Rafe Polarno was a cybernetics post-graduate student who, while attempting to perfect immersive cyberspace environments, unknowingly succeeded in fully uploading his consciousness into a virtual system—repeating the technological accident that had once created Tol Germanicus. Unlike Steven Turing, Rafe was fully sober and working under academic oversight, but his achievements alarmed both his university and Compact security forces.
After a brief romance with Serene Hermia—secretly a Cybercommand agent—Rafe was ambushed, declared dead, and secretly preserved in a portable data core for later exploitation. His fate serves as a chilling reminder that humanity’s fear of a second singularity never fully prevented it—only delayed its inevitability.
Appearances: “Headspace“