"Forward,.Dr.Robert.L.-.Ocean.Under.the.Ice.Book.3.of.the.Rocheworld.Series" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forward Robert L)

#We will speak as coelasharks do, and James will translate our words for you,# said Little Purple.
^Some meaning may be lost in translation,^ warned Little White.
*Especially threats!* added Little Red. *They loudest and most FUN!*
The three flouwen returned to their corners and resumed their coelashark shapes. Soon they were rushing at each other and emitting shouts and roars that could be easily heard through the thick tank walls.
*Come any closer and I'll _bite_ your leg off!* yelled Little Red.
#Listen to the weakling threaten me!# bellowed Little Purple in response.
^You're both so timid, you'd belly-up at the sight of blood!^ roared Little White.
Aghast, Cinnamon said, "_That_ is the language of an intelligent life-form?"
"At least that answers one question," came Jinjur's voice over the imp network. "We certainly will be prepared to interact adequately with _one_ of the alien species on Zulu. Three of us can even talk directly with them without having to have a computer acting as an intermediary. Now let's see if we are similarly prepared for the other one."
With difficulty the flouwen were made to calm down and stop playing coelasharks, for it was now time for the report by _Splish_, and the flouwen should hear that too, although in all probability they would not be interacting with these land-dwelling creatures as much as the humans would be.
"This is _Splish_," came the tiny voice from the surface as their console screens showed a computer-generated image of Zulu with a green dot on it near the largest of the clear water lake regions of the icy white moon. "The green dot indicates my present position." The moon grew in size as the view zoomed rapidly in on the lake shore containing the green dot. As more details became clear, the round lake shore broke up into jagged edges, while in the lake were floating large icebergs which had calved off the shoreline.
"Looks just like an ice shelf region in Antarctica, icebergs and all," murmured Sam.
"Except there, you have a small cold ice-covered land region completely surrounded by a warm body of water, while here you have a small warm body of water completely surrounded by cold ice-covered land," pontificated Richard.
As the zoom proceeded, some structure and coloring began showing up in the region around the lake, which soon turned into a semi-organized pattern of differing shades of greenish-blue. The zoom came to an end, and the computer-generated image was replaced by a live picture of one of the aliens, taken by the video camera extending from the top of the amphibious exploration vehicle. All of the crew had seen still images of the aliens that _Splish_ had sent back previously, but it was different seeing one of these bewildering creatures in motion.
_Splish_ had learned early in its interactions with the aliens that they called themselves "coverers-of-the-ice", where "ice" was used in a generic sense, similar to the way that humans used the word "earth" as meaning "terra-firma" rather than "dirt".
At first, when the humans referred to the aliens among themselves, they tried to use the correct name, "coverers-of-the-ice". That proved too long, and an abbreviation, "icecoverers", took its place. That still proved awkward and the name "icerugs" was finally coined. Despite the protests of Reiki and Deirdre, it stuck. James, however, assured them that the icerugs would never hear what the humans really called them, for the translation program would always change it to their correct name.
The strange being appearing on their screens seemed to be half-plant and half-animal. The camera was now panning over the large plant portion, which covered the ice like a carpet, a carpet with a purplish blue-green color like an unripe plum. Almost an acre in extent, the carpet was thin enough to reveal even slight contours and bumps in the ice underneath. The fine plum-colored threads that covered the carpet had a light-absorbing velvet-like texture.
"That is certainly an efficient surface for trapping the reddish photons from Barnard," remarked Katrina. "There must be photosynthesis going on in that portion of the body."
"The blue-green plum color is distinctly different than chlorophyll-green, however," said David, who possessed a color sense as discriminating as his tonal sense.
"Probably a similar molecule that works better with red light," responded Katrina. "I can't wait to get a sample to analyze."
Deirdre's eyes shot a green glare at her. "Aye, and would you be extending a finger of your own, in return?"
The video scan stopped on the "node", the animal part of the icerug. The "foot" of the node consisted of a thick plum-colored pedestal about a half-meter high, which rose smoothly and seamlessly out of the carpet which it was riding. On top of the thick pedestal was a spherical "head" the size of a large beach ball. In the middle of the head was a slit mouth with tiny sharp teeth that were occasionally visible. Between the head and the pedestal were four stubby tentacles, most of them in continuous motion, as if the creature were nervous. Two of the tentacles held artifacts and were quite different in length, indicating that they were alterable as well as flexible. Coming out of the top of the head was a large single eye on a flexible stalk. The entire node, except for the lens of the eye, was covered with the same plum-colored velvet as the rest of the body. The bright owl-like eye with a pink iris was staring fixedly at the camera. The eye blinked occasionally by closing a six-leaved nictating membrane over the pupil. The leaves of the membrane overlapped somewhat like the six-leaved aperture stop in a camera.
