King of All I Survey
Chapter 133: The Language of Orangutans Fails Me

Chapter 133: The Language of Orangutans Fails Me

I walked from Sickbay to the Simulation Room, or Holodeck as Dad calls it, just a distance of maybe 30 feet. Sure, I fell down a couple of times at the beginning, but that wasn’t nearly enough to account for the deep fatigue I felt in my muscles and my head. "Joe, I’m tired! That was more of a workout than I thought."

"You’re still tensing your muscles in your real body, when controlling the android," Joe told me. "You’re also not breathing properly while you’re occupied in the other body, sometimes breathing too fast and other times holding your breath. I can include a biofeedback monitor alongside the android’s visual overlay, to help you work on that. It’ll give you a visual reminder to breathe at a normal rate and relax your muscles. The androids have a lot of built-in interface channels I can use for things like that. Do you want to take a break before we continue?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute. Put up the biofeedback indicators and I’ll work with those for a minute or two while I rest."

"Ok, the green bar at the bottom will change length as you breathe. The length of the line correlates to the amount of air in your lungs. If it remains more or less static for more than a quarter second, it’ll start changing to red. You’ll also notice a white bar below it indicating the recommended optimum breathing rate. Just get your bar to match that one as much as possible."

"Ok," I replied looking at the two bars just under the vision window of the android’s point of view. I took a couple of breaths and watched the bars moving, matching the timing of my inhaling and exhaling to the white bar. "OK, got it. What’s the line on the left?"

"The left side of the vision overlay shows the relative tension in your muscles. Obviously, it’ll show high readings if you’re using your real body but should be at the indicated line if you’re just standing in place while controlling the android. By focusing on relaxing your body and using the indicator, you’ll learn to let the tension go so you’re not using up energy needlessly."

"Ok, let me try that a couple times." I tightened my arms and watched the indicator rise. I let them go limp and saw it fall. I did the same with my legs, then my stomach muscles. OK, good. Then I clenched one fist tightly. The line rose. Relax and it fell. "Ok, seems easy enough."

"It gets a little tricky when you’re distracted or under pressure, but the basic mechanism is easy enough," Joe agreed. "Just take a couple minutes to relax. I’ll slow your breathing rate monitor a little to help you learn to breath slowly."

"OK," I agreed. I watched the white line expand and contract and timed my breathing to match it. I tried to get the muscled relaxation bar to dip below the optimum line but only managed to hover slightly above it. After a couple minutes, though, I did feel rested and relaxed.

"All right, Joe, it’s time to meet an orangutan. Start the simulation, please."

As the simulation started, I found I was wearing a pouch that was filled with figs, mangoes, and lychee fruits. The sounds of the Borneo rain forest surrounded me. I could hear birds chattering in all directions and some kind of trilling that might be a frog or an insect. In the distance there was another call ringing out, it kind of sounded like a parrot, but my implanted orangutan learning told me that it was a long-tailed monkey thing that we humans call a lemur.

I decided to try a friendly orangutan call. Something like ’content, not angry’ was the message. Just a low, kind of rumbling sound. I kept it going while I took a mango out of my pouch and peeled back the skin. I set the mango down on a fallen log in plain sight, then took out another and peeled it. I took a bite and sat down on the ground, continuing to make the low grumbling sound.

After a few minutes, I heard a similar rumbling sound coming from a spot off to my left. I made a ’food here’ noise, then continued grumbling contentedly. I heard the sound of a heavy creature moving through the jungle toward me. I felt a tingle of fear and anticipation as it drew nearer.

I glanced in its direction quickly, then looked away, seemingly concentrating on my mango again. It was a flanged male a full breeding male. Territorial and solitary.

I glanced at it quickly, then glanced toward the mango sitting on the log a few feet away from me, then went back to eating my own mango. I made the grumbling sound.

It made a quiet sort of tssking sound with a little squeaky noise that I might translate as "I’m not happy about you being here" with a twinge of ’’this is not your place" and "go away" mixed in.

Still holding the mango to my mouth, I looked up at him. I said, ’food here’ and used a hand to gesture toward the other mango. He looked back at me then at the other mango.

He stepped closer, "I take," he said with his gestures and facial expression.

"Yes, food here," I said.

I reached into my pouch and took out a couple of lychees. I reached forward and put them on the log where the mango had been. The orangutan shied away from me as I reached forward, but did not retreat.

"Much food," I said.

"You other,’ it said, looking at meaning with a question glance, meaning that I was not an orangutan but one of the human creatures.

’Yes, talk orangutans.’

’Talk food?’

’Food and new home, better home.’ I said.

He had a little flash of defensive anger, "My home" he glanced around the area where we sat to indicate this was his territory.

"Many others near?" I asked, meaning non-orangutans.

Again he showed me a little anger, "many others, my home."

"New home, no others, much food," I said.

"My home," he glanced around again.

"Others, orangutans uncomfortable together," I said.

"Yes." He finished the mango and eyed the lychees for a second before glancing back and me then taking both of them.

"Eat much," I said. "New home, much food, much food. No others. Comfortable, happy orangutans."

"Indifference," he signaled.

I looked around his jungle, "too many others, later more others."

He showed affronted anger and a kind of territorial claiming posture for a brief second.

"No," I said.

I took out another mango and a fig and placed it on the log.

"Next day, here more food, more talk," I said conveying a friendly companionship attitude.

"Indifference, more food?"

"Much food, next day." I said.

I stood up slowly, "That’s enough for now, Joe. The orangutan and the jungle disappeared. "You’re right, the language doesn’t have the ability to convey the ideas I need to get across. Any ideas?"

"Unfortunately, I think you really did the best possible job of trying to say what you wanted to say using the orangutan’s own language. The only alternative is to teach them English."

"They won’t be able to pronounce most of it, though, right?"

"That is correct, but using a combination of vocalizations and sign language, they could speak English. Still complex grammar and abstractions might be a challenge," Joe explained.

I shook my head, "No, that’s not going to do at all," I could hear my own disappointment in the tone of my voice. I really don’t see how we can get past this."

"Joe, do you have a world that looks a lot like this jungle? I know the plants are different, but one that has the same climate and the same... feel to it."

"Yes, there are worlds like that."

"Could you grow Earth plants there? Like mangoes and stuff?" I asked.

"Yes, we’d have to monitor to make sure the local insects don’t eat them faster than they can regenerate, but otherwise, yes."

"OK, start seeding one of those worlds with all kinds of fruits and whatever else, orangutans eat. Make it absolutely loaded with food plants, so they don’t really need to compete with each other for it. I think I might have to make an executive decision on their behalf as Supreme Ruler of the Entire Earth Solar System and Nearby Space," I said.

"You’re just going to move them?" Joe asked.

"I think so," I admitted, "after they’ve had a chance to get used to it, I can ask if they choose the new home or return to the old home. I also want to figure out some kind of memory implant learning devices they can use to improve their society, better language development, tool use, community structure and so forth. Maybe the device would be some kind of toy they’d want to use... or a food dispenser?"

"We can figure out something like that. I’m glad that you’re going to give them a choice rather than just move them all and leave it at that."

"I’m even thinking that maybe we just move a small population, then let them explain to the rest of the orangutans here on Earth, somehow. If we can get their language skills up to the task. Can you just use the implant training to reinforce the language skill pathways and desire for communication or something?"

"Hmm. Yes, that’s possible, but I should really have informed consent before making changes in their core personality traits," Joe replied hesitantly.

"I think I can handle that," I said with a smile. If I can get as close to real orangutans as I was in the simulation, I think I can communicate that we can help them speak better, if they want to."

"Then, yes. No issues."