Chapter 158: Acting Dignified
I walked across the cold tundra to the smaller of the two Saalistaja ships, happy that I was wearing my armor. It had felt weird, leaving my ship in an outfit that was the same thickness as my pajamas, but since I was warm, I really didn’t care that it defied all logic. My three mates stalked quietly behind me, refusing to let me out of their sight for a moment.
I understood their concern. They didn’t want any more random males joining us any more than I did. But I was really curious to see what a kill room was and thought that this would be the best way of viewing one of them. Or, in this case, more than a few.
I wondered if it were similar to how serial killers kept a trophy from each kill, something they could see and use as a reminder of a particular kill but wouldn’t alert a visitor as to its true purpose. Like most serial killers would take a ring or a necklace from their victims or something else just as benign, such as their clothes. They have also been known to give these trophies to the people closest to them.
Or would the kill room resemble something more like the trophy room of a hunter where stuffed heads of their prey would be mounted on the walls of a single room?
Then again, the name ’Kill room’ seems to indicate a room in which the killing was actually done.
I was so lost in thought about what the Saalistaja kill rooms were like that I didn’t even notice that I was standing outside of the closed hatch of the ship. "Do we knock?" I asked, cocking my head to the side. It wasn’t that I had an over-inflated sense of ego, but you would think that if they were the ones to have invited me over, they would be considerate enough to have either someone waiting at the door or to just leave it open in the first place.
GA grunted and walked up to the closed hatch. Raising his fist, he started pounding on the door. Within moments, it opened, revealing Da’kea. His red cloak twirled around in the air as the outside wind rushed inside the ship.
"You are here," said Da’kea, and as much as I couldn’t see his face, thanks to his helmet, I could hear the happiness in his voice. Huh, someone was actually happy to see me simply because they missed me. That was new.
"I am," I replied, nodding my head. I saw a large number of males standing behind him, trying to get a better glimpse of me. "Are you going to invite me in?" I continued with a smirk.
"Of course, female, please excuse me," he said softly, stepping aside enough to let me inside. "Female’s males," he grunted as Ga, Ye’tab, and Midnight followed me into the ship.
"Elder," returned Ye’tab with a nod of his head.
"I would like to thank you for taking the time to allow these males the chance to present themselves as potential mates," Da’kea continued as the males from his ship lined up against the walls of the corridor, giving me easy access to wherever it was that they wanted me to go. "The kill room is just at the end of this hallway. If you would be so kind as to follow me."
I nodded, not saying a single word. The customs of this particular species both fascinated and annoyed me. The anthropologist in me demanded that I comply with everything and learn as much as I could. However, I was always more in favor of the material observation field research method, where I was able to just stand off to the side and not directly interact with the species that I was studying.
This was definitely not the case. This was much more in line with the participant observation method, and while most of my colleagues favored this approach, I did not. I did not want to emulate their behavior in order to have a more empathetic understanding of their culture. I don’t even know how I would begin doing that.
"Is everything okay?" asked Da’kea softly.
"No," I answered honestly with a shake of my head. "I am feeling like the dove taking over the magpie’s nest."
"I am sorry, I don’t understand," my new male said hesitantly.
"Doves and magpies are both a species of bird on my home planet. But the expression basically describes an outsider coming and taking over someone else’s home by force. They are almost like a parasite. They don’t build their own nests but rather take one that is already built and lay their eggs in that one, often with the eggs of the magpie beside it. Then, the magpie will tend to the egg as if it were its own. Once the eggs hatched, oftentimes earlier than the other eggs, they are then conditioned to push the other eggs out of the nest, thereby enjoying the sole attention of the parent," I explained. I was still searching my brain for a better comparison, but this was the one that kept popping up.
It also didn’t help that I was uncomfortable enough in the situation that I was relying on facts and trivia to engage in conversation rather than having a normal conversation with a male that I would be spending a long time with.
"But that is not the case at all," said Da’kea reassuringly, "We all want you here, and if you take this ship over, it would not be by force but rather because that is what we all want. We would definitely be more than willing to care for any offspring, whether it was ours or not."
I nodded at him, determined to bite my tongue so that I wouldn’t keep spewing facts.
"How long does a female take to gestate an offspring from fertilization to birth?" I asked, looking at the Elder. This was really not what I had in mind, and I wanted nothing more than to just punch myself in the face for asking such a dumb question.
"The females of my species take about ten months to gestate before giving birth, and then it still takes at least three to four years for the offspring to be able to function away from their mother for any length of time," I continued, cringing as every single word passed my lips.
That was me, the life of any party, or the one that could kill it dead without a second thought.
Da’kea chuckled at my awkwardness, seemingly not at all put off by it. "It takes them a little over thirteen moons for that to happen," he said. "However, at no point in time are males allowed to be near a female or be allowed to care for her during that time."
I stopped dead, not caring that there were a crap ton of males listening to our conversation. "Are you serious?" I demanded, not at all concerned with the amount of gasps that I heard behind me.
"Are you questioning my words?" asked Da’kea, sounding more than a little hurt.
"What?" I asked, now even more confused than I was before. How did we get onto this topic? Not even my brain could follow that logic. "What are you talking about?"
"The expression ’Are you serious?’ is not questioning your honor or accusing you of speaking an untruth. Rather, it implies disbelief or astonishment," interjected Midnight, the only one to have actively studied/ had my expressions implanted into his brain. "In this case, she is astonished by the information provided."
"Thank you, Njeriuujk, for that explanation. I have much to learn," said Da’kea, bowing his head. "Then yes, I am serious," he continued, turning his attention back to me. "I take it, that is not the case for your culture?"
"No," I said, shaking my head. "The males, often times the chosen mate of the female, is there during every step of the pregnancy right up to delivery and raising the child together with the mother."
"Are you serious?" demanded a male off the side, and I caught myself chuckling.
"Deadly," I answered with a nod in his direction. "In fact, any male that is not part of the process tends to be looked down upon and not considered to be a worthy mate."
"But no Saalistaja female seeks a mate," pipped in another male, this time a bit further down the hall from the first one.
"It is my understanding that the females from my planet are... unique in that regard," I answered, not really willing to commit anything more than that. "Now, your kill room?" I asked, changing the subject so as to avoid any more unpleasant conversations or questions.
"Of course, right this way," responded Da’kea, sweeping his hand forward. However, I could hear the amusement in his voice.
"Thank you, Elder," I replied with a nod of my head. It might be too late to try and act dignified right now, but I was damn well going to try.
