The Captain's Heart CH 99

Gralgiran crossed his legs, leaning back in the seat while the pack worked around him. The calibration for the recording equipment as well

Gralgiran crossed his legs, leaning back in the seat while the pack worked around him. The calibration for the recording equipment as well as the comm had been done before he’d arrived in the room Zorfiel had prepared for the interview. She and her pack had their own feed and would study the Earther interviewing him for any indication of duplicity. They’d gone over everything in the files about Earther body language. He didn’t ask where they’d gotten them. Those the Bane had held had been removed while they were at Thuruksamian’s Reach.

He also didn’t argue about her looking at the Earthers involved with suspicion. She, and Toom, were right that he didn’t have the most experience dealing with the kind of duplicity that wasn’t a direct attack aimed at him.

“Remember,” Toom said. “You don’t have to answer anything. If they cross a line, you give your beta the signal and this ends.”

“Toom, I appreciate you’re looking out for me, but I’m not a cub. I heard your warning the first time you gave it. I trust Zorfiel to see and hear what’s important and act in the best interest of the Bane.”

“Of course, of the ship.” His friend turned. “You better be looking out for him, first.”

“I am, Pilot. Now, unless you intend to be part of the interview, you need to move. We’re coming up on the agreed upon time.”

Toom stepped away, and the lights dimmed.

“We’re being contacted,” Zorfiel said. “The acknowledgment signal has been recognized. I’m sealing sounds out of the recording zones, now.”

All sounds of the hunters and Toom, as well as the background sounds of the ship functioning, went away. Before the oddness of it sunk in, an Earther female sat across from him, looking startled.

“Oh, hi,” she said. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting a holographic projection for this.” She looked to the side. “Tom, can we adjust? With him sitting like that, I don’t know if he’ll be clear enough.” She smiled at him. “I’m sorry, we were expecting you in more formal setting.”

He didn’t know how to answer that. He’d wanted to be comfortable since he didn’t know how long this would be.

Tommy the Earther fuzzed into the projection. “I guess we should have discussed the setting.” He squeezed her shoulder. “A few seconds and we’ll have the camera moved. And as a reminder, the Captain can refuse to answer any question, so stick to those that matter.”

She chuckled. “Are there any on the list we came up that don’t matter?”

“Just don’t get sidetracked, Jules.”

From what the Earther movies had shown him, the touch, more than the short names, indicated an affective connection.

Tommy the Earther fuzzed out of the projection.

“We’re just about ready, Captain. I’ll start with an introduction and a message to our audience, then I’ll ask the first question. Is there anything you’d like to tell me before we start?”

“If you’ll address me by name, use the entirety of it, please. I’ll forgot the use of my rank, but I insist on the entirety of my name.” He’d thought about it for a while, and couldn’t get himself to be comfortable with them using a short version.

“The shortening of names signifies a closer relationship, correct?” She chuckled at his surprise. “I did some research when Tom assigned me the interview. How to address a Kelsirian is among nearly all the documents the Federation has regarding your species.” She looked to the side and forward again. “We’re ready if you are.”

“I am.”

She looked over him. “Welcome everyone to this special broadcast. I’m Julienne, and as we’ve teased, this interview is with someone special. Someone who many of you consider important and whose situation I know you’ve kept appraised of. But before I start with that, I have a message to all the wanderers out there, listening in, or when we rebroadcast this. Remember that you are not alone. We, at Spreading Branch, are here for all of you. So reach out, let us know you are okay, or share information with us that you think we might want to know, and we might have something to share we you in return. There are many out here who want to know you’re well. So remember, Spreading Branch is here, no matter where its leaves fall.”

She looked at him and smiled.

“And now, let me introduce you to our special guest. He is a Captain and an Alpha, has many investigations under his belt, is well regarded by the Federation enough that they sent him to investigate suspicious activities outside its borders.” She beamed. “And returned with more than the answers to the Federation’s question. You’ve probably worked out who he is already, but let me introduce Alpha Captain Gralgiran sel Helrarvnir. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us.”

“It’s my pleasure. I have to say I’m impressed you pronounced my name. Few Earthers have managed it.”

She chuckled. “Your language is certainly difficult to pronounce, so I apologize if I mispronounced it. I hope you don’t mind if I refer to you as Alpha Captain going forward and save my vocal cord.”

“In that case, I’d prefer you only use Captain. Using my Hunter rank without my name has connotations that could be problematic in this situation.”

“Alright Captain, I’ll add that to the non-vital questions to get to if we have time. By now, the story of you and your heart is well known among our audience, but I need to know. Why him?”

“He’s my Heart.”

“But why did you pick him to be your heart?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t pick him. The gods gave him my Heart. When I saw him, I knew.”

“Are there others among your people who have a heart with an alien?”

“Not as far as I know.”

“Then how could you know? How did you convince him he was your heart?”

