Kenrick Morse

**Kenrick Morse** is a cadet at The Pilgrim Space Academy.

## History

### Background

In March 2212, twelve-year-old Kenrick was onboard the Starship Eva with his parents Alan Morse and Patricia Morse, who were both successful starship engineers. They were returning from a conference in the Alsafi system when the ship was attacked by pirates. His parents sacrificed their own lives in order to save Kenrick, putting him inside of the ship's only escape pod.

The life support systems in the pod were only meant to last a few days, but Kenrick was alone in there for nearly a week. By the time he was rescued by a passing merchant ship, the lack of oxygen had already caused serious damage to his brain. He was in a coma for a month, and doctors weren't sure if he would ever wake up.

However, the money that his parents had left behind meant that Kenrick was provided with cutting-edge medical care, including being fitted with an extremely experimental neural implant. He would eventually make a full recovery.

### Early Years at the Academy

Kenrick joined the Pilgrim Space Academy in 2214. He made friends with Diane Romero and helped her to further develop her droid named Norbert. Since he is a gifted programmer, he mostly worked on improving Norbert's artificial intelligence.

When Margaret Dale joined the academy, the two of them quickly found common ground since they'd both undergone brain surgery. When Maggie became suspicious of a couple of faculty members, Kenrick used his programming skills to hack into their personal computers as part of an investigation.

The following year, some of his fellow cadets got together to organise a birthday party for him. Maggie gave him a copy of Symbiosis as a present. Although he was initially grateful, he became upset when Maggie inquired about what gift he'd received from his parents, not knowing that he was an orphan. She quickly apologised once she learned the truth about him.

Shortly afterwards, Maggie experienced an unusual episode during which she lived through the events leading up to his parents' death as though from his point of view. At first they suspected that Kenrick might have developed some unusual psychic abilities due to his implant - but they soon realised that Maggie was the one with the abilities.

### Trip to Eskeri

By 2216, Kenrick had started dating his fellow student Jaime Bishop.

As one of the few people aware of Maggie's abilities, Kenrick encouraged her to confide in her current guardian Sabina White. After she'd done so, Sabina brought Maggie, Kenrick and Diane to Delos Station in order to further study her condition. Here, Kenrick had a chance to meet Professor Alistair Copeland, the author of "Symbiosis."

While on Eskeri, Maggie discovered some new leads regarding the location of her mother, Marion Dale, and went looking for her in the Sun Systems. Kenrick returned to the academy.

### The Search for Maggie

Back at the academy, Kenrick rescued his fellow student May Martinez from a bomb that had been planted in her locker - pushing her out of the way just in time.

When he learned that Gail Pilgrim was going to search for Maggie, he and Diane Romero both stowed away on the Starship Quicksilver. Discovering them too late, Gail had no choice but to accept their assistance. When they arrived in Yamaichi City on the Forest Moon of Pan Gu, Kenrick went with Jojo to meet up with Ashanti Okar, his contact in the city.

The investigation led to discovering Maggie's location on Shiryō Island. When they got there, they were confronted by a team of mercenaries led by the fearsome Captain Vance, who also has a neural implant. Vance called out Kenrick's name after hearing his voice, and asked if he had been dreaming about the "blood moon." He suggested that he should come and find him when he wanted to learn more about his condition.

While Gail and Diane attempted to find a way to sneak inside the facility, a gunfight ensued at the entrance. Ultimately, Vance and his men were forced to retreat. After the battle was over and Maggie had been rescued, Kenrick was devastated to learn that his friend Diane had been shot and killed by Marion Dale.

## Neural Implant

Much of his character is defined by his neural implant, which he describes as being like having a "a close friend." The implant probably accounts for some of Kenrick's programming skills and his exceptional abilities at chess.

Maggie learned that he regularly has nightmares about a red moon, accompanied by a feeling of helplessness and loneliness. It is later revealed that Captain Vance experiences the same nightmares. He believes the moon symbolises his neural implant. He's also admitted that the implant has rendered him unable to cry.

Professor Copeland implies that the implant is in fact controlling all of Kenrick's higher cognitive functions, and that Kenrick's consciousness is still in coma so there's no real symbiosis taking place. However, he does admit that even he doesn't fully understand the nature of how neural implants work.

## Personality

Kenrick is quite a shy and reserved young man, rarely showing very much emotion, though he does seem to possess a lot of empathy. He's not much of a natural risk-taker.

He apparently speaks some Japanese.

## Academy Crew Members

* **Captain:** Margaret Dale
* **Navigator:** Travers Bishop
* **Comms Operator:** Kenrick Morse
* **Technician:** May Martinez

## Appears In

* Space Pilgrim Academy: Year 1
* Space Pilgrim Academy: Year 2
* Space Pilgrim Academy: Year 3
* Space Pilgrim Academy: Reunion