This is Chapter 33 of The Final Product, you may want to go back to Chapter 32 or start at the beginning.
33
When Jane entered Franklin’s cell, and saw him for the first time since he had departed on the Investigator, she was struck by a wave of familiarity. He had the same solid figure, the same round face, pleasant smile, and gentle expression. The only difference was that he was clearly going bald.1
‘Jane!’ he exclaimed, rising from the bunk on which he sat.
‘Hello, John,’ she said. She stopped short of stepping into the cell.
He came at her as though to seize her in an embrace, but only managed to say, ‘You look good.’
The lengthy emotional journeys they had traveled left them in lands that were foreign to each other, and without connection. But it seems that even language was capable of sending up some signal flare to bring them back together.
‘Would you like to come in?’ said Franklin.
She did and then hugged him stiffly. His smell was only vaguely familiar, hidden beneath the scent of many strange experiences. They both broke the silence with apologies.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,’ said Jane.
‘I’m sorry I haven’t seen you,’ said Franklin.
They spoke softly to each other about little things. She did not ask him about the expedition, and he did not ask her about her writing. The talking softened them, and after a while they began to mold themselves once again to each other’s shape—on the surface, at least.
‘Ursula has asked me to take charge of a project for her,’ said Franklin. ‘She wants to create a reserve or colony or something where no Alien technology is allowed. She’s found an island we can use and she has this whole population of prison inmates who have never been exposed to any Alien stuff. We’re going to set up a place where we can live like we always have to preserve, you know, human ways of doing things.’
‘I’m not sure what to say,’ said Jane. ‘Are you going to do it?’
‘It seems like a good opportunity. It might be fun—living on a remote island. I bet you’d get a lot of time to write.’
Jane’s pained expression when Franklin said this led him to add, ‘You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I’m sure it’d be fine if you just stayed home, like we’ve been doing, and I took care of things there.’
‘Of course, I’m coming with you,’ said Jane.
Chapter 34 tomorrow, same time, same place.
Footnotes
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His features and expression were grave and mild, and very benignant; his build thoroughly that of a sailor; his stature rather below the middle height; his look very kind, and his manner very quiet, though not without a certain dignity, as of one accustomed to command others. Relative of John Franklin, attributed by Albert Hastings Markham, Life of Sir John Franklin and the Northwest Passage 1891 ↩