Cast of Characters
Let’s meet the people and visit the places you will be reading about in:
THE RETURN TRIP
Primary Characters
- Sampson McKinney is the Commander of the expedition to establish a colony on Mars
- Celeste McKinney is the wife of Sampson and the LT. Commander of the Space Colony 1 mission
- Deke McKinney – the elder son of Sampson & Celeste
- Gus McKinney – younger brother to Deke
- Deimostra Samantha McKinney – sister of Deke & Gus, conceived on the way to Mars and named after Mras’ larger moon Deimos
- Joyner McKinney – child of Deke and Cerella, heir to Eupepsia
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ALL THE ABOVE = The Space Family McKinney
- Braden King – family friend to the McKinneys and voice of Mission Control
- Roy Crippen – Director of NASA and the SPACE COLONY 1 project
- Rick Stanley – Commander of the New Mayflower rescue
- Francine Bouchette – Houston USA television anchor who lands squarely in the middle of everything
- Aldona Alfridi – a Talibanistani (see below) scientist who is asked to conspire against SPACE COLONY but refuses — Fletcher Fitch – name given Aldona when he defected to the United States to help with the SOL Project. Fatima – his wife (and 2 unnamed daughters)
- Nae Tan-Dan – United Korean operative who is cahoots with Talibanistan
- Shaikh Kamran Khan-Nutkani – Talibanistan leader determined to undermine an otherwise global effort
- Ekcello – The Supreme Leader of the High Counsel of Eridanus
- Cerella – daughter of Ekcello and heiress to the High Counsel
- Fortan – Mate to Ekcello, Mother of Cerella
Supporting cast
Fredrick C. Cabell – Human Resources NASA, deceased
Phil Jansky – NASA Spatial Debris specialist, deceased
Mike Judge – Okaloosa County Florida Sheriff
Geraldo Franco – Okaloosa County Coroner
Miles Scheffeldink – Space Colony Mission Physician
Abdullah Ashtaar – the key to Istanbul
Mehmet Ali Erim – Turkish taxi driver
Elliot Deming – Consulate General – US Turkish Embassy
Senator Broyles – Texas legislator
“Larry” – Francine Bouchette’s fiancee & KHST director, VP
Randi Gilbert – NASA test pilot & news source for Francine Bouchette
Steven Sharkey – Francine’s co-anchor at KHST
Karl – NASA Chief Engineer
Grandma Savta Bergestrom – Celeste’s Mother from Sweden
Aunt Sassy McKinney – Sampson’s crazy Scottish/Irish sister
Jimmy D – Silver Seas Bartender
Roger Rodrigues – Roy & Francines’s Jamaican tour guide
Kim Jong-un – United Korea’s Supreme Leader
Silvia Freelove – Bud Cauley – Pres/vice pres candidates 2032
Skip Chandler – Freelove’s campaign strategist
Hector Grisbaum – Susannah Grisbaum – New Mexico Congressman & daughter (who sets up Deke M.)
The Interstellar Transportation
- Space Colony 1 – the orbiting portion of the Mars Colony
- The Chronicle – the deep-space shuttle that carries the McKinneys to Mars
- Tycho – the Mars lander where Sam & Celeste are stranded when the orbiting colony blows up
- The New Mayflower – the mission to rescue the McKinneys on Mars
- Newfoundlander – the Eridani spacecraft that hijacks the McKinneys (Sam, Celeste, Deimostra)
- Stellar Explorer – the speed-of-light cruiser that takes Deke & Gus on a detour to Orion’s Belt
The many and varied locales in THE RETURN TRIP
- 2030 Earth
- Talibanistan – the very large country that absorbs all the rest of the “-stans” and is a haven for global mischief
- United Korean Peninsula – the combined country formerly North & South where the South is consumed by the evil & secretive North
- Istanbul/Constantinople Turkey
- Sultan Ahmet Mosque
- Mars the Red Planet – the fourth planet from the sun
- KHST Television Houston Texas
- Jamaica
- Silver Seas Resort/Hotel
- Sunset Hill – Roy Crippen’s hacienda at King Ranch
- Epsilon Eridani – A star in Orion’s Belt and where Sampson & Celeste are hijacked to
- Eridanus – A planet in the Epsilon star system
- Eupepsia – The home tower/city of Ekcello and Cerella and THE SPACEFLIGHT EXPOSITORY
- The Seljuk – An tele-transport alien race located in the Triangulum Galaxy. Has a “history” with the Eridanians