{"id":2778,"date":"2025-05-11T07:28:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T14:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2025-05-11T07:28:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T14:28:57","slug":"found-in-translation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/11\/found-in-translation\/","title":{"rendered":"Found in Translation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Center your story around an important message that reaches the wrong person.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGreg, come up right away. Oh, and tell the analysts to drop anything they\u2019re working on right now, this takes priority.\u201d She returned the handset to the cradle. The hard-line communication system was older than anything else in the building. In fact, it was older than anything on the moon that wasn\u2019t in a museum or itself a tourist attraction. It was secure, though, and that mattered most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The swarthy, mustachioed man burst into her office with a harried air and unkempt hair. \u201cWhat is it, Grace? Did the signal office pick something up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace turned her monitor around to show Greg. \u201cNot exactly. I got copied on a conversation thread, that I don\u2019t think I was meant to be included in. Sent from the office of Pritnan Antinan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho the hell is that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the sound of that name didn\u2019t give it away, he\u2019s from the Nannanan Exclave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI figured that, I just don\u2019t know that name.\u201d Greg studied the message closer and began to point out the other names. \u201cBut that\u2019s the Ambassador\u2019s aide, that\u2019s their security chief on the station, and I think that\u2019s their Premier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight on all. Pritnan Antinan is their Minister of War.\u201d Grace shook her head. \u201cI can\u2019t figure out what this would be about, or why my name would be in the Minister\u2019s contacts. We met here, briefly, at the gala last year. Charming enough for a mass of tentacles, if a little intense, but that\u2019s all I know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg produced a data crystal and tapped it to the screen. \u201cI\u2019ll get this downstairs to the analysts. We\u2019ll get it decrypted, and then you<\/em> can figure out what translator to call in, since you\u2019ll have to read them in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe analysts can\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo. They have one job. Don\u2019t try to confuse them with others.\u201d Greg stopped halfway out the door. \u201cI didn\u2019t know they even had<\/em> a Minister of War.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeems wholly unlike them, right? They have a Minister for everything they do, and everything they try to avoid at all costs, like the Minister of Disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg just grunted and ran back to his underground office. \u201cI\u2019ve got a hot one for you two,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you, Greg,\u201d Analyst One said. \u201cWe look forward to assisting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow much data do we have?\u201d Analyst Two asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA message thread. Looks like a dozen or so messages, some of them pages long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMay I suggest Analyst One begins overall parsing while I start with the shortest messages first?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhatever works best, A-Two,\u201d Greg answered. He tapped the data crystal against the stack of machines in his office, marked \u2018A-1\u2019 and \u2018A-2\u2019 before sitting at his desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve probably already realized, but the messages are between Nann-Ex members, so I\u2019m unsure what the language will be,\u201d Greg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s odd,\u201d Analyst Two said. \u201cThese short messages all correspond directly to English and decrypt as such using a simple replacement cipher. There\u2019s really nothing here to challenge us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do you figure that?\u201d Greg asked. \u201cI\u2019m looking at the encrypted message and the English, but I\u2019m not seeing how it lines up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDoes this help?\u201d Analyst-Two asked, displaying the English text written in the symbols of the Nannanan common language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe entire message chain is ready for download,\u201d Analyst One said. \u201cIf that is all, we shall return to our previous assignments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks,\u201d Greg said, tapping the crystal against his terminal to download the decrypted messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sat beside Grace as they read the decrypted messages together. \u201cTheir English is atrocious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not used outside human space. Maybe they figured they\u2019d be able to better hide what they were talking about.\u201d Grace paused. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a ship with my name, but that\u2019s what this message says. Is it possible the routing AI passed it on to me when it identified my name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPossible,\u201d Greg answered. \u201cWe set up all the infrastructure for the Nann-Ex. Of course, that depends on whether they left it on the default settings.\u201d He paused. \u201cYeah, that\u2019s probably what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m more worried about this,\u201d she said, \u201chere. We\u2019re going to war against ourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat would make them think that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace picked up the handset of the relic and clicked the buttons it rested on a couple times. \u201cGet me General Ochoe.\u201d She listened for a moment. \u201cGood morning, General. We have a worrying message from the Nannanan Exclave. \u2026 Sure, come over. I\u2019ll start a fresh pot of coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she hung up, Greg was already moving across her office to the coffee pot. \u201cI got this. Extra strong, just like she likes it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general came in as the coffee maker dinged, signifying it was ready to dispense. \u201cLooks like I\u2019m right on time,\u201d she said, putting her Marine Academy mug under the spout. \u201cNo cream, no sugar.\u201d The coffee maker filled her mug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg offered her the seat he\u2019d been using, next to Grace. \u201cSomething odd\u2019s going on in Nann-Ex.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHello, Greg, Grace,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace took the hint about the niceties. \u201cHi, Nandi. This message chain is concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general sat and sipped her coffee while reading through the messages. \u201cTheir English is about on par with half the junior officers.\u201d She chuckled. \u201cThis is obviously about the training exercise on Breton. The ship they misidentified as the Grace Alvarez is the Greta Andreesen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do you figure that?\u201d Grace asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause the Andreesen is part of the OPFOR for the Breton Resolve exercise, and auto-correct is a thing that will forever haunt us.\u201d Nandi leaned back. \u201cI think we should bring a couple of the Nannanan higher-ups in as observers, including Minister Pritnan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can do that?\u201d Greg asked. \u201cI know you\u2019ve got some pull, but I didn\u2019t realize\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI served with Evan \u2014 the SecDef \u2014 when we were both butter-bars,\u201d Nandi cut him off. \u201cI\u2019ll send a message and let him know that we should be including them in several training exercises. At least until they get the concept.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u201d Grace said. \u201cSurely they train.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of those things that was redacted from a number of reports. When the Nannanan were still under Kalari rule, \u2018training exercise\u2019 meant something else entirely.\u201d The general sighed. \u201cThe Kalari Empire would take the fresh troops along on a sure-win mission in order to get them blooded. It was usually against weak resistance forces, and usually from their own home world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh,\u201d Grace closed her eyes. \u201cDamn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet Ambassador Ritnannan know that we\u2019re inviting his people to the exercise. I\u2019ll call Evan, and we\u2019ll have Minister Pritnan on his way to Breton by this afternoon. Thanks for the coffee.\u201d Nandi stood, downing the last of her coffee, then left the office as though it had been nothing more than a casual chat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m curious about something,\u201d Greg said. \u201cCan you load up the original message?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d she asked, even as she loaded it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExamine headers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace followed his instructions to peer into the formatting of the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He chuckled and pointed. \u201cYep, default settings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There, buried in all the metadata from the communication software was the log line, \u201cContact added to CC; Name found in translation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Center your story around an important message that reaches the wrong person. available at Reedsy \u201cGreg, come up right away. Oh, and tell the analysts to drop anything they\u2019re working on right now, this …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[210,228,209],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-fiction","tag-science-fiction","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-IO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2779,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/2779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}