Ch. 10 - A Sit Down

Content Warning: Retelling of colonial traumas, Genocide
↓This is the Audio Companion for Chapter 10!↓

At first, the situation seemed hopeless. Plans had been made by multiple groups to infiltrate the fortified, inanimate town, and save as many as they could, but all of them fell through. They feared the casualties, as they were already aware how little 'Galvana' cared about lives being lost, especially ones not their own. But the alternative, however long it might take to happen... while it didn't force their hand, they wish it did. Either way, it was a hell of it's own kind.

Joshua was sitting opposite the door with big eyes. Brandenson could swear that the whites were all that were there for a second, before Joshua noticed him and stood up, waiting for something to happen.

Bran almost couldn't say anything, as relieved as he was. Emotions were keeping him anxious.

"He's..." Bran hoarsely started, before swallowing and continuing, "...gonna be fine. But they want to keep an eye on him, so he's staying here."

Those last words had an edge to them. Joshua recognized it and showed as much to Bran, making him feel all the more guilty.

Well... no, guilty was definitely part of it, but it was more than that, too.

Frustrated? A bit. And he felt justified enough for it.

But I just want him to understand. I don't want this to just be a bunch of fights.

I'll leave it at that for now.

Bran sighs, making himself feel more tired, somehow.

"Look, Joshua..." he begins, trying to make his voice as soft as he can right now. "I'm sorry for blowing up at you like that. In the moment, I just wanted to get 'Ichael somewhere safe, and Galvana isn't safe for him. We've both known that for a long time. It's not safe for us either, as much as we both might be used to it."

He stops for a bit. Joshua doesn't respond, but Bran thinks his expression is loosening, calming. Better than nothing.

Bran puts his left hand on Joshua's shoulder and continues. "Joshua... I can't say enough that I do understand why your apprehensive about these people. Do you think I'm not scared of them, even a little bit? Because I am. Kinda. They're tall as hell, and they're really blue. That's kinda weird, from our perspective, right?"

Joshua's still not saying anything, but Bran thinks he can see a smirk somewhere at his right cheek.

"But they're also the only people I've known besides you two that've been at all nice to me, or us. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they'll do something awful to all of us." Bran leans in a bit, his head touching Joshua's lightly. "But even if they don't mean well... I'd much rather die up here than down there. Cause at least here... things look prettier, okay?" He chuckles. "I dunno."

He pulls back now, wishing Josh would say something back. But he doesn't.

Fine. As long as he's acknowledging what I'm saying, I'll be fine.

Bran glances over to the right, where the doctor and Tor'me are talking down the hall. Back to Joshua.

"Talk to 'Ichael, okay? I need to have a word with the doctor."

And Bran leaves, walking quickly to make sure he doesn't miss the chance to ask some questions.

He only glances back once, seeing Joshua still watching him go down the hall for a short while before entering 'Ichael's room.

Turning back to the two ahead of him, Bran sees that, whatever it is they're talking about, they're fairly energetic about the topic, just before the doctor notices Bran approaching and stops.

Bran doesn't recognize the look in her face, but she steps a bit behind her. Bran hesitates.

"Bran," Tor'me says, putting himself a bit between the two. "Is something wrong?"

He can't help but stare a bit blankly at them, now wondering about their reactions.

Oh right. We're supposed to be enemies.

"Tor'me," Bran says, his voice suddenly burning his throat slightly. "I know I've only recently met you... and by extension, Joshua and 'Ichael have also just met you yesterday..." he continued, his voice breaking a bit. He does not have any idea of where this can or is going to go, let alone how to get things where he wants them, in regards to a good future for the people he knows. But the pressure isn't like anything he's experienced before.

"I don't know what exactly you think of me and my motivations." He turns over to the doctor, and he sees her face might be loosening. "And I know we are on opposite sides of... something. But I don't know much else outside of that. You've already done so much for me, Joshua and 'Ichael today and... genuinely, I can't thank you enough."

Tor'me isn't moving out of the way, but he looks less tense as well.

"I understand if this will be something you don't do for me, but..." Bran continues, as he massages his throat, "...I don't really know what else I can do."

The air feels warmer. And humid. Or maybe that's just because of the light sweating.

"I want to know... what's even going on. Or I guess... what happened in the past? Why things are like this?" Bran finishes, his voice getting a bit away from him. As he stops here, the air hangs, the moment he never thought he could get staring him in the face.

And, for a while, the silence continues.

...

Then the doctor pushes Tor'me's arm aside as she steps closer, her face looking serious, or sad.

