Plight of the Tivinel

Cast

As it may have been a while since you read the earlier books, I'll take this opportunity to reintroduce some of the characters you might be meeting again in Plight of the Tivinel.

** CAUTION **

The following material contains spoilers for Barefoot Times, Call of the Delphinidae, The Mind of the Dolphins and Cry of the Bunyips.
Do not proceed if you haven't yet read those books!

Dr Billy Collins, the son of Tom and Sarah Collins, attended Brisbane University from where he obtained his doctorate in Physics. Always one to go barefoot, he discovered he was the carrier of his people's Emu spirit which later turned out to be that of Dromaius, a descendant of the Barefooters who fled with Gallad to the Milky Way galaxy at the height of the War of the Barefooters.
    After completing his doctorate, Billy was employed by AusScience at the Narrabri radio telescope where, in collaboration with Peter Thorpe, he discovered subspace and subsequently made first contact with the Eridanians. He married Julia Myers, the sister of his friend Todd, in 2001. In 2026 he was appointed head of AusScience but resigned in 2027 and moved to Coolum Beach, establishing his own research company where he remained until his retirement in 2043. He continues to enjoy surfing and bushwalking, and is an Aboriginal adviser to the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Dr Peter Thorpe, the son of Michael and Rachel Thorpe and another keen barefooter, unknowingly carried the Dodo spirit, later revealed to be that of Raphus, the twin brother of Dromaius.
    Peter attended Sydney University from where he obtained his doctorate in Physics before joining Billy Collins at the AusScience radio telescope in Narrabri. Acclaimed for his theoretical work on intergalactic subspace in 2017, he published many papers on the physics of subspace and Sheol. After leaving AusScience with Billy Collins in 2027, he worked as co-director at the Coolum Beach company until retiring in 2043. Following the revelation that Hades and the River Styx were real places built in Sheol by the Tivinel, he and Billy are currently researching possible extraterrestrial links to other Earth mythologies and will shortly be hosting an international symposium on this subject in Sydney.

Dr Jason Collins, the son of Billy and Julia Collins, first came into the public eye at the age of fourteen when he led the successful defusing of the Pleiades supernova. While on the planet Genesis, he fell into a rock pool where a vine injected him with some of Gallad's DNA that then fused with the Barefooter genes he'd inherited from his father.
    He attended Brisbane University and, after marrying fellow student Jennifer Simpson in 2023,  obtained his doctorate in Physics in 2027. He joined his father's company after graduating and became a director following Billy's retirement in 2043. Although he still has a passion for supernovas, his work is now mostly focussed on the design of efficient subspace transport drives.

Dr Jennifer Collins, the daughter of William and Melissa Simpson and a distant descendant of Gallad's wife Marinda, lived in suburban Brisbane while studying at Eatons Hill High School and then Brisbane University. Although seriously injured in a motor vehicle accident in 2019, with Jason's help she made a full recovery, marrying him in 2023 and obtaining her doctorate in Physics in 2027. That year she moved to Coolum Beach with her husband as part of her father-in-law's subspace research company, ultimately becoming Managing Director in 2043 following Billy's retirement. Her business skills and negotiating prowess have seen the company flourish under her leadership.

Mark Collins, the son of Jason and Jennifer Collins and, from their respective Barefooter heritages, the genetic son of Gallad and Marinda, at the age of seven journeyed to Meridian where he overthrew Morgoth, briefly becoming Mark the Bewildered before standing down as Supreme Ruler or whatever and freeing that galaxy from a million years of dictatorship.  He returned to that galaxy in 2044 where he defeated Brett Farley on Bluehaven, at the same time meeting Lorina Simmons whom he married in 2048. They established the Delphinidae College in Coolum Beach where he was Director until its closure following his wrongful arrest for the killing of a baby dolphin. After escaping from the prison colony on Huntress, he enlisted the help of the exiled Barefooters in foiling a military coup and subsequently became Supreme Councillor. He served for ten years until forced to resign following the tumultuous return of Drago, but was briefly coerced into returning to that position two years later at the height of the bunyip crisis on Cornipus. He's currently back on Earth with his wife Lorina and children David and Loraine, managing the operation of their intergalactic school.

Lorina Collins, the daughter of Kevin Simmons and High Priestess Lorett, was educated in the Delphinidae Temple on Bluehaven before journeying to Earth to study at Brisbane University with Mark Collins. She became High Priestess following her marriage to Mark, but after the loss of the Dolphins' sentience, returned to Earth to establish an intergalactic school.

David Collins, son of Mark and Lorina and twin brother to Loraine, was the end result of the Dolphins' programme of selective breeding and on his tenth birthday became the vessel for Drago's return. He was freed after Pip Ingle led Drago's spirit through a portal in the City of Redemption to the Barefooters' planet of exile, where it was consumed by the ghosts of his former subjects, the Tivinel. Now seventeen years of age, he's just completed his schooling at his parents' college and has been accepted as an astrophysics student at Apogee University on Cornipus.

Loraine Collins, David's twin sister, had been expected to become the next Delphinidae High Priestess, a hereditary position currently held by her mother, but possesses none of the Delphinidae's telepathic powers. Following the revelation that the collective mind of the Dolphins was really Drago's, the Delphinidae have ceased to operate as a religious order, continuing only in their roles of health care and education, and her ascendency to the position of High Priestess upon her marriage is now unlikely to occur. Along with her brother, she has just completed her schooling at her parent's Coolum Beach college, but has yet to decide on her future education or career.

