# The Cosmic Computer — Character guide

> Key figures in The Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper.

- [Conn Maxwell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/conn_maxwell.md): Conn Maxwell comes home from university on Terra to a planet of mothballed war surplus and Merlin-obsessed dreamers, carrying knowledge he can't yet share. He must balance his father's schemes, the frenzy he inadvertentl
- [Rodney Maxwell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/rodney_maxwell.md): Rodney Maxwell is a prominent local figure whose real interest is restarting business, not chasing the mythical computer. He uses the Merlin fever as a front for Trisystem & Interstellar Spacelines, quietly hiring the be
- [Merlin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/merlin.md): Merlin is less a machine than a planetary obsession: a rumored super-computer from the Federation's glory days, sought by prospectors, politicians, and cultists alike. Its absence drives the plot—every faction wants it f
- [Kurt Fawzi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/kurt_fawzi.md): Kurt Fawzi is the loudest voice in the Merlin hunt, convinced the computer lies at Force Command and that Rodney Maxwell has sabotaged the effort by hiring away his best people. He confronts Conn with accusations of indi
- [Colonel Klem Zareff](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/colonel_zareff.md): Colonel Klem Zareff is the closest thing Poictesme has to a military authority, running patrols that increasingly clash with outlaw gangs and rival prospecting companies. He's a pragmatic man in a world sliding toward ch
- [Wade Lucas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/wade_lucas.md): Wade Lucas is a scientist with brains and integrity—so honest he's made himself widely disliked by refusing to join the Merlin frenzy. He blames Conn and Rodney for the chaos, but his disillusionment makes him exactly th
- [Yves Jacquemont](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/yves_jacquemont.md): A shrewd Poictesme merchant who reads people and markets with equal ease, he steers his daughter's future while quietly assembling the men and machinery that will put a ship back in the sky.
- [Flora](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/flora.md): A woman on Poictesme, possibly connected to the Maxwell family.
- [Mike Shanlee](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/mike_shanlee.md): A captured general who recites his serial number like a prayer, he guards a secret buried inside the walls of Force Command with a fanatic's calm and a bomb under his bed.
- [Sylvie Jacquemont](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/sylvie_jacquemont.md): Quick with a spot-welder and quicker to see through Conn's evasions, she is the merchant's daughter who treats the Merlin legend as a shared joke and a shared hope.
- [Tom Brangwyn](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/tom_brangwyn.md): A local pilot whose name surfaces whenever a ship needs moving or a job needs doing, he is the kind of practical friend Conn can count on when plans turn into work.
- [Jerry Rivas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/jerry_rivas.md): A young man from Poictesme, part of Conn's circle.
- [Judge Ledue](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/judge_ledue.md): A local judge on Poictesme.
- [Carl Leibert](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/carl_leibert.md): A businessman and associate of Kurt Fawzi.
- [Lester Dawes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/lester_dawes.md): A local politician and ally of the Maxwells.
- [Professor Dolf Kellton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/dolf_kellton.md): An elderly professor and historian on Poictesme.
- [General Foxx Travis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/foxx_travis.md): A retired Federation general living on Poictesme.
- [Anse Dawes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/anse_dawes.md): Brother of Lester Dawes, a local character.
- [Fred Karski](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/fred_karski.md): A local man on Poictesme.
- [Captain Nichols](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/captain_nichols.md): A starship captain visiting Poictesme.
- [Charley Gatworth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters/charley_gatworth.md): A local man on Poictesme.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cosmic_computer_se/characters