Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 297

The Ming Treasure Voyages Retold
Ying Wa College, Chau, Yat Sunday - 12
When I opened my eyes for the first time, I was really stunned. There were loads if people walking around
me, holding sharp and dangerous objects such as hammers and chisels, all deadly heavy or sharp. When one
comes forwards holding some seriously terrifying tools and implements. I immediately tried to run,but soon
discovered myself to unable to move at all. I switched to pleading with my eyes the best I could as the
menacing man stepped forward, and he acted like as if he doesn’t even acknowledge me at all. When he
finally brings down the chisel, I didn’t feel any pain, more like a feeling of being completed. While I was
still trying to figure out what was happening to me, the man was already done. I immediately felt chains
lifting me up and over, closer and closer to a humongous ship under construction, under the name The
Voyager. As I was slowly but surely connected to the prow, my identity finally hit me: I am the figurehead
of a ship!
A few days after, I had ear dropped about what I was created for. I was made to help an explorer of sorts,
Zheng He to travel around the world and help the natives worldwide out by gifting them tools and
knowledge! How great of a destiny is that! I can’t wait to start my journey! Also, the ship I was connected
onto, which I had started to see as part of myself, due to the fact that since I was connected to the prow, I
was able to manipulate many different mechanics within the ship itself, like the direction of the rudder and
the opening and closing of the portholes. I played workers within me by opening portholes near them in the
night, flapping the sails and scaring the christ out of them. Although I was quite adapted to this form, I still
longed for the ability to move freely though, which would be like the cherry on a cake for me.
Finally, after months of long wait, I was finally prepared to sail the seas! I was also introduced to the crew
who would be working with me for the next couple of years. Some of them were so stinky and disgusting, I
was prepared to roll myself a little and throw them headfirst into the vast seas just to be rid of them for next
couple of years! Some of them, including Zheng He himself, was much more clean. Well, at least they
didn’t reek of rotting fish and impure salt! Soon after, I was loaded onto some sort of a ramp, and was rolled
into the sea with a great splash! I was so excited to start my adventures that immediately after the crew got
on, I unfurled my three gigantic sails, causing quite some inconvenience to most of the crew and set off to
our amazing journeys ahead.
The first few months went by in a flash. It turned out that my pilot was completely useless, and slept
through a lot of time while he should have been on duty, including the dangerous times while we were
travelling through shallow waters, which always yields the dangerous possibility of hitting a reef, even
without an unconscious pilot. So, it was often up to me to shift the rudder of the ship just a slight bit to
guide us out of those troublesome reefs unharmed and in one piece. Actually, technically nothing can harm
me as I am not actually human, but let’s get to that later on. Soon, we arrived at our first stop, which wasn’t
much of a smooth trip, either for me or for the crew.
Our first stop was at a weird place called champa. It was quite a beautiful place, with glittering lakes and
animals calling out to each others, which created quite a comfortable and peaceful background. That was the
case, until the locals ran towards us, wielding spears, bows and for some reason, even a weird looking tube
that the natives carry on their belts in crude, wooden boxes. When a stinky and apparently drunk crewmate
tried to calm them down, but in our language, Chinese, the sounds that he made somehow agitated the
natives even further, and the native wielding the tube raised the tube to is his mouth and shot a dart towards
the drunken sailor, who was so drunk that he didn’t even flinch when the dart hit him. Mere seconds later,
the dart proved itself to be fatal, and the crewmate collapsed over the railing and down towards the natives,
who drag him far away, possibly to their camp. Then, the natives raged full on war with us, chucking spears
or grappling hooks, climbing up my hull to attack the crew while I tried to shake them all off in vain.
Instead, I tried to slam porthole doors into faces while they are passing by on ropes, which does stun and
drop most of the hostile locals into the sea. After the local’s attack was repelled, we immediately went to
attack, with me turning the onboard cannons towards the native’s directions and the crew putting in heavy
cannonballs into them and lighting them on fire. Soon, the natives were running for their lives, back to
where they came from.
Although we had a really rough start on the voyage, I didn’t sustain much damage, and we were able to
continue on. The other locals from other places were much more friendlier, and were happy to see us come
and for us to help! We didn’t have much of a problem while visiting other nations ever since. Years later,