Freelance
TravellerFuzzy Lawless
This article originally appeared in the December 2014 issue.
Fuzzy Lawless 9485B2 Age 50 Cr80,000
8 terms Scout (IISS)
Computer-4, Navigation-4, Pilot-3, Medical-3, Shotgun-2, Jack o’T-1,
Blade-0, Vacc-0
MilStd Vacc Suit, Shotgun, Blade, Cloth, Scout Ship
Verdant Worm
Fuzzy likes computers, navigation, and piloting a starship, in that order. He is currently on detached duty, in a somewhat shabby Serpent-class ship. He is a large man, that one long-time shipmate described as “Looking like a 110-kilo orange teddy bear that has had a few megavolts run through him, and acting like the absent minded professor.” He is familiar enough with ship’s systems to keep all basically functional, but this is an annoying distraction from his projects. He wears a set of old, worn IISS coveralls of questionable shade that have a pocket for his hand computer on the thigh. The other thigh has a pouch for a couple of mags of zero-G shotgun rounds. He wears his coveralls over cloth, and wears that over a military standard vacc suit (a “skin suit”), that he is reputed to take off to bathe weekly. While capable of making good conversation, he usually strays into minutia of his projects and interests.
He has a few projects going on, all dealing with shipboard software. His projects are going on concurrently, and take up the majority of his ship operations. All projects are related to ship operations, including a high TL anti-hijacking program, an automated navigational information update, a pilot-training suite, and a shipboard medical reference. All are unfinished, diamonds in the rough; each shows Fuzzy’s unusual confluence of skills, great shipboard experience, and years of passionate work. Each also shows gaping holes that Fuzzy will never be able to perceive, let alone fix on his own.
Fuzzy is generally liked, as he can be very kind and genial when not distracted. Also, despite his considerable abilities, he has no ego that anyone has noticed. He constantly has classical music playing in the background, a mix of his favorite 726 pieces that plays constantly on his handcomp. He is credited with always remembering to send gifts on birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. Of course this is a computer program that he has set up to order these automatically from the nearest Chandlers, but he did think to set it all up and include those who get the gifts, as well as inputting enough relevant information in the algorithms for the computer to pick a “perfect gift.”
He has a small robotic pet, a child’s toy, really. He has it linked to the computer that runs facial recognition software. It will greet his wide group of acquaintances by name when they come aboard, or cue the antipiracy programs as appropriate. If the party is recognized, it will be offered culturally appropriate refreshments, and subjected to banter in their home dialect(s) and accent(s). It is all a bit disarming, and will make Fuzzy seem gregarious as he joins in for a bit, then wanders back to his projects, inviting his visitor(s) to come along.