bend it with science

[anatural]

WHO: Chekov & Korra
WHAT: Chekov finds himself stranded on a strange planet...

[It is a rare and unusual day. A day so rare and unusual, Korra almost doesn't know what to do with it.

A day with no responsibilities.

No training with Tenzin. No practice with the Fire Ferrets. No lessons with the White Lotus. Just herself, Naga, and whatever they feel like doing.

So they head out to the mountains just outside Republic City, because Korra knows Naga's been going a little stir-crazy at the urban environment (and, okay, she might be too, just a bit). It feels good to get out, to be a part of nature again. Korra hadn't even realized how much she missed it. She grins down at Naga.]

Ready to see what the mountain holds for us, girl?

Comments

[anatural]

Uh, yeah. Sure? [A few of those words sounded familiar, which can't be possible.] Here, let me see your hands.

[candothat]

[Maybe if they keep talking at each other, something will stick! Although he still doesn't understand her words, her meaning gets through and he presents his hands. The fingers are grayish and waxen--almost not real.]

Dr. McCoy would likely not be pleased. [Chekov's a little alarmed. He's Russian enough to know what frostbite looks like. Maybe his fingers won't fall off, but it's unpleasant nonetheless.] Do your people treat frostbite? Maybe you are all clever enough to not be caught in the cold.

[anatural]

[The universal translator is getting perilously close to being able to translate their language. Not that Korra knows this, but she's excited (and confused) to understand a little more of what he's saying.]

Dr. McCoy — is he with you? Did he crash here too? [Is there someone else she should be looking for?]

[candothat]

[Thank science for universal translators. The device will take some time to pick up vocabulary, but it has already more-or-less learned the structure of Korra's language. Chekov is finding it easier to parse out her words even with a limited vocabulary.]

No, there is no one else that I know of. This is not where I intended to beam down.

[anatural]

Beam down — from the Northern Spirit Portal?

[These words, they make no sense to her.]

[candothat]

Portal? No. The ship--I cannot tell you much about it--has the technology to dissemble people at the atomic level and reassemble them at a distant location. Very safe process, usually, but working at the quantum level as transporters do can result in unforeseen difficulties. The smallest shift in subspace has--but no, I have said too much and I think your world is not so technologically advanced as mine.

[Nervous babble. He still has his communicator on him; someone from the ship should have hailed him by now.]

[anatural]

.............huh?

[That was a whole lotta words her world has absolutely no words for.]

[candothat]

I said nothing important. [He said enough to get himself into Prime Directive-says-no territory, so it's a small blessing that this girl--and the rest of her people, he assumes--won't understand anything he shouldn't be talking about.] May I ask your name?

[anatural]

Korra. How are you suddenly speaking my language?

[This is the weirdest thing that's ever happened to her.]

[candothat]

Korra, thank you. I am Pavel Chekov.

[It takes him a moment to remember how strange the translator must seem to her. It's such a part of life off-planet.]

I am not. I would explain, but the explanation is long and I am very cold.

[Somehow, his accent still comes through loud and clear regardless of the language at the other end. Maybe the kid just needs to stop speaking Standard; technology obviously hates it when he does.]

[anatural]

[Yeah like that's going to cut it for her.]

You can talk and walk, right? There's a cabin not far from here.

[candothat]

This cabin is not occupied by anything that will eat me, is it?

[Like more dog-bears. He says it lightly, however, as if this particular situation is not the single most disconcerting situation he has ever personally been in.]

Before I try to explain--what is your technology like? Do you have machines?

[anatural]

[That is...a really weird question. Both of them.]

It's a cabin. [Duh. She shakes her head.] Uh, yeah? Why?

[candothat]

Yes, I see this. [He assumes that that means there aren't things that will eat him. Good.] Okay, then maybe this will make sense. We are communicating because I have a small machine that uses a linguistic database to translate and to learn new languages. It emits a-- [what is the best not-science word here] --field that allows those within it to understand each other, regardless of what they are speaking.

[anatural]

[the blankest of all blank stares]

What?

[candothat]

[If he could feel his hands, he would facepalm right now. Let's try this again.]

Where I am from, we often encounter people who speak languages that we do not know. In order to communicate with them, we wear devices that translate for us and allow those nearby to understand us, as well.

[anatural]

[Slightly more understanding, but still really confused]

How is that even possible?