FICTION
The original Babel fish
This is the third story in the Cyrus Song series of short stories, which I'm now working on as a novel. The two stories which precede this are in my anthology. For those unable to buy my book, original versions of both stories are still on this blog.
Why do I give my writing away for free? For my own benefit, so that others may get a taste of my style, then perhaps buy my books, which contain more. And of course, it's exposure, in the hope that one day someone might notice. But more importantly, it's sharing something which I enjoy doing. If people get something from reading my stories, that's worth more than money. If the odd reader feels they'd like to donate to my cause by buying a book, that helps.
If I could give everyone a gift, I'd give them the means to understand what I'm trying to say. I'd give them a Babel fish...
The Babel fish
“If you want to see differently, listen.”
I always dine with a guest, and tonight's was obsession. Given the nature of my work, I normally dine alone, but the guest is one chosen from the many who share my mind. I can live with many, but can only question one at a time to find out if it's the best pursuit of my aim: To talk with the animals.
I tried to place the enormity of the previous day into some sort of context. But even though I’m a writer, there were insufficient words to explain it, no matter how numerous and intertwined I made them. Less is more in literature, suffice it to say, I’d listened to animals talking. I'd heard white mice speaking:
"If only they could hear the dawn chorus. All those voices: The sopranos in harmony with the baritone of the sun: Earth's choir. Then they'd hear the whispers from the trees, the humming of the clouds and the ghosts in the wind. But they don't listen."
It's always after the event that you realise what you should have said, or asked. Of course, by then it's too late: An event has been created and there's no way of going back to change it. Such is the nature of life and of space time: Both are the natural scheme of things, intricately woven together.
The night before the morning I found myself writing this, this story could have been so different. Mine was a story with a protagonist but without a hero. I'd returned home with two white mice and Doctor Hannah Jones had gone on somewhere else; I didn't think to ask where that might be and she didn't think to tell me. Every story needs a hero and I certainly wasn't it. I hoped the doctor wasn't mistaking my obsession with the Babel fish for one with her. There was everything to admire, including her invention of a universal translation device in said fish.
The Babel fish was a computer program, named after the fictional universal translation device invented by Douglas Adams. Simply put, it could translate any language into any other, including animal languages. Using a wide frequency range, the Babel fish could hear animal sounds which are inaudible to humans. Either that, or it read minds. In any case, the upshot was that it could translate any animal language into any human one. The reversal of this was still at a research stage, but there was nothing to make me think that it couldn't translate my words into ones which each different animal would understand. If so, I would have something which I could devote my life to writing about. Hannah had something which could win her a Nobel prize, but she'd need persuasion to even continue her research.
Who might be a hero to Doctor Jones? She herself was probably in her late twenties or early thirties. She was small: short and slim. She had long, red hair, which gave a fiery frame to a pretty bespectacled face. She was intelligent, intuitive and witty; She was perhaps a little guarded, maybe introverted. I was an extrovert on paper: I could be anything in the words which spilled from my typewriter. If anyone were to read those words, they might find me. As it stood, I was just like Hannah but without the red hair and probably less intelligent, intuitive and witty. The only thing I had over her was about 10-15 years.
I wondered how my two white mice might perceive the situation. I wouldn't know because I couldn't hear what they were saying without Doctor Jones. If I spoke, would they understand me?
"You see", I said. "The thing is. Well, the things are, I suppose. I wonder if I should be writing about all of this. I'm not even sure what I'm writing about, let alone what it might become or where it may end up. It has so much potential, yet I'm not sure I'm the right person to be in charge of something so important. Should I let go, just walk away and let someone else finish what I've started? What might someone else think of all this? Would they use it for their own gains, or simply dismiss it? The latter remains a problem, even if I do decide to write about it."
The mice carried on being mice, so I decided to sleep on it.
When I awoke, it was still there: The next day, the problem still existed. And so did the mice.
I couldn't just blunder into the PDSA in New Cross again. I'd done that twice already, most recently with the two white mice, Victoria and Julie, and I'd heard them talking. Doctor Jones also had an electron microscope, for looking at really tiny things, like viruses and bacteria: There were clues that there might be whole other universes in the sub-atomic world. I looked around my studio: I hadn't cleaned the place for a couple of days and it was getting quite dusty. I was reluctant to do the housework, for fear of the consequences which might befall countless microscopic things, which may or may not be there. I couldn't take my entire living space to Doctor Jones. The logical thing to do would be to ask Hannah over. But I couldn't do that as the studio was so dusty. I had reached an impasse in my story. I decided to phone the hospital.
