Touch

"We're ten minutes to the Weave entry point. Please make sure all of your possessions are stowed for transition. The flight crew will be coming through to ensure that your seat harnesses are fastened. This entry point has been rocky the last few jumps, so you might be shaken around a bit, but it's nothing we can't handle. Please stay in your seats until we board the Aranea while we navigate the Weave. Thank you. Crew, prepare for Weave entry."

Kara-ze checked the panel on their encounter suit and everything showed blue. The human next to them, wearing the standard Terran Fleet jumpsuit, double-checked his own harness, ensuring that it was secure. Dominick had been an interesting traveling companion over the last few hours as they traveled from the station to the Weave. Kara-ze had learned that he was an engineer by trade, but was also very curious about not just Tralanins, but all alien and human cultures. He was especially intrigued when they told him they were a medical doctor and that they were heading for one of the smaller Selvedge ships to bond with the Chief Medical Officer who Kara-ze's parents had chosen for them.

"So, it's like an arranged marriage?" Dom (as he preferred to be called) asked earlier in the flight.

"Yes and no. We are bonded by the Touch. It changes Tralani DNA so that we may work on the Weave ships, but there are no expectations of the Touch outside of the exchange of DNA and initial mentoring to acclimate afterward. Most usually end up in close family-like friendships or even blended families. There have been some who have formed true marriages, although Tralani aren't monogamous. Reproduction is mostly handled in the creches and family units are usually based on shared interest. My entire family are all medical professionals and researchers." They paused. "There are more Tralani off the homeworld than on it."

Dom was thoughtful for a long moment. "Interesting. For humans it's a mixed bag. Relationships are mostly based on affinity or love, although there are some families that get together for more practical reasons. There are some that are in non-monogamous blended families. But, traditionally, that's a small percentage of humans. Non-monogamy is really common in Fleet, since we spend so long in the Weave and it's a long time between Intersections. Nevermind the fact that we interact and form relationships with a lot of the non-human races, too. Monogamy and marriage for reproduction is much more common in the colonies. It's pretty individual, really, and that also doesn't account for gender and sexuality."

"Gender and sexuality?" Kara-ze had read about the concepts, but since the Tralani had no gender, except for the very rare times they acquire it through the Touch. None of the scientists in the Galactic Coalition could figure out why that happened. "I've read about Terran norms, and know that my partner is of the female gender, but what does that have to do with reproduction and relationships?"

Dom grinned. "Terrans generally prefer to reproduce in committed relationships, and usually love relationships. I suppose the short way to explain it is that most relationships in Terran society are heterosexual: a male and female. There's a portion of Terran society that prefer homosexual relationship: two women together or two men. But gender and sexuality is pretty complex with humans, and some Terrans, like you, have no gender, and there some that like to form relationships with anyone of any gender, and... well, like I said, it can get pretty complicated. Besides, once the uterine pods were invented, traditional marriage didn't really matter even for reproduction, so marriages are now more of a religious or spiritual ceremony, and people can just register a long-term partnership. For most, legal family recognition is about inheritance rights."

"That does sound very complicated," Kara-ze said. "Are you in one of these relationships?"

Dominick's skin turned bright pink, which made Kara-ze think that they might have asked something a little too personal. The Terran shook his head, which Kara-ze knew meant 'no' in their body language. "I have some friends in the Fleet that I'm close to, but nothing that serious. The Aranea is my second Weave tour, actually. I don't feel all that compelled to settle down, you know?"

"I apologize. That was a bit too personal. I assure you it was meant out of curiosity," Kara-ze replied.

He waved a hand, and Kara-ze again thought it was interesting that humans used their hands to add color to their spoken language. "Oh, I know! It's ok. Like I said, Terran relationship stuff is complicated. It's mostly because I'm remembering the last person I had a serious relationship with. He was much more, hmmm... I suppose you could say, serious, about the having kids and settling down thing than I was."

Kara-ze was curious. "If it's not too invasive, may I ask why you weren't?"

Dom's mouth turned downward in what they knew was a frown- a negative emotion signal. "He couldn't understand that I was committed to my work. I love making sure that Weave engines are running smoothly and hearing the hum of a well maintained engine." His smile- the positive emotion signal- returned as he talked of his work. "I love the monotony of maintenance just as much as I love fixing problems. I suppose that for me, engineering is more of a vocation than just a job."

Kara-ze bobbed their own head up and down in a nod. "I understand. I feel that way about medicine. Since they saw that I was truly committed to medicine on the homeworld, when it came time for my to fulfill my obligation for the Touch, they made sure to match me with another medical professional." The fine filaments on the sides of their face flared briefly. "It is a great feeling to heal someone, especially from something you think they might not recover from!"

Dom made a noise. Kara-ze had to think for a moment. Oh, that must be laughter, they thought. "Yes," he said. "You really do get it." He smiled again. "Well, I decided after the last relationship I was in, that I wasn't going to settle for anything less than someone who understands how important engineering is to me and preferably had some sort of calling of their own. If that means I stay single for the rest of my natural life, well..." He raised his shoulders.

"What does that mean?" Kara-ze asked. "The shoulder raising?"

"Oh, that's called a shrug. It's a non-committal gesture, or it can mean 'I don't know' depending on the context," he replied, and Kara-ze appreciated that they were willing to explain these little alien eccentricities to them patiently. "In this case, it means I'm ok if I stay single or if I have a relationship. I have good friends, and I meet a lot of interesting people through my work. My life isn't so bad and I'm not lonely, you know?"

