Fluency

By Jennifer Foehner Wells

Dr. Jane Holloway is a talented linguist who has a innate knack for learning new languages. She is not an astronaut. But she has agreed to join a mission to outer space. She has been told by NASA that all the space missions in the past have been a cover for an endeavor to reach an alien space ship that is parked in the asteroid belt. NASA wants her on the team because they hope she will be able to learn and understand the aliens' language.
When they reach the alien space craft, they find they are expected. The door opens, the lights come on and they are welcomed. Actually, only Jane is welcomed because she is the only one who can hear and understand the alien voice in her head. Ei'Brai welcomes her to the Speroancora, the huge alien space ship. Ei'Brai is the sole survivor of what used to be a large crew. They came to our corner of space looking for our help. But their enemy planted a disease on board their ship and all but Ei'Brai died. Ei'Brai can't pilot the ship by himself, he is the navigator. He wants Jane to take control of the ship, since she is the  only human with whom he can communicate.
But problems abound, including the ship being overrun by vicious vermin and Jane's crew mates showing signs of suffering from the same disease that killed all except Ei'Brai on board the Speroancora. Plus they are not at all sure that Jane hasn't lost her mind and is making it all up that she is in communication with an alien entity. It is vital that her crew mates listen to what she is telling them, otherwise they are all going to die.

I enjoyed this story a lot. The obstacles set before Jane and the others are quite formidable, including the others lack of faith in what Jane is trying to communicate to them. The Ei'Brai character was interesting as was his role in the ship's mission to Earth. I am looking forward to the next installment in this new series.
For another review, see http://thenewpodlerreviews.blogspot.com/2014/09/fluency-by-jennifer-foehner-wells.html.