They've let me out of the quarantine cell, finally. We had a guided tour of the little underground city where I'll be staying. Of course, there wasn't much for me to grab hold of, since the only light I had was from my own flashlight strapped to my head. The flashlight itself isn't even that interesting, it looks just like a regular electric light, possibly a bit more advanced as the bulb is very bright and the batteries haven't burnt out in the hours that I've had it.
One thing that I notice is the walls. After Kesata with its sculptures and brightly colored rooms this place seems dull and grim. We did see some statues of some historical figures, but most of them are not nearly as detailed as Kesatan sculptures. They do have some very good textures on a few of the statues, but they seem to be smoothed out over all, and of course none of them are painted. The more important statues are made with granite, while some others are made with some gray rock, maybe shale, and a few are made from what looks like coal.
The signs on the walls are interesting. The yela'kaja pointed them out to me. The letters are all big blocky shapes cut out of the walls. He tells me that this type of lettering is easier to read by echolocation, and he's also going to bring me a Fbeki book (the Tzállö language is called Fbeki) so I can see their other alphabet, which from what he describes is similar to what's on the walls but is felt with your fingers like Braille. I definitely won't be staying here long.
By the way, I only got one yela'kaja, in human form, as humans can apparently pronounce all the sounds in the Tzállö language. That's what they tell me, at least. From the sound of it, I have my doubts as to whether I could do it myself.
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4 comments:
Just wondering, but do you think the statues might be smoothed over from people touching them? I don't know about the Tzállö, but I know that with humans, the oils in our fingers can do additional damage to stonework above and beyond what the actual rubbing does.
Have the people been very social? Or do they prefer not to have any contact with people not of their species?
The Xala really ought to supply you with some device that performs echolocation and displays the results visually. Human technology can do this (sonar), so the Xala should definitely be able to manage it.
I don't know about the touching thing. According to the yela'kaja here, Tzállö don't usually touch the statues in the public tunnels. I have no idea.
About the sonar, I really don't think that would help me at all. Looking at a screen while walking down a corridor just wouldn't be easy for me to coordinate.
I was thinking more of a set of glasses (looking a bit like night-vision goggles). Such an echolocation device should be usable by you for a long periods, as long as they are not too heavy or too bulky. (ISTR you wear glasses anyway, though I can't find where you mentioned it.)
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