Kara-ze was rather impressed with Dom for having that kind of insight about himself. They, themselves, weren't exactly sure what they wanted, except for going through the Touch so that they can work as a doctor in the Weave. They wanted to learn everything they could about all types of medicine and how to heal people. Over the hours that Dom and Kara-ze talked, they hoped that the person they'd been matched with had a similar outlook on life. The few messages they'd exchanged hadn't given Kara-ze much of an idea of what their partner was like, except that they were always very busy on their ship.

"Two minutes to entry. Crew please strap in," announced the pilot.

As the crew strapped in, the shuttle began to shudder much more violently. Kara-ze looked over at Dom, who had a concerned look on his face, his head titled as if listening to something. Since Kara-ze was in their isolation suit, so their hearing was muffled.

"Uh-oh. That's not good. Shit!" Dom exclaimed and began unstrapping himself.

"What is it Dom?"

"I think the entry point is destabilizing. It could damage the engine. Stay here," he ordered.

"Sir! You need to return to your seat!" yelled the flight crew Dom approached over the noise.

He steadied himself against the walls. "You have to listen to me!" he yelled back. "I'm the incoming Chief Engineer for the Aranea and I'm telling you the Weave Entry is destabilizing! Tell your pilot to drop out!"

"You need to sit down, sir!"

"Listen you! I'm Lt. Commander Dominick Mantito of the Terran and Galactic Fleet, I've been working on Weave engines since your parents were in diapers! Tell your pilot to drop the Weave string before the engine breaks!"

The shuttle lurched violently again as if to make Dom's point and the crew-person picked up the handset, quickly talking into it. Everyone else in the cabin was looking varying degrees of scared. Kara-ze was scared, too, but after talking to Dom for the last few hours, they trusted him and hoped the pilot would listen to the engineer. The shuttle jolted back and forth, and then time seemed to glitch. They looked up again to where Dom was he had suddenly gone from standing to being on the floor. "Shit! Too late!" they heard him say.

"Brace for Weave!" the Captain said over the comms. Dom stayed on the floor and braced himself against the toilet door. Time seemed to shift again, causing the shuttle to lurch in several directions at once, and Kara-ze was pulled against the straps in their seat. There was the sound of metal crunching at the back of the shuttle, behind the sealed cabin compartment, and suddenly the main lights went out. Smaller emergency lights came on, as something seemed to shake loose behind us, and then it was utterly silent except for the sound of people breathing heavily. Thankfully, the passengers were mostly Fleet officers and crew, so they stayed relatively calm, remembering their Weave training.

Dom got up from the floor slowly, standing at the front of the passenger seats. "Is everyone ok?" he asked.

Most people answered in the affirmative. Dom turned to the crew member. "The pilots?"

They held up one finger as they listened to the handset. "Yes, Commander. They're fine, but some of the internal comms seemed to have glitched. This handset still works, but the cabin announcements don't. They said that they've pulled the emergency beacon, though."

Dom frowned, but didn't seem surprised. "Yeah, that's about right. The beacon will be fine, but the time glitch can randomly kill exposed comms. Thankfully, the Aranea will be able get us when they reach the Intersection point." Dom nodded to the crew-person. He looked back to where they were sitting and his face became concerned. He carefully made his way back to his seat and asked, "Kara-ze, is your suit ok?"

They raised their arm to check the status panel, but instead of showing all blue, the panel was flickering and showing orange for all systems. "Oh no! I didn't hit anything!"

"Like I said, the time glitch from the degrading entry point disrupts smaller electronics, and your suit electronics are no exception. As it is everyone here will need to get new tablets and wristcoms when we get to the Aranea." The suit's screen glitched, and went blank, then turned on again, still showing orange. Dom frowned again. "I take it you don't have that much time before your suit's air runs out?"

Kara-ze shook their head. "I can't breathe Terran-rated air yet! Unless--"

"Unless someone bonds with you," he said matter-of-factly. "I'd be willing."

Kara-ze stared at him in shock, but they could see in their fact that there was no doubt or hesitation. "But-- this could be difficult for you! You haven't had the training, the preparation--"

"Kara-ze, this is an emergency situation. I'd like to think that we've become friends in the last few hours. I'm willing to do this, as your friend, to save your life, since it may be two or three days before they can get to us, since we can't synchronize the shuttle to the Intersection point. Suits like yours aren't meant to have more than eight to twelve hours of emergency air supply, and now your suit is messed up from the time glitch. Let me help you. You can't heal others if you die here." He grinned. "Besides, I was going to ask to keep in contact anyway, since I think you're a very interesting person, Kara-ze. I know this is a lot more than just a friendship, but I'd think you'd rather bond with a friend in this situation, right?"

Kara-ze was surprised, but they also knew he was correct. Their own training confirmed it. It would be better for them to be out of the suit soon, and the only way to do that was to go through the Touch. And doing the Touch with someone who's willing and a friend is much easier. They took a deep breath, unzipped their right-hand glove, and held out their bare blue-green hand. "The change itself should take four hours, especially if I sleep. I should have twelve hours of air in the emergency tanks, but if you see my skin darken to a dark blue, just take off the helmet. It will be rough on my body, but with the adjustment happening, I should be ok. If I don't wake up when they rescue us, make sure I go straight to MedBay, since that means I'm not getting enough nitrogen."

"Understood," Dom said, taking their hand. "How long do I hold your hand for?"

"Five minutes," they replied.

Dom sat down in his seat and took Kara-ze's hand in both of his. Immediately, Kara-ze could feel a warm sensation emanating from their hand and up their arm. The warmth made them drowsy, and they started to grow tired. Before they fell asleep, they noticed that Dom kept holding their hand, even after the required five minutes. The Terran didn't seem inclined to let them go, and they swore, as they drifted off, they heard Dom say, "I'll take care of you, don't worry. You'll be safe. I'm not going anywhere."