# Chief Franklin — Short Fiction character guide

> Chief Franklin in Short Fiction by Walter M. Miller Jr..

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Franklin, Chief, Chief Agent Franklin

**First appearance:** 0000-conditionally-human

## Snapshot

A chief agent who has come home from six hitches in space with forty-eight hundred dollars in the bank and no idea how to tell Marie what happened to it.

## Who they are

Franklin is a man who kept promising his wife one more tour would be the last, and who signed on for every bonus run from station to moon-base to make good on it. Now he stands at a fence post near the Hauptman farmhouse, shaking and unable to face the door, dreading Marie's question about the money. His collapse on the road home is the story's early pivot, the moment the promise breaks before the reunion even begins.

## Relationships

### [Peony](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se/characters/peony)

_professional_

Chief Franklin and Peony have a tense professional dynamic, as Peony is a forensic expert whose methods sometimes clash with his.

### [Peony](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se/characters/peony)

_professional_

Chief Franklin and Peony have a tense professional dynamic, as Peony is a forensic expert whose methods sometimes clash with his.

## In the story

### [Conditionally Human](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se/chapters/conditionally-human)

Norris's superior who visits to discuss the Bermuda-K-99 deviants and pressures Norris to act.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se/characters/chief_franklin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_57_se/characters