MAIN CHARACTERS
ANA (mid 20s)
A highly trained intergalactic pilot. Ana is poised to start off her career as the youngest member of an Elite Pilot Unit transporting “Progressor Intervention Teams” to civilizations in distress and evacuating humanoids in trouble.
Ana was raised by her single mother (Diana) with the help of many ComCon mentors from the agency. Ana has never met her father (an environmental Space scientist) and the circumstances of his disappearance and presumed death during an outer space mission are shrouded in mystery. But Ana is smart enough and intuitive enough to deduce that her father’s loss is intimately connected with her mother’s Wanderer-focused fears and obsessions.
Ana’s drive to become a pilot is deeply rooted to this wound as well. She’s never told anyone, but Ana’s intuition tells her she’s meant to find her father somewhere – “out there”. Ana has always stood out in her peer group for her clear sense of life mission. She thinks of herself as invincible, here to protect and save others. Ana has been raised by and cared for by the ComCon system all her life and she is fiercely loyal to it; all but for one small exception: her unexplained attraction to Vadim.
VADIM (mid 20s)
An orphan outcast, from an anti-tech community background, Vadim grew up struggling to belong in ComCon, but since they were young, Ana’s care and attraction has “lifted him up” in social status, as her partner.
A linguist and amateur historian, Vadim is interested in everything “old” – in contrast to Ana’s futuristic momentum. His gentle demeanor hides his fury towards hidden ComCon-era injustice and the polished control that governs their lives. He often feels edgy, out of place and alone, thankful for Ana’s love and unsure he deserves it.
Deeply worried he’ll lose her, as Ana’s first major pilot mission nears, Vadim has been feeling an urge to radically reimagine his own life and do something with meaning. But what could that be? He’s not certain.
SAUL REPNIN (late 50s)
When the older man approaches the couple, he’s vulnerable, lost. A self-proclaimed professor of history desperate to escape what he calls “human nature,” he appears unfamiliar with current ComCon norms to the extent that Vadim thinks he is a Bioblockade-denier suffering from a neuro-infection, whereas Anna is concerned about his intentions, planning to lodge a ComCon alert.
But Saul’s strange behavior and desperate rage against violence has a mesmerizing effect on the couple that overrides their conditioned response. Ana and Vadim break ComCon protocols and begin to question themselves and each other.
In front of their eyes Saul transforms from a “professor of history” to a trained 20th century Earth military commander. Is Saul someone to protect, to follow, to fear? Once protocols break, they have no way to tell.
Saul’s fraught disappearance leaves Ana in a highly compromised position with ComCon, and Vadim torn up and lying to the woman he loves. Since Saul’s disappearance, Vadim keeps having living nightmares about him fighting a war in 20th century Earth. Why is he still haunted by this man? Is it his duty to find him?
DIANA (late 50s, Ana’s Mother)
A highly ranked COMCON intelligence official, Diana is a steely politician and sought-after Wanderer communication strategist. Diana is a pillar of strength for her peers and her daughter - except for when she’s overcome by a flare up of her Sikorsky syndrome. Diana has always managed to control her condition, and not allow her Wanderers’ terror to overwhelm her relationship with her spirited daughter, but recently, Ana’s relationship with Vadim has pushed Diana over the edge.
Since Ana’s return from their latest trip and the Vadim-led ruinous disregard for new planet contact, Diana has lost all sense of trust in the young man. Worried about Vadim’s influence in Ana’s life, Diana begins to plot to send Ana away to a piloting mission to the edge of the galaxy.
She’d rather never see her daughter again, than worry about her being under the spell of the Wanderers. Losing one member of her family to this ubiquitous threat is more than enough.
TABATHA OF COMCON (60’s)
Diana’s work partner for many years and Ana’s “godmother” pilot mentor, TABATHA of COMCON is a matriarch and overseer of intergalactic “Progressor missions”. Nothing escapes her, she is loyal and ruthless. When ESCAPE ATTEMPT opens she is faced with the toughest situation of her life; the tangible appearance of a Wanderer plot against ComCon and humanity. But this bad news about the Wanderers is just the beginning.
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SAMSON (30’s) - VADIM’S FRIEND
An adventurous wildlife hunter and avid risk taker, Samson often escapes to sanctuary planet Pandora to run popular adrenaline-filled high risk safaris. There, only the most evolved human hunters with the best equipment survive. However controversial, this is the way the ComCon’s youth release stress and their violent instincts. Recently, ComCon has entrusted Samson with leading conditioning Safaris for “Progressors,” an honor Samson takes very seriously.
Samson is a straight shooter with a soft spot for Ana, whose bravery and physicality he greatly admires, but he will never betray his best friend, Vadim. He believes in the rights of the group more than the rights of “one man.” The one thing Samson can’t tolerate is a lie.
HAYRA (late 20’s) - GUARDSMAN, SAULA
A low-level guard in a brutal medieval gulag. He is abducted by Saul during his fit of rage against human cruelty and interrogated by him with the help of Vadim’s ear-piece translators. Hayra blindly obeys his Warlord superiors and worships the time-and-space megalith machines that are part of the cruel system that he serves. He is a “believer” in the mythology of creation of these machines and the monotone brutality they gave rise to.
However, his abduction and witnessing of Saul attacking and momentarily dismantling these God-like machines has seeded unexpected doubt in Hayra about his role and the need to comply with the rules of a cruel world. Vadim’s return to Saula as a “Progressor” cements this shift for Hayra who interprets the young man’s return as an opportunity to worship a new God.
But Vadim has his own secret agenda and Hayra will obediently follow him in his quest to locate Saul, spearheading a rebellion movement of doubt against the status quo with unforeseen consequences.