CAST FOR

by
Al Schroeder

Again, I wouldn't read this until after I had read the first adventure,"I Think, Therefore I am" for fear of learning things before they're revealed in the story.

MINDMISTRESS: The heroine. If I.Q. tests were reliable much above 200, she would have one of 794. She can recall every phone number in a phone book once she's scanned it, and reads twelve books daily. A breathtaking ultra-intelligence who has made great advances in many fields, many decades or centuries ahead of our time, her other identity is...

LORELEI LYONS: Mentally-challenged woman with an I.Q. of 66. She works in a pet shop, much to her father's annoyance. Good with animals.

EZEKIEL "LIGHTNING" LYONS: A millionare power magnate, his net worth is in the hundreds of millions. Resents not having Lorelei at home, protected. Ruthless in business, he's dying to get his hands on Mindmistress' technology. Of course, he doesn't know...

VANESSA LYONS: Ezekiel's current wife, she tried to have him "accidentally" killed during an arranged "kidnapping". He didn't press charges against her, but changed his will so he was more valuable to her alive than dead.

DR. PRUDENCE LYONS: Ezekiel's first wife, and Lorelei's mother. A neuro-biologist, she and her research team tried to develop a portable M.R.I. type scanner. Instead it strengthened the thought impules' ability to leap synapses and get to neurons. Unfortunately, after two weeks, it killed the subject as neuron growth becomes uncontrollably cancerous. (Shorter periods are fine, though.) She died in a car accident when a drunk driver plowed into her car.

VICKI: Mindmistress' computer/hologram/A.I., a Virtual Information Computer Knowledge Interface, the computer of your dreams. Can bypass any firewall or on-line system. Shows up as the holographic image of an angel, but can change that at will.

DETECTIVE PERCY LOVELACE: A very tough detective, in spite of...perhaps because of...his name. Accompanied MM on an adventure, knows of her existence, but owes his meeting his new wife to her, so keeps it quiet. MM's contact among the police.

MR. HARDY: Lorelei's employer, runs the pet shop. He keeps the books, runs the register, while Lorelei does more of the handling of the animals. She's excellent with them, and doesn't complain about the kitty litter and such.

L.A LEWIS-KWAN.: Helps several mentally disabled people maintain their own living quaters, including Lorelei. One of the reasons Lorelei no longer lives in a group home. She stops by once a day, helps order the apartment and makes sure clothes are washed, there's enough food in the fridge, that sort of thing. Her daughter, Cassie., is also mentally handicapped.

CASSIE (CASSANDRA) LEWIS-KWAN.: A mentally-handicapped young woman, and an old friend and classmate of Lorelei's, who is also suicidally depressed. Thanks to a treatment from the Mimir Institute, her depression has somewhat lifted, and she's downloaded basic reading skills.

ULYSSES SHORE: Goverment agent; secret agent; works under Colonel Minton. Happily married to a woman named Penelope. Aware of MM's existence, although can't prove it.

JUDY EAST BOWMAN.: A mentally-handicapped young woman who is Lorelei's closest friend, she married Leo Bowman, Forceful's brother. Sister to Caedmon East, raised by her teacher mother.

CAEDMON EAST.: A fairly young executive, first working with Lorelei's father Ezekiel Lyons, and later made CEO of March Munitions and its conglomerate of enterprises, like the Mimir Insttitute and the March dairy farms. He's Judy East's brother.

FREDERICK ZION.: The brother of Helen Zion, who had a occult bookstore two stores down from Mr. Hardy's pet store. A scholarly man who has studied mysticism and parapsychology, and owner of the Merlin Mechanism.

ALLY BOWMAN: "Medical missionary" to Africa, an obstretrician and gynecologist, mother to Leo and Dan Bowman.

UNEASY ENEMIES, UNLIKELY ALLIES

MINDMIST

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