The stars spun beneath Pavani's, streaming past in an unending cascade. It was like a river of light, slowly spinning, mesmerizing. Every 90 seconds, in theory, the same patch of stars should rotate back into view, though its not like Pavani could tell any particular patch from any other. The drifting stars were so engaging that Pavani only noticed her friend had arrived when she coughed politely.
"Ryn!" Pavani gasped, and the two women embraced as well as they could with Pavani still sitting down. "Take a seat, take a seat!"
The chairs were metal, but the table was clear, the same fused quartz that made up the floor. Pavani didn't want to think about how hard it must be to keep clean. But thoughts of overworked janitorial staff were pushed away as Ryn finished placing her order, setting down the menu. "It's been too long, Ryn! How was the ride in, not too bad I hope?"
"Can't believe it was only 2 hours, I was so busy trying not to barf it felt like forever,"
"Don't they offer medication for that?"
"I thought I wouldn't need it, but by the time I realized I did, it was too late."
"Oh no"
"Yeah, I mean, I haven't been off of Lakeside Station before, and my parents said they never got space- sick, so I just hoped for the best,"
"What a way to find out, though,"
"Yeah, just awful"
"Well, speaking of never having been off of Lakeside before," Pavani said, spreading her arms wide "How do you like L5 so far?"
"Its huge! Oh my god Pavani, its massive!"
"I know right? You could see clear across Lakeside on a clear day, but here you can't see from one end to the other, unless the weather algorithm decides to make it extra nice,"
"Really? I knew L5 was big, but is it really that big?"
"20 miles, end to end. The atmosphere's thicker here to, more water vapor. There's several alien species that come from planets with higher humidity than earth, so the weather algorithm keeps it wetter. It also rains a lot more, too,"
"That must suck"
"You get used to it. The fact that there’s no winter more than makes up for it. Plus," Said Pavani, pulling out her phone "Its not like the weather algorithm isn't public access. The weather's supposed to be nice all week"
"I can't believe you get to live here"
"I don't 'get' to live here, being a grad student is hard work! You would not believe the students I've had to TA for,"
Ryn grimaced "Yeah, I remember being a freshman. Is the school part of grad school fun, at least?"
Pavani let out an exasperated sigh "No. Every time I think I've got a thesis I actually want to dig my teeth into, next thing I know, six months have gone by and I've lost all interest. Then I'm back to square one. My advisor says its fine, but I think hes starting to get annoyed"
"Well, what are you researching now?" asked Ryn, leaning over the table.
At this, Pavani lit up again "OK, so, right now, I'm working on 'untranslatable words,' words that don't translate well into English, or any other Earth languages. Words that Earth cultures just don't have context for. We don't have, for example, a good word for the Chirireep's instinctive fear of heights, oh whats the word," said Pavani, snapping her fingers together to try and remember, before perking up and emitting a low, drawn-out whistle, followed by two higher notes "At least, that's what its called in Tleechi, I don't know it in any of their other languages."
"Wait, hold on" interjected Ryn, eyes wide "You can *speak* an alien language?"
"Well, technically, I only know Human Simplified Tleechi. Humans don't have the right vocal equipment to properly speak any Chirireep languages," Pavani explained "But like, what did you think I was doing to get my xenolinguistics degree?"
"I certainly wasn't expecting you to speak them!"
Pavani shrugged "Human Simplified Tleechi is one thing, remind me tomorrow morning to bring some stuff I was working on for a previous thesis,"
Ryn was about to say something, but it was at thing point that their drinks arrived. Pavani had ordered a synthetic version of a Chirireep drink (figure out name later), while Ryn had gotten glass of mineral water, which Pavani suspected was just as artificial as her own drink. They both sipped from their drinks, and Pavani frowned at hers.
"Hows it taste?" Asked Ryn
"It tastes like, raspberries, lemon juice, and a lot of sugar. It's not bad," she said, taking another sip "But I expected something more, you know, alien"
"Pass it here, I want to try," to which Pavani obliged
"OH, Pavani, this just tastes like raspberry lemonade, how much did this cost?"
"Sixteen platbacks" Pavani grimaced
"*Sixteen*? That's highway robbery, Pavani"
"Not here. I'm glad I get my room and board largely covered by the university or I'd never make it"
"You could get a whole-ass meal back on Lakeside for sixteen platbacks"
"I know..." said Pavani, taking another sip of her drink "Doesn't even taste that fancy. I could probably make this at home. It is good though."
"Anyways, you were talking about untranslatable words?"