"So you want to know about everything?" She asks, quickly and plainly.

Bran lets out a chuckle. "I'm sure it sounds ridiculous--"

"It's not ridiculous at all."

The quickness of her voice gives Bran some mixed feelings. Relief, at the chance to learn something, mingling in an uncertainty about what exactly is going to happen next.

"You and the other one - It'kara, right? - you both have been curious about a lot of things?" She looks at Tor'me, who seems shocked that the attention is now on him.

"Uh..." he begins, his eyes moving around, "...not really sure I should be doing any more of this stuff, honestly. I kinda did something that might blow up in all our faces--"

"I heard about that. He helped you, right?" The doctor looks back to Bran.

"...Yeah," he meekly replied.

"Against one of Galvana's 'soldiers'?" she continued, quoting in the air with her fingers.

Bran couldn't make himself reply anymore. He just nodded.

"Then we don't have anything to worry about." She looked back to Tor'me. "They don't care about the lives of their 'soldiers'. They don't even have soldiers."

Now it was Tor'me's turn to just stare in confusion.

"I'll explain everything. Do you have a place were we can talk privately?" The doctor's voice was a lot more quiet now, and the tone shifted as well.

"Yes, but, again... people are not happy with me--"

"If they have a problem with it, they can talk to me about it." The doctor's voice was as stern as it was hushed. The statement itself caught Tor'me off guard while also seeming to wash away his apparent worries about all this.

What exactly did I do?

"Can you call your friend over to us discreetly when we get to the room?"

Tor'me shifted in place a bit. "Yeah, I can."

"Please take us there."

A few elevator rides later - in between which they find It'kara, who ends up looking more confused and worried than Tor'me - they enter Tor'me's proposed private place. His room.

Entering past the door, Bran was caught off guard by the color of the walls, let alone the fact that there were walls at all. Especially that they weren't metal walls, even if they were light grey. And as he got his bearings, he found more to be caught off guard by; framed pictures, some plants in a corner, an intricate coat rack - at least that's what Bran assumed it to be - and only more than that could be down the hallway ahead of him, where he could already see a little alcove opposite of a doorway on the right.

Everybody else moved in past Bran, following Tor'me's lead as he ushered them down the hall ahead. Bran stood in place, just... absorbing the details.

This... is really nice.

It really is.

...

Do any of those houses in Galvana look like this? I've never seen them from the inside--

"Brandenson?"

He was pulled out of his thoughts and turned around. Tor'me was talking to him. Well, whispering.

"Yeah?" Bran responded, after a second.

"I need you to take off your shoes please." Tor'me pointed to his feet.

"Oh!" Bran replied, also trying to keep himself quiet while taking off his shoes in a rush. "Right! Sorry man."

"Yeah, it's-- you're okay, just don't wanna track dirt in."

"No yeah, when your place looks this good, I don't blame you." Bran chuckled, and dropped his shoes right next to the other ones, just aside the door.

Tor'me laughed. "I'm proud of this place, but... there are prettier places." Tor'me gestured to the door down the hall to the right. "We're all in here now. Have you had anything to eat?"

Bran's body groaned at the idea of food, and Tor'me must've heard it judging from the fact he looked further down away from Bran's face and shock lit up his eyes.

"Uh..." he continued, sounding really worried at this point.

Bran chuckled again. "Food sounds really good right now."

They made their way to the doorway as Tor'me asked questions about what Bran's body was doing... as embarrassing as it might've felt to answer such basic questions. But at least it helped to calm his nerves a bit for the conversation he was about to have with the doctor.

"I - I can do that, It'kara", Tor'me said as they were bringing some food out.

"It's fine, Tor'me," they replied. "Pass it around?"

"Sure."

Some plates were put down around the table, where Bran and the doctor were now sitting, opposite to each other. Then these white balls of... dough(?) were placed down at the center with their own plate, with cups of water for everyone following afterwards.

Aside from the noises of things cluttering around, things were quiet. It was making Bran sweat a bit.

"You said you'd had some of these before?" Tor'me asked the doctor.

"Yeah. They're delicious," she replied, smiling. Lightening up the mood a bit.

He turned to Bran. "You haven't?"

"No."

"Uh..." Tor'me started, "...they're kinda like fruits. At least, they taste that way." He takes one of the balls and bites it, then shows the inside to Bran. "Like... the meat of a fruit here on Earth. At least the ones I've seen so far." 

