Mark Vernon
Names: Mark VernonMarkDaddy
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 7 (SIX)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 7Grew up in New Costa and works at Colyn Electromation; he is stressed, suffers headaches he blames on his workplace interface, and fears job trouble.
- Ch 7Lives in Santa Hydra with wife Liz and two children, struggling under heavy monthly debts, and is insecure about Liz's greater age and sophistication.
- Ch 7Mark is a twenty-eight-year-old first-lifer who feels childlike among his long-lived relatives and hates living on Augusta.
- Ch 7Mark was passed over for promotion again because his company's market is not growing.
- Ch 7Mark has wanted to emigrate from Augusta since he was about five years old.
- Ch 16Mark Vernon repairs things, lives at his family's vineyard homestead in Ulon Valley, and traveled three hundred light-years to live on Elan.
- Ch 16Mark runs the Ables Motors franchise in Randtown, repairing appliances and machinery for cash because vehicle sales are slow; he moved here from Augusta with his family.
- Ch 16Mark is fascinated by the Second Chance voyage, has researched it extensively, and would have applied to go if he had no family responsibilities.
- Ch 16Mark's family has been paying off the vineyard mortgage faster than planned thanks to his repair side work.
- Ch 16Mark commutes by pickup truck and has lived on Elan almost two years with his family, having come from Augusta.
- Ch 22Mark is a Randtown resident who joins the blockade protest with his family, motivated by principle about protecting the town's way of life.
- Ch 22Mark privately assumes his marriage to Liz will not last forever, and is flustered and attracted when he meets Mel.
- Ch 22Mark was interviewed at the blockade by a woman he thought was a local; she was actually reporter Mellanie Rescorai.
- Ch 23Mark lives in Randtown with his wife Liz and children Barry and Sandy, having moved from Augusta; he took part in the protest against the detector station.
- Ch 25Mark runs a grencham-berry vineyard near Randtown and is now widely hated after an edited interview.
- Ch 25Mark repaired the family pickup and decides to drive to Randtown to check on neighbours and find news.
- Ch 25Mark is overwhelmed and vomits at the blood-soaked carnage on Main Mall, having expected the end of the world to be a final nothingness.
- Ch 25Mark chooses to join Simon's rear guard to give the convoy time to escape, sending his children away with Carys.
- Ch 25Mark, Liz and David grab Prime weapons from the tarmac while the aliens are immobilized, then flee in the pickup; Mark and Mellanie declare themselves quits.
- Ch 25Mark grows apprehensive about Mellanie and her abilities, wondering who could give her help on such a scale.
- Ch 25Mark rigged the captured alien weapons for human use and wired superconductor batteries into a giant bomb that devastated advancing aliens at the valley entrance.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 5Drives into Bright Light Canyon in New Costa, consumed by guilt for taking his family to Elan, where his dream died in fire and pain.
- Ch 5Is unable to sleep or talk properly to his wife Liz, and is unhappy at returning his children to a world he despises.
- Ch 5Mark lost his Elan vineyard and Ables Motor franchise in the Prime invasion and is heavily in debt from the mortgage.
- Ch 5Mark works as a general technician at Prism Dynamics, maintaining assembly bays, and refuses to accept charity, a trait inherited from his father Marty.
- Ch 5Mark is distantly related to the Sheldon Dynasty through his mother, seven generations removed from Nigel Sheldon, but considers it embarrassing and not direct lineage.
- Ch 5Mark accepts Giselle Swinsol's secret job offer, feeling he is hitting back at the Primes.
- Ch 7Mark works in factory 8 on Cressat, which builds suspension-tank compartments for evacuation starships.
- Ch 9Mark works long hours on a project and is enjoying a rare day off with his family; he expects the navy fleet to hit Hell's Gateway soon.
- Ch 9Mark and Liz have children Barry and Sandy and a dog Panda; Mark used to live in the Ulon Valley and Randtown.
- Ch 9Mark dreams of founding a new human civilization on the other side of the galaxy, but Liz insists the children grow up in the Commonwealth first.
- Ch 9Mark tells Liz he is being reassigned to set up assembly of warship frigates, integrated with the station dockyard in orbit.
- Ch 11Mark is chief of frigate assembly bay one and a descendant of Nigel; he helped people in Randtown, and his file links to Mellanie.
- Ch 11Mark is dismayed at being sent with the Charybdis to Wessex, the likely top invasion target.
- Ch 12Mark leads a technical team assembling the Charybdis frigate aboard the Searcher; he is exhausted, bruised and unsure about the frigate's missile.
- Ch 12Mark, exhausted and desperate, fixed the frigate's flux shunt regulators by rewriting power-management software from old patches, then collapsed physically.
- Ch 16Mark Vernon is chief engineer of the frigate assembly effort for CST, overworked and happily married to Liz.
- Ch 17Mark is the lead assembly technician on the Charybdis and was saved by Mellanie in the past; he took part in the Searcher flight.
