Protected Fossils and Windowless Train Cars

Well, I've finally been cleared to ride the train. Apparently there were a lot of medical tests and such they had to do before I left the first city, but now after a few doctor visits and some navigating through the tunnels I'm sitting in a windowless subway car with a bunch of Tzállö pointing their ears at me -- I think their trying to get a better look at my little "computer". The yela'kaja was telling me they have difficulty seeing force-field screens.

The train station seems a lot like a subway station, except the platform is a lot smaller and what little graffiti I see is engraved instead of spray painted. Oh, and of course there's the fact that it's completely dark except for my own light and all the signs are engraved in Fbeki with the time and destination of various trains as they arrive are displayed with little mechanical squares that move in and out.

One of the squares on the middle display seemed kinda stuck halfway, which the yela'kaja complained about at the time. Before he went off cursing the incompetence of the Tzállö in Xala, he said something like, "I got here two days before you did and had to sgêkajec two languages. It's hard enough for me to read the signs without them malfunctioning ..." I'm really not sure what he's talking about, but I think I'll wait until he cools off.

On the way onto the platform, I saw a random force-field screen on a side wall. It was sort of a strange sight, since I hadn't seen any Xala force-fields other than on my own little writing device until that point, so I asked about it and, surprisingly, the yela'kaja immediately signaled to a guard and said something in Fbeki. The next thing I knew, the guard passed his hand over a control crystal on the big square field generator or whatever you call it and there was a fossil of some sort of ancient animal there. I'm not sure what it was exactly, or whether it was mammal or reptile or what, but it had a long tail sort of curved around, some decent claws, and it looked like it had eye sockets--which seems strange when the only creature you know of on the planet has no eye sockets and nothing to put in them. The guard didn't know much about it.

The yela'kaja explained to me later that the Tzállö have a custom of incorporation any fossils they find when digging a tunnel into the actual structure--after it's cataloged and studied a bit and moved into a better spot. He tells me that since Xala forcefields can be made transparent to Tzállö echolocation (though this one apparently wasn't transparent to light), it was a natural move to put up electrified force fields to keep too many passers-by from touching them. "It keeps the oils of Tzállö fingers from damaging the old rock. The same system is currently used for older works of art where some of the original textures have been lost for too long to repair. The newer works you saw in the gallery are specially treated to prevent such degradation, and regularly inspected and repaired when everyday damage occurs." I think someone asked about that on the last post -- there's your answer.

Anyway, the force-field went back up pretty quickly once my train came in, and now I'm sitting here, with no indication of how fast we're going with a bunch of Tzállö looking at me. It's really quiet here, too. The yela'kaja has an explanation for that, too. "The Tzállö have found many ways to reduce or block the sounds in their machinery, as certain electronic and mechanical devices can emit ultrasonic or near-ultrasonic frequencies that sometimes disrupt their echolocation systems." He went on to talk to me about how the initial startup of Xala force-fields bothers them, which I already know first hand -- nearly got me busted lip. He also said that if Earth were to enter the Trade network, then from his research he would suggest that any Tzállö visitors be kept away from active TV screens. Not sure why, but I figure it has something to do with sound.