RUSTUM BATTACHARIYA: aka Bat, aka Megachirops, the Great Bat, reclusive problem-solver and Master of the Puzzle Network.
Jack Beston: the Ogre, head of SETI Project Argus.
Philip Beston: the Bastard, head of SETI Project Odin.
Sebastian Birch: displaced person after the Great War, with obsessive interest in outer planet cloud systems.
Dr. Valnia Bloom: head of the Ganymede Department of Scientific Research.
Janeed Jannex: displaced person after the Great War, and would-be Outer System colonist.
Magrit Knudsen: senior member of the Jovian Worlds cabinet, and former boss of Rustum Battachariya.
Captain Eric Kondo: captain of the Outer System Liner Achilles.
Hannah Krauss: senior SETI analyst, and boss of Milly Wu.
Harold (Hal) Launius: a leading nanotech designer.
Agatha Ligon: a Commensal, great-aunt to Alex Ligon and a member of Ligon Industries’ board of directors.
Alex Ligon: predictive modeler and junior member of the Ligon family.
Cora Ligon: great-aunt to Alex Ligon and a member of Ligon Industries’ board of directors.
Hector Ligon: cousin to Alex Ligon.
Juliana Ligon: cousin to Alex Ligon and a Commensal.
Karolus Ligon: uncle to Alex Ligon, and Ligon Industries’ senior “fix-it” specialist.
LenaLigon: mother of Alex Ligon and a Commensal.
Prosper Ligon: great-uncle to Alex Ligon and the head of Ligon Industries.
Tanya and Rezel Ligon: cousins to Alex Ligon.
Kate Lonaker: division chief for advanced planning and predictive modeling on Ganymede, and Alex Ligon’s immediate superior and lover.
Paul Marr: first officer of the Outer System Liner Achilles.
Christa Matloff: director of Earth’s orbiting medical facility.
Cyrus Mobarak: the “Sun King,” inventor of the Moby fusion drive, and head of Mobarak Enterprises.
Lucy-Maria Mobarak: daughter of Cyrus Mobarak.
MORD: the idiosyncratic high-level Fax of the late Mordecai Perlman.
Pack Rat: senior member and Master of the Puzzle Network.
OLE PEDERSEN: the capable but paranoid head of a predictive group competing with Alex Ligon and Kate Lonaker.
TheSeine: the integrated quantum-entangled computer system that extends all through the solar system.
Nadeen Selassie: legendary developer of a lost “dark as day” doomsday weapon, presumed killed at the end of the Great War.
Bengt Suomi: chief scientist for Ligon Industries.
Milly Wu: SETI analyst, and former junior champion of the Puzzle Network.
ZETTER: security chief for Project Argus.