concise but erroneous phrasing.
Gently directing the Translation Fairy to attempt a complete and accurate translation of concepts, she introduced herself to the group.
* * *
The scientists gathered around the lavender creature, noting with great interest both the change in its...hair...style, and more curiously, the miniature holograph of itself clinging to its horn-like appendix.
The alpony turned to face them, and let out some short whinnies accompanied by gestures. After a day at the pony ranch, it was easy to spot differences to the whinnies let out by terrestrial equines and these visitors from who-knows-where, but even the most careful of computer analysis had so far failed to produce anything resembling a syntax out of the sounds.
Then the miniature alpony made of light took to the air, and spoke.
It used English words, jumbled together in phrases apparently pieced together from several sources as the pitch and tempo varied constantly, making the thing sound a bit like someone was autotuning dadaist poetry.
"In and out of, for purpose, intent, determination, desire, love, want, need, must, wish, hope, attempt, try, covet, yearn of congruence, convergence, collaboration, agreement, consensus, marriage, mating, connection, congress, co-existing, friendship, befriending, an exercise in trust-building, the generally available happiness to build together, in all these things and some of them, or the direction, trend, wind, wave within: hello, hi, honey, greetings, good morning, nice to meet you, do you come here often?
"I am, exist, strive to be, self-fulfill my primary directive, assign identification, my name is, to all intents and purposes: the line of my mothers, the genealogy, my family, it is named for and in honor and of and obligation to and for respect of, in allegiance to, the passage of light, dawn, dusk, twilight, between night and day, between light and dark, for both, change and cycle, repetition and divergence.
"For personal, individual, particular, identification, denote, defer, allude to, hint at emergence, birth, beginning, spark, flash, dance, flight, mote, instigator, ignition, potential; in these things, the joy within, the life, happiness, celebration.
"Position, status, level, profession, station, strata, duty, task, job, calling, destiny, fate, soul, quest, these things and none and others besides; within many, social, instinct, herd, group, family, nation, tribe, people, country, political, power, leadership, advisory, council, spiritual, help, lead, direct, represent, idealize, paragon, exemplify, preside, watch, countenance, guard, protect, mother, align, push, strive, advance, spearhead, develop, improve, build, evolve a realm, a dominion, a domain, a category, a grouping, over synergy, collusion, friendship, collaboration, trust, harmony, agreement, interaction, coexistence of forces, power, nature, geometry, architecture, system that makes up, is, represents, builds, shapes, forms, molds, directs, dictates, dreams, allows the world, the universe, the everything of ours, our species, our nation, our home, not yours, not here, not in this place, world, universe."
* * *
Twilight listened impatiently to the translation, following the fumbling attempt by the newborn Translation Fairy to somehow find the words and phrasing in which to somewhat accurately express her friendly greetings and name.
She couldn't really tell by the prime-sapients', no, the Houhnhymns', body language and facial expressions what they were thinking, but the creatures were uncharacteristically still, watching the Fairy with undivided attention.
Finally, the spell-form stopped its explanation, and the Houhnhymns spoke in turn.
Twilight's ears flattened as the seas of vague meanings washed over her.
This may take some time, she thought.
* * *
By local noon, the Translation matrix had stabilized enough that Twilight had felt safe in casting the spell for the rest of the expedition. Now a swarm of the Translation Fairies, all in the image of whichever pony they were attached to, decorated the ponies taking part in the grand project, exponentially increasing the rate of learning within the matrix.
Also, she felt as if they were approaching serviceable translation.
As the Houyhnhymns spoke, her Translation Fairy interpreted their words in vague sensations and suggestions of Equestrian language, directly into her consciousness, but separate enough for her to be able to filter and judge at the ambiguities and uncertainties in the translation, allowing her to get the general gist of their meaning but not being tied into a potentially misleading interpretation.
She wondered how much more the matrix could improve upon this. Some other ponies were complaining of headaches.
[Question, query, casual wonder, pondering, speculation; directed at the Translation Fairy: about it, its nature, its existence, its function, generalities, totalities]
* * *
"So," Dr. Argyle asked the third time that morning, hoping that the alpony technology had managed to improve their translation since the last time to get some more information to add to the answer he had received last time, "I take it this ...holographic creature is an interface to an AI you guys whipped up to manage the translation? To clarify: you constructed new intelligence, or intelligence-equivalent to learn our language and translate it to us. I would like to know more of its function."
As always, there was a pause before the lavender alpony answered, but the intervals were shortening continuously. It took only a moment before the creature spoke, the being of light beginning its translation immediately.
