Transcription error, need help
I see now that my effort to make contact with one of my fellows by use of this medium have failed. If anyone had ever seen my first help call, they would have retrieved me from that point in time, and I would not be here waiting now. I have to try something else, though I lack the resources to do anything that might be effective. I'll continue to answer your questions, but know that my priority now is to acquire the resources to send a help call on some form of mass media.
So what is the average life expectancy where you come from?
I'm not sure, because we don't measure time in our daily lives, but yours seem very short. I've been here for almost five years, and from the measure of that, I think that I must be at least sixty, which is old for you, though among my people I'm not considered very experienced or wise.
How long have you been here?
I think I arrived in November of 2000. It was cold, and a short time later I saw the things which I've come to associate with Christmas.
You wrote your first message in our English and then again in a foreign language. Is this your native language? What are its origins? How did you learn our language?
It is my native language, and though I haven't done a thorough study of its origins, I see the basis for it in several contemporary languages. I learned English the same way you did, by observation, though it was easier than it would've been had I started as an infant. Your language is needlessly complex and full of wasted energy.
How has the Earth changed in the future? What currencies do you use, how has the shape of the lands change, in what different ways are countries governed. Do you still even have countries in our sense?
We use no currency. You survive by trading your time and energy for goods; our goods are given to us by our mentors, and we give our time and energy in thanks. There are no countries. A mentor or a group of mentors take responsibility for us, usually all of our lives.
What medical breakthroughs appear to have occured between the time now and the time you left to come here?
You seem totally unaware of your bodies until they become injured or fall into such disrepair that they become inhabited by parasitic microorganisms. We understand that the best way to care for a machine is to maintain it every day, give it proper fuel and proper cleaning. That's usually enough. If an accident should happen, we replace the part that's broken, but with proper care, your original parts can last you a very long time.
I'm assuming your people no longer use our time system (xxxxAD), as you couldn't give a year you came from. Do you have your own system, or just make do without one?
As I said, we don't keep track of time. Time upsets us, because it reminds us that we will die someday. I know the mentors keep time, but they're kind enough not to share it with us.