Dr. Zeus Inc.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dr. Zeus Inc., also known simply as The Company, is a fictional entity in a series of time travel science fiction stories by Kage Baker.
According to the stories, Dr. Zeus operates from the 24th century, using technologies of time travel and immortality to exploit the past for commercial gain. The immortality technology is limited to taking young children and turning them into cyborgs, and the time travel technology only allows journeys into the past, and returns to the present. In addition, the techology is expensive and dangerous for normal humans to use.
History, or at least recorded history, cannot be changed. Dr. Zeus cannot save Lincoln, warn the Titanic, prevent the sack of Rome, or stop the burning of the Library at Alexandria. It can take valuable artifacts thought to be lost in these and other events, and 'rediscover' them in the future. However, even without the dangers of time travel, Dr. Zeus' employees hate the past. By their time, all stimulants and narcotics are illegal, vegetarianism is compulsory, and they are disease- and dirt-phobic. They find the past's inhabitants disgusting.
To carry out its mission, Dr. Zeus sends its employees far into human prehistory, where they take children from Neanderthal and modern human families and give them the immortality treatment. These individuals are then promised a bright future in the 24th century, in exchange for working for the Company till then. Their job is to Preserve cultural artifacts, valuable plants, and endangered species, hiding them in safe places till the Company can 'recover' them in the future. The cyborgs will get to the 24th century the old fashioned way, by living through the intervening millennia. Along the way they can create others to help them, using children who would otherwise die and not affect history. They are also provided with many recordings of future culture, entertainment, and a carefully edited view of history. Dr. Zeus alone knows everything that will happen up till the 24th century.
As the series progresses, it becomes apparent that the Dr. Zeus story is itself a fiction. How they came by their technology, and how long the Company has really existed, is an unfolding mystery. In addition, nobody, not even Dr. Zeus, knows what happens after the year 2355. Although communication between different times is possible, there is nothing from beyond a certain date in 2355. This is known as the Silence, and is a source of dread to both Company people and cyborgs.
Contents |
[edit] Major characters
[edit] Preservers
Preservers are the main agents of the Company, specialists in different types of artifacts. They look exactly like normal humans, but small differences give them away to observant individuals.
[edit] Mendoza
Mendoza is a female cyborg, a botanist recruited from the dungeons of the Inquisition in 16th century Spain. While still chronologically young, she suffers a huge psychological trauma after falling in love with a doomed mortal in Tudor England. She is also a "Crome Generator", with a powerful psychic potential that she cannot control. Through a series of awful events over the following 300 years, she comes to despise mortals, her fellow cyborgs, and eventually herself. She attempts to isolate herself from all harm, but cannot escape the Company, for whom everything she has done and will do is recorded history. She seems to be part of their plan, but which part ?
[edit] Lewis
Lewis is a male cyborg, a Literature specialist taken as a baby in Roman times. He is short but handsome, with a resemblance to the 1940's actor Leslie Howard. Meeting Mendoza at a Company base in South America in the 17th century, he falls hopelessly in love with her. She is barely aware of this, of course, being already traumatized by the loss of her first love. She disappears from his view in the 19th century, and he tries to find her through the next 300 years, stumbling across Company secrets in the process. He is also the object of pursuit by strange pale little men, who were responsible for almost destroying him in medieval Ireland and would eventually manage to capture him. His memories of this have been suppressed by his superiors, to keep the existence of these strange beings a secret.
[edit] Kalugin and Nan d'Aragnée
Unusually, these two have been allowed to marry, and even occasionally work on the same projects together. Kalugin was recruited in medieval Russia, while Nan is from Africa, recruited in the same batch as Mendoza in the 16th century. She takes her name from Anansi, the Spider God of her people in Africa. She was orphaned when the Smoke Men, probably Arab slave traders, attacked her village.
Both Kalugin and Nan specialize in rescuing artworks. Kalugin gets the assignments where the art was lost at sea, in which case he is designated to be on board when the ship goes down, and stay with the artifacts till a Company sub picks them up. However it is soon apparent that Kalugin is lost somewhere on one of his operations. Which one it is, and why, becomes apparent in The Children of the Company.