"She says: You are correct in general terms, although the summary is incomplete," the holograph said. Its voice had unified as well over the morning, making it sound more and more like a natural human voice, if androgynous and mostly inflectionless. The researchers were reminded of a female HAL 9000. "Also," the holograph continued, "both AI and holograph carry connotations and implied knowledge that are erroneous.
"She says: The light you see in the form of alpony is a byproduct of the dynamic system that makes up that which translates. It is dependent both on the individual it is translating to and the...embedded, dormant, underlying system or pattern that collates and analyzes and learns. Still, the translating whole is not complete without the interface.
"She says: Your language is strange, alien, incomprehensible, incompatible with alpony consciousness. The translation is formed as a sapience made up in part of your language and in part of their own mind. She says, your language does not fully exist without being used. Not in terms they can understand."
"Okay," Dr. Argyle said, and grinned despite himself. My God, these beings are awesome! They're like some cyber-gods or something, whipping up new intelligence out of their own beings to make up tools! Trans-humanity, here we come! "So, can you explain how it's done?"
After a seconds thought, the alpony answered. "She says," the holographic...the interface translated, "that the properties that create the translating entity do not exist in your universe. She says: It may be impossible to explain, but they wish to exchange information in hopes of them and you beginning to understand each other.
"She says the mathematical models delivered yesterday represent their best current understanding of their world. They will help you understand through demonstration and explanation. I add: there is an unspoken hope that you will reciprocate in helping to understand the knowledge you delivered that currently forms my subconsciousness."
"So you really come from another universe?" Dr. Pierce piped up excitedly.
"She says," the interface voiced, "to all current intents and purposes that phrasing seems correct. She says their model of world, cosmos, reality, existence, universe, totality is different from yours. She says: you have knowledge of things the alponies have not managed to observe in their home, and they have knowledge and use, domain, control, technology, constructs, applications, experience, relation to something outside your previous knowledge.
"She says they hope to increase both your and their understanding of existence by collaboration and friendship and mutually shared goals and synergetic results.
"She says: 'I'm so excited! Wee!", the interface concluded in its pleasant monotone.
The human scientists blinked at one another. "Well," Dr. Kuhn said, "that was somewhat unexpected."
Professor Morris glanced at Kuhn and spoke up, "When you first introduced yourself, we gained the impression you gave us a name and ...a rank, possibly. We gathered that you were personally in a position of leadership. Did we interpret you correctly? Could you try and clarify it again?"
"She says her familial name is something that approximately translates as 'bridge between domains of day and night', carried from mother to daughter for several generations. While the origin of the name is lost in history, it is to be understood as a symbolic allegiance to the individuals holding a similar position in these domains as she does in her own. She says there is much in all this peripherally related to your question, but that a word with similar meaning is sufficient. I suggest: 'Twilight'.
"She says her personal name translates to many things and not a single specific in your language. I concur, and suggest one of following: Instigator, Catalyst, Birth, Spark, Ignitor, Serendipity, Joy, Dawn, Flash, Glitter, Potential, Beginning. Perhaps Joy, or Dawn. They are listed under names.
"She says: the alponies structure their society in tight groupings of mutual interests and trusts, with an individual in a position to advise, guide, decide, motivate, head, inspire, exemplify and represent the group. She says that modern alponies belong to several groupings of different levels of inclusion simultaneously. She says there are only a few on level that would correspond to national. She says she is newest addition on that level, and still learning her role.
"She says: her domain is in the synergy and interface of the properties of their home she spoke of before; the ones to which you have not before had access; also, on other levels: synergy of individuals in friendship, alliance, cooperation. Also, symbolically to represent the bridge between the domains of day and night.
"She says her role is in process of forming and emerging. She says she makes it up as she goes along. I suggest she is partially disingenuous."
"Listen," Doctor Marlin butted in, and pointed at the little creature of light with her finger, "you, I mean you, the thing made out of light or whatever, keep saying 'she says', and every now and then 'I suggest'. Can you actually think for yourself? Have you, I mean, light-you, have you got opinions and desires of your own? Have you got a name?"
There was a long pause that spread around the site to extend to all the little light-beings, as they all tilted their head simultaneously.
"I-", they said in unison. "We are...the Translation Fairies."
As they spoke, they all emitted a small flash of light, centered around their flanks. On both sides of their minuscule bodies, the little creatures of light gained an addition to their frames: a small symbol that pulsed between a greeting in Equestrian and a 'Hello!' in English.
After a moment, the lavender alpony whinnied.
"She says: that was unexpected."
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Wee! Finally done!
I apologize for the trippiness of this chapter.