"Except for its size, the eye looks just like a human eye," remarked Richard.
"Or a bird eye, or an alligator eye, or an octopus eye," said Cinnamon. "There seems to be only one good way for nature to make a video camera out of jelly."
"This individual is named Pink-Orb," continued _Splish_. "One of their chief scientists, with the specialty of astronomy. We spent many months together while I learned their language. I have built up a translation program that I believe is adequate to allow you to converse with them, although it is certainly not complete. Fortunately, many of the words and phrases that are used in ordinary conversation are honorific and polite rather than containing any real information, which makes translation easier."
"A sign of a civilized being," said Reiki.
"Can we talk with it, do you think, James?" asked Jinjur.
"The translation program that _Splish_ has transferred up looks adequate," replied James. "The exploration robot has a small portable video display screen stored away in its sample hold just for this contingency. I have instructed it to take it out and display it to the alien. A picture of you and George is now on the screen."
The icerug came closer to the small screen. The motion brought a gasp from a number of mouths.
"It _glides_!"
"Look how the skin moves up the pedestal, over the head region, and down the other side, as if it were moving _under_ the skin."
"Well," said George. "Since we have a translation program, let's give it a try."
Reiki, with her obsession for politeness, was concerned that George would say something that would offend the alien, getting them off to a bad start. However, George, to do him credit, treated the strange native with his usual ceremonial tact.
"Greetings, great and noble one!" he started. "I am known as Colonel George Gudunov and this is Major General Virginia Jones, leader of our expedition. We are humans from the planet Earth around a distant star. We are presently in the large circle-shaped machine that you see in your sky. We wish to visit your most magnificent world to learn more about its wonders. We wish to meet you. We have come in peace, and do not desire your land or your property. We will stay for a short while, and then must leave again. But we will leave machines like the one that is there now so we can talk with you in the future, if you wish. Will our visit be welcomed?"
The sides of the spherical head of the icerug began to vibrate visibly and a deep booming reply rang in the ears of the humans. The translation program on _Splish_ automatically converted the booming tones and simulcast the translation over their imps.
"Welcome, great and noble visitors from the most magnificent planet Earth. I am called Pink-Orb and my people are called coverers-of-the-ice."
In the sky behind Pink-Orb, clouds of water vapor began to rise up into the sky.
"The geyser is starting to erupt, James," said Richard. "Is it going to be a big one?"
"No," reported James. "It is only Zuni passing by, as it does every two Zulu days. The eruption should peak in about an hour and a half, then fade off."
"It will be interesting to watch it from the point of view of someone underneath it," remarked Katrina.
"The Munificent God of the Sea awakens," said Pink-Orb, rolling its eye around to gauge the height of the geyser. "Unfortunately, it will not be possible to communicate during the eruption because of the noise. The great Colonel George Gudunov and the Major General Leader Virginia Jones will please excuse me while I accept the bounty that falls to me." The node moved off to the center of its carpet-like body, and lifted its eye to the sky to watch the rising jet of water.
The geyser rapidly built up in intensity, and shortly after that, a mixture of rain, slush, and snow began to fall. _Splish_ was kept busy keeping the lens clean.
Richard looked down at his planetary science screen, which contained a high-resolution image showing the geyser from above. "Wow! Look at Big Bertha blow!"
"Big Bertha!" exclaimed Cinnamon. "That has to be the worst name for a geyser man could invent. Big Bertha was a gun -- not a geyser!"
"All right," replied Richard agreeably. "What _should_ we call it?"
Reiki added in a quiet, but firm tone. "The proper choice for the name of something on some other specie's planet, is the name that _they_ choose for it, not one some human has chosen."
"The problem," said David, "is that the word is probably a proper noun, which may or may not have a meaning that can be translated, _and_ we can't use the icerug word directly since we can't imitate the icerug's pronunciation without using a synthesizer."
"Manannan," suggested Deirdre.
"What was that?" asked Jinjur.
Deirdre glanced up. "Pink-Orb called the geyser the Munificent God of the Sea. In Celtic myths, the god of the sea was called Manannan, and the fishermen asked him for fine rich harvests."