# Colonel Peter Cooper — Short Fiction character guide

> Colonel Peter Cooper in Short Fiction by R. A. Lafferty.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Colonel Cooper, Pete, Pete the python

**First appearance:** 0000-the-six-fingers-of-time

## Snapshot

A colonel who summons a subordinate to ask, calmly and repeatedly, whether anything unusual has come to his notice—while the man insists he knows every person on Earth.

## Who they are

Colonel Peter Cooper is a military administrator whose real interest lies not in paper shuffling but in reports of the unusual, and who receives Anthony's frantic confession that he knows every human being in the world with unnerving calm. His measured, almost bureaucratic response—'Yes, Anthony, we realize that'—suggests he has heard stranger things and is waiting for the detail that actually matters. His patience and his priorities frame the story's central question of what counts as a reportable anomaly.

## Relationships

### [Anthony Trotz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/anthony_trotz)

_professional_

Anthony Trotz serves under Colonel Peter Cooper in a military or paramilitary capacity, with a strict chain of command and mutual respect.

### [Eve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/eve)

_professional_

Colonel Peter Cooper and Eve have a professional relationship as handler and operative, with an undercurrent of mutual distrust and manipulation.

### [Gregory Gilbert](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/gregory_gilbert)

_professional_

Colonel Peter Cooper and Gregory Gilbert are colleagues in a covert agency, their relationship marked by bureaucratic tension and competing agendas.

### [Tin Man Tony](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/tin_man_tony)

_rivalry_

Colonel Peter Cooper and Tin Man Tony are adversaries, with Cooper attempting to dismantle Tony's criminal operations through covert means.

### [Anthony Trotz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/anthony_trotz)

_professional_

Anthony Trotz serves under Colonel Peter Cooper in a military or paramilitary capacity, with a strict chain of command and mutual respect.

### [Eve](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/eve)

_professional_

Colonel Peter Cooper and Eve have a professional relationship as handler and operative, with an undercurrent of mutual distrust and manipulation.

### [Tin Man Tony](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/tin_man_tony)

_rivalry_

Colonel Peter Cooper and Tin Man Tony are adversaries, with Cooper attempting to dismantle Tony's criminal operations through covert means.

### [Anthony Trotz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/anthony_trotz)

_professional_

Anthony Trotz serves under Colonel Peter Cooper in a military or paramilitary capacity, with a strict chain of command and mutual respect.

### [Gregory Gilbert](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/gregory_gilbert)

_professional_

Colonel Peter Cooper and Gregory Gilbert are colleagues in a covert agency, their relationship marked by bureaucratic tension and competing agendas.

## In the story

### [All the People](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/chapters/all-the-people)

Reveals the truth about Anthony's nature and the purpose of the filter center.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/chapters/iii)

Referred to as Pete the python, the blob's old friend and roommate; gets medical treatment for indigestion.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/chapters/iv)

Pete the python is mentioned as a former friend who turns on the blob, regretting the cure for his indigestion.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters/colonel_peter_cooper
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_45_se/characters