[edit] Facilitators
Facilitators are fixers, smooth talkers, masters of disguise. Their job is to lay the groundwork for Preservers to do their work, and cover up their mistakes. They are consummate role-players. From time to time it is hinted that known historical figures were really Facilitators acting out a part.
[edit] Joseph
Joseph is 20,000 years old as a cyborg. He was recruited by Budu when his tribe was wiped out by members of the Great Goat Cult, a fanatic religion in prehistory. Being from the Basque area of Spain, he is short, dark and also somewhat sinister looking. Joseph recruited many other cyborgs, including Mendoza. Having outlived everyone else he ever knew, including various mortal wives, Joseph regards Budu as his father, and eventually sees Mendoza as his daughter. After both disappear, Budu in the 11th century and Mendoza in the 19th, he too wants to know what happened to them. While not as committed as Lewis, he follows the clues Lewis finds, with disastrous results.
[edit] Porfirio
Although much younger than Joseph, Porfirio has something Joseph lacks - a family. He has been allowed to maintain contact with blood relatives descended from his brother. Often he presents himself to them as a long-lost uncle, or simply is allowed to work close by to keep an eye on them. In the 1860's, he runs an Inn in Cahuenga Pass, California, so his Preservers can glean information from passing travelers and the local population. Mendoza is one of the Preservers who has been foisted upon him; ostensibly she is to gather plant species soon to become extinct in a years-long drought, but the Company fails to move her on once the drought hits. Porfirio has to deal with her moods, her night-time psychic fireworks, and eventually her disastrous encounter with someone who is involved in an unknown Company-related plot. Mendoza and a few other cyborgs disappear as a consequence, but Porfirio is allowed to stay free and monitor his family. Over a century later he is able to tell Joseph something of what happened to Mendoza.
[edit] Enforcers
Enforcers are specially bred cyborgs, created in pre-History from Neanderthal and even stranger hominid stock. They were created as warriors for one purpose, to destroy the prehistoric Great Goat Cult which seemed to be preventing History from happening at all. Unfortunately, they can't be unmade once they accomplish their mission. They are 8 feet tall with helmet shaped heads, hugely strong, and fearless (all other cyborgs are programmed to flee danger). Programmed to kill all who offer violence to others, they are hard to control. Some want to extend their roles to keeping all humans in line. As long as their appearance can be explained away they can be used as soldiers, a role they love. Eventually they must be removed, however...
[edit] Budu
Budu is the Enforcer who recruited Joseph while killing the Great Goat Cult fanatics who killed Joseph's parents. Just before he disappears, he meets Joseph for the last time and forces information on him that eventually leads Joseph to discover the secret places where surplus, damaged and renegade cyborgs are held in tanks of fluid in suspended animation. Joseph hopes to find Budu and Mendoza in these places, but eventually he finds Budu's still viable remains elsewhere and transports them to one of the facilities in the hope that they can be re-animated.
Budu also recruited Labienus and Victor, the one in prehistory, the other in Anglo-Saxon Britain.
[edit] Adonai/Nicholas/Edward/Alec
Trying to replace the Enforcers with a breed of mortal who will be easy to control, and not inclined to hang around forever, the Company genetically engineers a series of identical individuals under the project name Adonai. In each case, the embryo is implanted in a mortal woman, and the child allowed to grow without knowing his origins. The first is Nicholas Harpole in Elizabethan times, who is Mendoza's doomed first love. The second is Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax, a Victorian adventurer and secret agent who encounters Mendoza in California, suffering the same fate as Nicholas. The third is Alec Checkerfield, a 24th century rich kid who is able to hijack high-tech data systems, including Company data and a time machine. He also finds Mendoza and she falls for him all over again. Alec does not die, however. What happens to him is far worse...
[edit] The New Inklings
These are the 24th century geniuses who, taking their name from the original Inklings, design all the cyborgs and Adonai. To them it is just a game, a relief from the boredom of their lives, and license to indulge in pleasures from the past which are illegal for everybody else. However they too are being manipulated. The versions of Adonai all have a role to play in the business of Dr. Zeus, and what Alec Checkerfield accomplishes leaves them horrified beyond description.
