Dead End

Story

Characters

World

Reference

GJ

Gary Johnson

Role Research scientist and systems subcontractor — formerly Pratrock Dynamics, latterly Kinetic Logistics Status unknown
The name Marlo Petrak gave up under interrogation, and the only person so far identified as having hands-on knowledge of the Alien Navigation Device.

Overview

The name Marlo Petrak gave up under interrogation, and the only person so far identified as having hands-on knowledge of the Alien Navigation Device. A research scientist who worked at Pratrock Dynamics Research Facility 42 on Corwin II, then moved across to Kinetic Logistics, where he became the man called in whenever The Albatross needed specialised work. Petrak, a wiring subcontractor, described him as the one who “connected the ship’s systems” — the device, not the bricks.

He has not been met. What the crew have is his leavings: a Pratrock employee handbook and tablet abandoned in the operations centre of the concealed landing bay on Corwin II, his children’s names and birthday, and a dog’s name tag in a desk drawer that turned out to be his password.

Motivations & Secrets

Unknown. The shape of him is a man who moved from the corporation that owns the facility to the corporation running the covert trade, and who personally installed navigation hardware of no known make in a ship that was then scheduled for destruction.

Where he is now is open. The operations centre held a rotten apple core turned to dust and the accumulated detritus of a long posting, which reads as a workspace abandoned rather than cleared.

Appearances

Relationships

  • Defected from Pratrock Dynamics — Former researcher at the Pratrock facility on [[Corwin II]]; moved to [[Kinetic Logistics]].
  • Serves Kinetic Logistics — The specialist called in for work on the alien navigation hardware.
  • Created Alien Navigation Device — Installed and connected it to the ship's navigation computer.