Character Interview: Joseph Bernard in Moving The Pieces

I’m trying something here: Asking the same questions of the viewpoint character at or near the beginning of each book in a series to demonstrate how they have changed due to events. This series is Preparations For War, and Moving The Pieces is the fourth and final novel in that series

Go ahead and introduce yourself.

I’m Joe. My name on Earth might be Joe Bernard, but here in Yalskarr on Calmena, I’m Joe of Windhome Bay

Tell us where and when were you born.

The story I tell the locals is I was born in Windhome Bay, over on Wilmarglr continent, where Calmenans learned to sail the oceans. In reality, I was born in Southern California on Earth before Imperial contact.

How would you describe yourself?

I’m naturally about five foot eleven, light brown skin, dark brown hair, brown eyes. Mom’s descended from Mexican Indians, Dad’s an anglo. I usually keep myself pretty much how I was born, but the really important thing is I’m a Second Order Guardian, so I can change it pretty quickly. I may look old at the moment, but it’s only skin deep

Tell us about where you grew up.

Where my cover story says I grew up is the biggest shipbuilding town on the planet. Everyone in Windhome Bay was rich by the standards of Yarvahs when I got here, a poor town still under the domination of pseudo-feudal agaani, Calmena’s ancient solution to what happens when you’re psionic and your neighbors aren’t. Now it’s more or less a Republic, and the agaani who weren’t killed in the revolution either left or started behaving like everyone else.

How old are you?

The locals think I’m two sixty-fours, eight and two, or about 60 Earth years. That’s really old on Calmena. In reality, I’m about 135 Earth years, three prime thirteen by Imperial count.

Did you have a happy childhood? Why/why not?

By Calmenan standards, yes. Windhome Bay pushed the demons out and they don’t have agaani either, being a part of the N’Yeschass Confederation. There’s every chance of living to a ripe old age of perhaps seventy Earth years there. By the standards of Hashiboor Continent, that’s heaven. In reality, I was a military brat in the United States on Earth before contact.

Past/ present relationships? How did they affect you?

I’ve been married to Asina for over a hundred Earth years now. She redeemed me.

What do you value above all else in life?

Asina. Our three children. The defeat of the fractal demons, so nobody has to worry about the sort of issues most Calmenans have to face every day.

What are you obsessed with?

The war with the fractal demons is finally here. I want to make sure Yarvahs survives.

How do your beliefs make life better for yourself and the people you care about?

Yarvahs, like Windhome Bay and N’yeschlass before it, is a happy and prosperous place, where people have every chance of living their full natural lives, and aren’t enslaved or eaten.

Biggest fear?

That the fractal demons will win the coming war. The Empire has been preparing for most of my life, but the demons have a lot of advantages.

What line will you never cross?

I will not aid the fractal demons, and I will not abide someone who does.

What is the best thing that ever happened to you? The worst?

Asina was the best thing. The feud between my mother and Asina – none of Asina’s making – is the worst.

Most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?

The day I let slip to Mom that Asina had been shagra-my. Mom knew it meant she had been a breeding slave, and she’s never forgiven Asina for something she couldn’t have controlled.

Biggest secret?

That I’m not really from Calmena, and that the Empire is sponsoring Asina and I in our efforts to improve life here.

What is the one word you would use to define yourself?

Determined

What is your current goal?

The fractal demons are on the march. Now is when we find out if all our work has been enough to preserve the free cities from the fractal demons.