“I didn’t—” He took a breath and glanced at the signal light. It was still blue, so no matter how pointed the question felt, Zorfiel and her pack weren’t detecting deviousness. “I don’t know if I can explain it in a way you and your audience will understand. You don’t have gods, which means you don’t have the connection we share with ours. I didn’t have to convince Jeremy of anything. Once he overcame what his people did to him, he recognized me. I saw it in his eyes, and he saw it in mine.”

“And it was that easy? Gaze into each other’s eyes and you were in love?”

He chuckled. “You misunderstand what him being my Heart means. He is part of me. I’m part of him. But to love each other meant we had to get to know each other. Being each other’s Heart simplifies the situation because we know that no matter what, the other will be there for us, but love isn’t a sure thing. I don’t think it ever is.”

“And you love him?”

“With all my being.”

“Any he loves you?”

“When his mind isn’t being abused, yes.”

“Since you brought up the heart, maybe you can explain what it is?”

“Again. I’m not sure I can. Thuruksamian gave us our Heart when he made us. Gezbiliam screwed with that by switching them around so that to feel complete, we’d have to hunt for it. The Heart is that completeness we feel when we are fortunate enough to find ours.”

“I’ve looked through Federation document in preparation for this interview and came across many adjudications involving your species that were resolved by claiming the Law of the Hearts. I expect it refers to that same heart you explained. It seems odd that your species is accorded such legal latitude simply because you believe in gods.”

“You realize that the fact you don’t have gods makes you unique among the species we’ve encountered. We all have some laws around what the gods ask of us. To do otherwise is to ask each of us to act in ways that isn’t part of who we are.”

“Can you give me examples of laws for other species that involved their gods?”

He laughed. “You’ll want to speak with the adjudicators about that. I stay away from those subject as much as possible.”

“Alright. Returning to you and Jeremy—”

He tried not to flinch.

“Jeremy Bradshaw. What’s it like living with him? With someone of a different species?”

He smiled. “Exciting. Sometimes scary. We are different in ways that go beyond how we look, and it’s caused some situations. But we adapted.”

“Can you give me an example?”

The one that came to mind, he shoved back down. “Temperatures. With my fur, I have a wider tolerance range, my apartment was set to ship standards, and once we became intimate, and he didn’t feel the need to wear clothing with me, he realized it’s cooler than he’s comfortable with.”

“What did you do?”

“I raised the temperature. As I said, my fur gives me a wider range of tolerance, so warming our apartment doesn’t bother me.”

“How does Jeremy feel about—”

“No.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I won’t speak for him.”

“Then I’d like to ask him about the situation directly.”

The signal light shifted to the warning of green, but he thought she was simply curious. He would be, in her situation.

“Once he’s overcome what was done to him, if he agrees to it, we can arrange another interview and you can ask him your questions. Until then, I’d appreciate it if you kept them to me, or my side of our relationship.”

“Then, can you tell me about his social life? He’s the only human on a Kelsirian ship, that can’t be easy on him.”

He chuckled. “His friends getting him to stop working and having a social life is what was difficult.”

“So he has friends.”

“Yes.”

“Yours?”

“No. He has his own friends. I’ve met some of them, and he’d met some of mine, but we don’t share any.”

“Isn’t that odd?”

“We’re different people. I think it’s natural we don’t share friends. Most of my friends are hunters, most of his are technicians. Neither of us are entirely comfortable among the other’s group.”

“Has what was done to him impacted his social life?”

The light turned green again, and he had to consider her motives. He’d told her he wouldn’t speak for Jeremy. But there were things he could mention, since he’d been told about them.

“They’ve helped him a lot. I’m the primary target of the programming that was forcefully inserted in his mind, but because of who I am, what I represent, some of that spilled over to all Kelsirians. He couldn’t stand any of them for long, initially, and couldn’t tolerate them touching him. But he has fought through the programming and he has returned to work with them. He’s also socializing with them and he told me about a new friend he made recently.”

“Told you? I was under the impression that only thinking about you caused him to panic.”

“We exchange messages via text. He doesn’t think of me as me, but only as another of his friends.”

“Then he really is making progress. I’m glad. If you don’t mind, I’d like to return to the subject of the heart. I have difficulties wrapping my mind around the idea that someone can just go up to another and say ‘you’re my heart’ and there’s little they can do about it. Unless you have tests to prove that person really is the other’s heart?”

He rubbed the bridge of his muzzle. Maybe it was because they didn’t have gods, but he’d observed through Jeremy that Earthers seemed to have a need for evidence of something before accepting it.

“There are no tests, because there are no need for them. Even if I told you, you’re my Heart, you’d know it’s false because you wouldn’t recognize me.”

“Are you telling me no one’s fallen in love so madly with someone who didn’t feel the same and they didn’t try to convince them they were meant to be together?”

