"Hee! Hee! Hee! Well, I suppose it would be to someone who didn't grow up with such things. It's commonplace to me... has been for our species for... millenia, I suppose. I wish I could answer your questions with definite accuracy, but I'm not an aquatic VUX, and my family hasn't been for generations. I've only visited on occasion. They seem to be constructed the same as our land cities, although with a great deal more doors to keep out certain predators and the like. There are simple places just carved out of rock and reef, and elaborate palaces built by those with far too much money to spare, and all sorts in-between. As for depth..." ZEX paused in thought. "I'm not sure how humans would measure it. We have a word for it, where it's most comfortable, but I'm not sure it would mean anything to you-"

ZEX was then struck by the fact that he was fairly sure he wasn't wearing a translator, and he was reasonably sure he was speaking his natural language. Translation technology had been so commonplace in VUX history and society that it was assumed he could understand anyone anywhere, and he hadn't thought it odd until he realized that here, he should have no such technology. By all rights, he should not be able to understand anyone here.

How had he and the Captain been talking? Was he speaking VUX or human? He was almost sure it was VUX, it felt like it, it sounded like it, the grammatical principles all lined up, and now he wasn't sure. ZEX felt a sudden wave of disorientation and he ended up dropping his fork.

For the first time since coming to Landel's, for a moment ZEX wasn't entirely sure who he was.

"Captain..." ZEX said, after a pause, and he hoped he didn't sound as confused and desperate as he felt. "Captain, am I speaking human?"