May 2021 75 Word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO DAYSMAN!

[Daysman]

FELIX CULPA

After two days wandering the abandoned temple's silted corridors, our thieves discovered a pair of doors.

Tyler examined their cryptic mandalas.

Barrington chided him. “Which door, you useless git?”

Tyler pointed. "This one."

"So, open it!" Barrington prodded his shoulder. “Demonstrate your expertise!”

More stalwart footsoldier than translator of ancient symbols, and not subtle in his dispensation, Tyler shoved Barrington through the door.

Barrington's screams died quickly.

Tyler turned to the others, pointing. “That one.”

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

The Cure for Global Warming​

“Are you sure?”

"Yes, Sir!"

"So, according to your translation, the message from the alien ship twenty miles above us says."

“This planet is due for demolition to make way for a super cosmic highway. You have one twenty-fourth of your planet's rotational periods to leave before demolition begins.”

“What shall we to do, Sir?”

“Well, I don’t know about you sergeant, but I’m going to have a bath and look for a towel.”

 

[Starbeast]

The New Attraction for
Professor Fate's
Galaxy of Terror
CIRCUS​

"Mr Parker, this monster, understands english?"

"Correct, Mr Fate."

"Gwargk".

"What'd he say?"

"He's thirsty." Hands creature a water bottle. "See. He's friendly."

"But not dangerous?"

"Only if you upset him. Here's a phonetic word translation booklet. Well, I'm off to Altair 4."

"Wait, Mr Parker. What's his name?"

Replies smiling, "Kroikakorrak". Then teleports to his ship.

"Krokacola." (***hole)

"WHARG!"

"I mean, Krokkikodak." (**** head)

"RWAAAAGH!"

"Kookikoko?"

"......You, female? Okay. We mate."

"Aiiiieee!"

"Dinner, first?"

 

[reddishbird]

Bouquet

He gestured sinuously with a tendril. There, a grove grew to maturity, flowered and fruited.
Lovely odours filled her senses: she gasped delightedly. One flower, deep red, meant ‘be mine’, the others being variants of this sentiment.
Then her brow rippled, tendrils curling. The furl tree, for ‘enclosed podding’ was missing. No pollinators graced the grove - so, he wanted nothing further?
She grew a spickle bush; rejection, dejection, and disgust. Retracting, his tendrils, he withered.

 

[Dan Jones]

The Interpreter

“What’s... it… say?” Scott’s breathing shallows, his legs shattered. These caverns are treacherous this deep, and his eagerness to read the runes he’d spotted had overriden his judgment of the rappel.

And I hear growls dripping through the darkness.

I study the runes by dying torchlight. “Safe haven ahead,” I lie.

Satisfied he’ll survive, he drifts into unconsciousness. The growls grow hungrier, bloodier. So – God forgive me! – I heed the runes’ real message.

Turn back!

 

[Edoc'sil]

The Eternal Island

“They have no word for death.”

“It’ll just be a repurposed word, like end; used in a different context.”

“I have pored over transcripts, listened to recorded conversations, spoken with them directly! They have no concept of death.”

“How? They kill their food, do they not?”

“They’re vegetarians. There are no animals on the island, not even insects.”

“What about their loved one’s deaths?”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen one...”​

 

[Guttersnipe]

The Beginning of the End

"Tell him all we want is peace," said the Venusian.

"She says that war between your empires is imminent," said the translator bot.

"I don't understand," said the Martian, "You beg for more destruction?"

"He says that if you want war, then they're ready for it."

And so the renewed war between Mars and Venus was waged, causing
both species to approach near extinction.

And so marked the beginning of an empire--that of robotkind.

 

[Valtharius]

The Sibylline Scrolls

The old man opened the chest and gazed upon the ancient documents inside. "The Sibylline Scrolls." he said in a low voice.

"Thank you for finding those for me." a voice from behind him said "You will have my undying gratitude if you translate the prophecy as well."

"I'd prefer to die." the old man replied.

"If you wish to die in this cave my old friend, then I shall grant you that."

 

[mosaix]

Everything You Thought You Knew Is Wrong.

“Welcome to Area 51 Interrogation Suite, Kraal,” said Carlson. “We’ve been listening in on your transmissions for decades, so we know much about your race already.”

“You delude yourselves. Our communications are based on lies, deception and confusion.”

“Really?”

“Yes. We never tell the truth. We always lie, deceive. It is our way.”

“Were you lying when you just said your communications were based on lies and deception?”

Kraal smiled. “Of course.”

Carlson’s eyes narrowed.

 

[elle telle]

Afterwords

Every surviving Eorkowin had the tell, that gut-punch-sick-force of symbolic understanding. The etchings in the stone threshold were faded and indecipherable, but they saw the towering spikes guarded by luminescent fur creatures and walked the other way. “What a great mystery,” the dead ones said. “We must discover what caused such an anomaly!”