- Ch 17Mark, a family member of Nigel, accepts that he may be killed to stop Ozzie and tells Nigel to have Otis shoot straight.
- Ch 17Mark opposes Ozzie's hijack and had tried to take control of the ship, but Ozzie blocked him out of the arrays.
- Ch 19Mark was dragged aboard the Charybdis against his will, fears for his two young children, and suspects Ozzie of being a Starflyer agent.
- Ch 19Mark fixed the quantumbuster launcher by rebalancing the electromuscle arms' uneven traction, using a patch he once wrote for a tow truck.
- Ch 19Mark demanded fire authority over the weapons; he will launch at a target in the Dark Fortress but blow up the ship if Ozzie delivers it to MorningLightMountain.
- Ch 19Mark assembled the Charybdis's weapons, including the quantumbuster, and has little understanding of the underlying physics; he was on Elan during the Prime invasion.
- Ch 19Mark controls the Charybdis's weapons and launches a quantumbuster to spike the heart of the distortion in the Sparks ring.
- Ch 20Mark has moved his family to a new home at the Mulako Estate by the sea after losing everything in the Ulon Valley.
- Ch 20Mark bought a plot at the end of an estate near Tanyata, paid for by the Sheldon Dynasty, but refused a grander home or trust fund.
- Ch 20Mark took a directorship at the Tanyata offices of Alatonics, with a colossal salary, so his children would not grow up on a trust fund.
Connections
- family ofLizhusband and wife
- family ofMarty Vernonfather and son
- family ofBarryson
- family ofSandydaughter
- member ofColyn Electromationemployee
- family ofKyleolder half-brother by 115 years
- inRandtown
- leadsOliviaemploys her as sales assistant
- friend ofYuri Conant
- partner ofLizmarried couple
- ally ofSimon Rand
- enemy ofMellanie Rescorai
- family ofCarys Pantheraunt
- member ofPrism Dynamicsemployee
- family ofNigel Sheldondescendant
- member ofGiselle Swinsolworks under Dynasty project she oversees
- related toCharybdisfixed its flux regulators
- has memberDutton-Smithworks under Mark; Mark is his boss
- enemy ofOzzie Fernandez IsaacMark opposes Ozzie's hijacking while trapped aboard
- related toOzzie Fernandez IsaacOzzie kidnapped Mark aboard the Charybdis
- ally ofOzzie Fernandez Isaac
- member ofAlatonicsdirector
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 7Mark comes home to his father and Amanda
After a bad day, Mark arrives home in Santa Hydra, finds his family at the pool, and meets Marty's teenage girlfriend Amanda.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Family barbecue debate
At a family evening, relatives argue over the Commonwealth Cup, the Guardians' shotgun, and the starship project, and Mark reveals his promotion was delayed again.
- Book 1 · Ch 7Liz agrees to emigrate
Mark confesses he hates Augusta and feels overwhelmed by his relatives' experience. Liz proposes he resign and that they move to a different world together.
- Book 1 · Ch 16Mark fixes the espresso machine
Mark Vernon repairs the café's espresso machine, is given breakfast by Mandy, then walks through Randtown.
- Book 1 · Ch 16The Second Chance returns
The Second Chance returns to Anshun reporting that the barrier around Dyson Alpha vanished and that the aliens seem hostile. Mark follows the news in Randtown.
- Book 1 · Ch 16Evening at the Vernon home
Mark returns home to Ulon Valley, hears about Barry's day and cares for sick Sandy, while Liz cooks tea; later he and Liz banter about chickens and the house.
- Book 1 · Ch 16Nigel Sheldon's interview
Mark watches Nigel Sheldon defend Captain Kime and the mission and call for a return mission with multiple ships, answering Alessandra Baron's criticisms.
- Book 1 · Ch 22Vernon family joins the blockade
Mark, Liz and the children, with Panda, drive up to the Randtown blockade on MtZuelea, where Simon Rand leads residents blocking the navy's convoy in a picnic-like protest.
- Book 1 · Ch 22Mark meets Mel
Mark meets a flirtatious newcomer, Mel, who probes him about the blockade's aims and support in town.
- Book 1 · Ch 22Mark humiliated on Alessandra Baron's show
At the Phoenix bar, Mark discovers the reporter he spoke to was Mellanie Rescorai, whose edited interview portrays him as a backward, antihuman simpleton. Messages of abuse flood in.
