        Dale staggered out of the bookstore with a commandeered shopping cart that was carrying at least his weight in books.  Judging by the quizzical look on the clerk’s face, there weren’t very many people who bought a thousand dollars worth of books in one go.  Still, he’d managed to get a nice selection, from educational books on counting and spelling—in case they didn’t have a universal translator—to anatomy, astronomy, geometry, and most every other scientific subject imaginable.  He’d even found a visual dictionary, which would probably be a great help when it came to translations.  He bought two copies, one for himself, and one for them.  The clerk had asked him why he wanted two; he’d said one was meant to be a gift.