"Eh?" Emerald muttered.

"Oh, you mean Specklefish?" he asked.

"They call that 'Salmon' here?" he asked further. "Weird..." he said.

"But all right, good to know." he added with a small nod.

"....so I guess is pretty much IS the same, but with slight differences." he then reasoned, thinking about it.

"That's a relief, but it's gonna make some things really confusing."

"So it's like going back in time." Emerald said.

"Yeah... yeah, it's gonna be jarring." he agreed.

"We're essentially going to be surrounded by primitive savages, aren't we?" he asked.

"Gonna need to dumb down the way we speak, more than likely." he went on.

"Do these people even have direct neural internet support?" he then asked.

"Well.... crap." Emerald muttered.

"These people really ARE primitive." he said.

He then paused, and took a few breaths.

"I need to prepare myself to communicate with them." he muttered.

"And just hope they can understand basic words and concepts."

"....that... is confusing." Emerald replied.

"How... how can...?" he started to ask, before shaking his head.

"From what I can tell, the tech here is primitive. Which generally means that brains haven't evolved enough to create or think of such things." he continued.

"So how was it possible for someone as brilliant as YOU to have an in-depth conversation about astronomy, of all things, with a resident here?" he asked.

"Big and bulky aside, did you have to do baby talk or something? Or are you stretching the definition of 'in-depth'?" he then asked her further.

".....hm." Emerald muttered.

"It's surprising that anyone in this backwater world would be able to even come close to your level of intelligence and comprehension." he said.

"And maybe." then went on.

"...as for how long we'll be here... we might be stuck." he told her.

"If these people don't have something so basic and simple as DNI support, then I'm afraid we're marooned in a strange and harsh wasteland." he said, dejectedly, and perhaps a bit overdramatically.

"......hm." Emerald mumbled.

"I.... I suppose so..." he said.

"But I guess you're right about our more immediate problems." he went on.

"We are strangers in this land, and that means we have no home here." he continued, before pausing. "...not sure we have a home back home, either..." he added quietly.

"...damn." he then muttered.

"Well... I mean... we're alive, at least." he then said.

"....2 out of 3 of us..."

".....no." Emerald replied.

"No, it... he..." he stammered, before biting his bottom lip.

"Please... don't." he said.

"I don't have my brother any longer, but I DO have my sister, still." he told her.

"All that matters right now is that I'm not alone." he then said, before pausing.

"...WE'RE not alone."

"....." Emerald was silent again, before hugging Violet once more.

Just as he did so, one of the medics came into the room.

"Oh..." Emerald muttered.

"Um... DON'T... WORRY." he then said, slowly and loudly.

"WE... FRIENDLY. JUST... SAD." he said further.

"....uh-huh." the medic replied, a little unimpressed.

"Miss, I'm going to have to ask you to return to your bed." he then said to Violet. "We realise this is all very harrowing and stressful for you, but we need to make sure you recover properly, and deal with any complications that may arise at any moment."

"I understand." the medic replied, as Violet made her way to the bed. Once she was in it, he made sure everything was hooked up back the way it was.

"Thankfully none of these are vital to your stability." he commented, before going over to Emerald's bed and checking all the monitors and charts.

"Mmhmm, mmhmm." he muttered.

"For now, the both of you take it easy, and you should be able to be up and mobile within a week or so." he told them.

"We'll be back later with dinner." he continued, making his way back to the door, pausing, and looking at Emerald.

"And please. Do try to keep your voice down. We have other patients here, and they do not appreciate being disturbed." he told him.

"...sorry." Emerald said quietly, before the medic left.

"...that was embarrassing..." he commented quietly, his face turning colour.

Emerald accepted the stack, and started looking through them.

"...wow." he said.

"These are... amazingly detailed." he commented.

".....and VERY different from home..." he mumbled. "But I can still recognise various things. Just their positions are way out of wack." he said further.

"....just... wow." he repeated.

"I wouldn't expect such expert charts from such a backwater place." he commented further, before pausing again.

"I... should probably stop using terms like that..." he realised and vocalised.