“My name is Marrel Imvic, of the Dobridomov system,” he said in ancient Chinese. He was prepared to repeat the message in a dozen different old languages until one was recognized. “I am a linguist, here to establish communication protocols so that our diplomatic group can begin a dialog.” “You got any English?” the man said with perfect pre-collapse intonation. “Yes,” Marrel said, stunned. “Yes, I do.” “Good, because my Chinese is pretty iffy. I’m okay in Belter, but I bet you guys forgot that one.” “I know what Belter is,” Marrel said, thrilled at the idea that this man spoke a dialect
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