“I’m not saying that. Love will make people act strangely. But the Heart isn’t love. It’s completeness. And the only way I could convince you that you are my Heart while you don’t recognize me, would be for everyone around you to have, from the moment you were born, taught you things that go against Thuruksamian’s wishes for us. And if there is such a group, I’d better never find out.”

“So everyone has a heart.”

“Every Kelsirians.” He hesitated. “Possibly some of other species, because of what Gezbiliam did. We won’t know unless it happens again.”

“What happens when one of those hearts dies before they find each other? Is the one left behind doomed to me miserable for the rest of their lives?”

This was a concept she didn’t know anything about, he reminded himself. He was sure there had been Federation researcher who’d asked questions, but he had no idea how anyone would go about properly explaining the Heart to someone who didn’t have one.

But he had to try.

“We aren’t promised our Heart,” he said slowly. “Thuruksamian wants us to be complete, but he never promised it. He’s the Father God. If he’d wanted to, he could have undone what she did. So, while he didn’t plan for it, he saw something in Gezbiliam’s action that helped us. Maybe he realized that she was right. That being complete without having to hunt for it would have made us a people who didn’t strive. I don’t know the mind of the gods. What we have been promised is that if we hunt, we might find our Heart and that if we find our Heart, we will be complete. And that when we are complete, we will have to continue to work at living. Finding our Heart isn’t the end of the hunt.” He chuckled. “In a way, it’s the start of a new one.”

She was quiet for a few seconds, then glanced to the side. “Tom’s letting me know we’re about to reach the end of our time. So I’d like to ask you a final question; it’s not on the list, so he’s going to be pissed.”

“I think he’ll be angry at you, not me, so you can ask it.”

“Have you always been attracted to aliens?”

He stared. Then he laughed. “I never thought about other species sexually or romantically before.”

“So you’re only attracted to humans, outside your species?”

He shook his head. “I’m not attracted to your species. Jeremy isn’t an Earther, he’s my Heart. That’s all that matters to me.”

She looked thoughtful, then nodded. “Thank you for taking the time to speak with us, Captain. I am certain our audience will have enjoyed this and that they will have questions for you, if we do this again.” She looked over him. “And remember, all the wanderers out there. The Spreading Branch is always there for you. No matter where you fall. I’m Julienne, and I will see you later.”

“—itely inappropriate,” Tommy the Earther said, fuzzing into the projection. “I told you to stick to the questions we had.” He turned to face him. “I’m sorry about that. Your attractions are none of our business.”

“It’s alright, I didn’t mind it. When will you know?”

Tommy the Earther shrugged. “I don’t know. I might never. It’s up to him to decide if he wants to contact me and if he does, what it will be about. But I will let you know.”

He nodded, and they vanished.

“The opening and closing was definitely the message,” Zorfiel said. “Although I’m not sure how the code’s built. The contact’s the wanderer they’re referring to, and the we want to hear about you, has to be for them to call, but beyond that, no idea how it would work.”

“Does it need anything else?” Toom asked. “The contact calls and they explain things and he decides what he wants to do.”

“Except he said the contact doesn’t talk. He listens, then sends information. If they want to open a communication to explain things, they have to let him know that.”

“Gral is who was interview, he talked about his Heart, about what was done to him. If he’s supposed to have ideas about that technology, isn’t that going to be enough?”

Zorfiel shrugged. “Different species, different way of thinking, as some of her questions made obvious. We’ll go over everything and see if we learn more.”

Gralgiran stood. “Alright. Thank you, hunters. You performed well. Thank you Toom. I appreciate your help.”

His friend smiled. “You know I’m always there for you.”

“I know. Have a good day. I need to head to bed.”

He caught the faltering of Toom’s smile before turning and exiting the room.

Outline section 

It’s three days before Gral is sure if the radio is going to pull through for him or not. This is mostly because they can’t contact the information source directly, but instead need to let the source know through the radio that they want to talk to him. So the regularly scheduled radio broadcast happens, and of course it plays the update on Gral and Jeremy’s story. And it concludes with making a call to help on a certain something. They’ll give him a fancy codename, and tell him that some people need his help; they’ll come to him, but he needs to let them know where he is first. Don’t worry, they’ll find the way.

And the broadcast ends. There is a little bit of waiting, and Gral keeps on telling himself he needs to allow this mysterious person time. Even if he doesn’t debate helping or not, the radio broadcaster warned that he doesn’t always listen to the broadcasts live, and wanders quite a bit around his... the broadcaster described it as scavenger territory... so it might take him time to respond.

Addition 

The interview, which will open with a special message to the roamers out there.

This wasn't exactly in the outline. but I felt like I needed to better establish the people of the Spreading Branch, because as a group, they will (technically already have) be involved in the story

the questions for the interview are a mix of what I had and what Patreon supporters suggested.