Chapter 169: Mandatory Learning of the Interstellar Language
Once they were a good distance away, Kai York asked, "Moira, are we really going to give them the Learning Machine?"
"I’ve already given my word. Wouldn’t going back on it now mean I can’t be trusted?"
Moira tilted her head.
’If you promise something, you have to follow through. Otherwise, I’d feel guilty.’
Moira chalked it up to not having enough on her conscience.
"Besides, you guys have pretty much learned the interstellar language already. The Learning Machine isn’t very useful to us anymore."
Although they struggled at first, once they took that first step, it was like Shane Rhodes, Kai York, and Hugh Finch had their governor and conception vessels opened—their learning progressed by leaps and bounds.
"That’s true, but..."
The Learning Machine could do more than just teach the interstellar language, though.
Shane Rhodes clapped Kai York on the shoulder. "We still have to meditate, cultivate, and work out. We’ve got a ton of things to do every day. Honestly, we’re underutilizing the Learning Machine."
"The base has a lot of manpower. If we let them have it, and they discover something, the base won’t forget what we did for them, all thanks to that machine."
Over the next few hours, Moira and the others gathered a significant amount of Insect-attracting Grass Seeds.
The base was now aware of the properties of the Insect-attracting Grass Seeds. It wouldn’t be long before these seeds became a hot commodity.
Their current location was far enough from the base that it hadn’t been touched during the initial clearing of the Insect Attracting Grass. As a result, a large amount of the grass had matured overnight.
The ground was littered with Insect-attracting Grass Seeds.
These Insect-attracting Grass Seeds germinated extremely fast. With just enough water and soil, they could take root and sprout within a day.
Moira Lynch produced a scoop net, a winnowing basket, and a series of other tools from her Space Button.
Shane Rhodes and Kai York took on the task of spraying the surrounding area with insecticide water, while Moira and Hugh Finch used the tools to sift through and collect the mature seeds that had fallen to the ground.
The group worked until the afternoon, only stopping their work as the sky began to grow dark.
Looking at the sack filled to the brim with seeds, they figured it should be more than enough for their needs.
In that time, they had refilled their sprayers several times, but they hadn’t needed to replace the seeds used to make the solution. The insecticide’s effectiveness hadn’t diminished in the slightest.
And their sprayers had a twenty-liter capacity, which just went to show how durable the seeds were.
Upon returning to Sector A, they found someone waiting for them before they even reached their door.
Timothy Murphy smiled politely at the group. "Good evening. Captain Shepard sent me to pick something up."
"You’re certainly in a hurry."
Hearing Kai York’s remark, Timothy Murphy just smiled, his gaze fixed eagerly on the... tablet in Moira’s hands.
"Here."
Moira handed the Learning Machine to Timothy Murphy.
Seeing this, Timothy Murphy quickly took it with both hands, cradling it like a precious treasure.
"Um, there’s one more thing... I need your help. How exactly does this thing work?"
After all, there was only one Learning Machine. If they broke it, there would be no replacing it.
So, Timothy Murphy had another objective for his visit: to learn how to operate it from Shane Rhodes and the others.
Since they had already handed it over, Shane Rhodes and the others didn’t mind teaching Timothy Murphy how to use the Learning Machine.
Lately, it had been one crisis after another: the insect plague outbreak, salvaging food, maintaining equipment, and then the planet auction. Now this. Every single task was a top priority that couldn’t be delayed.
In the base, players like Timothy Murphy and the Talents who had failed the "game" were stretched so thin they wished one person could do the work of eight. Even then, it was far from enough.
After all, the Learning Machine had been with them for a long time. They’d be heartbroken themselves if it were broken.
After they led Timothy Murphy into their apartment, Moira grabbed a sprayer and proceeded to spray the entire place, inside and out, with the insecticide water.
Timothy Murphy watched Moira leave without a moment’s hesitation and couldn’t help but scratch his head. ’She doesn’t seem to like me very much. Did I offend her somehow?’
Ever since Shane’s group arrived at the base, he or Kai York had always been the point of contact. Hugh Finch made an occasional appearance, but Moira Lynch was the one person who rarely interacted with them. She’d barely said a few words to them.
Most of the time, she stayed home. Even when she did go out, Shane and the others were always with her.
If you didn’t know they weren’t blood-related, you’d think the four of them were siblings, given how protective the others were.
But the reality was that none of the four were related by blood.
Shane Rhodes, Kai York, and Hugh Finch had met in college as roommates. As for Moira, she had only met and gotten to know them after the Extreme Heat.
But he’d learned from Chase Shepard that among the four, the quiet and reserved Moira was actually the one calling the shots, which had thoroughly surprised Timothy Murphy.
In response to Timothy Murphy’s question, Kai York explained casually, "That’s just how she is. She can be a bit cold to strangers. Once you get to know her, though, she’s great. Moira’s a really good person."
Kai York thought to himself that knocking on Moira’s door was the best decision he’d ever made.
’Otherwise, where would they be now? Certainly not living this well.’
Timothy Murphy nodded in understanding.
He had already reviewed Moira’s file before coming here.
She was an only child. Both her parents had been orphans who built their life from nothing, only to die in an accident not long ago, leaving Moira all alone.
’With a past like that, it’s understandable that she’d be a bit reclusive.’
Meanwhile, Moira, who had overheard the entire conversation between Kai York and Timothy Murphy, couldn’t help but roll her eyes.
’The reason I’m not talking to Timothy Murphy is actually very simple,’ she thought. ’I don’t want him to find out that I’m SoySauceDrunkard.’
’Even though my interactions with him have only been through text, you never know.’
’Certain speech patterns or habits might give me away.’
’And most importantly, I just don’t know what to say to him.’
By the time she finished spraying every corner of the apartment with insecticide water, Timothy Murphy had already left with the Learning Machine.
After all, operating the Learning Machine wasn’t hard—it was a lot like using a tablet.
Moira had chosen the simplified mode for her own convenience when she first got it and had never bothered to change it.
After Timothy Murphy returned and relayed the information from Kai York to Chase Shepard, Shepard immediately convened an online meeting, contacting every Cathaya base.
That night, none of the high-ranking officials at any base got any sleep.
The next day, every base issued a unified directive: every single person in Cathaya, regardless of age or gender, was now required to spend one hour each day studying the interstellar language.