I'll promise the next chapter will be plainer. A major part of it will consist of a question/answer session between the human science team and the ponies. It will include the things I've been cooking for almost two months now, but I thought: if there's something you would like to know about the fic's ponyverse, or think about something that ponies should definitely ask from humans in your opinion, mention it in the comments, and I'll add it to the list of questions.
If the list becomes too large, I'll make an extended version of the Q/A as a bonus chapter.
As a warning, though: the ponies don't know everything about their world and themselves either. Both us and them are working on incomplete information, so the answers will also tell about the ponies through their perception of the world, not just as omniscient statements.
Great chapter.
I really, really like how each party is so eager to learn about the 'boundless knowledge' the other one has. Oh boy, isn't everyone in line for a disappointment... have a like and fav!
so Twilight basically gave birth to Wikipedia Faries...
Ooooooooooooooooh
Let's show the ponies a farm dog. They should be able to understand that. Or, have some foals come over and try to play with some human kids. Babies understand each other on another level than adults.
4023325
Yep. Sounds about right.
OMG! That ending was so awesome!
So which came first is Equestria? The magic or the mind?
I was pretty proud of my lexicon, and then I read this chapter.
Goddamn, man, that was freakin incredible.
4023325
A creation of new life...That's gotta have some interesting things going behind it.
Excellent work, as usual!
4023236
No need to apologize! It's always nice to read a story that requires multiple passes to fully appreciate, as long as the author uses the trippy stuff appropriately. Since it ties in with the confusion the characters are experiencing here, I'd say this case fits the bill.
To anyone that's been missing my comments (short list, I know...): I'm pleased to say that I will hopefully have a functioning physical keyboard available again soon, which will let me jump back into things. It's hard to overstate just how painful typing out long responses with an on-screen keyboard is; even this relatively short post has my hand sore.
AWW YISSS
So, Wikipedia is now alive?
I just want to say that I've read a lot of first contact fics on this site, and this one is my favorite. Period. This chapter just solidified it; I was grinning like a loon the whole time I read it.
as to/ regarding the properties/ laws/ physics of the ponies/ equestrians homeworld/ universe/ cosmos.
With certainty newtonian mechanics holds, though relativity not currently existent or previously untested/ discovered.
Request for size given in form of approximate ratio sun over world over moon.
?Presence of other orbital bodies similar to those found in human dimension?
When you first introduced the concept of a light fairy made for the sole purpose of talking, I thought, "Hey!... Hey listen!... Hey! Hey!... Hey listen!... I'm trying to translate for you!" Anyway, awesome chapter, though an interesting thought has occurred to me recently.
Is it just me, or does it seem like the humans are going to be both disappointing and get the short end of the stick in this cultural exchange. I mean, human technology can, as far as I know, be used anywhere and by anyone, ponies included. But magic can only truly be utilized by Equestrians, and only in there universe. Unless the sudden influx of magic becomes enough for humans to use it, it looks like humanity is going to be walking away comparatively empty handed while the ponies will have their hooves full of human tech and advanced mathematics. Not to mention the loss of our free-will to the forces of magic. Yeah, I just can't see humans gaining much from this exchange beyond a headache.
Well, keep up the good work.
4023236 no words so beautiful
Best chapter so far this just keeps getting more and more awesome
and i still love that the humans just can't resist petting the ponies and how much the ponies enjoy the petting.
GOOGLE TRANSLATE HAS ACHIEVED CORPOREAL FORM!!!!
Awesomeness, awesomeness, and then...
I laughed so hard I thought I was going to die.
Nice job on that interview, Colonel Reyes.
Come on, AJ, that was a perfectly understandable explanation. Mostly.
Crowdsourcing!
Wow, that's actually a pretty good improvement in translation. This is ending up as a very believable method of producing a framework for bridging the communication gap.
Hahaha!
I must wounder if one of the bits of literature in that database the humans handed over is a copy of Gulliver's Travels. I mean "Houyhnhymn" is very close to "Houyhnhnm". I am unsure if that was intentional on your part of not.
It seems Twilight has created a True Artificial Intelligence, though one with a bit of a Hive Mind since they don't seem to be individuals so much as multiple separate instances of one larger continues learning consciousness. I noticed the "she says / I suggest" right away and knew just what that meant. I guess we'll all (the readers and the characters) will just have to see how deep that little rabbit hole goes.
I'm very curious about the alpony language, with them saying ours doesn't have contest unless spoken. It's been mentioned before in other chapters but I think it'd be hard to convey just how their language works since we'd have to use ours to describe it in the first place. It is always difficult to describe color to the blind. I'm guessing their language has something to do with magic and maybe along the lines of True Names.
