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Worldbuilding

Main Characters

  • Dexter Fletcher – Protagonist. American. Looks like Malcolm Gladwell. Tall, lanky, scrawny with frizzy, curly red hair. Nerdy. Works as a data scientist consultant. Possesses no athletic ability whatsoever. In mid-thirties. Grew up in the rustbelt Midwest.
  • Erin Morgan – British expat working at JFL for six months when Dexter first meets her. They meet on the bus trip from Shanghai to JFL. Several years younger than Dexter, in late twenties. Works at VenPulse on the JFL campus.
  • Kristen Henley – Australian, mid-thirties. Formerly at Foogle. Worked on Foogle’s “Smart City” initiative in Darwin, Australia. Was a fast-rising star at Foogle but then something bad happened. Employment terminated and left in disgrace.
  • Coleman Hughes – Skinny black guy, early twenties. Political consultant and “instrumental in helping DTJ win the most recent presidential elections in America.”
  • Deepak Chopra – Older, Indian academic and professor. 40s-50s? Expertise and specialization in colonial history.
  • Yu-Law Yang – Director of JFL. 40s? “Handsome, lanky fellow with black, slicked-back hair. Wears wire-frame glasses, suit blazer (no tie), and polo shirt with open collar.”
  • Shu Qi – “Classically beautiful” – a “CRISPR baby” with green eyes and light creamy complexion. In charge of marketing and promotion.
  • Alan Chen – Native Uyghur and knows Urumqi. Nerd on Team China.
  • Vanessa (Van) Tan – Cold and aloof. The “Queen Bee” and reports to Yang.

Minor Characters

  • Charlotte Xu — Mysterious woman who first meets Dexter the first morning he’s in Shanghai. She approaches him during breakfast in the dining area at the hotel. She interviews/passes him and gives him the special phone on which he receives all future instructions.
  • Tunney – “A gutless slimeball.” Formerly worked with Kat at Foogle in Darwin. Was her boss or manager? Kat suggests that Tunney’s been turned by the CCP and that’s how JFL was able to get their hands on the initial designs and blueprints for Oracle.
  • Devana — Dexter’s sister. When she was young, was enamored with Japanese culture like anime, manga, Godzilla, etc.
  • Cecilia — ???
  • Cai Xia – Banished political exile of the CCP. Former professor at the prestigious Central Party School that trains high-ranking CCP officials and statemen.
  • Cai Fudong – Xia’s son. Prodigal son returned to China to rival Xi’s power and regime.
  • Jack Bao – Fifth richest man in China. Father founded Weibook. After a power struggle that he lost, Jack was ousted from the company that his father founded. In his fifties.
  • Amanda Bao – Jack’s wife and Shu’s sister. Nearing forty. Also a CRISPR baby.

Things

  • Oracle – The secretive surveillance system that monitors Urumqi 24/7. Housed in Building 11 on the JFL campus.

Mysterious Corporate Entities

  • VenPulse – A company on the JFL campus.
  • Foogle – A multi-national super-conglomerate. Some kind of unholy Frankenstein-mashup of Facebook and Google in the future. It’s a merger that honestly should’ve never happened and clearly violates dozens of American antitrust laws. But the Department of Justice was asleep at the wheel.

Jinshui Future Laboratory