The world
People of the lanes
People you may meet on the lanes.
Aurelian Penhale
Archivist of the Meridium Trust at Vega. Courteous, archaic; every answer true and incomplete.
Ruth Okafor
Eldest of Okafor & Daughters Salvage. Files every claim, because strippers took her father's wreck as Hot Salvage.
Ada Kell
A hauler from Bellatrix, nobody in particular. Her name is on the Union wall at Tau Ceti.
Odile Ferrant
Dockmaster of Arcturus Waystation, born in the cutters' camp below it. "We're nobody's stop."
Hesketh
Cutters' crew boss on Arcturus b. One word where three would do. Nobody knows his first name.
Dr Imogen Vey
Of Halloran & Vey Survey. "The firm declines to speculate." She does, constantly, in private.