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  With that, she stepped around Deson and marched off down the hall.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  WALKING INTO the room she shared with her friends a moment or two before Deson, Jorgi, and Wexner, Siray spotted Genlie sprawled out on her bunk and went to join her, the four other males sitting on the couches nearby throwing her greetings as she entered.

  Genlie moved over a bit so Siray could sit, brushing back a lock of her blonde hair from her face. ‘You’re back. How’d it go?’

  Siray shrugged. ‘Well enough, I guess.’

  Genlie tilted her head. ‘You seem … displeased.’

  Siray heard the door to the room open again, and she nodded her head slightly towards the sound without looking in that direction. ‘Deson saw me returning with Zale,’ she said in a low voice, ‘and got a little too protective for my liking.’

  Genlie wrinkled her nose. ‘Mmmmm. Not a great move.’ She peeked past Siray towards the couches, then back at her as she confided in a low voice of her own, ‘Baindan said he saw you go past with a male on your way to questioning, but he’s pretending it doesn’t bother him. Better strategy, I think.’

  Siray nodded, noting that Deson, Wexner, and Jorgi had joined the other males on the couches, so she nudged Genlie. ‘Come on over. I may as well tell everyone at the same time about what I learned in the last span.’

  Genlie’s expression turned to one of interest, and she obligingly followed Siray over to the couches where all the males were.

  ‘I have some news,’ Siray announced as she approached the couches. The conversation died away as everyone looked to her.

  ‘I’ve just come from being questioned by Captain Hurtol, and he said he might have a mission to send us on soon.’

  They all started talking excitedly at the same time, but Siray waved her hands and shushed them.

  ‘Before we can do that,’ she said, ‘the captain said we would have to go through some more training and tests.’

  Both Genlie and Wexner groaned, and Siray smiled sympathetically at them. She had known that that part of the announcement would frustrate the pair, as they had both been on active duty with the Resistance for a while now. For the rest of them, bar Baindan, it would be more like finishing their training.

  Tamot asked eagerly, ‘When do we begin?’

  ‘Well,’ Siray said, ‘Captain Huroy told me that he would—’

  A knock at the door interrupted her.

  Baindan was the fastest to respond, jumping up and striding briskly over to activate the door.

  The rest of them watched as he talked to someone through the open door for a moment, then accepted a large box. Hitting the activation pad to close the door again, Baindan returned to them carrying the package. He placed it in front of Siray. ‘The guard said it was for us and that you would know what it was about.’

  Siray bent over and opened the box. Inside were a couple of sheets of paper, a small bag, and some sets of dark-grey clothes. Leaving the bag and clothes for the moment, Siray stood up again and examined the sheets of paper.

  After a moment, she turned towards Tamot, waving the papers in her hand. ‘We start training tomorrow,’ she informed him, handing across the papers which had the group’s training schedule on it. Spinning back around to look into the box again, she pulled out the small bag within it, vaguely listening as the others began discussing the schedules.

  Tamot sounded confused. ‘But this says we’re training in three groups—how do we know which one we’re in?’

  Some of the others moved closer to Tamot to help work out the groupings.

  Meanwhile, Siray had identified the contents of the bag. She turned to Genlie. ‘Recognise this?’ she asked her, pulling out a black band.

  Genlie took the device from her, scrutinising it quickly. ‘Yes. This is like the thing Zale was wearing on his arm, isn’t it?’

  Siray nodded. ‘I think so.’ She looked at the band for another moment before she placed the shiny side faceup on the broadest part of her forearm before doing up the clasp. A moment later, she was still trying to work out how to turn it on when it vibrated against her arm and white text appeared on the shiny surface.

  ‘Woah,’ she said.

  Genlie, who was still checking hers out, twisted her neck to peek over Siray’s shoulder. ‘What?’

  Siray pointed at the device with her left hand. ‘It’s come up with my name and group one written on it.’

