First Encounter - Failure To Communicate

Everything is different.

Only one moon in the night sky.  Strange star patterns.  Enough light to see what's on the beach.

Some kind of boat in front of me.  It has an oar, but it's perfectly round.  A hull that's woven.  How do you row something like that?

Not where I was supposed to go.  I've heard of these things happening when a space/time flip goes bad.

Should I try the weird boat, or head inland through the jungle that lines the shore?  Memories of taking a boat out on a lake when I was a little one come back to me.  OK, the boat.

Ah shit.  The water's not too cold, but I didn't need a bath.  The dam boat rolled right over.

Slowly and carefully, that's the ticket.

Using the oar to scull actually works to move this thing in the expected direction.  Not as weird as it seemed.  I'll just take it easy for a while.

Bigger boats up ahead, moving in and out of a port.  I'll just sneak in, and see if the universal translator will work.

"Wlljl lkjoi lkluuu," said a young woman going by on the dock.  The translator needs time to adjust.

"You idiot xlji, oljl  wwwlkjlj," shouted an obviously angry man, shaking a fist at another.

"I'll take the two medium sized fish," said an older woman picking out two from a fresh catch.

Good.  Now I could understand them.

Making my way up the dock, I found an official looking hut, with a uniformed man standing in front.  Pointing the translator at a sign over his head, I read "Cua Lo, Vietnam".

"Sir, I'm a stranger here," I started.  "Can you help me find the nearest reception station?"

"You American from a bomber,"  he screamed.  "Die filthy pig!"