Apollo 23 Character details

From Self Indulgence

This page is for character information that is too detailed and spoiler-laden to be included at the list of characters for readers.

Contents 1 Deltarshi 2 John Leonard 'Jack' Swigert, Jr. 3 Jill Lyons 4 Ken Mattingly 5 Instructor Olsheng 6 Pultep 7 Sakir Querkad 8 Tulghik 9 Velse 10 Chantooga Froo 11 Flaktorna Malik 12 Brett Maron 13 Frautna Sileek 14 Molly Neeraah 15 See also

Deltarshi

Commander Deltarshi. In charge of the space base on the asteroid Hektor. Deltarshi is a genetically modified Denisovan; her ancestors were taken off of Earth about 100,000 years before the time of Apollo 23. Deltarshi spends several years pretending to be Jill Lyons and obtaining information from Jack. Due to Jack's prominent role in the discovery of an abandoned Moon Base, he became the main center of attention for Deltarshi and Tulghik and their effort to prevent humans on Earth from obtaining information about the Huaoshy.

By the time of the time of Apollo 23, Denisovans have been a part of Genesaunt for 100,000 years. Deltarshi is a genetically modified Denisovan, engineered to look like a modern human but with a significantly loner life span. Deltarshi is able to alter her appearance by using the nanites that are an integral part of her body. Deltarshi has worked with Tulghik for almost 200 years and is almost unable to continue her Overseer duties due to growing doubts and suspicions about the intentions and honesty of the Huaoshy.

John Leonard 'Jack' Swigert, Jr.

Taken from Earth in 1980 and into his future (2044) by Tulghik. Within the Swigert Reality, Jack flew on the Apollo 14 and Apollo 23 missions to the Moon and played a central role in allowing humans on Earth to become aware that aliens have long been visitors to Earth.

Before joining NASA, Jack worked on a secret advanced radar development project called "B-pan" (named after Bezuapan, Mexico) where presumed alien technological artifacts were found in 1959). The "alien artifacts" are actually remnants from a previous time travel mission (that ended the Olmec Reality) to ancient Mesoamerica that resulted in creation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.

In the Swigert Reality, Jack once briefly met Jill Lyons before 1969. After arriving at Hektor in 2044, Deltarshi makes use of nanite technology to probe Jack's mind and memories. Eventually Deltarshi discovers that Jack was strongly attracted to Jill and so Deltarshi uses her nanites to adopt the appearance of Jill Lyons. With the help of nanites inserted into Jack's brain, Deltarshi convinces Jack that she is Jill Lyons and they live together for 5 years on Hektor.

In the Mauro Reality, six months before Sakir is sent to Earth in 1969, Sakir arrives at Hektor and pretends to be the daughter of Jill Lyons.

In the Mauro Reality, Jack flies on the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon.

Warning: spoilers! For authors only.

While living at Hector Base Jack is kept inside a simulation environment. He is told that he has been taken to another star system and a space base of the Genesaunt culture where humans have lived for the past 100,000 years. Tulghik is using this simulated environment as a way to allow Deltarshi and Sakir to understand the Interventionists. Tulghik is trying to set a trap that will allow the Huaoshy to infiltrate the Interventionist cell that is responsible for the rapid technological progress of the Olmec Reality. It is actually Tulghik who provided Earthlings with the Olmec Artifacts as a way of attracting the attention of the Interventionists, but the reader does not learn this until the end of the story. Tulghik pretends that the Huaoshy are trying to discover how Interventionists were able to over-ride the self-destruct system of Pultep's nanote-based equipment. but that is only a cover.

Jill Lyons

Earth woman who is cloned to create Sakir.

Jill worked on the secret B-pan Project, an attempt by the U.S. government to understand apparently alien technology found at archeological sites in Central America. She knew Jack prior to 1969 through their work on the B-pan Project (in the Mauro Reality).

Born: 1943 1969: Time travel swap with Sakir; arrives at Hektor in 2026 and is treated for social anxiety disorder. Several clones of Jill are created, including Sakir. Jill then travels out of the Sol system and does not appear as a character in Apollo 23.

Ken Mattingly

In the Mauro Reality, Ken Mattingly flew on the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon. Ken is replaced by Jack Swigert in our Reality.

Instructor Olsheng

Instructor Olsheng was one of Sakir's instructors during her Observer training.