  Genlie peered down at the screen. ‘I don’t see anything,’ she said.

  Siray frowned at her, adjusting the angle of her device slightly. ‘It says it, right there,’ and this time she pointed with her finger right above where the white letters were floating on the surface of the band.

  Genlie still shook her head. ‘Nope. Nothing,’ she said again.

  Siray glanced back down at her band. The message was still there. ‘Try yours on,’ she told Genlie.

  ‘Alright,’ the female said and then wrapped the band around her arm.

  Siray watched the display of the object on her friend’s arm carefully, but she needn’t have bothered, as a moment later, Genlie said, ‘Oh. You’re right. My name’s come up.’

  When she still couldn’t see anything, Siray just shook her head in wonder at the technology. ‘What group are you in?’ she asked eagerly.

  ‘Group three,’ Genlie said, sounding a little disappointed as she looked down at her arm again.

  ‘Hey—do we get one of those?’ asked Jorgi.

  Siray nodded and tossed him the bag.

  Predictably, Jorgi reached for the bag but missed the catch, causing it to drop to the floor and send the remaining devices scattering.

  Siray chuckled and shook her head as the males were forced to chase after the objects, tossing disparaging remarks at Jorgi in good fun all the while.

  Once they were all wearing the devices, they were able to discern who was in which group. Group two was Kovi, Wexner, and Tamot. And group three was Genlie, Loce, and Jorgi. Which left …

  Siray took a deep breath when she realised she would have both Deson and Baindan in her group. She’d hoped for a little space from the males. Mother help me if they get into another argument …

  As they all examined their schedules, Siray saw that group one had weapons first thing in the morning. That could be interesting, she thought. She turned to Genlie. ‘What do you have first up?’

  ‘Change training,’ she said.

  Kovi came up and placed a hand on Genlie’s back while nodding to Wexner and Tamot. ‘We’ve got fitness training.’

  Siray glanced at him in surprise. ‘Fitness?’ She inspected the schedule again. Each day had three long sessions, with breaks in between. And sure enough, her group’s second session was fitness, followed by Change training. She checked the schedule for the next day, and the day after. All the same.

  ‘Well—they don’t go in for much variety, do they?’ she quipped.

  Tamot shrugged from where he had perched himself on the couch as he examined his armband. ‘You said the captain was interested in sending us on a mission soon. Maybe these are the only areas he’s concerned about?’

  ‘Maybe.’ Siray guessed it could be as simple as that. But Tamot’s comment also reminded her of the other matter she had wanted to discuss with her friends. ‘When you all spoke with the captain,’ she said slowly, ‘did he ask you what forms you could take?’

  Silence quickly filled the room, and Baindan stood up. ‘I’m sorry we didn’t have time to discuss it with you, Siray. When I saw you in the hall on your way to be questioned, I wanted to tell you what we all agreed, but couldn’t. Not with the male escorting you straight there.’

  ‘What did you agree?’ she asked him.

  ‘Not to say anything to Captain Huroy about the special form you and Deson both have, or my other forms,’ Baindan said. He frowned. ‘Please tell me you didn’t mention them? I really don’t feel like answering the thousands of questions the command staff here might have about
my abilities.’

  Siray held up her hands to calm him. ‘No, I didn’t say anything. I managed to work out from his questions that none of you had told the captain anything either, so I stuck to the basics. From what I can tell,’ she said, ‘he’s under the impression that you’—she pointed to Baindan—‘have two, or possibly three, forms, but no more than that.’ She turned to face Deson. ‘And he’s also under the impression that you and I only have one form each—my yeibon and your udun.’

  Deson nodded, both him and Baindan looking relieved.

  When the others had all turned away again to discuss the next day’s training, Siray pivoted back to Baindan.

  ‘I also didn’t fully tell him about … where you found me, the first time.’ She spoke in a low voice. None of the others knew about that experience of hers either.