[edit] Villains ?
Labienus and Nennius are old, old cyborgs who seem to wield much power behind the scenes. Labienus runs Company facilities at various times and is one of the inquisitors (small i) into Mendoza's debacle in California. In The Children of the Company we learn more of his origins, attitudes to mortals, and his relationship with Budu, who recruited him, and whom, like Joseph, he calls "Father". Nennius coordinates some of Joseph's missions, and eventually leads Joseph and Lewis into a trap, apparently with Labienus's encouragement. The two are also behind various pandemics among mortals, possibly starting with the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.
Aegeus is another old cyborg, who runs the facility known as Eurobase One in the Cevennes mountains. He plots separately from Labienus for the day when the cyborgs will have enough power to take over from mortals. His ace in the hole is that he created a race of hybrids of humans and Homo Umbratilis, to provide him with technology he can use in his rebellion.
Suleyman is a former pirate, based in North Africa, who has built up a power base there and among a Muslim sect worldwide in the 22nd century. He believes that some cyborgs - possibly including Budu - are plotting to kill off mortals with new diseases, in order to take over in 2355. As an ally he can help Joseph when he goes on the run, but he may also wind up on the other side if Joseph joins with Budu.
Victor is a mystery. Sophisticated and gracious, he runs New World One when Mendoza first arrives there. In later stories he admits to being a 'problem solver', someone who does the really dirty work. He never takes off his gloves in company. He is friendly with Suleyman, but may have other motives. He admits to Joseph that he brought about Budu's final downfall, and knows where to find the body. Disabling Budu, who recruited him, is the least of the shameful things the Company has tricked him into doing. He worked for Aegeus when the Homo Umbratilis hybrids were being bred, but later became a member of Labienus' team. He does not know the full extent of Labienus' plots. In later times he seems to operate under the protection of Suleyman.
[edit] Cabals and Conspiracies
With centuries to think about the future, and an unknown fate awaiting them in 2355, it is not surprising that various groups of cyborgs have been conspiring to make sure they come out ahead.
[edit] The Plague Club
Since he went rogue in 1099 Budu has apparently been gathering disciples. He was disgusted by the religious wars of medieval times and wished to return humanity to a state where it could be ruled by the Enforcers, who simply kill anyone who makes war on others. This would mean drastically reducing the population. His recruits included Labienus, who with Nennius began researching plagues as a means of carrying out Budu's vision. Budu objected to this, but Labienus may have engineered his downfall and gone ahead anyway, beginning with the Spanish flu epidemic.
[edit] The Imperial faction
Cyborgs such as Aegeus enjoy a rich lifestyle, propped up by many mortal servants. They aim to be at the top of the pile with humanity as their slaves. They see themselves as being the real masters of the Company, with mortals such as Bugleg as mere puppets.
[edit] Humanitarians
Suleyman and his allies aim to frustrate the Plague Club, but also protect the interests of cyborgs against any attempt by the Company to get rid of them, or to place them all in storage.
[edit] Mortals
In the 2350's mortals such as Bugleg, the cowardly, introverted leader of the Company expedition recounted in Sky Coyote, become increasingly concerned that the cyborgs outnumber them and will take over. They attempt to find ways of disposing of the cyborgs, trying poisons etc. In the Eos (Harper Collins) edition of Sky Coyote an epilog of sorts shows Bugleg's frantic memo to a colleaque, followed by Aegeus' sarcastic comments, and Labienus' comment on Aegeus.
[edit] Rogues
Both Joseph and Budu are beyond the Company's control. Joseph revives Budu, but may not like what Budu wants him to do. Meanwhile Alec is a different kind of rogue, with his own time machine....
