B.L.E.U. Tesra

B.L.E.U. on Planet Tesra

"B.L.E.U. is an algorithm for evaluating the quality of text which has been machine-translated from one natural language to another. Quality is considered to be the correspondence between a machines output and that of a human: "the closer a machine translation is to a professional human translation, the better it is" – this is the central idea behind B.L.E.U."

The rock felt cold against my hand which was strange to me.

The feeling was strange.

The only time I'd felt cold before, was the last time I had visited earth. It had been 7 days since I'd returned to my home planet Tesra, the hidden moon beyond Pluto, which humans were no longer calling a planet.

Tesra was a planet made of snow, although it never snowed. Its aliens, as humans would call us, were not affected by the so called cold. I, in fact hadn't the slightest meaning of the word until I had visited earth for the first time using my husbands' portal scroll.

The portal scroll had been created by my husband's father Elsurith when our people came to be some thousand years ago. Most of our people were captured and killed when the humans found us, dwelling among them. They were afraid of the different, and of the new, even though we posed no threat to them. Our race died quickly, with few left to carry on the species.

There used to be 10 scroll portals. There were 9 which the elders had created and the 1 that Elsurith made himself. However, Elsurith kept his hidden, away from everyone, even those he felt he could trust. He never used it for himself, but, before his death he gave it to his only son Lusighus, my husband. Lusighus entrusted myself with its abilities, though he warned me never to use it...and to never trust the humans of earth.

Eight scrolls were destroyed, when our people were captured on earth. However, one came into the hands of the humans, who quickly figured out how to transport themselves to Tesra. With this discovery they transported enough scientists to build a dome within which to live and study our planet. Of course the cold was bearable for them, but it was the 2% ammonia gas in the air which they were unable to breath. The most important problem being that the humans only knew how to transport themselves here, though there wasn't a wise one amongst them who could figure out how to use the scroll to transport themselves back, to earth.

I kept my hand against the rock, entranced by the cold that tingled my extensions as I settled the flat edges of my fingers against its ruff backside. The rock had crystals inside. I could see them, with my mind. There were several colors which glowed beneath. I could see right through the rock with my second eye lids slid above the outer sphere. Sometimes it was difficult to concentrate without the use of them, though my husband discouraged that too.

"Playing with your rocks again? And what do you hope to find this time Miskra?" Lusighus asked as he entered the room keeping close his bag across his shoulder blades.

"I am writing," I said without breaking concentration.

I waved my hand above the rock, as bits of ground in splinters dispersed, and the purple crystals appeared from beneath. To the human eye, this would have been near impossible to see.

"Writing? Don't tell me, Ma..." he said when I interrupted.

"Yes, Math. I've created another Algorithm. This time it will work. I tested several human rocks and I think this one will," I stopped as he steadily came to my side.

I looked up at Lusighus who had glared down at me. His left ear had turned to the side of his head as if he'd heard something from beyond the icy walls of our home.