It looked weird on the inside of this thing; colors mixed together like there was no beginning or end to growths or developments inside of whatever this fruit-like thing was. Maybe it was just a hand-made solidified mix?

Bran took one of the balls anyways, and had his own bite. It tasted--

...

What the fuck?

What is this taste?

This is awesome.

Really good.

Better than steak and mushrooms everyday, huh?

Oh, absolutely.

Thankfully, his mind didn't wander for long, and he put it down to savor it later.

It'kara couldn't stop smiling at him. "Good?"

"So good."

"Good then! I haven't heard a single complaint for these from anybody so far!"

"I'm sorry to say, but I know someone who wouldn't like these," the doctor said, a light laugh leaving her mouth.

The table got quiet again. But not for long.

"Now," the doctor said, leaning forwards and clasping her hands together, looking at everyone.

It'kara got their serious face on. "Right. So... what exactly are we going to be talking about?"

"Everything," the doctor simply replied. "At least, as much as I can say," she continued. She let out a heavy sigh, took a drink of water, and put her attention to Bran. "What do you want to know first?"

As much as Bran was eager to get to as many of the biggest details as possible, he was getting a bit tired of just calling this woman 'doctor' in his head. "Well... my name's Brandenson. Bran for short. What's yours?" he asked before trying to make his throat stop burning with a drink of water.

She watched him finish drinking before she answered, "Call me Sarah," and made a small smile.

"Sarah," Bran repeated. "Okay Sarah, uh..." he continued, but his thoughts trailed off as he tried to think of where to even begin on his bigger questions. But he landed on something as his eyes wandered. "So how long has your uh... town been around for? And I guess, also, how long has Galvana been around for?"

Sarah took a breath. "The buildings were built fairly recently. One and three quarters of a decade, something like that. But the desert was my home - our home - for much longer than that. In fact, we've been here for tens of thousands of years, at least."

To say the least, Bran was stunned by that last comment. Tens of thousands of years?! He wasn't even sure how long that would be, as much as he's learned in the 20 years he's been born.

"And Galvana," she continued, "well, Galvana's buildings are technically older than ours, something close to 40 or 50 years now. 'Galvana' itself? Exactly 28 years."

Now everybody else was stunned, too.

"What?" Tor'me asked to himself quietly.

"That's..." It'kara started, their thoughts trailing off.

Bran just stared at Sarah.

But...

"But... the way they talk about it... it makes it sound like... Galvana... had been fighting for much longer than that."

The room looked at Sarah, expectantly.

"Well, technically, they have been."

...

Tor'me decided to finally chime in. "What exactly...? Like, I understand... I've caught up on some of what we've learned with other people's help, about the... Paiutes?" he asked, as his voice suddenly sounded very different to what Bran was used to it sounding like. He had a completely different accent, and it felt like he was struggling to speak the word 'Paiute' correctly.

"Paiute, yes," Sarah replied, helping Tor'me with the pronunciation. "Specifically, Southern Paiute. I'm from the Beaver band originally. But that's another topic for later."

"Paiute, Paiute..." Tor'me continued, practicing. "Okay," he continued, his voice sounding 'normal' again.

Oh shit, right! He has a translator, doesn't he? Joshua had something about that in his old report... or what little of it I could read.

It's probably a word the translator isn't accounting for.

"And," Tor'me started again, "...your history going back pretty far makes sense. But... if Galvana's only been around for 28 years, how have they technically been here for longer than that time too?"

Sarah's face showed some surprise. "I thought you all already knew about that?"

"I mean I have a few friends who're actively going into research about this planet, and what's been happening here specifically, but I haven't really heard or seen anything about Galvana and the Southern Paiutes here," It'kara said. "We're probably not done going through what few people volunteered as interviewees, I suppose."

"Oh," Sarah said, looking a bit embarrassed. "Okay, then let me clarify a few things before we continue."

Everybody leaned into the table.

"Galvana is not a nation in any meaningful sense of the word. They don't have a culture, they don't have a 'history' in the sense that we do, they don't even have a language." Sarah leaned to It'kara and Tor'me. "If you're wondering why you didn't need to get a new output language for your translators to talk to, like, Bran here... that's why. It's not 'Galvanan' I'm speaking right now, it's another language not native to my culture. It's called 'english'."

At this point, as uncertain as he was, Bran was along for the ride now.

"English? Like... England?" said It'kara.

"Yes, that's where it comes from."

"Why did you use that language and not your native one to speak to us?" Tor'me asked.

"Look," Sarah said, speaking a bit louder now, "I'm sure you'll have a lot more questions after this talk is over, but I still need to explain."

