Peter Hamilton - Judas Unchained

To Sophie Hazel HamiltonI never knew how much I missed you until you arrived

NAVY

Captain Wilson KimeEx-NASA pilot. Admiral, navy chief

Rafael ColumbiaVice Admiral, planetary defense

TarloLieutenant, Navy Intelligence

Renne KampasaLieutenant, Navy Intelligence

MortonConvict, navy trooper

Oscar MonroeNavy captain, Defender

McClain GilbertNavy captain

Anna KimeWilsons wife, and Navy chief of staff

Tunde SuttonNavy physicist

Alic HoganLieutenant Commander, Navy Intelligence

Natasha KersleySeattle project chief

Rob TanneConvict, navy trooper

Catherine Stewartaka the Cat, convict, navy trooper

Matthew OldfieldSecond Lieutenant, Paris office

Vic RussellSecond Lieutenant, Paris office

Gwyneth RussellSecond Lieutenant, Paris office

Jim NwanSecond Lieutenant, Paris office

John KingLieutenant, Paris office

DYNASTIES

Nigel SheldonCo-inventor of wormhole technology. Co-owner of Compression Space Transport

Ozzie Fernandez IsaacCo-inventor of wormhole technology. Co-owner of CST

Daniel AlsterChief executive aide to Nigel Sheldon

Campbell SheldonDirect great-grandson, high position in Sheldon Dynasty

Gerard UtrethBraunt family rep, Democratic Republic New Germany

Isabella HalgarthStarflyer agent

Victor HalgarthIsabellas father, Starflyer agent

Bernadette HalgarthIsabellas mother, Starflyer agent

Giselle SwinsolSheldon Dynasty starship project manager

Otis SheldonPilot, Sheldon Dynasty starship

Nelson SheldonSheldon Dynasty security chief

SENATE

Paula MyoInvestigator, Senate Security

Justine BurnelliEarth Socialitenow Senator

Thompson BurnelliCommonwealth Senatorundergoing re-life

Elaine DoiPresident, Intersolar Commonwealth

Patricia KantilChief aide to Elaine Doi

Ramon DBSenator for Buta, leader of African caucus

Crispin GoldreichSenator; Chair, budget commission

Toniea GallChairwoman, Residents Association High Angel

GUARDIANS OF SELFHOOD

Bradley JohanssonFounder of Guardians of Selfhood

Kazimir McFosterClan member in the Guardians of Selfhood

Bruce McFosterEx-Guardian, Starflyer assassin

Stig McSobelGuardian, leader of Armstrong City team

Samantha McFosterGuardian, technician for planets revenge

Olwen McOnnaGuardian

Adam ElvinEx-radical, quartermaster for Guardians

ALIENS

TocheeAlien of unknown origin

The High AngelA sentient alien starship

MorningLightMountainPrime alien from Dyson Alpha

StarflyerHostile alien of unknown origin

QatuxA Raiel, living on the High Angel

The SISentient intelligence, machine based, of human origin

OTHERS

Mellanie RescoraiUnisphere personality, SI agent

OrionParentless teenage boy from Silvergalde

Dudley BoseAstronomer at Gralmond University, re-lifed

Hoshe FinnDetective, Darklake city police

Gore BurnelliHead of the Burnelli Grand Family

Mark VernonEngineer

Liz VernonBiogenetic technician, Marks wife

Simon RandFounder of Randtown, leader of resistance

Alessandra BaronNews show presenter, Starflyer agent

Tiger PansyActress in adult TSI dramas

Paul CramleyProfessional hacker

Kaspar MurdoHead janitor at Saffron Clinic

The AgentUnderworld security personnel manager on Illuminatus

Niall SwaltJunior employee, Grand Triad Adventures tour company

Edmund LiOfficer in Far Away freight inspectorate division, Boongate Station

MichelangeloTSI news anchor

Right from the start, there was something about the investigation that made Lieutenant Renne Kampasa uneasy. The first little qualm came sliding up out of her subconscious when she saw the victims loft apartment. Shed been inside loft apartments just like it a hundred times before. It was the kind of plush metropolitan pad that a group of funky TSI soap characters usually lived in: beautiful single people with well-paying jobs that gave them most of the day off so they could enjoy a floor space of around five hundred square meters as they lounged around in an extravagant dcor provided by overpriced interior designers. The kind of scenario completely divorced from real life but full of dramatic or comic potential for the scriptwriters.

Yet here she was, a day after the Guardians shotgun message that denounced President Elaine Doi as a Starflyer agent, being shown into just such an apartment on the top floor of a refurbished factory block in Daroca, the capital city of Arevalo. The massive open-plan living room had a wide sunny balcony that looked out over the Caspe River, which flowed through the heart of the city. Like all the capitals of successful phase one space planets, Daroca was a rich montage of parks, elegant buildings, and broad streets stretching away to the horizon. Under the planets bronze-shaded morning sunlight it glimmered with a sharp coronal hue, adding to the panoramas graceful appeal.

Renne shook her head in mild disbelief at the fabulous view. Even with the decent salary the navy paid her, she could never afford the rent on this. And it was currently being paid by three first-life girls, all under twenty-five.

One of them was showing Renne and Tarlo in: Catriona Saleeb, a small twenty-two-year-old, with long curly black hair, wearing a simple green dress with strong geometric lilac stripesexcept Renne knew the dress was a Fon, which put its price tag over a thousand Earth dollars, and the girl was using it as a casual housedress. Rennes e-butler printed up Saleebs file in her virtual vision; she was a junior member of the Morishi Grand Family, working at a bank in Darocas large financial district.

Her two friends were Trisha Marina Halgarth, who had a product placement job at Veccdale, a Halgarth subsidiary that designed chic domestic systems, and Isabella Halgarth, whod taken a job at a contemporary art gallery in town. They fitted the whole profile: three bachelorettes sharing a place in the city, having fun together while they waited for their true careers to launch, or husbands of equal wealth and status to materialize and carry them off to a merged trust fund mansion to produce their contracted quota of children.

This is one great place youve got here, Tarlo said as they made their way into the lounge.

Catriona turned and gave him a smile that was a lot more than simple politeness. Thanks, its a family place so we get it cheap.

Plenty of wild parties, huh.

Her smile became teasing. Maybe.

Renne shot him an exasperated look; they were supposed to be on duty, not hitting on potential witnesses. He just grinned back, perfect white teeth gleaming out of his handsome tanned face. Shed seen for herself just how successful that grin could be in the clubs and bars around Paris.

Catriona took them over to the kitchen section, which was separated from the living room by a broad marble-topped breakfast bar. The kitchen was ultramodern, equipped with every convenience gadget possible, all built in to swan-white egg-shaped wall modules. Somehow, Renne couldnt imagine it being used for much actual cooking, not even by the complicated-looking chefbots.

The two other girls were sitting on stools at the bar.