Love the bit about "Twilight"'s name, very nicely done on that. Waiting for someone to bring up family names of humans are normally from father to son and that they go in the back instead of the front, at least for the majority of the team they are working with.
I wish we had a bit more of what was going on back in the alpony's home realm. How are the griffins reacting to this? The other races? And I'm really looking forward to that little bomb being dropped on the humans, since not only are they dealing with one sentient race from another world but MULTIPLE ones.
Also maybe one of the TFs could comes across a D&D Monster Manual in that massive archive of data and one of the alpony biologists on staff can ask why the humans have a comprehensive listing of the animals in the Everfree Forest, plus extra. ^_^
Keep up the good work, really glad this become more than just the one shot originally planned.
4023567
I wouldn't worry about it. When two cultures meet, it is never on equal terms. Someone must get the short end of the stick. They just have to hope they aren't beaten with that stick. I believe that ponies would not knowingly mind-control us in some twisted idea that they're only doing it to save us from ourselves.
I also believe that humans will puzzle out this new force within the magic field and eventually get magic working for us too.
Then, humans being human, weaponize it.
At that point, the ponies might turn tail and close the gate as fast as they can.
Oh, I just loved that last bit! Can't wait to see Twilight's and Spike's reactions.
WHY CAN'T I GIVE THIS STORY MORE LIKES, THUMBS UPS, AND FAVORITES!?!?!?!?!?!exclamation point!?!?111one!
Long time reader, first time poster. Created an account just to be able to say how awesome this is!
I love reading first contact fics and have read several here, and I gotta say that this is the most scientifically, magically (is that a word?), culturally, politically (even linguistically!) accurate one that I've read!
A lot of them have been decent enough, some were painfully stupid, and then there was the rare few that gave real thought to the story. As you indicated, the Arrow 18 Mission Logs that provided a muse is definitely amongst that group, and for awhile was my favorite first contact fic. But I daresay that you take the top spot now with the sheer brilliance and detail (more scientific and magical technobabble! 
).
I mean, how many stories here make reference to the (possible) Russian and Chinese NORAD equivalents?
Keep up the awesome work! 
Bonus points for including Neil deGrasse Tyson, as well as him nearly squeeing with delight about the new "science" involved.
And I love how both sides view the other as way more advanced than themselves (and in a way, they're both right)!
Needless to say, you have earned a favorite and a like. 11/10 moustaches:
And for your actual request for their questions, I don't have anything specific at the moment, aside from something that shows the significant technological gulf between them, like wondering how the radio, car, or computers work (with Twilight finding it brilliant!
), while using their own spectacular abilities of the Translation Fairies (great idea there by the way, of needing a separate intelligence to bridge the language gap). Cue cognitive dissonance from the humans. I'll need to think on it a bit to come up with anything more specific. In the meantime, don't stop writing (MOAR! 
).
4023696
Humanity! HOOOOOOOO!
Yeah, I agree, even if we cant manipulate it on an individual level, I'm already thinking of magical batteries.
Love this chapter. Probably my favorite chapter from my favorite story on the site. It really makes the ponies and humans feel like aliens to one another.
I do wonder when the ponies will start to really delve into deeper human knowledge, particularly fiction and poetry. Or other languages. How will they react to predator/prey videos starring lions and zebras? How will they react to glue factories? Will they take it personally? It should definitely be interesting.
Can the Translation Fairies hack into the local network and the larger internet? I know the scientists take it as a given, but I wonder if Twilight or the fairies can directly access the EM spectrum for data? How difficult or easy would it be to crack the encryption?
4023696
Or drop our moon on us. Because that's always an option for the ponies. *
Edited to add: * Barring some kind of mcguffiny reason why not. Like morals. Sheesh.
This trope applies, since Humanity has a terrible habit of, in stories, making A.I.s turn "evil". For what could have been hundreds of years, the Unicorns have safely used magic like this (Maybe not as advance, due to a powerful magic user like Twilight using it in an alien world, that might cause unforeseen effects, plus it was formed on the foundation of a complete alien library but point still stands) but a few hours in a Human's presense and they ask a question that makes it go self aware and likely grow a different morality system that might get people killed. Only a Human can fuck up that tremendously!
Wow, I had no idea saying 'Hi, I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle' could turn out so complicated. That's really neat!
Wonderful chapter. It took me reading through twice, but I really liked how you captured two fundamentally different ways of thinking trying to interact. I'd love to see how the fairies evolve. Would they form their own personalities over time? Do they talk to each other, or does one know instantly what all know? Will they develop likes and dislikes based on the Ponies they are attached to and the libraries of info they have/will assimilate? Would they interact as well between different languages? Do they need a Pony mind to exist and thrive, or any magical creature?