  Baindan nodded. ‘Good idea. They would have grilled you about it all and everything else that’s happened since. But if Commander Dacelin had wanted Huroy to know, she would have told him already.’

  Siray nodded, feeling better about her decision.

  ‘So why do you think we can’t see what’s written on each other’s devices?’ Tamot posed the question to the group.

  ‘Probably because its coded to our genetics,’ Kovi said.

  Tamot nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, that’s the how. But why the restriction?’

  Wexner was looking at his own arm. ‘Well, if they use it in the field, it means that they can receive orders without any sound or light giving away their position.’

  That impressed Siray. Although it was generally sacrilege to use any level of technology greater than what their ancestors had used in battles outside of the cities, this kind of technology could slip past that rule, as it was used for neither offence nor defence but communication. And only the wearer of a device could read and engage with it.

  For a while they all discussed their new gadgets, their training schedules, and the possibility of a mission in the near future, trading theories about what it was that the captain could have in mind for them to do.

  After a while, Jorgi complained loudly, ‘I’m hungry—lets go get some food.’

  Siray looked down at her arm, where her device helpfully displayed the time of day by showing the progression of a small sun symbol across a horizontal hourglass shape at the top of the screen on her device. The sun was about to reach a mark towards the right-hand side of the screen. ‘Genlie, didn’t you say the meals hall was only open for a span?’

  This prompted Genlie to look at her own device. ‘I certainly did.’ She stood. ‘Let’s go.’

  They all left the room and joined in with the general movement of people towards the meals hall. It appeared busier than it had been at the midday meal, and Siray assumed that it was because most of the Resistance members had finished their duties for the day. As she observed the general crowd moving closer to the hall, she noted from their absence that Genlie was right about the senior staff eating elsewhere. She couldn’t see anyone of rank around.

  Once they progressed into the hall, Siray and her friends joined the line of hungry people waiting to get their chance at the serving counter. Again, Siray saw many eyes fixed her way, but this time, she returned their stares, and even made some of them turn back around by fiercely locking her gaze with them. As she did, she counted the females she could see in the hall before her. Ten. Not many at all.

  Siray reached the servery and filled up her plate. Then she pivoted and scanned the room. Her group was going to have to split up again. Spotting some seats at a table in the middle of the room, she made her way in that direction. Then a hand touched her arm, and she tensed, preparing to snap at whichever male it was that had been bold enough to touch her person without permission.

  ‘Siray—sit with us.’

  At the familiar voice, Siray managed to halt her verbal assault before it began and looked down. Zale was sitting with some of his friends who she had seen at lunch.

  ‘It’s okay, she’s already got a seat,’ Baindan said from directly behind her.

  Siray turned, about to tell Baindan what she thought of him making her decisions for her, when she saw he was pointing at something over her shoulder. Twisting a little farther, she saw Genlie waving her towards a different spot. For the second time in a short moment, she swallowed the words she had been about to say and instead glanced down again to smile at Zale.

  ‘Looks like I’m in the reserved section. Thanks anyway.’ She headed over to Genlie, Baindan following.

  When Siray reached her seat, Genlie said to her, ‘About time—I’ve had my work cut out for me shooing away all the males making a beeline for these seats.’

  Baindan managed to squeeze in beside Siray just as Kovi sat down opposite Genlie.

  After taking a couple of bites of her dinner, Siray said to her friends in a low voice, ‘I just don’t understand how there can be so few females here.’

  Genlie shrugged, but then a small smile crossed her face. ‘Why don’t you ask your new friend after the meal? I’m sure he’d be able to tell you.’

  Siray accidentally stepped on Genlie’s foot under the table as Baindan frowned but then thought Genlie might be right.

  So later on, when she saw Zale in the large recreation room, she approached him straightaway. ‘I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me,’ she said matter-of-factly.

  Zale’s eyebrows rose in surprise. ‘Here I was, coming to see if I might be allowed to spend some time in your guarded company, and you come to me. I think that bodes well.’

