“Pavel Chekov. Very pleased to meet you.” He hesitates. “But you are— I mean to say, am I keeping you from something? This is not important.”
Actually, his dictionary is a little important; his Standard has improved significantly, but he still makes quick references for his homework sets at least a couple times a night. But he can look up the translations long-form on his standard PADD, if necessary, and he doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone.
"Chekov--Chekov as in Sulu's bunkmate?" she asks, giving Pavel a more thorough once-over.
He's some kind of boy genius or something, Sulu told her during orientation week, emphasis on the boy part. I don't even think his balls have dropped yet.
"I should've known it was you," says Uhura. "I mean, I guess there can't be that many cadets here your age. And so far from home."
A cursory glance of the PADD tells her it's going to take at least an hour to fix, and there's more than just a little bureaucratic nonsense involved in checking out a new one. "So here's the deal. I can definitely fix this. I just need a bit of time. In the mean time, I have a Russian-English translator PADD I'd be happy to lend you. It has a slightly different interface than this one, but I can personally vouch for its accuracy. Then I could get you back your old PADD by the end of the week?"
She looks up, realizing she hasn't let him get a word in, and reminds herself that communications is just as much about listening as it is speaking.
