Short Fiction · Character

Vern Engdahl

Vern Engdahl is the earnest, throat-clearing engineer whose brain-in-a-bottle gadget keeps failing while the Major's party sails on regardless.

supporting

Also known as Engdahl, Vern, Solemnly Engdahl, Say Vern

First appearance: asteroid of the damned

As a supporting figure in Short Fiction, Vern Engdahl is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

A companion who entered the city via the big bridge; Sam expects him to make contact.

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Vern is the ship's responsible man, the one who notices the East Side power plant billowing smoke and tries, with careful deference, to steer the Major toward trouble he'd rather ignore. His typewriters, rigged with endless paper rolls, clack out ominous warnings nobody wants to read, and his lamely offered drinks can't quite drown them out. He matters because his gadget and his conscience are the early fault lines along which the voyage's cheerful negligence starts to crack.

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Character Web

29 connections

A slice of how Vern Engdahl sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Other

Character groups

Authority and Protagonist
Military and Referenced
Medical and Minor
Familial and Inmate

+24 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Exposition.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

This is the story's dramatic climax because Roget Germyn’s psychological certainty—that his wife is a rational…

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In the story

Vern Engdahl appears across 6 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

I
A companion who entered the city via the big bridge; Sam expects him to make contact.
Chapter II
Mentioned as having sold his interest in Arthur to Amy.
III
Manipulative electrician's mate who arranges the sale of Arthur and secures a job for himself.
IV
Sam's partner; works as the Major's specialist in caring for Arthur; devises the plan to steal a ship as a 'birthday gift' for the Major.
V
Sam's partner; locates a tanker with oil in Bayonne but accidentally causes a massive explosion.
VI
Assists in hooking Arthur into the ship's systems and tries to distract the Major from the power plant issues.

Chapter companion notes

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