Okay.
Ask how we get up.
"Okay." you echo in agreement and wag your tail in excitement. But after a moment of thought you realize you don't actually know how to reach the higher levels of the apartment tower.
"Where up?" you ask.
She points up.
"Up. Two floors." she clarifies.
No, though helpful, that's not what you mean.
"No. Where go up?" you ask, hoping this will get your point across.
"Room 5 0 9." she repeats more slowly. "Eiwhyl's-"
"No." you interrupt her.
Maybe you're using the wrong word.
"What go up?" you ask with some uncertainty.
She considers it for a moment before realization comes to her.
"Oh! You mean how to go up!"
"How to go up." you repeat with more uncertainty.
"Just use the elevator." she responds. You don't know what that means, but she's already showing you.
She picks up her datapad and a colored datapen and starts drawing, points of light blinking into life whenever the datapen touches the screen. She draws a circle, a bit imperfect and wobbly, but you understand. And then she draws a square on the outside of the circle and writes 327 along with some other symbols in it. "3 2 7. Ali." she says while pointing at it. You don't understand but watch intently, waiting to see where she's going with this. Then she draws another square next to the first one and writes 325 in it. Then another; 323, 321, 319... This is familiar. It's the same numbers as the rooms outside. 327 is written outside the room Ali is in.
"Yes." you say. You understand now what she means. Just like credits are also colors and also numbers, so are rooms also numbers. And rooms are also this drawing. To show that you understand, you use your snout to point at the point next to where the exit would be and say "3 4 9".
"Yes! That's right! Good boy!" she says enthusiastically and pets you.
She then draws a big square representing the exit and writes some symbols in the square, the same symbols that are written above the door, in that green sign.
"Exit." she says.
"Yes." you reply.
Then she draws another large square opposite to the exit, in the inside of the circle. This must represent the other large door, the one you didn't go through. She writes some other symbols in it.
"Elevator" she says and points at it.
"Yes." you reply.
So the door opposite to the exit is called "elevator" and that leads up.
"Button. 5." she adds.
You're not sure what that means, but you guess you're going to have to press a button when you go through that door. Maybe you'll understand when you're there.
Once again you marvel at how much she knows and how good she is at teaching you. It makes you wonder though how she can know so much when she rarely exits the apartment. Maybe her parents taught her like she's teaching you?
Age: a few weeks (hatchling)
Size: about the size of a large dog
Status: Dizzy, Hearing Impaired, Satiated
Health: internal injuries, bruises
Weapons: claws and teeth
Armor: soft scales
Abilities:
- Glide: You can glide in order to survive falls and quickly move great distances, though your wings are too weak to allow you true flight. However you can use favorable winds and updrafts to increase your glide time.
- Rudimentary Human Language: You are able to understand human language to a very basic degree. You won't understand everything though and there will likely be misunderstandings. You can also attempt to speak, but you can only form simple, short sentences and it's very hard for others to understand you.
- 2 blue credit chips (under Ali's desk, in a shopping bag)
- Ali's Apartment (Lair): A tiny 2 bedroom apartment. The little human Ali lives there with Dad/Jobal and Mom/Ania.
- Ali's Apartment Tower: Apartments arranged in a circle. Clean, bright, mostly locked doors, few hiding places. Little traffic during the night.
- Streets: Dirty streets, parked hovercars, shops, building entrances, street vendors, little traffic during the night.
- Maintenance Tunnels: Interconnected tunnels, small and large, going low and high. Connect various streets and buildings. Wires and pipes. Dark, dirty, with old machines constantly rumbling. Scavenger-vermin and hunters-of-vermin.
- Garbage Pit: A large room with mountains of garbage half-submerged in a sea of sludge. More garbage frequently arrives from holes in the ceiling. A monster lurks here, may pull prey underwater.
- Hydroponic Pool A room with a large pool filled with plants. A ceiling full of bright lamps. A spherical gardener-droid takes care of the plants. An armored security droid used to patrol this area. Other rooms are unexplored.