Page 43 of Volunteer 4711

The next few days pass as normal. It’s almost as if the other commander’s ship has always been part of our fleet, and the news from their integration is a constant conversation. They have serious issues with discipline by my Commander’s standards, and he has decided, as a last resort, to mix up the crews. I’m afraid he’ll send me elsewhere, but I don’t want to mention this as if he hasn’t considered it; I don’t want to put the idea into his head.

After I throw the laundry in this morning, I meet my friend in the servants’ canteen for a cup of tea. Her face expression is one of excitement, so I know she has something very interesting to tell me. When she has this look, it’s usually some celebrity gossip from the Home Planet. Names and occupations that were alien and unknown to me two years ago, I know now just as well as I knew any celebrities on Earth. I sit down expecting to hear all about the latest love affair or scandal.

“The other Water woman has been married off to a lower officer on the other ship,” she blurts out before I can even sit down.

“What?”

She repeats herself.

“How?”

“Well, they got married. It’s a ceremony with someone officiating it. I’m sure that information is in your cultural program.”

“I think I know how to get married,” I reply. “I meant; how did she marry as a Water woman. I thought we were unable to marry Silvers.”

“No, we can marry aliens. It’s just that, normally, we choose not to. But that’s not the shocking thing, 4711. It’s that he didn’t marry her himself. The gossip in the fleet is that she had been sharing his bed for the past two years, and then she just went from his bed to marrying this other male.”

“Maybe she fell in love?”

My friend discretely gets out her personal communicator and holds it up to show me the picture of the male in question, and I lose it.

“That’s the male who tried to rape me.”

“No, seriously?”

“Yes, I swear to you.”

“Well, look at that, that Water woman really did get what was coming to her. She reads his lack of credentials to me and then says, “She has fallen far. You might not be with anyone, and you might always be alone, but that’s a thousand times better than being married to someone like that.”

“Did their commander marry someone else?”

“Yes, he married four other females, almost the maximum allowed by the Home Planet’s and our fleet’s laws.”

“Five is the maximum?” I ask to make sure I know the law as well.

My friend nods. “How difficult it must be for the Water woman to know that she wasn’t one of them and he has an open space for someone else.”

“What does being a wife entail?” I ask.

“Well, most men keep their wives on the Home Planet. That’s why you don’t see so many females on this ship. Wives keep house, work a little, but mainly raise children.”

“Will you marry?” I ask her, realizing it’s uncommon she’s on the ship as an unmarried female.

“Yes, I think so, but I want to stay on the ship. My parents both served, and I think I have that gene. If I were a male, I would definitely be part of the crew.”

“So, if you marry one of the crew members here, what would your life be like?”

“Why are you asking?”

“I’m only thinking about the other Water woman,” I say.

“Well, I would still have my job if my husband allowed that, but if he knew me, he would allow it,” she laughs. “I imagine the husband in question will not let his Water woman out of their quarters until she has a child. Then she will be sent to live with his family if he as any as he’s not wealthy enough to have his own house.”

“What then?” I ask.

“Then, when she’s ready, she will be sent back to him on the ship and repeat until she can have no more children.”

“Sounds…” I stop, not wanting to be insulting to Silver culture.

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