As a child, Mari had the clunky, in-ear variety because Valerian did not trust a microchip in a developing brain. Mari implanted her translation chip on her eighteenth birthday and never thought about language barriers again.
“Translator? I don’t have a translator,” Zero said.
She almost pulled the vehicle over. “Wait, wait, wait. You’re telling me you learned English. You’re speaking English, right now, flawlessly.”
His ears went forward. “You are kind. My human has flaws. It is not a consistent language. Many rules contradict one another.”
Stars. Wow. She had known the kid was smart but always in a vague, did-well-at-school way. This was big. Real. Tangible.
“When did you learn human, err, English? Because English is what I’m speaking. It’s common on Earth but not the only language
