Puppet Master

Data sheet

Louis Massina — scientist and entrepreneur, proprietor of Smart Metal, deeply religious; lost his arm in a motorcycle accident as a young man; never remarried

Chelsea Goodman — project engineer at Smart Metal; young, genius at math, petite, creative

Trevor Jenkins — FBI special agent in charge of anti-ATM theft task force; hardworking, always wears a suit; could use a haircut and shave

Johnny Givens — young, athletic FBI agent on Jenkins’s task force

Gabor Tolevi — first-generation American of Russian and Ukrainian descent, raised mostly in the Ukraine where he served in the army. Now an “entrepreneur” with connections to Russian mafya, though not a member of a family; widower and single father

Boston & suburbs — birthplace of freedom, hardscrabble values, great Italian food

Crimea — peninsula in Black Sea annexed by Russia in 2014 from Ukraine

Donetsk — major city in southeastern Ukraine, center of struggle between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government; under Russian domination

Bot — Smart Metal slang for robot that can function to some degree on its own, in contrast to mechs and industrial robots designed for specific, stationary tasks such as welding or chip making; Smart Metal constructs all types

Mech — Smart Metal slang for robots that are preprogrammed for specific tasks but retain more flexibility than industrial robots

Autonomy — ability of bot or other entity to “think” or make decisions without direct commands from operator