Character guide

Unknown

major

Also known as myself, yours, your

A man out of his own century, he wakes into a 25th-century forest war and must learn the rules of flight, fire, and allegiance fast.

Wilma Deering

major

Also known as Wilma, Deering, hers, herself, Mine

A green-clad fighter who dives headfirst through enemy doors, Wilma pairs reckless courage with the inertron belt that makes her leaps possible.

The Hans

major

Also known as Hans, their, themselves

The armored occupiers of the 25th century, they hunt forest rebels with beam weapons and airborne ships, treating the American gangs as vermin to be cleared.

Boss Hart

major

Also known as Big Boss Hart, The Big Boss, Hart, The Boss, Boss, the Big Boss, Big Boss

The Big Boss of the forest gangs, Hart commands loyalty through grit and cunning, weighing every stranger against the cost of survival.

Mort Gibbons

supporting

Also known as Gibbons, Mort

A resistance fighter in the green ranks, Gibbons is the kind of steady hand who holds a hillside position when the shooting starts.

Bill Hearn

supporting

Also known as Bill, Hearn

A fighter among the Americans, Hearn stands ready on the hillsides with his handgun, waiting for the word to fire on the repellor rays.

The Sinsings

supporting

Also known as Sinsings, Their, their

The Sinsings are the first twenty-fifth-century humans the awakened Rogers encounters: a boy in tight green gear, a helmet-like cap, and a belt that doubles as a knapsack, moving through the woods with furtive, practiced caution. Their pursuers' suppressed voices and random grenade-like detonations reveal a running skirmish already in progress, a war Rogers has stumbled into without understanding either side. That single wounded youth, more dazed than hurt, becomes the doorway through which the novel's strange new America and its hidden conflicts first become legible.

Americans

supporting

Also known as the Americans, their

The Americans of 2419 A.D. exist as fugitives in their own land, their green uniforms and furtive movements betraying a life of ambush and retreat rather than open battle. The boy Rogers rescues is one of them: wounded, pursued, yet still firing back with a pistol that makes no flash or sound, his body capable of leaps that defy the physics Rogers knew. Their struggle against the Hans is the war the novel's early chapters drop Rogers into, and his choice to take up the fallen boy's weapon is his first step toward joining it.

Tony

minor

Also known as your

A named character, possibly a fighter or ally in the resistance.

Blash

minor

A named character with limited presence, possibly a fighter.

Bill Barker

minor

Also known as Barker

A minor character, possibly distinct from Twice Barker.

Ned Garlin

minor

Also known as Garlin

A minor character, possibly a scout or fighter.

Bad Bloods

minor

Also known as the Bad Bloods

A hostile group or gang encountered in the story.

Twice Barker

minor

Also known as Barker

A minor character, possibly a gang member or scout.

Bert Gaunt

minor

Also known as Gaunt, their

A minor character, possibly a member of the forest gangs.

Gerdi Mann

minor

Also known as Gerdi

A named female character with limited narrative role.

High Officer

minor

Also known as a high officer

An unnamed high-ranking officer among the Hans or Americans.

Pineys

minor

Also known as the Pineys

A group or tribe mentioned in the narrative.

Wyomings

minor

Also known as the Wyomings, The Wyomings

A group or faction, possibly from Wyoming, involved in events.