  Siray regarded him in amusement. ‘Or it could be bad. You haven’t heard my questions yet, so you can’t really know.’

  ‘Ah, true. But as I’ll be able to spend even some limited time in your special company either way, I can probably be happy.’

  Siray shook her head at his humour. ‘What I wanted to ask you is why there are so few females in this place? I can’t figure it out.’

  ‘Is that all? All the attention bothering you, is it?’ Zale peered at her, amused. ‘Tell me—you came from the training camp; did you actually get assigned a division before the attack?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, we were just a couple of turns away from being assigned.’

  Zale gazed at her in sympathy for a moment. ‘Alright, well, let me start again by asking you a question about the group you were training with initially. How many females were there at the start of the program?’

  Siray thought back. ‘Four or five.’

  Zale nodded. ‘And how many made it through to the final stages of training?’

  Siray looked at him, beginning to suspect where his line of questioning was heading. ‘Just me.’

  Zale nodded again. ‘Most fighting units end up being mostly or fully male groups, because some females find that their natures are not suited to this kind of fighting.’ He didn’t sound like he was being disparaging about her gender, just factual.

  ‘Usually our female members, or so I’ve heard,’ he continued, ‘do better than males in intelligence gathering, but they’re usually posted within the cities themselves to gather information, and here we only analyse it.’ Zale chuckled. ‘As you’ve no doubt observed, many of the population here would probably welcome an influx of talented females joining the ranks.’

  Siray nodded. ‘I’ve noticed,’ she acknowledged dryly. ‘And now that I’ve been cleared by the captain, can you tell me what you do here?’

  Zale nodded. ‘Sure can. I’m a scout. I go out in front of our units and check if it’s clear or not for missions to proceed and that the intelligence we’ve received is actually good.’ He stood up a little straighter, puffing out his chest in a mockery of the ideal soldier. ‘Intelligence and muscles, all wrapped up in one good-looking package.’

  Siray chuckled, poking his chest to make him deflate. ‘You’re not short on confidence, are you?’

  ‘What confidence?’ Zale joked. ‘You mean bragging about my good looks and skills isn’t how I
go about impressing you?’

  Siray put her hands to her face and shook her head again.

  ‘Oh, Zale … there you are.’

  A sultry voice interrupted their conversation, and Siray turned to see Melora standing there, her dark curling hair reflecting the light.

  Zale looked to the female. ‘Hi, Melora.’

  Melora didn’t even look at Siray as she said to Zale, ‘I was going to get some juice. Want to join me?’

  Zale glanced away from her to Siray, his expression polite but distant. ‘Thanks, but Siray and I were just going to watch the game over there.’ He nodded towards the end of the room.

  Melora finally turned to Siray, her brown eyes narrowing as she eyed her briefly up and down, then she glanced back to Zale again, dismissing Siray completely. ‘Fine. But you’ll know where I am if you get … bored.’ She sauntered away from them, smiling at the males on either side who turned to watch her walk by.

  Siray scowled at Melora’s disappearing back.

  Zale had kept his eye on Siray. ‘I just said we were going to watch the game over there to get rid of her, but we don’t have to join the crowd if you don’t want to.’

  Siray raised an eyebrow. ‘And make you a liar? No, let’s not give her a reason to come back.’ She turned away from Zale and wandered forwards to where people were once more starting to mill around the Force of Wills game.

  As they waited for the challengers to start, Siray asked him, ‘Are you going to play in a match tonight?’

  He shrugged. ‘Only if someone close to my score challenges me. Or if they decide to do teams.’

  ‘Teams?’ Siray asked.

  Zale pushed some of his blond hair around on his forehead. ‘Yeah. You can have up to four people play in any one game. You can battle each other all at once, in teams of two, or even do three against one if you’re good enough.’

  Siray looked at the table again. ‘What kind of battles have you done?’

  ‘One-on-one, teams of two, and the four-player version, but never three-on-one. Too hard.’