The room was quiet again, as those questions likely went flying through the duo's heads. But they relented, looking apologetic as they came back into their chairs.

"Now," Sarah continued, gathering her thoughts. "Galvana isn't a nation. It's just a group of people - some old, particularly cruel government officials, inheritors of military control, a billionaire - it used to be a lot of people. But that was a while ago. I'm not sure how many of them are in that place anymore."

Bran leaned in, almost tipping over the plate of food next to him.

"I can't even really call it a 'city' either, where they're at. It's... it's just a very expensive and soulless art installation that a billionaire named Sam or something like that had built, before he abandoned it."

Bran was only getting more curious. "Why was it abandoned?"

Sarah's face became much more serious. "Because people were finally ready to get rid of people like him."

Nobody interrupted. Everybody's just ready to hear as much as Sarah can tell them.

"As I'm sure you all will find out soon enough, Earth has a very long history of empire, oppression... just the worst kinds of things humans could do to each other. Or, I guess, sapient beings in general," she added, looking to Tor'me and It'kara. "As for us on this continent - some people call it 'Turtle Island' now as opposed to North or South 'America' - plenty of history was going on here before anybody came from Eurasia or Africa, and yes, plenty of it was conflict. But it got worse when Europeans came to colonize."

Sarah looked down to the plate in front of her. After some hesitation, she had a bite, savored it, then put it back down and continued.

"Our homes were destroyed. So many of us were killed." She turned down from the group, taking a heavy breath. "We don't even know how many people originally lived on the land we're above right now, not for certain. Our world is..." she stopped, taking another slow breath and looking back up. "We lived in a post apocalypse world. In a lot of ways, we still do. So many things, plants and animals, land... people and culture... gone. Forever."

She took a drink of water. The sound of her swallowing stuck out from the silence, and in Bran's mind.

Bran could feel his throat drying up, so he reached for his own glass as Sarah kept talking.

"But now..." Another breath. "Now, everything's changed. A few years before 'Galvana' was even an idea, all the empires of the world - self described or otherwise - they were feeling pressure. More and more people were trying to make the world a better place. Of course... ever since these things started, people had been doing that. Fighting back. But it was almost everybody. We could band together, resist together across the world, and it scared them all. They tried everything they could, short of nuclear war... and many died... but none of it was ever enough to stop all of us. 'Galvana' is a part of that."

It'kara and Tor'me leaned in to her.

"So," It'kara asked, "if 'Galvana' isn't a nation or empire... what is it?"

Sarah looked to them, light catching more of her face. Bran could see tears forming in her eyes.

"Honestly?" Sarah laughed, her voice shaking a bit. "A fucking billionaire's private militia. And there were more than just 'Galvana'. All of the richest people on the planet joined in, after 'world governments' had been seized for everything they were worth. Most of them are long dead now, and the rest are just kinda living in semi-forced isolation, after they gave up."

"Is Galvana the last one then?" Tor'me was eating from his own plate now, chewing for long stretches of time.

Sarah didn't respond for a while.

"Not for lack of trying."

Everybody else once again stopped what they were doing. Sarah looked over to Bran.

"You said your name was Bran?"she asked him as he was still trying to keep every detail in his head together. Her voice seemed lighter, and the tears were starting to fall from her eyes.

Bran was trying to respond, but his throat was still a little dry, so he took another drink of water. "Yeah, Bran," he partially blurted.

Sarah's face seemed stoic. Or at least, something resembling calm.

"Is that the name they gave you?"

Bran couldn't answer.

The name they gave me?

Yeah. Where does your name come from again?

...

You don't remember?

...

...no.

"Why would they give him a name?" Tor'me asked, worry in his voice.

Sarah took another big breath, not looking away from Bran.

"Galvana's lost all of it's original service members," she continued. "I wouldn't be surprised if the guy who owns it doesn't have anything left to his name either, especially after 20 years of being stuck in the same place for so long."

20 years? What about the other 8?

"Why is Galvana still around?" Sarah looked over to Tor'me, confusion in his face again. "Well, 20 years ago, we had them dead to rights. They couldn't go anywhere else, they didn't know how to live here like we do... the only real protection they had was that faux city. Both of them paid for by the same rich asshole. If he isn't dead."

...Riand??

...Maybe??

"But..." Sarah drank some more water. She must be getting dehydrated at this point. "...they had something. We had an idea, but with everything going on, we couldn't exactly prove it."

Another breath, shaking a bit.

