Chapter 2
Derwood was conceived in Singapore. His mother was a Korean woman of little renown, a systems engineer for a declining computer manufacturer. Although she worked diligently to nurture his growth, she was emotionally distant and uninvolved beyond what was required. His father was of somewhat greater renown, having been committed to an asylum some eight months after Derwood’s conception after a nationally covered and highly destructive manic spree, protesting for computer rights.
Unaware of any of this, Derwood was shipped at the age of 6 months, far younger than any child would normally be allowed to travel, to the new mining colony Tau Ceti, where he sat forgotten in a shipping container for three years.