"Mister President." Retorts Karen Krahn. "It's not like we have ever encountered a spacecraft from another world before. This is a first for all of humanity."
"Look at these pictures." the President replies, not hearing what she has to say. "They don't even have any eyes! How do they see?"
"Mister President. I believe you should stop looking at these aliens as some kind of monsters," says a frustrated Karen. "Obviously they are truly more advanced than we are, traveling across the galaxy to reach us." The Science Advisor pauses here to contemplate the President's last statement, then says with as much conviction as possible, "Maybe they have some kind of combine telepathy and telekinesis where they can mentally see who they are communicating with while moving, shaping, and building objects with their minds?"
"Then explain all that clicking sound they make when they are walking around outside of their craft." the President responds. "And that other gurgling noise they make when they seem to be facing each other."
Karen gets close to shouting, "I have no idea!"
An assistant to Science Advisor hiding in a corner, tries to interrupt timidly, "I believe I have the answer to the clicking...."
"Who the hell are you and why are you talking?" demands an arrogant President.
Staring angrily at the President, Karen says vehemently, "She is with me Mister President and why don't you shut up for once and let someone else talk."
A pouting President concedes to his advisor with a little gurgling noise of his own but doesn't say another word.
Karen then looks to her assistant, saying, "Go ahead."
"Well, my cousin is blind and she doesn't get around with a seeing eye dog. She gets around by making stomping sounds with her feet, tapping her cane, snapping her fingers, and making clicking noises with her mouth. It's called echolocation and blind people have been doing it for ages."
The President looks confused at this point and in these situations he always keeps quiet to let his advisors speak first so he doesn't look the fool.
Karen thinks about what her assistant said for a second then says jubilantly, "Your a genius, Qaifa. I believe you are spot on. This takes away half the problem for our linguists to figure out their speech patterns."
The Science Advisor looks to the President saying, "Now all we have to do is find something both species have in common. Like physics!"
In the coming months, the linguists did find a common starting point with the aliens, with the President smartly giving Qaifa the credit for discovering the first clue to understanding the aliens.
This is,
Echo-locating Ideas For Fiction All The Time,
Jim Hauenstein,
And,
"Bumblebee bat, how do you see at night?"
"I make a squeaky sound that bounces back from whatever it hits. I see by hearing."
- Darrin Lunde -
That is my story and I am sticking to it!
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