CHAPTER 4: ON BOARD THE SHIP
Inside the ship, Somere was astonished and amazed to see the rest of Blade's people. They all looked almost exactly the same as Blade and had the same height and built, save the amount of ornaments they were wearing. There were a few females hanging around (she could tell by their protruding breasts) but they also looked no different than the males, except that their dreadlocks were very long, running down to their waists, and had more ornaments on them. They all stopped and stared at Somere as she and Blade passed by. She felt Blade's grip tightened and their distance closer together and couldn't help but blush. She didn't know why but being beside Blade made her feel safe and her heart throb.
She didn't dare to conclude what she was feeling though.
After a long walk and almost a dozen of staring eyes later, they stopped in front of a huge sliding door. The guard pressed a few buttons and let them in. Somere realized that Blade had taken her into the main control room. It was wide and long, and had a windscreen to overlook the entire galaxy they were in. From her spot, she could see Earth itself. A few of his kind noticed him come in and led him towards the middle of the control room. Somere could tell that they were of higher ranking by the ornaments they were wearing around their necks and arms, and she could only guess that they were taking them to see their superior.
Just as she guessed, their superior appeared. His ornaments were more and he wore a cape probably made out of skin from some unknown animal. His dreadlocks were longer than his subordinates, but not as long as the females. He didn't have his mask on, so she could see the gruesome face she saw on Blade's They had a long conversation and seemed as though it was a rather heated discussion, with Somere caught in the middle. She wanted to calm them down, but not knowing their language, she didn't know what to say. Blade did a few gestures like taking Somere's hand and pressing it against his chest while growling intensely at the superior, and the superior flinging his hand as if disapproving something. Somere had a feeling that their discussion had something to do with her. She felt more awkward by the minute.
Finally, the heated discussion slowed down. The superior turned towards his right-hand men and clicked and rumbled secretly, as if trying to come to a decision. After much conferencing, the superior turned towards Blade and Somere again and took out a gadget from his robe. He gripped it and the two sides elongated into the spear she saw Blade used. He touched the sharp tip of the spear lightly on Blade's forehead and drew a circle around his face. He did the same on Somere's face, kept the spear and held out his hand. One of his right-hand men got the cue and passed him a smoking ladle-like object that was burning bright orange. Somere wasn't sure where and when they heated that thing, but she was sure it spelled pain.
The superior held out the object at her and she tried to back away, but Blade tightened his grip more, seemingly either not to let her run off or to reassure her it was going to be alright. Taking Somere's free hand, the superior, without warning, pressed the smouldering hot object onto her palm. Somere wanted to cry out in pain, but she didn't want to be seen as a weak Earth species in front of Blade and his kind, so she just grit her teeth and shut her eyes tight, trying to bear the pain. She couldn't hold back her tears, unfortunately.
The heat felt like forever, burning through her skin and into her bones. Just when she was about to scream out of excruciating pain, the superior finally lifted the object up and Somere could see red, slowly bleeding flesh protruding out of her palm, forming a mark. It was a label, a big circle with another small one inside, and spikes that faced inward inside the circles. She knew that she was being tagged. Maybe because she was human, an alien to them. Maybe she was just different. Maybe she was branded as a slave or as an immigrant in their ship. Somere finally cried openly, not only because of the pain, but also the discrimination she was feeling right now. Tears poured out like rain as she cried for her unfortunate luck.
Her sorrow didn't last too long though. Soon she felt Blade's hold loosen and his hand on her head, patting it lightly like a grownup patting a child to reassure them that everything's not as bad as it seemed. Blade was not looking at her when he did this, and walked off without a word, leaving one of the females present to lead her to where she'll spend her night, but she couldn't help feeling that Blade was trying to show how he feel without actually being obvious.
Somere's fascination for Blade and his people had just increased.
Somere found herself standing in a slightly wide room with a bed that was fit for two. The blanket was obviously made of something synthetic, but it looked and felt like silk. Same goes with the bed sheets and pillows. There was a table and a tall bookshelf reasonably filled with books. There were also some weird contraptions and gadgets scattered here and there inside the shelf. Somere wanted to examine them one by one but her throbbing palm was still warm and painful to the touch. She could barely even move her fingers on that hand. Somere sighed and sat on bed, staring at the sign, trying to figure out what it meant.
Soon, the sliding door opened and Somere saw Blade standing in front of it. He came in with a box in his hand. He knelt in front of her wordlessly and gestured her to hold out her throbbing hand. She did so without complaint and soon realized that he was going to nurse the burnt wound. He began mixing and matching ingredients (like in the scene in Predator 2) in a tray until it became fine paste. He then applied the paste onto her palm and clasped her mouth shut with his free hand to stop her from screaming out loud. It's not a surprising reaction, for the paste, though cooling, stung her like a thousand beestings and felt as if it was doing more damage than healing. After putting a considerable layer of medicinal paste on her wound, Blade took out some bandages and began wrapping it nice and firm. It was done within a few seconds and Blade soon got up on his feet to join his people outside the room, bringing the box with him. Somere fingered the bandage and smiled.
"Thank you, Blade."
