The Rosetto Stone (II)

[rosetto 0]

Sal looked at Selek whose facial expression told the entire story. Sal knew that Selek had very little knowledge of Xenolinguistics. His actions here were, however, exactly what was required to nudge the deadbolt that had kept so many previous explorers returning with a mere external impression of the Zoalus culture. Without knowledge of their literature, the ruins and artifacts were dead and unconnected. Sal thanked his new friend with a customary hand shake and promised him a return favor of his choice. He didn’t know what would be appropriate. Vulcans rarely accepted gifts as a gratuity. Gifts were usually more of a personal nature and since Sal knew very little about Selek, a proper gift would be impossible.

 

 

 

As Selek grabbed a bite to eat and then left the gallery/recreation room, Sal returned to his papers with a new vitalized vigor. The smile on his face would be difficult to remove. He wanted to share this with Harry but he knew that without the details it would be very hard to appreciate. She would have to be happy with fixed images and brief captions.

 

 

 

There was more work to do. This was simply a new beginning, a departure from what all of these scientists had been standing upon. Sal was no more a xenolinguist than Selek. His forte’ was navigation. His personal interest in alien cultures was about to be placed on the block for intense scrutiny by archaeologists who had devoted their lives to its science. They knew much more than him and would not be intimidated by Sal’s little puzzle-piece. This rearrangement would have eventually been discovered by one or more of these people sooner or later. He thought for a moment, ‘Perhaps they have already reached this discovery?’

 

 

 

Now, Sal realized that simply blurting out this discovery may not be the proper tactic in this situation. He did not want to alienate these scientists or bring embarrassment to himself either. He picked up a tablet and reviewed another paragraph-like structure in yet another document. This one contained diagrams and what looked like mathematical formulae. He high-lighted and then translated the title:

 

 

 

MULTI-DIMENSIONAL COORDINATE SYSTEMS

 

 

 

He looked at the terms in their native form, knowing from other documents and established data that he was looking at numbers. But this was not simply numeric information. It was broken up by other symbols and Sal assumed that they represented variables in equations. The first section was similar to Euclidian two-dimensional relationships. The Zoalus use of NOT made some things more difficult to see, however, Sal found that other terms and relationships were more visible in the formula. Sal tried his high-light/translate method but the tablet seemed to struggle with these terms. The numerals were clear but the references and their associated values didn’t match constants that had been established for thousands of years. He thought that perhaps there was still something missing in the translation rules. It was entirely possible. He hadn’t even reviewed the changes that Selek had made himself; not in any detail. He didn’t know what to think now. He decided that whatever he did would have to wait until after he had some sleep.