Dr. Jeremiah Cook

A brilliant Jewish raccoon scientist specialising in gravity-based weapons who dislikes his mother and has promised his father he would not change his much-hated name. Annoyed, but NOT mad scientist. Often speaks in French and always wears a lab coat. Keeps out of the public eye and has had his records destroyed, so no one knows his past or family, despite numerous intelligence attempts at espionage. Normally keeps other people out of his office, which contains equipment holding billions of dollars worth of information, although everyone goggles at the LEDs on the fifty-dollar switch box.

## Future Times

Cook is the Head of Development at Maytec, as well as a board member, but spends most of his time in his laboratory. Julian is convinced Cook is behind the Clearlake bombing, despite having no proof.

In exchange for giving Fedorov/the CORE information on the Anarchists' weapon, Cook requests the use of a remote outpost where he can conduct one of his experiments. When Fedorov agrees, Cook explains his theory on how the Tower of Babel works, albeit with certain doubts. After the call, Trisha scolds him for giving out restricted information, but Cook counters that that policy doesn't apply to a ten-percent shareholder. He also answers her question about why he didn't give all the details on the tower, that if the information has gaps that the CORE can fill in on their own, they will feel superior and, Cook gains credibility.

Alone in his on-site office, Cook notes that, after the Clearlake incident (which ironically produced the most useful data), the restrictions placed upon his research mean that he can no longer get the direct testing required to complete his project during his lifetime without outside help. He is interrupted by a tacky-looking (in Cook's opinion) aide who he refuses to even call by name. She informs him that the Maytec head office wants him to join them in San Diego for a vital meeting, and that they are threatening to fire her if she can't get him to answer for "the New York thing." This catches Cook's interest enough for him to go to the meeting just after barking some orders to the site engineers.

In San Diego, Julie Waterman checks that Cook is up to speed on what the other (cretinous) board members know and want to know, which kills any interest Cook may have initially had in the meeting. He gives a dumbed-down presentation on the basic functions of the Tower of Babel, only to be immediately asked why it is phallic in design. Cook sighs and explains the practicality of the shape, scolding them for thinking the designers to be so immature as to shape the tower deliberately so. (Meanwhile, the Anarchists make direct genital-oriented references to the tower.)

Julie changes the subject and asks a more pressing question: While Maytec is out of range of the current tower, is it possible for the Anarchists to build another tower able to reach them? Cook assures her that, even if the CORE, Canadians, or Americans allowed them to build one, the Anarchists would require a great amount of water for both resources and cooling, limiting the possible locations where one could be built.

Dwight Garner interrupts Cook's explanation and demands to know what the plans are for dealing with the Anarchists on their doorstep. Cook retorts that the plans are the same as for the Texans... before the Texans screwed up. As a Texan, Dwight takes this remark personally and says his fellow Texans are nothing like the Anarchists. Cook agrees, pointing out that the Texans were far more dangerous. Their argument devolves into insults, at which point Julie exclaims that she is sick of hearing the two bicker. She instructs Cook to finish answering questions, then he is free to go back to his affairs, while she calls Dwight out of the board meeting, to Cook's amusement.

## "Past" Life

When Cook uses the Wildfire to travel back in time with Tessa, Adams, Sticks, and Tin-Head, he buys a failed nuclear waste facility on the cheap for repurposing as Cook Industries. One of the projects of the core members of Cook Industries is watching Anne Winters as an associate of Norman Gates, which Cook establishes by setting up a dedicated work-from-home station that Tin-Head monitors.

* What does Christmas mean to you? Cook