Okay, so now for a bit more about some of the characters of "Cyberdawn: Beginnings".
First off, know that this novel is definitelty cross-genre, which I love doing. You will see elements of fantasy and magic, supernatural creatures that are the reason why the world needs to develop the first generation of cyber-weaponry; for without that, the world stands no chance at all.
Key to this is the character Dr. Rebecca Winter. She got her Phd when others her age were still working on their High School graduation and is definitely a prodigy. With the help of her mentor Dr. Falvy and his millions, she has set up her own business, Winter Research. In a world where guns are outlawed and the world's armies are getting ready to lay it all down to a common international police force, she has engaged in weapons research of a kind only previously imagined in fiction. There is perhaps only one problem with her company, and that is Dr. Winter herself.
Few will take a 19 year old CEO seriously, especially when she has the looks of a supermodel, which is why she maintains an icy exterior and runs her company with an unforgiving iron fist. Her nickname of 'Ice Bitch' is one she wears proudly and she will snap the head off of anyone using her personal name.
She never expects any of her people to do anymore than what she could do, the problem being that she can do quite a lot. The only person that knows she even has a heart and how to get to it is Dr. Falvy.
And perhaps one other...
Devon Shane, known to friends and hackers as Genner, is an extraordinary computer hacker and exactly what the group needs when they come across him... trying to hack into a Vegas casino's private little computerized piggy bank from its basement. He is also 17, hasn't graduated High School yet, and is rather shy... especially when he sees Rebecca. But it is his skills that spot what is so unusual about certain computer chips manufactured by Megasoft; how the circuit traces seem to dance and move, how they resemble magical runes of a sort. Computers married with magic? How can this be and what other capabilities does this imply of The People?
You would think that for a young man as shy as Genner that Rebecca would simply chew him up and spit him out, but there is something laying dormant within Genner, some capability that not even he sees in himself. Perhaps the reason why, when he reflexively calls Dr. Winter by her real first name instead of 'Ice Bitch' that he is the one person that she does not correct on the matter. The only other person that even called her 'Rebecca' was, of course, Dr. Falvy.
Dr. Falvy is a wealthy medical doctor with his own well-equipped biology research lab on his private estate. When Rebecca was young and her parents didn't know how to handle her, he took her under his wing and became her surrogate father and Mentor, challenged her to surpass herself as well as tried to teach her how to enjoy life from time to time. When samples from a winged panther that should not exist are brought to Dr. Winter's attention, it is in his lab that they analyze it and confirm that their origin is truly something other-worldly. A friendly and socialble man, he doesn't mind being hospitable to Black Jack and the others when they start seeking shelter from the creatures chasing them, and even finances their plans for discovering the mystery behind these supernatural beings and their goals.
Well, that's all for now. Maybe later I'll talk about the Russian psychic Anya Petrova or Hyram the friendly neighborhood pawn shop owner and backroom gunsmith. Or Agent Black.