CHAPTER 5: THE MARK SAYS IT ALL
Somere opened her eyes as she heard busy footsteps running outside her room. She turned to see Blade not beside her. She sat up abruptly. Where is Blade? Where has he gone to? And what is going on outside?
She quickly changed and opened the sliding door to see scores and scores of Blade's people racing down towards the direction of the main control room. All of them look so alike that she couldn't tell which one was Blade. Just when she kinda lost track of count, one of them stopped in front of her.
"Blade?" Somere tried her luck.
As a reply, he reached out and patted her head just the way he did during the labeling. He knelt down in front of her and helped her remove the bandage on her hand. The paste have dried off and stuck onto the bandage, and in its place was a palm fully recovered with the label for a scar. He fingered the scar and patted her head again before joining the troops to the main control room.
"Blade, what's going on? Where are you guys going?"
He didn't reply, and when she tried to follow, she was immediately dragged away by one of the females. She did a gesture telling her that this was men's business and she had no right to intervene. She didn't think it was fair because she could've sworn she saw some females in between the troops, but she was not in a position to argue with it. Somere sighed and stayed where she was. About a few hours later, everything was quiet. Somere, who went back to her room and tried to entertain herself by trying to read the books in the shelf, got up and walked over stealthily towards the main control room.
Fortunately, no one was guarding the door and it was slightly ajar. Somere, with her flexible body, tried to squeeze in through the gap of the door. Not a single person was in the room. It was all silent. It was as if the males have abandoned the ship, leaving the females to fend for themselves. Somere moved over towards the huge windscreen and saw that there were dozens upon dozens of long spacecrafts dropping down towards Earth like huge missiles. She imagined that Blade could've gotten into Earth this way. Many assumptions went through her head as she tried to piece Blade's story together. Suppose it was he and his friends' turn to prove their manhood. Suppose they have traveled many lightyears to reach Earth and traveled miles and miles in stealth to get to her campus where the creatures lay. He and his friends must've went through a terrible battle as they try to kill off the creatures, all for the title of manhood, yet they failed. His friends could've died defending their title and Blade seriously wounded trying to escape.
And in the end, he came to her.
Suddenly she had the urge to want to go down to Earth to join the fight. She wanted to try and see if she could do anything to help them, and at the same time, find Blade. She quickly raced out of the main control room and started looking for the weaponry room. After running down many hallways and avoiding being seen by the females, she finally found herself standing in front of the door of the weaponry room. She remembered one of the males harshly kicking her out as soon as she set foot into it, and she remembered stealing a look at the combination when one of them wanted to go in, probably to do maintenance on his weapons. Lucky for her again, no one was guarding the place. She tried to figure out the combination and luckily succeeded. She went in and had a look around. Those weapons looked very heavy and bulky and rather high-tech and she wasn't sure where to start first. None of them were recognizable to her and she sure didn't want to pick the wrong one to cause more harm than good. She saw the spears that Blade used to kill the creature and thought that this would do for now. As an addition, she picked a shield that was reasonably light enough for her to fit on her wrist and carry. After inspecting and feeling satisfied with the armour, she crept as quietly as possible out of the weaponry room and tried to look for the place that kept those missile-like space craft.
This time she wasn't lucky. Once she set foot out of the room, she was caught red-handed by the female who had led her to her room on her first day on the ship. She laughed nervously and tried to worm her way out of this awkward situation, but she grabbed hold of her hand tightly, not wanting to let this human go.
"Err...I'd love to stay and chat...but you see, I gotta go down to Earth to help, so..."
The female raised Somere's palm that had the scar and pointed at it intently.
"Yeah, I know I've been branded like cattle and I suppose to stay here, but I really must..."
She then held out her own hand and Somere was surprised to see the same label on her palm.
"You...You have a brand too? But what does this brand mean? Are you once another being too, and then altered into one of them or something..."
In reply, the female pressed on a few buttons on the gadget on her wrist. It seemed like all Blade's kind had that weird box-like gadget wherever they go. She showed a hologram of a couple—her species, of course—standing side by side. She showed her her mark again, and then pointed herself and the hologram a couple of times before pointing at the male in the hologram and again at herself. She then pointed at the mark on Somere's palm, showed another hologram of Blade, then pointed at Somere and Blade for a few times.
Somere began to blush as she started to comprehend what the female was trying to say. She was branded not because she was an alien or an immigrant in their ship—she was branded because Blade had proclaimed to the superior that he had taken her as his mate! He had actually argued with his superior about taking her as a mate and asking for approval, and all the secretive discussion between the superior and his subordinates were to decide whether they should agree to this proposal or not. And the thing with the spear and all was their way of a wedding ceremony and a proclamation that she was accepted into their clan and into Blade's life.
Blade had actually, in a way, proposed the big question to her.
"But...But I saw females going out to battle. Why can't I go? This is sex discrimination here! That's not fair!"
The female let out an exasperated snort and pulled Somere towards a group of females stationed at the port where the missile-like space crafts were. There were still a few more in there not ridden, suspended on the ceiling of the port and yet those females stood there armed and ready, as if they were trying to protect the place from any possible incoming attack. They had no intention of riding any of those crafts. She made a clicking chatter with the females and they all showed her their brand on their palms.
"Oh, I get it. Wives are supposed to stay in the ship. Those who have no strings attached are the only ones allowed to war, and you girls have to stay here to guard the ship."
The female that brought her here nodded.
"Guess they really practice that 'importance of future generation' kind of thing, huh? They don't want you guys to die coz you're gonna give them kids."
The females slowly started ignoring her and went back to what they were doing: guarding the ship. Only the first female who ever actually talked to her stood by her.
"Look, Lozen—can I call you Lozen? Coz you remind me of that female Red Indian warrior in History class—I don't know if you can understand me but...I have to go down there to help. It may not be your custom to fight alongside with the guys if you're married, but my kind does that. Even if we're married, we often fight alongside our...husbands and...I want to fight alongside with him too. I don't want him to fight alone, and I don't want him to die alone too. I want to help him out, and I...I like him...a lot. I'm doing this...for him...Lozen, please, help me do this..."
The female she called Lozen looked at her for a long time. Whether she understood or not, only Lozen knows. She must be rather surprised of Somere's bravery and willingness to go to battle even though she knew that she was going to face certain death. After a long silence, she finally took off one of her ornaments and wore it on Somere's neck. She then took her hand and led her to one of the missile-like crafts. Her comrades noticed and clicked and rumbled in protest, but Lozen growled back, telling them in her language what Somere felt about this battle and about Blade. Whatever she said worked as they slowly backed away and let Lozen do her thing. She helped Somere into the craft and pressed a few buttons before the door shut itself over Somere. Somere made a victory sign and called out, "Wish me luck!"
Soon a wide hole opened on the floor of the port and the craft was soon launched into space, falling directly towards Earth.
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