It was no anomaly, the survivors knew. It was a warning left behind of what lay beyond.

 

[Sinergio]

THE INVISIBLE DETAIL

“Make me yours, destroy me, I want to die in your arms!” exclaimed the woman, excited at the prospect of having a sublime sexual relationship with the alien. Instead of agreeing to a peace treaty with the planet's hierarchs or destroying the cities, the aliens had swarmed out of the spaceships, curious and handsome, more beautiful than the most beautiful of humans, except for one invisible detail: in their language there was no figurative sense.​

 

[chrispenycate]

Wordlessly wet

Retractile claws grip sodden saddle blanket,
The Pony's cautious in the pouring, tree-filled dark,
Such treecat optimism, until sunset sank it,
Extinguished to barely discernible spark.

Communication totally unthinkable
Across such diff'rences of comprehension
Neither equipped for symbolic vocal speech,
With hide to fur unique declension

In temporary mitigation
Reminiscence of hay-barn dry
Of streaming hide to soggy fur translation.
Mute, mutual choice cooperation
Invisible remembered haven drawing nigh.
Non vocal communication invoked, solidify.​

 

[Mr Orange]

Galos’o Taramet’ar (I like your sexy goose)



The 7-foot, armoured Flavorkian stepped forward. King Chandria looked at his interpreter.

“Melvedere, tell her we welcome her horde as our guests.”

“Aaah… Galos’o taramet’ar?”

The Flavorkian roared and drew her blade.

-------------------------

4 years earlier:

“And you speak Flavorkian?”

“Sure… Galos’o taramet’ar.”

The clerk shrugged and stamped the application.

Melvedere could not believe the scam worked. He’d got a cushy palace job and with the Flavorkians three realms away, what could possibly go wrong?

 

[Hugh]

The Key​

It was the one surviving text of a long forgotten civilization, and had baffled scholars for decades. Yet he knew he’d begun to find a way into it: certain pictograms repeated themselves and appeared to form the building blocks for something else.
Suddenly he sensed a doorway open in his awareness, and light and understanding poured in. He felt himself drawn through this portal and welcomed into the vibrant world of a supposedly dead civilization.

 

[johnnyjet]

A Soul to the Universe, Wings to the Mind

The gray valley emitted sounds. All else was silent in the deadlands between this world's linked valleys.

I lead the first scouting mission. Winding pathways ended at a scattering of huts. Tall, thin natives gathered, producing lilting noises, accompanied by low tones from the trees.

When this haunting fusion of sounds ceased, I wondered how our dull oration would compare. How could we communicate with these people when so long ago we abandoned music?

 

[Peter V]

Monolith

Liz studied the feint silver tracings on the obsidian obelisk, until recently the only alien artifact discovered throughout humankind’s expansion into the galaxy.

“Fifty years and still no one has a clue what it means?”

“We have no experience in alien languages and until you found the extra-terrestrial equivalent to the Rosetta Stone, no way to unlock its mysteries. Can you decipher it?” Professor Schultz asked, impatiently.

“Yes. You are here.”

“I know I…”

“Oh.”

 

[Dave]

Boaty McBoatface​

Excitement grew over the Population Control Centre’s latest competition. The highest rated topic on all communication channels, it was a chance for citizens to show their language creativity and originality. Dulcie was keen to take part in the contest. All her contacts seemed equally enthusiastic. It would be the first legal birth in over seventy years. Of course, she had never seen a real child herself, and just what name did you give a baby?​

 

[M. Robert Gibson]

And that's why the Human/Troll war started.

After several months I'd gathered my translation team for the first Human/Troll trade negotiations: Ilithilia, for Human to Elvish; Dwahin, Elvish to Dwarven; and Skarn, Dwarven to Troll.

Following etiquette, I opened by praising the Troll kingdom.

"Your homeland is like mighty coastal boulders." Unfortunately, similes don't translate well...

Ilithilia: "Your fatherland is large rocks on the shore."

Dwahin: "Your motherland is big stones on a beach."

Skarn: "Your mother is a fat pebble."

 

[Moonbat]

Just ask Big Brother​

It was dangerous using this tech.
It was too clever and could see into your soul, it would tell you things you didn’t even know you didn’t want to know. It could translate subconscious intent and unrealised desire. It could give you answers to the questions you were too afraid to ask without you asking them.
But I had to risk it, there was too much as stake.
Her life depended on it….

‘OK google...’

 

[Parson]

Insights and Literal Translations​

X37YY growled at the translation and repeated Its mantra: “This ridiculous language and its love of metaphors!”

It read the debate commentary translation again: “That was a hot unorganized situation, inside a motorized freight/people carrier accident.” X37YY knew It was missing something. It looked at the rejoinder. “What it really was, was an excrement exhibition.”

X37YY groaned plaintively, “Why had It become a Political Xenologist?”

---------

X37YY’s Summary: “Governments were run by crass second-rate performance celebrities.”