McClain Gilbert
Names: McClain GilbertMacMr. LegendCaptain Gilbert
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 8 (SEVEN)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 8McClain Gilbert is the forward crew chief; Oscar gave him initial encounter authorization to ready the first contact team.
- Ch 8Mac leads the first contact forward crew and named Chelva; Oscar rates him the best forward crew leader he has worked with.
- Ch 11Oscar's friend and colleague of ten years; has visited the High Angel five times for forward-team zero-gee training.
- Ch 11He is married to Angie under a partnership contract that allows either to find someone else during his year-long voyage.
- Ch 15Mac, chosen for his contact experience, flew out to the barrier and touched it, placing sensors to take measurements; he felt it was solid, like ordinary matter.
- Ch 15McClain Gilbert leads the forty-strong contact team, previously the most underused department aboard.
- Ch 15Mac leads the first contact team onto the Watchtower and is the first human to enter the alien structure.
- Ch 15Mac sets the exploration plan: confirm no occupancy, survey, then rotating three-team shifts hunting artifacts that reveal Dyson culture and data fragments.
- Ch 15Mac, convinced Emmanuelle and Dudley are in trouble, defies Oscar and tries to rescue them, then is ordered out by Wilson.
- Ch 24Captain Gilbert commands StAsaph, which scouted eleven stars and found no Prime wormhole activity.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 5Mac will test relativistic missiles far from Commonwealth space on StAsaph's last flight, then captain the first new warship with marque six hyperdrive.
- Ch 7Mac expects to be given the mission of taking a quantumbuster to Dyson Alpha.
- Ch 8Mac estimates a minimum of twenty ships is needed to close Hell's Gateway.
Connections
- related toOscar Monroeforward crew chief reporting to Oscar
- friend ofOscar Monroe
- family ofAngiemarried under a partnership contract
- ally ofOscar Monroe
- member ofSecond Chance
- leadsStAsaph
- leadsMoscowcaptain
- ally ofNatasha Kersley
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 8Survey of new planet
The crew finds a habitable third planet with no sentient life. Oscar authorizes a ground encounter and moves the gateway exit to just above the surface at dawn.
- Book 1 · Ch 8First contact on Chelva fails
Mac's team steps onto Chelva and is attacked by acid-secreting grass; a samplebot is dissolved by a tree. Plants prove uniformly acidic and Oscar closes the exit.
- Book 1 · Ch 11Journey to the High Angel
Oscar and Mac pass security at Kerensk, take a zero-gee shuttle from the gateway station to New Glasgow dome, and spot Paula Myo travelling too.
- Book 1 · Ch 11Meeting the Chairwoman
Toniea Gall coolly criticises Sheldon's choice of Anshun, then reluctantly lets Oscar and Mac use the Association's channel to ask the High Angel about the Dyson Pair.
- Book 1 · Ch 11Mac and Oscar question the High Angel
The High Angel appears as a human executive and says it knows nothing of the Dyson Pair or why barriers were raised, but doubts they were defensive against aggression.
- Book 1 · Ch 15Mac's EVA to the barrier
Mac jets from the shuttle to the barrier, touches it, and spends forty minutes placing sensors. It is solid-feeling and impervious, with no further answers about its origin.
- Book 1 · Ch 15Exploration of the Watchtower
Mac's team enters the abandoned station and finds it stripped and long dead; Dudley's team A follows, descending the tunnels to level seven and preparing to explore a shaft into the rock.
- Book 1 · Ch 15Contact team loses comms
Dudley and Emmanuelle are deep in the Watchtower's spiral shaft when they drop out of communication; Mac and Francis try to go after them.
- Book 1 · Ch 24Dauntless launched and welcome-back ceremony
Dauntless leaves High Angel and Oscar is offered Defender. The next day Oscar, hungover, attends a media welcome-back ceremony for Bose and Verbeke at the Nadsis Hotel.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Wilson briefs Oscar and Mac
Wilson reveals the Primes are fortifying the Lost23, tasks Oscar with finding Hell's Gateway's destination, assigns Mac to test relativistic missiles, and promises Oscar the assault cruiser project.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Quantumbuster test
The Moscow launches satellites and a prototype quantumbuster at a barren moon; it disintegrates the whole moon in a blaze of light.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Navy Strategic Review Council debates the Hell's Gateway assault
Advisors discuss the Hell's Gateway location, Dimitri's call for caution and use of the Seattle weapon, and ship production. They agree to wait a fortnight, keeping reserves for defense and expanding guerrilla warfare.