Issue 18, Page 21
No, there’s no translation of the Martian language, don’t try to decode it.
Trnscript
1: Inside the bunk room of the covert research station, digital screens emulate a starry world outside, a large plant sits on a desk. Sedjet lays on the bottom bunk.
2: Vidali lays in bed, awake and looking tiredly up at the ceiling.
Xijo (off-panel): [Untranslated Martian]
3: Outside the sleeping quarters, in the lab’s lounge, we see Xijo, pacing, speaking into a small recorder in his native tongue. He wears a more natural green body suit that is more commonly the Martian style of dress.
Xijo: [Untranslated Martian]
4: Vidali leans over the side of her bunk, Sedjet is rolled over in the bottom bunk.
Vidali: Does he… not sleep, or what?
Sedjet: They’re polyphasic sleepers… they’re never as deeply asleep as us.
5: Vidali fishes out her phone and puts in a pair of headphones.
Vidali: Do they all talk to themselves all night?
Sedjet (off-panel): Heh.
I wouldn’t judge, you talk in your sleep.
Vidali: Do not!
Something tells me he’s taking notes due to said lack of sleep. Some folks just don’t stop working…
Polyphasic…means they’re like cats. They sleep often and not a lot. So he probably had like … 12 times a 20 minutes nap in the day. So after he had his 20 minutes, and the humans are still fast asleep, he’s thinking up theories. and occupying himself …because if he was to try to follow hu…earthling schedules, he’d pretty much -die of boredom-
and apparently … I’m not sure if it applies to martians too, but people would prefer to feel pain then to be bored. The brain is wired weirdly.
Thus, meditation! Because being bored is the most difficult thing, learning to be bored on purpose is the best way to hone the will!
… something like that anyway.
The Martian symbols have a very interesting aesthetic to them; it somewhat reminds me of the ancient oracle bone and bronze scripts from the Shāng and Zhòu dynasties.