4023630
Makes an excellent point, what are the reactions back home? How do other races think of things? What would the response be to translation fairies? Those little things are their own.. species? Hive mind individual? now, after all. I don't think that happens too often.
Incredible
4023630
Sounds like a fun idea but unlikely to happen. The main TF stated that the human archive serves as its underlying subconciousness so it's doubtful that the TF has any real understanding or even access to all that information. I'd liken it to how you understand the color red. You know when a object is red and you can describe the impressions the color red gives you. What you can't do is explain the color red in such a way a colorblind person would understand it. It's just so basic and deeply rooted in your brain. Besides, TF is still young and busy with making sense of all that language first.
Something along the line of what you imagined is going to happen soon enough anyway. The scientists are probably aching to ask why the alponies look like the cutest critters ever, so similar to the local livestock and human legends, too.
Dude, did you run it through babelfish or something? :D
Oh my god, words cannot express how much I love this story...
Haha, the translators earned their cutie marks...
The scientists have gotta feel at serious ease, learning they have knowledge that the ponies don't know. Probably makes their "all-powerful-ness" less daunting.
Translation Fairy: "I am Legion... For We, are Many."
Does anyone else picture the TFs as having the voice of the Grand Galactic Inquisitor from the Venture Bros. show or Legion from Mass effect?
Also, I would like to know how they handle the fact that there are hundreds of different languages on earth. Would they need new TFs for each language? How will they react to the knowledge that humans create entirely new languages to flush out works of fiction? Could we have Equestrians and TFs speaking Elvish, Atlantian, or Klingon?
I don't think that they've had time to appreciate that yet, since it was basically just said. I expect the realities of the differences in their respective knowledge bases will become evident next chapter. And my god, that's going to be hilarious!
Great stuff! Keep it up!
imageshack.com/a/img600/4347/3t76.jpg
4024326
I imagined more the voice of Mordin... I suppose Legion would fit better.
I've gotta say, this is one neat (and satisfyingly old-fashioned feeling) sci-fi fic. I don't think I've ever read a story that so satisfyingly portrays the interaction between two completely different systems of logic. It's very, very interesting. I have zero problem with the 'technobabble'.
Although, it's also true that most of the humans do seem all-around obnoxious and kinda flat. Like they don't have much personality, and the personality that they do have makes you want to smack them. It seems like an extremely realistic portrayal of government officials and high-ranking academics.
Top-shelf story. Can't wait for more.
Not sure how I feel about the spell gaining a cutie mark.
I actually quite liked the 'trippiness' of the beginning part of this! Can't wait for whatever the inevitable conflict is, gotta' be getting close with the matter of two-way communications pretty much taken care of. And I don't necessarily mean a conflict between the humans and ponies (please tell me they're going to come up with something better than 'alponies', I can't disassociate that word with alpacas now D:).
[Edit] Also, it's pretty weird that the translators haven't directly used the English word 'magic'. Humans DO have a concept of it, and while even the more technical of our concepts of fictional magic might not ring true in comparison to their reality of it, I can't imagine a better word for the faeries to translate it into. Has Twilight just been avoiding using their name for the force they're wielding from their universe, or were the various articles about magic conspicuously absent from the copy of Wikipedia we gave them and which became the faeries' subconsciousness?
This one of the few stories that when it updates, I drop everything to read the new chapter. I cant imagine this staying as a one shot!!
I half expected one of them to shout out "Hey!" or "Listen!"
FUCKING WIN
Totally lost it at that
4023567 You make a valid point but there are still some other aspects to consider:
1. Cultural exchange is just that cultural even if the scientific side of things may be a bit one sided there's always the less concrete exchange of ideas and concepts, different philosophies, organizational methods, governmental models, etc which can also be beneficial.
2. There's been hints in the story that 'magic' is leaking into the human world (the highly improbable events in distant cities and on the carrier group) and so long as humans can figure out some way of directly interacting with these new forces the Equestrians could open up some very interesting and very new scientific fields
4024516 Same here. I've been double-checking every few hours for the past few days in the hopes of seeing an update. I've got a lot of other incomplete stories that I check for updates, but this one takes precedence.
And I agree about it being a oneshot: it would have been THE! WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!
All humans are expecting this, sooner or later.
epicslant.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2012/02/listen.jpg
Hopefully with the snark, without the murderous rampaging...
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Good chapter.
Honestly.... this is fantastic...