Doctor Jones was unavailable. I asked if I might perhaps call back when she was free. Doctor Jones was unavailable for the rest of the day.
Was Hannah unwell? On annual leave? Abducted; killed? Paranoia now joined obsession at the dining table.
"Doctor Jones isn't available all day", said reception.
"Will she be back tomorrow?"
"We don't know. Is there a medical emergency? We have other vets."
No other "Vet" would do. Might one of these "Other vets" be in Hannah's lab at that very moment? In the very same room as the Babel fish?
"Is there a medical emergency?", reception said again. "Mr Fry?" That's me.
I looked at Victoria Wood and Julie Walters in their cage. I could perhaps argue that those two being in a cage was an emergency. But what would be the point of going to New Cross anyway, if the doctor I needed to see wasn't there?
"She's on house calls today, Mr Fry."
I'd been rumbled. I hung up.
House calls: Care in the community. It was a logical progression of the little I'd learned up to then about Doctor Hannah Jones, although somewhat counter to her ethos of leaving work at the workplace, for fear of becoming even more emotionally attached to the animals. It was that fear which prevented her from using the very device she'd invented: The Babel fish. But in this respect, I supposed it was entirely different: She still wasn't getting too attached to the patients by hearing them speak, then not being able to leave them, or feeling she had to take them home with her: She was visiting them in their own homes, where she couldn't hear them speak. The fact remained that wherever she was, it wasn't actually her that I needed, it was the machine.
But the Babel fish / Doctor Jones situation was a self-perpetuating one: One needed the other. It was like the TARDIS and The Doctor, with the Doctor refusing to get in the box. I had the makings of a story, but for that reluctant passenger.
It didn't matter. What difference would it make if the story was never told? In my hands, none at all.
By a strange coincidence, none at all was the level of chance I'd assumed I had of hearing from Doctor Jones that day. Suddenly and for no apparent reason, my mobile phone rang: What were the chances? Probably one, to the power of the caller's number, against. It was the animal hospital.
"Simon Fry?" That's how I answer my phone: There's always an upward inflection in my voice, which annoys me. It's as though I'm questioning who I am.
"Mr Fry, it's Doctor Jones." Having just used my first name, I wondered why Hannah hadn't introduced herself with hers. I guessed she was maintaining professional protocol. "From the hospital", she said. I knew that: It was the hospital's number calling me and I knew that Doctor Jones worked there. She really was professional. "You called." I had.
"Erm, yes. There's something I'd like to show you." Actually, I had nothing to show Hannah but if I'd merely said I'd like to talk to her about something, she might have suggested we did that over the phone, or dismissed me completely.
"Is it a patient?" She asked.
"Yes", I said. What on earth was I thinking?
Doctor Jones had appointments for the rest of the afternoon, but if I'd like to go to the hospital, she said she'd try to fit me in.
The waiting room was busier than before, with half a dozen patients besides me and my rabbit. I'd heard other animals speak when I'd used the Babel fish before, but it was rabbits that intrigued me. Because if you look a rabbit, any rabbit, directly in the eyes, they really look like they want to tell you something. All the animals could speak and I could hear them. I hadn't discounted Douglas Adams' theory on dolphins and mice, and I'd not yet heard a dolphin's sounds translated, but for me it was rabbits. Much as I admired Douglas, I wondered if he'd missed something. I was continuing his work. I believed that it was the rabbits who could tell us the answer, to life, the universe, and everything.
I pondered a little riddle to bide the time, about the animals in that room: Here were six animals and between them, they had 18 legs. If there were no means of seeing the animals in the room, what might people suppose them to be, based on the collective number of legs alone?
There were two cats in baskets: One was a tabby and the other was black, with a white chest: It looked like it was dressed for dinner, in a black suit and white shirt.
There were two dogs, from the polar extremes of the canine world: A huge, furry beast, the size of a small horse, and a tiny little Chihuahua cross breed thing. It looked like it probably yapped a lot, and as though it's bulbous eyes would pop out if it was squeezed firmly enough.
All domestic dogs share a common ancestor in the grey wolf and as such, any canine can cross breed with any other. Theoretically then, given a step ladder, the little dog could mate with the larger one in the waiting room and produce offspring: What curious things those would be.