- Book 1 · Ch 23Day on Trine'ba
Mark and his family and friends dive and sail on Trine'ba, until they spot navy helicopters landing near Goi'al, bringing in the detector station despite protests.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Carys offers Mark PR help
Carys visits the Vernons' vineyard and tells Mark he needs PR help after the media backlash; a bright flash and Sandy's squeals interrupt them.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Regents detector station nuked
A nuclear explosion destroys the Regents detector station; Mark's family watches the mushroom cloud rise as electronics fail.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Mark's family heads for Randtown
After the blast damages their home, the family packs the repaired pickup and sets out toward Randtown to find neighbours and news, armed.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Aftermath in Randtown
Mark's group enters Randtown, finds the streets full of glass and blood, and carries a wounded man to the General Hospital, where Simon and Mellanie are present.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Rear-guard fight at Randtown
Simon Rand's guerrillas fire on landing Prime troops; the aliens retaliate, destroying many buildings and causing panic among the defenders.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Mellanie halts the aliens
Mellanie walks into the street and, with the SI's help, freezes the Prime troops and grounds their flyers, telling the humans to take their weapons and retreat to the convoy.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Mellanie stops the Prime soldiers at Randtown
Mellanie and the SI disrupt the Primes' communications, freezing the soldiers, so Mark's group can take weapons. The SI confronts MorningLightMountain, which vows destruction. Mellanie escapes through a wormhole as flyers fire.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Randtown convoy reaches Turquino wormhole
The convoy flees to the Turquino Valley, where Mellanie has opened a small wormhole, and Carys's group begins to pass through.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Defense of the Turquino Valley
Mark, Liz and Simon fight Prime flyers; Mellanie hijacks one. Mark's battery bomb wrecks the advancing aliens while the last Randtown refugees reach the wormhole.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Mark Vernon drives into Bright Light Canyon
Mark, riddled with guilt over Elan, drives a rented car into the hills behind Trinity in New Costa.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Giselle Swinsol recruits Mark
Giselle visits unannounced, offers Mark a secret, well-paid job on Cressat that clears his Elan debts; after pressure, Mark and Liz accept and must leave next morning.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Randtown destroyed; Mark reassigned
Mark and Liz watch Randtown's nuclear destruction on Michelangelo's show. Giselle then visits, grants them lifeboat berths and orders them to move to starship assembly.
- Book 2 · Ch 7The Vernons see the gigalife
Giselle takes the Vernons through a gateway to the new world, showing groundplant gigalife and a spaceflower moon, and explaining the Planters.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Family breakfast
Mark spends a rare day off at breakfast with Liz and the children, promising to try to take them to the orbital starships, while talking of the fleet and the war.
- Book 2 · Ch 9Mark tells Liz about the frigate assignment
At a mountain tarn, Mark tells Liz he is being moved to the Dynasty's warship frigate assembly. She reluctantly accepts it.
- Book 2 · Ch 11Nigel accelerates the frigate program
Nigel tours the Speedwell and frigate bay, then orders Mark Vernon to attach the assembly bay to the lifeboat Searcher and finish the Charybdis en route to Wessex within thirty hours, with the weapon section moved too.
- Book 2 · Ch 12Charybdis assembly continues
Mark and his exhausted team continue wiring the Charybdis while scientists lower a lethal missile into its magazine.
- Book 2 · Ch 12Mark fixes the frigate's regulators
After forty hours of stress, Mark patches the power management software so the flux shunt regulators work, enabling the Charybdis to launch before collapsing from exhaustion.
- Book 2 · Ch 16Mark learns of another frigate flight
Mark wakes with Liz, and Otis tells him Nigel wants more frigates flown soon, revealing the Dynasty believes the Starflyer is behind the war.
- Book 2 · Ch 17Infiltrating the starship complex
Giselle drives Ozzie and Mellanie through security to the assembly platforms and the frigate dock, where Ozzie charms Mark into letting him aboard the Charybdis.
- Book 2 · Ch 17Hijacking of the Charybdis
Ozzie seizes command of the frigate through the SIsubroutine, leaves the dock with Mark aboard and heads for Dyson Alpha at FTL.
- Book 2 · Ch 17Ozzie hijacks the Charybdis and goes FTL
Ozzie blocks Mark from the arrays and the frigate jumps to thirteen point five light-years per hour, with Mark aboard against his will.
- Book 2 · Ch 17Nigel's ultimatum
Nigel contacts Ozzie via the TD channel, demands the ship's return, tries a Trojan takeover and threatens to hunt him down. Ozzie refuses and cuts the link.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Mark fixes the quantumbuster launcher
After arguing, Ozzie persuades Mark to accept the flight; Mark gets fire authority and quickly fixes the launcher by balancing the electromuscle arms' traction.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Charybdis attacked at the Dark Fortress
Ozzie and Mark approach the Dark Fortress, activate active sensors, and are detected; MorningLightMountain opens wormholes and launches missiles at them while they accelerate at twelve gees.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Quantumbuster strikes at the Dark Fortress
Nigel Sheldon's Scylla fires a quantumbuster, annihilating the Prime fleet. Ozzie and Mark then reach the core and launch a quantumbuster at the Sparks ring distortion.
- Book 2 · Ch 19Flare bomb hits the Dark Fortress
Ozzie's flare bomb flashes at the Dark Fortress; afterwards Dyson Alpha's light and MorningLightMountain's signals vanish and the crews head home.
- Book 2 · Ch 20Mark's family moves into their new house
Mark and Liz settle into their huge new house near Tanyata, receive Ozzie's gift, meet neighbors, and watch Michelangelo's show featuring Nigel, Ozzie and the Bose motile.