Pultep

The time traveler who went to 300 BC and terminated the Olmec Reality. Pultep met an Interventionist on Earth and learned about the existence of an Interventionist spy working at the secret Moon Base. Pultep was killed by the Interventionist, but not before he attempts to warn the Overseers about the spy: Pultep told some Earthlings about the Moon Base and over-rode the self-destruct programming of his equipment.

Sakir Querkad

Born: 2026. Sakir was raised in a simulated Earth-like community (inside the moon Himalia). For millions of years, aliens have been occasionally taking life forms (including humans) off of Earth and there is now a large population of human descendants living off of Earth (see Genesaunt). Most of those humans who do not live on Earth have modified genes, but Sakir is genetically the same as humans on Earth so she can be sent to Earth using time travel technology.

Sakir is a clone of an Earth-born woman (Jill Lyons), who worked on a secret U.S. government project for the study of discovered technological artifacts suspected to be of alien origin. Sakir is substituted for Jill in 1969. Her first task on Earth is to alter the progress of an archaeological dig to be conducted by CIA operatives who will take a flight to Central America. This secretive government team is being sent to Mexico for further investigation of the archeological site where an "alien artifact" was found in 1959.

Sakir also arranges for contact with Jack. The aliens plan for Jack to die on the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon. However, Jack survives and is taken off of Earth in another time travel event in 1980.

Sakir is 26 years old at the start of Apollo 23. She is very good with languages, having grown up in a family where English, Spanish and Aramaic were spoken. She studied language in college then was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency, going to work immediately on the B-pan project decoding what project members called the Tehuantepec Script.

She travels in time from 2053 to 1969 in a time travel swap with Jill Lyons; departs from Hektor and arrives on Earth.

1975. Sakir prevents discovery of an Olmec Artifact that allowed Earthlings to find the hidden base on the Moon in the Mauro Reality.

2001. Sakir travels in time to 2053, returning to Hektor at age 58.

Sakir has the genetic makeup of Jill Lyons, but nanotes from Tulghik guide the development of Sakir's brain so as to prevent her from developing social anxiety disorder. However, Sakir is uncomfortable when forced to interact with strangers.

Tulghik

The alien who uses time travel technology to send Sakir back in time to 1969.

Spoilers.
Tulghik, like all Huaoshy, is an artificial life form composed of nanote components linked by a hierion communications system. The component of Tulghik that is working in the Sol System is 17,000 years old.

Tulghik is performing an experiment with humanity, forcing humans on Earth to develop technological civilizations before the point where most Huaoshy would think it likely that the human species could avoid a technological disaster. Tulghik is responsible for shifting Earth's climate to the relatively stable pattern of the Holocene epoch. After the nanotech disaster of the Olmec Reality, Tulghik was willing to give Earthlings one more chance to create a stable civilization. If Sakir fails to sanitize the Olmec Artifacts and get humanity on a stable trajectory then Tulghik is prepared to allow a major crash of human civilization and return the Earth's climate to the colder and more unstable glacial pattern.

Tulghik is constrained by the ethical rules of the Huaoshy. The normal method for domesticating and developing a species like humans is to remove some members of the species from the home world and genetically modify their descendants within the Genesaunt culture that grows up around the home star system. The Interventionists are then allowed to covertly introduce new genes and technologies to the home world while the Overseers function to prevent or undo any undesirable changes. During the time of Apollo 23, Tulghik is trying to make use of Interventionists as cover for the introduction of nanote technology that will allow Earthlings to start advancing towards a major Huaoshy objective. Tulghik must prevent Earthlings from using nanote technology as a tool for prematurely revealing the existence of Genesaunt culture and, instead, use nanotes for ending Earth's reliance on fossil fuels.

Velse

Robot Velse is an assistant of Deltarshi. Plays the role of Lieutenant Phillip Rundel.

Velse is actually a Monitor, a Huaoshy agent tasked with making sure that Huaoshy rules are followed by Tulghik.

Chantooga Froo

Chantooga Froo - An alien scientist. He is 5000 years old.

Flaktorna Malik

Flaktorna Malik - Another alien scientist. She is 6000 years old.

Brett Maron

Brett Maron - A native Earth dweller. He is 29 years old.

Frautna Sileek

Frautna Sileek - Another alien 100,000 years old.

Molly Neeraah

Molly Neeraah - Earth dweller.

See also