"Right. Yes, what I said about instinctive fear is a culturally untranslatable word, words which we don't have the proper cultural context to translate. But my research is in untranslatable words of a physical nature. For example, the Chirireep homeworld, Chendeerie, is mostly a forest composed of mile high trees, or even taller continental plateaus. But a big thing they don't have is large open bodies of water. No rivers, no lakes, technically no oceans. Some of the species of giant tree they live in collect water in a basin at their crown, and some languages have a word that is similar to 'raft', but it often has a cultural or religious significance that 'raft' doesn't have in English. Its like trying to explain the concept of a truck to someone, but the closest word you know of is parade float,"
"So where do you come into this?"
Pavani laughed "Nothing special, I'm just giving approximate translations to those untranslatable words, at least for now. We've had contact with the Chirireep for more than 150 years, but there's still a lot of words that don't translate well, on both sides,"
"Any other species?"
Pavani shrugged "Not really, the Chirireep have the biggest cultural differences, plus, once I get my PhD, I'm hoping to get a posting at the Earth embassy on Chendeerie. All the other homeworlds have analogues on Earth, but Chendeerie is the most alien of the bunch,"
Ryn lit up at this "Wow, that's so cool! Do you think I could come visit you?"
"I dunno, Ryn, Chendeerie is pretty closed off. I don't even know if I'll be able to get the posting. Even then, its a 6 month trip from here to Chendeerie. Could you even take that much time off of work?"
"Yeah. Ever since I got promoted, I've been running myself ragged trying to make sure the farm doesn't fall apart. I'm still on call in case one or another of the bacteria colonies goes off the rails,"
"Is growing dirt really that involved?"
"No, it's growing dirt *fast* that's the hard part. Mess up a mycellial inoculation or micronutrient dosage, and the whole thing goes belly up and you don't have dirt, you have a bunch of very dirty regolith, and you gotta start from square one. It's like falling dominoes, but you can't set it up ahead of time, you have to put them up as fast as they fall down. Never a moments rest, but never a dull moment."
"I wish I had fewer dull moments,"
"Not like this, Pavani, trust me. I'm still half expecting someone to give me a call and tell me some bozo's messed up a micronutrient dose and I'll have to fix it over the extranet on a 3 second delay" Ryn sighed deeply "But I'm here now, and that's what matters"
"I hear ya. Here's to being here" said Pavani, raising her glass, only half-full, in a toast, which Ryn reciprocated.
The two women chatted more, reminiscing about growing up on Lakeside, playing on the beach that wrapped all the way around the orbital installation, of watching the sun glint off the endless waterfall that fell down the end cap of the cylinder, of trying a hundred types of food at the redwood festivals, of countless other childhood experiences.
Their food came. A mess of eggs, bacon and potatoes covered in cheese for Ryn, while Pavani had ordered an approximation of a CeReSao dish called SeSaSoKeRao, a carefully arranged plate of fish cut into bite-sized pieces, with a simple sauce for dipping. A breakfast staple for the piscivorous species, but once again Pavani was disappointed by how normal it seemed, though she supposed she couldn't exactly eat actual CeReSao fare without risking potassium poisoning. They ate in silence for a while, sampling each others' dish, both thinking the other person had gotten the better dish. Ryn always liked fish, while Pavani felt that Ryn's meal was more substantial.
As they finished their meal, the conversation drifted to other topics. Ryn had a boyfriend, and it was going well. Pavani still hadn't found anyone, never had any interest in that kind of thing, but Ryn insisted that she just hadn't found "That Special Someone". Pavani knew that there wasn't going to be a "Special Someone", was fine with that, but didn't have the heart to tell Ryn she'd been lying in high school when she feigned interest in other people to fit in better. She eventually managed to steer the topic away from her lack of a love life by talking about the things Ryn wanted to do on L5.
"We have to go camping in the park cylinder, seriously, if you thought the parks at Lakeside was nice, they have nothing on the park cylinder," implored Pavani.
"That good, huh?"
"However good you're thinking, its better. I've heard its just like on Earth, the entire cylinder is devoted to a huge nature preserve. When they were building it, they even had some huge trees flown in from other habitats so that there was some variety in the canopy"
"No shit? I know this place was only built 50 years ago, but does it really look that good?"
"Oh yeah, and even better, unlike Earth, all the wildlife there is totally tame! Its part of some decades-long project to breed entire ecosystems for orbital habitats that is human-friendly, so its perfectly safe!" Further discussion was halted by a chime from Pavani's pocket
Pavani swore, fishing her phone out of her pocket "Ryn, I'm so sorry I gotta go. I've got a meeting at 12:30" She explained, rooting around in her pockets for change, before slapping a trio of 16 credit platbacks on the table, silvery ribbon on the plastic bills catching the dim lighting of the cafe. "Tell the waiter to keep the change," she asked
"Got a date?" Asked Ryn, who was now smirking. Why was she so stuck on that. Pavani didn't have time to worry about it, instead racing towards the door "You sound like my mom" she called out behind her
Ryn's chuckle was lost in the murmur of the crowd, but Pavani could still hear the mirth in her voice "See you tonight, Pavani,"