Blade stopped at his tracks for a minute, his back facing her. She then heard him click in reply before going on his way.
Now that she could use her wounded hand a little better, she began to venture around the shelf. She took every gadget that was in it and tested it out. Some looked lethal and some looked rather dull and unimaginative, pretty much technical and stuff, but one thing's for sure she could never understand what their real purposes were.
That was when something caught her eye. It was a small concaved gadget sitting right on the top bunk of the shelf. She reached up and get it within minutes (height wasn't her problem to her; she had long arms and fingers to match). It looked like those portable make-up powder case and when she opened it, it had a lot of buttons and switches and a base that looked like a scanner (almost like the Com-powder from Totally Spies). When she hovered her hand over the scanner-like thing, a huge hologram that filled the room appeared, showing a pyramid-like building. She remembered learning those historic buildings in high school, and this looked like a combination of an Egyptian pyramid, a Cambodian and an Aztec sacrificial building. She hovered her hand again and a video began playing about the origins of this building and the history of its people, the creatures from the campus attack and Blade's people (A/N: Just imagine the scenes in AVP about the ancient Alien and Predator history in your head. Don't wanna bore you with the descriptions). Somere winced when she saw the baby creatures bursting out of the women's chests and the horrific battle between Blade's kind and thousands upon thousands of those dreaded ugly, black hunger-driven creatures. It was a sight both fascinating yet scary.
As soon as the video ended, so did the hologram. The 'powder case' shut itself up. Though not explained in words, Somere was able to figure out what was going on: Humans used to worship Blade's people who taught them civilization. In return, Blade's people requested human sacrifices by breeding those creatures inside them so that they can battle them and reach manhood. But if things get out of control, they have to bomb them to oblivion and erase them from existence, and this cycle repeats every certain period of time. Her campus was another base to breed those creatures. She remembered Eric telling her about people mysteriously disappearing while their campus was built and almost stopped their building operation a few times before. She could only imagine those unfortunate ones, trapped in that pyramid-like building 2,000 feet below and being used as a human incubator for those abominations.
After satisfying her curiosity in her room, Somere ventured out and explored the rest of the spaceship. Unfortunately she wasn't allowed to enter any of the rooms and was either scared out or pushed out of whatever room she went in. Yet, she was able to catch a glimpse at what were in the rooms to figure out what they were: the weaponry room, the food court, the maintenance room, the public bathroom, the common room and the main control room, just to name a few. She was made clear that she wasn't yet a welcomed member in this ship and should keep her distance. None of them seemed friendly and willing to introduce themselves to her or show her around (What's the point? They don't understand each other anywho), but then they had no intention to do her any harm. They might look at her for a while as she passed by them, but that was it. Seemed like they prefer to ignore her than have anything to do with her.
Somere never felt so lonely and out of place before in her life.
Somere lay down on bed, staring at the ceiling above. She wasn't sure whether it's night or day, because she was in the middle of the galaxy, but she knew she was tired enough to take a snooze. She stole a look at the window and could still see Earth close by. Why were they still near Earth? Why haven't they moved back to their own planet? This was a puzzle she hadn't and didn't bother to solve.
It's not that she never thought of going back to Earth. She did worry about Eric and her other friends back in campus, and she did wonder how her parents might feel when she's gone, especially chances of the campus's incident going on TV is high. Of course she did have a feeling of going home, but she had gone so far as to let herself become one of Blade's kind. There's no turning back now. Besides, she's in the middle of the galaxy and was barred from entering any room that might give her means to go home. Most importantly, Blade had finally been nice to her. How could she leave him just like that?
She eyed at the nightie she was wearing. It was rather big and flowing for her and was silver in colour. It was probably made out of the same materials that made the bed. She didn't know how a place filled with war mongers would have a room with a nightie like this for her to wear, but she put that aside as this species having a softer side. She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to claim her.
Just when she was about to doze off, she heard the sliding door open. She kept her eyes shut, pretending to sleep, but she could tell that it was Blade by his footsteps. She has an uncanny talent for telling who's who by how they walk. She could hear soft clattering sounds, like he was putting away his things as quietly as he could. She heard the hiss of his mask removed and him gaining closer towards the bed. Soon she felt a slight pressure on the bed as Blade slowly climbed up on it. She opened her eyes tentatively and saw Blade staring back at her face to face. Somere felt awkward and shifted her gaze to stare at his chest. A deep rumble in his throat brought her gaze back up. She was taken by surprise when she noticed Blade's eyes were filled ? Care? Desire?
Again, she shifted her gaze, not daring to look at him. She could've sworn her face was getting hotter and hotter, like she was gradually blushing hard. Blade must've noticed that because he soon reached out and brought her closer to his body. He kept his arm on her waist and let her face press against his chest. Somere could hear his heartbeat going steadily faster than her own. He didn't seem nervous or anything. In fact, when she stole a look at his face, she saw that he had closed his eyes and his steady breathing showed that he had fallen asleep. She could only conclude that this was his species' regular heartbeat.
Tentatively, she, too, reached out and wrapped her arm around Blade's waist before falling into a deep sleep.
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