Inside the astronomical observatory, Jason paced back and forth, burning with anxiety.
You never realize how crucial a tool is until it's missing. Jason knew the Federation's technological foundation was still shaky, but he never imagined a simple translation hurdle would be the thing to paralyze them.
In hindsight, it wasn't surprising. They had poured all their resources into heavy industry and reverse-engineering alien technology, resulting in a highly skewed technological tree. Xenolinguistics and alien translation software had been completely ignored.
The crew aboard the Noah didn't face language barriers. Back in the day, the Lunar Base had been an international hub where various Earth languages mingled. However, since Jason took command and unified the Federation, standard English had been universally adopted to streamline operations. Because everyone spoke the same language, no one had wasted time or funding on advanced translation algorithms.