Todd Myers befriended Billy Collins while they were studying astrophysics at Brisbane University and became Earth's unofficial representative during first contact with the Eridanians. After ten years working on Eridani with the Earth-Eridani Scientific Exchange Foundation, he played a key role in resolving the subspace tunnel crisis that threatened that world's atmosphere and subsequently became Earth's ambassador to Eridani, a post he held until his retirement twenty years ago. He now lives in Renwick with his Eridanian wife Elissi.

Dr Elissi Harrish was a member of Elko's team investigating the common ancestry of Milky Way civilisations and was one of the few northern Eridanians to have contact with the southern enclaves. She became closely involved with Todd Myers in their work with the Scientific Exchange Foundation, eventually marrying him. After leading the Pleiades supernova defusing operation, she was elected to the Eridanian governing council and became that world's High Councillor, a post she held until retiring after the bunyip affair in 2066.

Norrie Harrish, son of Elissi's brother Rendel, became a close friend of Jason Collins at the time of his kidnapping following Elissi's wedding. After completing his degree in environmental science, he joined the Southern Ocean Authority in the restoration of Eridani's southern ocean. In 2043 he was awarded Eridani's highest honour for his work and now heads the Authority, overseeing the southern ocean's foreshore redevelopment and marine biodiversity restoration.

General Gallagher, a career soldier who rose through the ranks following the demise of Brett Farley, was head of the Special Operations Division on Nimber, leading the invasion of Earth during the food supply crisis only to be ordered back home by Supreme Councillor Mark Collins. Ten years later he led the military response to Drago's ascendency, initially claiming credit for resolving it before Pip Ingle's heroic intervention became public knowledge. He led a military coup in response to the shooting of Supreme Councillor Alistair Blunt, but after invading Eridani he was suspended from active duty on psychiatric grounds and then demoted to the rank of colonel for insubordination.

Colonel Piper led the Pulper 17th squadron at the time of Mark Collins' ascendency and helped him stop Gallagher's invasion of Earth. He remained on that world for several years, overseeing the repairs to damaged infrastructure. Upon his return to Pulper, he commanded a rapid response squadron aiding the civilian governments in times of natural disaster, before being promoted to the rank of brigadier and assigned to Special Operations on Nimber. Following Gallagher's fall from grace, he was promoted to General and now heads the unit.

General Walker, one of the Triangulum Galaxy's joint chiefs of staff, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the military bases on Nimber and Pulper, including the Special Operations unit. He is General Piper's immediate superior.

Pip Ingle, the son of Richard and Patricia, was born in Azarath nine months after the fall of Morgoth. Attending school there, he befriended Damon Enderling and at the age of fourteen joined him on Bluehaven where he became a Delphinidae acolyte. Recognising the connection between Drago, the ancient king of Huntress, and the collective mind of the Dolphins, he was excommunicated from the Delphinidae, spending several years as a brain-washed soldier in the military before finding his true place in the resurgent Black Delphinidae. After defeating Drago, he became the Black Dolphin's Emissary and now heads the Order.

Hamati led the surviving Barungi into Sheol following the apocalypse on Huntress, where they became known as the ogres of that realm. After negotiating their return with the Black Delphinidae's steward, he is now ruler of that world's autonomous Barungi Nation and a close ally of Pip.

Michael Chandler, nephew of Sontar agriculturalist Eric Chandler, inherited his uncle's farm after Eric's sudden death. Believing Supreme Councillor Alistair Blunt to have been responsible, he killed him in a revenge shooting that plunged the galaxy into a constitutional crisis and military coup. Following the resolution of the bunyip crisis on Cornipus, he was elected unopposed as the new Supreme Councillor and has become a competent and respected leader.

Pedro Thorpe, Peter's alter-ego, was created in the time cusp that occurred when Peter and Billy saved Todd Myers from Andrew Schilling, ultimately becoming the fat cigarette-smoking man encountered at the end of Barefoot Times. Seeking revenge against his creator, he lured Peter into Sheol, but the spirit of Jim Hamilton intervened, taking him through the glowing passageway to the City of Towers where they joined Elko's team as the fourteen-year-old boys they'd been at the time they'd known each other on Earth. Trapped with Jim in the remnant of a 1989 time cusp, he escaped through a time nexus where he joined the Collins family in unravelling the truth behind the bunyips. Disembodied by the dissolution of the nexus, he and Jim returned to Sheol where the ferryman Charon sent Pedro back into the past to rescue fourteen-year-old Peter from the Blue Mountains wilderness.

Joel Morison, the prodigiously barefoot son of dysfunctional parents Jack and Jill, grew up moving from town to town, finding it impossible to make friends until settling in Coolum Beach where Loraine and David Collins changed his life. Ensnared in the bunyip crisis while holidaying with them in Victoria, he offered to become the yowies' pet in exchange for the lives of Mark Collins and a TV presenter, thus becoming the hero of the moment. After returning to Earth on his thirteenth birthday, he completed his schooling at the Coolum Beach college and is now contemplating his future.

For Pedro, Joel and Loraine, life is about to take an unexpected and perilous twist as Plight of the Tivinel begins...