Writing Meme, Part 8

[lyorn]

8. Descriptions of all other important characters

All of them? Good thing that I decide who's important...

Allan D. Mercant and Homer G. Adams, Oberst Klein, Betty Toufry, John Marshall and Ras Tschubai. There is, of course, Gucky. And a whole lot of other canon characters running around in the first two and last two chapters of the story.

Charlotte Lamont, an (OFC) mutant who has the "second sight": She gets glimpses of the future, and sometimes finds herself speaking prophecy. She used to run a diner in Biloxi, Mississippi, but after her sons grew up an moved away, and her husband died, she was willing to try something new. When Rhodan's mutant-searching agents found her and invited her to Terrania, she agreed. (She feels that the climate in the Gobi desert is "very nice".) Being in her late 60s with no ambition at all for space heroics, she has taken over running the cantina in the mutant's quarters, sees that the young people keep themselves fed, and has a busy social schedule (church, bowling, bridge, choir singing, meeting friends for coffee). She speaks two prophecies in this story. One concerns the expedition to Arkon and is disregarded (by herself, for sounding extremely silly). The other concerns Solveig's undercover job, and having had news of the troubles of the Arkon expedition, Solveig heeds it, which gets her out of a very tight spot.

Ronald Morris, Seller's boss. Who is one of the weakest parts of the story -- I don't know anything useful about him, he's a piece of empty cardboard here (except for wearing a red shirt). Work needed here.

Hazel. No Christian name, no last name. Hazel is a North Californian anarchist who believes in free trade, free pot and free love, and has jumped on Seller's bandwagon when it first came to town (town being Berkeley, with an university that had that internet thing which is bound to die soon for canon reasons). Sellers knows far less about Hazel than the other way around, and underestimates what she has contributed to his project in scrounged stuff, anarchists, guns, communications and ideas. Once on Mars, she's been making a good living as a smuggler and trader in favours: She knows everyone, and everyone owes her. Hazel surrounds herself with a Harem of pretty boys, is a mean darts player, and enjoys her reputation of being No Good.

John, at first look, seems to be one of Hazel's pretty boys, if a little long in the teeth -- he's about her age, early thirties. I don't know much about him, but he's a competent bodyguard, highly perceptive yet able to be overlooked easily, a skilled tactician and might have mad Ninja skillz. Or just experience in ending fights quickly and decisively. Maybe he has military background, or is a renegade secret agent. Me not knowing does not hurt the character any.

Christy. She used to be a prospector, but since her husband had an accident (digging machine fell on him) and medical bills have to be paid, she rents out crash space in 12-hour-shifts. Before going to Mars, she and her husband were tax consultants in California. They did not like Rhodan's way-too-statist world government and wanted to live in a place with less bureaucracy and lower taxes, believing that they'd only needed freedom from restriction to make it big. They joined Seller's group and travelled to Mars in October 1983. Christy, like Joe the maintenance tech, is one of the "normal people" caught up in a plan that is going to hell in a handbasket, but with a very different perspective, and, it needs to be said, considerably less empathy.

Finally, Maria, Seller's Spanish (well, Cuban, actually) maid. Or that's what he believes. In truth, Maria is Maria Antonowa from the Soviet Ministry of the Interior. (Solveig decodes this as criminal investigation department, she might be mistaken.) Maria has been after Karkoff for a while, and, having learned more than most about Karkoff's plans for Mars, she has gone the long way 'round through Sellers (who is a lot safer to handle than Karkoff), to set up a trap. Unfortunately, she is just as cut off from communication with her superiors as Solveig is, and the very last thing she needs is some amateur sleuth clever enough to see through her disguise but not clever enough to stay below the radar of the bad guys.