Abram was a human scientist, working as a teacher.
Biography
He was the leader of the colonists who discovered Fawcett's World. However the planet was also claimed by the Empire of Kilrah. The Kilrathi had surprised the humans. Abram had no time to autodestruct the ship. The Kilrathi took as prisoner anyone of his group who served with the Confed Fleet and taken to The Emperor. The ship was salvaged and Intelligence learned what they could about humans and the Terran Confederation.[1]
They were lucky enough that they were discovered by Lord Vakka and retainer Harga, the master of the planet. Harga came to like and admire the humans. A Kilrathi with rare love of knowledge, found Abram interesting. Abram learned Kilrathi language (including some of the dialect of the Imperial Court), read the Ikgara Kutgaga and learned the lineage of the clans and the Story of the Eight (which he found similar to the Bhagavad Gita and the Genesis). He spent hours with Harga talking about their peoples and their cultures.[1] Even Vakka, when not obstructed by his smell, felt Abram like a clan elder.[2]
Studying Kilrathi history and hearing news from Vakka, he reasoned on his own that there will be a war, starting with a jak-tu. He compared the Kilrathi culture, fixed and fanatic in its way, to some ancient cultures of Earth that had been destroyed by more determined enemies. He was certain that the humans would win.[1]
Jukaga's arrival
Vakka demanded that his son, Jukaga nar Vakka should be tutored by Abram so that he can understand humans and the danger they pose, better, and eventually like him and discover their value when he leads the conflict. As the young baron was welcomed by Harga, Abram approached him from behind, surprising and startling Jukaga. Harga invited him to join them for jirak; Abram served himself and sat near them, surprising Jukaga how he dared to act in their presence like an equal. Abram calmly exchanged words with them, explaining to the young baron that he was invited, making Jukaga to inquire angrily how he knew so much about the Kilrathi, forgetting himself and speaking directly to a slave. He revealed that he studied Kilrathi history, and that "Comparative cultures can be rather interesting".
Abram reminisced the circumstances of their capture; the colonists were lucky that Vakka saved their lives, but Abram lamented for those taken prisoners to Kilrah. Harga looked at him without a comment and Abram understood that they were dead. Harga admitted to the young baron that he considers Abram a friend, but he expressed his worry for the future, believing that they will be exterminated after their usefulness ends. Harga promised him that they were under his protection, and Abram compared him to the samurai of the Tokagawa Shogunate. He joked to the young baron saying that because of his position he should try to kill him, but retracted, admitting that he is old to fight a Kilrathi. Jukaga wondered why he doesn't take his own life, being aware of his desperate situation; Abram replied that it is against his religion, and life is good even for a captive, wanting to see what will happen in the future, with the possibility that he survives. He stated that they will win the war, because the Kilrathi will never know or understand the Terrans in real.
He admitted that he shoudln't reveal many things, but the Kilrathi are so fixed in their traditions that they would hardly adapt to the new information: he had reasoned by his own, just from what he knew of their culture, that they were planing a jak-tu, surprising both of them with his guess; but the hit from the back is considered coward by humans, and would only make them fiercer; with that insult Jukaga made a move, and Abram looked as if half wanting to be killed, but Harga intervened. Abram explained that as a "racial memory": humans were a prey species until they developed tools, an admission considered humiliating for the Kilrathi; Abram realized he said something interesting. He explained that hunters and prays trigger a primal reaction to each other; but the fear for those they care is stronger than the terror in the sight of a predator's claws. Abram remarked that even though the Kilrathi are not physically predators, their culture and behavior is so, and the jak-tu is a practice to overpower a prey, to prevent it become dangerous in its despair: this is what defferentiates humans from the Varni, and other prey encountered by the Kilrathi; that will eventually destroy the Kilrathi Empire.[1]