The other two patients were a Mynah bird in a cage and a Burmese python around a young girl's shoulders. Given the Mynah bird's famous ability to mimic human sounds in captivity, I wondered if the Babel fish might be redundant if I were to have an opportunity to listen to the bird. The python looked to be quite young, at around ten feet in length. Docile and inquisitive, as those snakes are, it was tasting the air with its forked tongue. I'd taken an instant dislike to the small bug-eyed dog and I crossed my fingers for no reason at all.
"Mr Fry?" That's me. It was Doctor Jones.
"Yes, that's me."
Hannah didn't even wait until we were on the other side of the door before she said the sort of curious thing I'd heard on my previous visits. In fact, I clearly heard her mumble it as soon as I stood up: "Oh, for fuck's sake." Charles was quite reluctant to cross the room on his lead, so I picked him up and carried him.
As we walked into Doctor Jones' examination room, she was reading from her notes: "Charles Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. A rabbit. Really?"
"Well, I had to think quickly as I filled out the form. You see, I only picked him up on the way here."
"He's on a fucking lead." For someone so pretty, she had a very potty mouth.
"Yes. He's a house rabbit. Actually, he's a flat rabbit: I live in a flat. I don't have a garden and even if I did, I wouldn't want him all cooped up in a cage outside. Then I'd have to call him David Soul." Doctor Jones looked at me with a slightly surprised face. "Because", I continued, "then he'd be Starsky in a hutch you see?"
"Oh, I see. Believe me, I see."
"He just looked so sad in the shop, like he wanted to tell me something. And I couldn't carry a hutch here, so I got him a nice lead. It suits him, don't you think?"
"He suits you, Mr Fry."
"Yes, so I thought I'd bring Charles for an initial check-up."
"Really? Nothing to do with the Babel fish then?" She was very clever. "Fine.": Result. "I do have other patients to see, Mr Fry. Charles looks like a fine rabbit to me. Same as before: You sit in the corner and try to just," She paused. "Not be here."
A splendid plan.
The first patient was the cat in the DJ: His name was Eddie, and his human was a lady, probably in her late 40s, called Liz. Liz would perhaps have been a little unconventional outside of Lewisham, or London for that matter: Clearly a little eccentric and perhaps a tad over made-up, but completely at ease within herself. She wore a bright red tunic with a faux fur collar, over a frilly white dress shirt, the cuffs extending flamboyantly from beneath her coat. She had hair which was jet black, but for a white streak which ran through her parting: Whether it was exposed roots or a flourish of peroxide, it didn't matter. Liz wore tight black leather trousers, cut short at the ankle to accentuate her ankles, furnished with a silver anklet. She wore bright red shoes with stiletto heels and she tottered a little.
"So what's troubling Eddie?" Hannah asked.
"Well, I don't know really", Liz said in a surprisingly masculine voice. Liz was just as at home in himself as he was in this part of London, or anywhere: What a wonderful person. Liz continued: "He's just not been going out so much."
I was so enamoured by Liz that I almost forgot to put the headphones on. The microphone was either still above Hannah's table from the last time I'd been there, or she'd replaced it in expectation of my making a return visit.
I switched the Babel fish on and heard a familiar static feedback as I typed in "Cat". Then I slid the mouse pointer across the screen, before picking up Eddie's voice:
"...drilling." Eddie's voice was male but effeminate. I only caught the last word and it sounded like "Drilling": For what? Eddie continued: "Pour tout ce qui est derrière le mur. Vous ne le sentez?"
How naieve I must have been to assume that all animals spoke in English. Eddie was drilling for whatever was behind the wall. Surely just a cavity? A dead mouse perhaps.
"So, he's normally an outdoors chap?" Hannah had a remarkable ability to anthropomorphise animals. Eddie was certainly a "Chap".
"All the time, except when he needs food."
"Je suis un, 'ow you say, chat de ruelle?" Alley cat. "Vous pensez que vous me entendez ronronnement. Je perce." You think you hear me purr: I drill.
Hannah conducted the familiar physical examination of a cat: Lifting Eddie's lips to check his gums and checking his nostrils for moisture. Humans owned by cats frequently ask if a dry, warm nose means their cat is sick. The short answer is no. A healthy cat's nose can vary between wet and dry several times over the course of a day. And there are many reasons a cat can have a dry, warm nose that have nothing to do with health.
