Leah is one of the young technicians in an work experience course on the base from Sirius. She works under Kiri and agreed to answer some questions concerning her home planet.
Leah; Uhmm...hi.
Russ; Hi there, who is this?
Leah; Leah.
R; Hi Leah, I'm honored you can join us this evening. If I remember right, you are from Sirius correct?
Leah; Yes. Do I have to give a talk?
R; No actually, I'd just like to ask you a few questions about your family.
Leah; OK.
R; Now we know quite a bit about Kiri and Karra's family, but we don't know how other families on Sirius live and I thought you might be able to fill in a few of the blanks.
Leah; What would you like to know?
R; There is a story we've been told of how Kiri and Karra's family originated, is there a similar story about your family.
Leah; There is a rather long story of us coming out of the sea to a land that was empty but full of life.
R; Oh, is there a short version of it?
Leah; No not really. It's more of a.......I don't know what the word would be.
R; An epic?
Leah; What's an epic?
R; An epic is a very long story that has a lots of drama in it.
Leah; Yes, kind of like that. I think I know what you mean. An epic would be a long drawn out story involving many ups and downs of different families?
R; Yes that's it.
Leah; Yes and no. Kiri is saying saga.
R; Yes, saga would be a better term.
Leah; I know what a saga is. Yes, almost a saga. But it is what you would call a ballad saga?
R; Yes I understand. Longer than a ninety minute tape I suppose.
Leah; It normally takes...uhhmm...when we tell it we tell it at special times, the harvest of the springing fish. The whole entire family will get together, all three thousand of us at the last count and we each tell a part. It will go on for a few days.
R; Wow, well can you tell me your part?
Leah; (laughs) My part would definitely take more than one of your recording times.
R; Oh well it's a thought. OK then, what is a springing fish?
Leah; It is a big fish that climbs rocks over water.
R; Oh, a leaping fish like our salmon?
Leah; Yes but it is not a salmon. It is a big as a salmon though.
R; That's not a big fish.
Leah; Well they're not small.
R; Oh, well I thought you were talking about tarpon sized fish.
Leah; Oh there are those but they are not springing fish, those are the climbing fish. It used to be in our history that to prove that you were a person of reckoning, you would catch one.
R; Very difficult is it?
Leah; Well I've never succeeded and I've tried a few times for fun. The only thing you have is your swimsuit and you stand on the rocks and try to catch them as they come. I actually had a hold of one on one occasion.
R; Did you?
Leah; Uh Hmm, when I was fourteen. Had my fingers in it's gills and I wrestled it and wrestled it and it broke my fingers.
R; That's one hell of a strong fish.
Leah; Well the average one is about seven feet long?
R; Yeah, that's a big fish.
Leah; The one I tried to catch was about my size but weighed a lot more than I did.
R; Well that's a good story.
Leah; Well we are a water born family. We live on the ocean and fish for a living.
R; Well I can relate to that since my sign as we say down here is a water sign. Karra was explaining to me that you have a similar set of astrological signs as we do on Sirius. Mine is the fish.
Leah; Fish? What kind of fish?
R; It's Piceses, just a basic fish they use.
Leah; Oh. My sign is the deep fish. Goes deep. That's in the middle part of the winter.
R; Oh good, maybe you can explain a little about the astrological signs of Sirius? Maybe you can give a quick little thing about your deep fish. How does that relate to you as a person? Does it mean you have deep thoughts?
Leah; Deep thoughts.....the fish is a loner fish, it doesn't say much, it goes deep in the water but it thinks deep. The other fish because it can move so fast and go so deep are scared of it. There's a.....(Sirian word).....which is an animal with a short nose and small curly tail.
R; Oh, a pig.
Leah; Yes but on Sirius they are not quite so chubby and move very, very fast. They are quite smart and are the action animal. That is my sisters sign. She was born on the change over with the runner animal.
R; Yes, we call that the cusp.
Leah; Oh, the runner is the breeding animal, it's the one with the ears and the whiskers.
R; The bunny.
Leah; Yes, she has the strength and stamina of the (Sirian word), and the speed and agility of the runner.
R; And you are the deep fish. It seems apt and well put just as our signs are.
Leah; Uh Hmm, any more questions?
R; No, you've covered it quite well, thank you.
Leah; OK, catch you later.