"20 years ago, some family went missing from us here in town. Most of them children."

It'kara walked out of their seat and brought out some paper towels(?), putting them next to Sarah. She took them. Wiped her face, blew her nose.

"Then Galvana told us they had hostages. They had everyone."

...

...wait...

...20 years?

Sarah inhaled sharply.

"And we've been here... for the past two decades."

Bran's stomach was falling. Tor'me and It'kara were looking everywhere at the table now, most of their attention caught between Bran and Sarah.

Bran stood up suddenly and backed away. Too suddenly. The world swirled in his vision now, if only for a bit.

He couldn't breathe normally right now. He needed to be in another room. A bigger room.

"Hey, hey..." a voice said. Tor'me's voice.

He didn't touch Bran but he did get close, and Tor'me's presence helped him stay grounded, and focus his eyes a bit more. He could see Sarah looking at Bran. A concern he wasn't familiar with lined her face as It'kara tried to console her.

"You okay?"

Tor'me's voice was higher, and lighter in tone. Concern.

It was reassuring, even if Bran still felt... lost in his head? Wrong?

"Bigger..." Bran's voice was hoarse. He tried to cough, but it came out as a sharp exhale. "Can we go... to a bigger room?"

Tor'me looked at Sarah and It'kara. Sarah's eyes faced ahead of her, perhaps blankly.

She nodded.

Bran was holding the white ball in his hand as he paced back and forth, taking a bite out of it every so often. Sarah and Tor'me sat on a couch behind a low standing table, the former watching Bran. Both Bran and Sarah were breathing with some effort.

"20 years..." It'kara broke the silence, their eyes wandering between everyone in the room as they continued trying to process the weight of the moment just before.

You're telling me, Bran thought in response to It'kara.

I mean, I guess it all kinda... makes sense?? At least??

You should probably hydrate a bit more too. Your throat hasn't been doing you any favors.

I don't... really know how to move right now.

His pacing slowed down a bit, but it wasn't stopping.

That's... that's fine. Do what makes you feel okay right now.

Bran didn't need to be told twice. He just kept pacing, trying to keep his breathing steady.

"We've..." Tor'me began, to Sarah, "me and It'kara, we've been to Galvana. Just today. Aside from Joshua, Brandenson and 'Ichael, we've met two people." His voice was shaking a bit as he talked through his thoughts. With nothing else moving through the air, it helped Bran's mind think about something else for a little while. "The soldier I already mentioned, and then the uh... the General. At least, that's the only name we got for him."

"Middle aged?" Sarah interjected.

"Uh..." Tor'me struggled with the question. Probably still not familiar with human age ranges. "He looked older than you, but he wasn't struggling to move or anything like that."

"That's him. Wellers Cormack," she continued, a bit energetic. "Ryan Ryeser's top military advisor, especially back when Galvana had a 'formal' presence."

Tor'me didn't respond. Just looked away. His eyes did seem like they were getting wider though.

"Just about anybody there who isn't somewhere in the 20 or 30 years age range should be suspect," she finished, turning back to Bran. Just watching.

Bran couldn't really make himself move anymore. He just stared back.

"This might be a stupid question," It'kara started, breaking the gaze between the two and the silence again, "but why hadn't we heard about this before today?"

Sarah took a deep inhale.

"It's probably what you're thinking. We didn't know how to explain it, let alone to aliens." She laughed softly. It'kara looked down to the right, seeming at least mildly saddened by her words. "Well, also," Sarah started again, her face becoming more serious, "we were a bit more concerned with making sure that what's going on between us was a good thing. We've been burned too many times to not be careful about it."

Bran was finally able to get himself to his glass at the table. The water hitting his throat felt good right now, even if the hoarse feeling was probably going to be coming back soon anyway.

He looked back up at Sarah, who was looking back to him. A question... well, thousands of questions were in his mind right now, but among all of them, one was burning him the most.

A question that stuck in his head for a long time, even before today.

It took a while for him to get his voice to work even halfway decently, but once it did, the question came out.

"If I'm one of those kids..." his heart was beating hard now, the world around him only represented by Sarah, "...do you know my family?"

Tears formed in his eyes just at the thought of him having a family. Right now, they could only exist in his head. They might even still be alive.

What would they talk about? What would they be like?

Would they accept him?

...

How would it feel to know that your own child could've killed you just a few days ago?

...

Sarah's eyes looked up and down Bran.

"I..."

And then the door opened up behind him.

Bran turned around to see--

"Joshua?"