Next, Doctor Jones squeezed Eddie's belly, picking his rear end up so that his front paws remained on the table. She was checking his gut for blockages or perhaps a twisted colon.
"Je suis un chat, pas une brouette." If ever there were a feline Star Trek, Eddie would play Doctor McCoy.
Then Hannah lifted Eddie's tail to check for signs of worms.
"I can't see that there is anything at all wrong with this young man", Hannah said to Liz. He's a cat. He looks like the kind of cat who just likes being a cat. I'd just let him get on with doing that. If he shows any obvious signs of not being himself, by all means bring him back in but for now, I can't see anything at all to worry about."
"Okay". Somehow, Liz didn't seem at all surprised. Eddie made his own independent way into his basket.
"Ma couverture. Tapis magique. Emmenez moi au le Catnip." Eddie was on drugs: What a fantastic cat he was.
I didn't get a chance to speak to Doctor Jones. Not long after Liz and Eddie had left, Hannah returned with an elderly lady and the Mynah bird.
Part of the starling family, Mynah birds are remarkably intelligent, and famed for their ability to mimic the sounds they hear around them. "Myna" is derived from the Hindi language mainā, which itself is derived from Sanskirt madanā. I was especially intrigued by this patient, because it's mimickry of the sounds around it may be just that, or it could be that the Babel fish was able to translate its voice into something different; perhaps something entirely unexpected.
I tuned the Babel fish in: "....Yes dear", was what I heard through the headphones as the bird said "Yes dear".
Doctor Jones looked at her notes, then at the old lady. "So this is Ronnie?"
"Yes dear." Said the lady.
"Yes dear." Said the bird.
"And what's the problem?"
"Well", said the old girl. "He's got a problem with his foot."
"Foot, yes." Said the bird.
"He keeps holding it up all the time."
"Time, yes."
"It's like he's in pain", the lady said.
"Pain, yes", said the bird. He clearly had a condition known in humans as Echolalia.
"And it's always the same leg?" Hannah was being intuitive again.
"Leg, yes." Said the Mynah bird.
"I think so", said the old lady.
I was a little bored to be honest, so I twiddled with the controls on the Babel fish. Doctor Jones continued to ask the old lady questions and the Mynah bird kept repeating the last few words the old dear said. For a moment, I completely lost the conversation. Then as I tuned back in, the Mynah bird said something quite unexpected:
"...unexpected, yes." I couldn't be sure if I'd heard that through the headphones or in the room. I didn't even hear a diagnosis or a prognosis. I was figuratively floored.
Hannah, the old lady and the Mynah bird had left the room. I remembered Charles Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, on the floor. I looked down at him and he looked up at me. He had that rabbit look, like he really wanted to say something.
I grabbed the microphone and typed "Rabbit" into the Babel fish. I pointed the mic at my rabbit: Nothing.
"Well?", I said.
I lifted his ears and laid the microphone on the floor in front of him: Nothing. Surely he'd heard me? Did I have an ironic deaf rabbit?
Hannah was out of the room, so I unplugged the headphones. Maybe they were faulty. Perhaps Charles was trying to say something and I hadn't heard him.
I turned the speakers on the computer up to 11. I blew into the microphone to make sure it was working: Charles didin't even flinch at what sounded like a clap of thunder.
“Aren't you going to tell me the answer? To life, the universe and everything? Or explain why the answer is 42? Because we've been asking the wrong questions? Isn't the earth just one big organic computer, designed to work it all out? I'm carrying on Douglas' work. I've listened to mice. I've not translated dolphins. But the mice said the answers could be heard in nature: In the dawn chorus, in the wind, and all around us. And that's beautiful music, but it's not a voice. The planet must have a voice. So I theorised that the answer lies with rabbits, and the way you all look like you want to say something. And now I'm talking to you, and you're all ears. And now I've got a deaf and dumb rabbit? What's anyone supposed to ask you?” I was shouting at a rabbit, and the rabbit still looked like it was about to say something. But it didn't.
Eventually, I left: In frustration, I left the room and I left that cloth eared rabbit there.
I walked along the corridor between the examination room and the waiting area. As I got closer to the exit, I could hear Hannah's voice but it was mixed up with others. Then someone, somewhere, said the oddest thing:
"I don't really know how to say this."
Cyrus Song (the novel) is due for publication in early 2018. Follow the Facebook page for updates.
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