[edit] Homo Umbratilis
Homo Umbratilis, meaning Man of the Shadows, is the name of a third species of human, after Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. Small, pale and furtive, they hide from all contact with humans and cyborgs. They have racial memory, being born with full recollection of the knowledge of their ancestors. There are hints that they are in fact a hive species, like bees, ants and naked mole rats, except for some hybrids from raids by humans. The hybrids are mechanical and scientific geniuses, and may be the source of the technology that the Company uses. They are not very creative, but can focus intensely on developing something, such as a disrupter field that paralyzes the cyborgs, whom they regard as enemies. Attempts to exploit these creatures, once they come to the attention of the Company, is an important element in the series' plot.
An example of their monomania is that, having originally disabled and captured Lewis in medieval Ireland, after he escapes with mortal help they concentrate on recapturing him until the 23rd century, even though there are other cyborgs around for them to capture and study. It is Lewis' encounter with them that lets Aegeus take advantage of their abilities.
[edit] The Great Goat Cult
This cultural movement is referred to frequently within the novels. The main points that can be gleaned about it are that it was a cult among humans, the main object of which was to wipe out unbelievers. Cult members covered their bodies in tattoos. Unbelievers consisted of anyone who refused to be tattooed or to join in the killing. The cult seems to have existed for thousands of years across Eurasia and possibly Africa. Joseph's tribe in the Basque region of Spain was wiped out by it circa 20,000 BCE, as was Labienus's village in the Middle East 5000 years later.
From the point of view of the Company in the 24th century, the Cult was impeding the start of civilization. The Enforcers were created to destroy the Cult. Possibly because of their small numbers, a few thousand at most, this seems to have taken them thousands of years.
[edit] Defectives
Some early attempts at creating cyborgs resulted in individuals with severe psychological problems. Since they are "indestructible" they are allowed to wander the world on specific missions for the Company. One, called Abdiel, services the regeneration tank repositories where many immortals are kept. Another, encountered by Kalugin in 19th century California, calls himself Courier, and performs that exact job for the Company. He cannot stay too long in one place because his short-term memory malfunctions and causes fits of rage. Later Kalugin encounters Nicoletta, a female Defective on a mission to "take care of mortals", just before a worldwide pandemic reaches his location.
[edit] Paradoxes
These are endemic in time-travel stories, and usually provide the main plot twist. From the beginning of the Company stories, it is apparent even to Dr. Zeus that, in exploiting so-called recorded history, they may be responsible for history turning out the way it did, beginning with annihilating the Great Goat Cult so History as we know it could begin. As character after character turns against the Company, they are still unable to break free, their actions only making events turn to Dr. Zeus' advantage. But did the Company engineer their rebellion, or simply benefit from it? Is Dr. Zeus manipulating events, or just making sure that what is known to have happened does happen, to safeguard its own destiny? Only the things Dr. Zeus doesn't already know about can hurt it, but what does Dr. Zeus not know?
[edit] Names
Dr. Zeus, is named for the Greek God Zeus, who defeated his father Chronos, or Time.
The New Inklings are named for a group of intellectuals in pre-WW2 England, of whom the best known are C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
[edit] Events the Company caused or exploited
This list only includes events in known history, or myth. Future exploits by the Company are described in the books.
- The disappearance of the Ninth Legion in Roman England. In The Graveyard Game it was revealed that the Ninth was wiped out by Brigantes, who were in turn killed by Enforcers travelling with the Legion. Joseph was there as coordinator. Nennius supervised the cleanup. No trace of the battle was left.
- The expedition of Sir Francis Drake. Part of the temporal paradox that creates the Company involves a discovery of artifacts by Drake's men on the island of Santa Catalina. In fact it is not known exactly where, or indeed if, Drake landed in California. Accounts that have him landing at the location known as Drake's Bay may be false. It is possible he landed in what is now Oregon. Drake, in the stories, is working partly for John Dee, who already has some artifacts in his possession. One of Drake's men happens to have been a witness to Nicholas Harpole's martyrdom.
- The San Francisco earthquake. As recounted in The Children of the Company, this was a major operation to coordinate snatching many different items immediately before the earthquake and the subsequent fires. There was also a "Dance on the Eve of Destruction" party set up by the cyborgs, partly to say goodbye to the vibrant 19th century city that was about to be destroyed.
