Translation

Ginnie worked very quickly to transcribe and then translate the Quotlic speech, as they had landed on Earth communicating exclusively in classical Latin. Scratching their comments onto paper, she read aloud as she wrote, only occasionally and very respectfully asking about conjugations and declensions to uncover idioms locked down over millennia. “This is their first visit in person,” Ginnie said to the leaders assembled around the table, “although they send a service droid every year - a Sanitation Treatment Category A bot who moves through the atmosphere in a kind of hovercraft, dropping bioparcels into the oceans (to clean them) and forests (to encourage rapid growth). Oh my gawd … “ They all stared at her, human and alien alike, as she grabbed a new sheet of paper and wrote something urgently in big letters - holding it up for all to see: “SAN-T.A”. You could’ve heard a pin drop in the silent conference room. Amutu Daweo, the representative from Congo, leaned forward beaming. “Yes, Viirginia, there is much to believe in.”