Delivery Man
Names: Delivery Mansonsonny
First appears in Book 1: The Dreaming Void, chapter 2 (1)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: The Dreaming Void
- Ch 2The Delivery Man is a father of Tilly, Elsie and Rosa, married to Lizzie, who feeds baby Rosa himself rather than leaving it to the housebot.
- Ch 2He secretly works for a Faction inside ANA, monitoring and sabotaging the spread of Higher technology to External Worlds, and cannot tell his wife what he really does.
- Ch 2He lives in a Georgian townhouse in Holland Park, London, with his wife Lizzie and three daughters.
- Ch 2He is going to Ellezelin under the cover of investigating level-three replicator tech on Oronsay, and feels deep guilt for lying to Lizzie.
- Ch 2He plans to download into ANA in a couple of centuries and would join the conservative Faction he now works for.
- Ch 2He is not a front-line agent, but his biononics have advanced field functions for defence.
- Ch 2He boards a hyperdrive passenger ship to Akimiski, hoping to return to Earth quickly and take his daughters to a sanctuary park in New Zealand.
- Ch 2He is warned that Marius visited the Cleric Conservator after the election and then vanished, and is told to leave quickly.
- Ch 6The Delivery Man secretly watched Marius's visit from a nearby hangar and reports to the Conservative Faction.
- Ch 10The Delivery Man broke into Troblum's hangar on Daroca and enlisted the Conservative Faction to open its isolated smartcore.
- Ch 10Acting on the Conservative Faction's instructions, he vaporized the secret ftl planet-moving machine and its smartcore, absorbing the matter in a Hawking m-sink aboard the Jomo.
Book 2: The Temporal Void
- Ch 8The Delivery Man belongs to the ANA Governance faction, normally delivering equipment, and is reluctantly tailing Marius in Golden Park, disguised in medieval clothes.
- Ch 8The Delivery Man longs to be home in London with his wife Lizzie and their daughters, and says he cannot do this anymore.
- Ch 8The Delivery Man accuses Marius's faction of firing a Hawking m-sink into Hanko and opposes their goal of Fusion, elevating humanity to postphysical status.
- Ch 8The Delivery Man lives a quiet family life with Lizzie and three daughters while secretly working investigations and deliveries for the Conservative Faction.
- Ch 8The Delivery Man tells Lizzie he will cut back on investigations to spend more time with his children.
- Ch 8He is puzzled that Marius seemed unaware of the Hawking m-sink used at Hanko, and wonders who else could obtain one.
Book 3: The Evolutionary Void
- Ch 1Conservative Faction operative who planted two defended cases at the Foxglove Hotel on Fanallisto and now wants to return to his family.
- Ch 1After the deterrence fleet call, he rushes to catch a twenty-hour flight to Gralmond to get back to London.
- Ch 5The Delivery Man is a Conservative Faction operative whose wife Lizzie and daughters are on Earth; he was returning home when Sol was sealed off.
- Ch 5He resolves to hijack a starship and find an Accelerator agent who can tell him how to switch off the Sol barrier, using extreme methods if needed.
- Ch 5Takes command of the Conservative ultradrive starship at Purlap, motivated by saving his family, and heads to the Leo Twins.
- Ch 5The Delivery Man learns the Conservative Faction is a lie, feels bitter and ashamed, and agrees to help Gore.
- Ch 10The Delivery Man works with Gore to find the Anomine mechanism, hoping to open the Sol barrier because his family is trapped there.
- Ch 10The Delivery Man is worried about Lizzie and the children trapped behind the Sol barrier.
- Ch 10The Delivery Man and Gore search the Anomine homeworld's advanced devices for the elevation mechanism; the vortex was the eleventh examined and was not it.
- Ch 16He visits an Anomine village to learn where the Anomine ancestors left the universe, and uses a neck-worn translator to speak with them.
- Ch 16He joins Gore's search for signs of the Anomine ancestors' departure mainly because it gives him hope of returning to his wife Lizzie and their children.
- Ch 16He believes human drive to push boundaries has caused overreach and is skeptical of Gore's pro-advancement view, but regains a sense of purpose walking toward the city.
- Ch 16The Delivery Man uses biononics to scare off three night beasts approaching camp, avoiding lethal force out of consideration for Tyzak.
- Ch 16The Delivery Man hopes that learning how the Anomine ancestors left will help him get back to his family; he uses gaiamotes and biononics.
- Ch 16The Delivery Man remembers Lizzie cooking lemon risotto; he is frightened at Gore's plan to go down to the siphon.
- Ch 18The Delivery Man oversees the integration of equipment on the Last Throw and is a self-described cynic.
- Ch 18The Delivery Man says the modified force field generators will take a few days; the speaker expects an associate to arrive in the Void.
- Ch 20The Delivery Man pilots the Last Throw into a star, terrified, while Gore communicates by TD channel and withholds who the Lady is.
- Ch 20Terrified but determined, he pilots Last Throw into the Sun's convection zone to hack the siphon, hoping to help his wife Lizzie and daughters trapped inside the Sol barrier.
- Ch 20The Delivery Man gains control of the major siphon systems, disengages the override and begins the full wormhole initialization sequence.
- Ch 20The Delivery Man survives the nova's shock waves by triggering the Last Throw's ultradrive inside the star's gravity field, suffering terrible pain.
- Ch 21The Delivery Man returns home in Last Throw to his wife Lizzie and daughters, including Rosa.
Connections
- family ofLizziehusband and wife
- family ofRosafather
- family ofTillydaughter
- family ofElsiedaughter
- member ofConservative Factionunofficial representative to the physical Commonwealth
- ally ofConservative Factionacts on its orders
- related toJomoowns and pilots
- member ofANA
- enemy ofMariusopposing factions; he tails Marius
- ally ofGore Burnelliworks for Gore as courier and observer
- ally ofTyzak
- led byGore Burnelli
- related toLast Throwstarship piloted by
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 2Delivery Man feeds Rosa
The Delivery Man is woken at dawn by baby Rosa and feeds her himself while the housebot helps.
- Book 1 · Ch 2Departure from home
After breakfast with his family and promising to teleport the girls to school on Thursday if they behave, the Delivery Man lies to Lizzie about his mission to Oronsay and leaves via teleport.
- Book 1 · Ch 2Journey to Ellezelin
He travels via Eagles Harbour and wormholes through St Lincoln to Lytham, boards the Artful Dodger, and flies by ultradrive to Riasi spaceport on Ellezelin.
- Book 1 · Ch 2Warning about Marius
On landing at Riasi, the Conservative Faction calls to tell the Delivery Man that Marius has been seen on Ellezelin, unsettling him.
- Book 1 · Ch 2Delivery Man departs
Warned about Marius, the Delivery Man scans for him, finds no sign, and boards a flight to Akimiski.
- Book 1 · Ch 6Delivery Man observes the hangar
The Delivery Man watches Marius leave and reports to the Conservative Faction, which decides to research Troblum further using passive observation.
- Book 1 · Ch 10Delivery Man breaches Troblum's hangar
The Delivery Man breaks in to Troblum's hangar on Daroca and, with the Conservative Faction's help, discovers a planet-transporting ftl engine design and a machine that built it.
- Book 1 · Ch 10Machine destroyed
The Delivery Man flies the Jomo into the hangar and vaporizes the whole planet-moving machine into the Hawking m-sink in forty minutes, then leaves Arevalo. Justine watches him depart.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Delivery Man confronts Marius in a tavern
Marius spots the Delivery Man shadowing him; over drinks in Ysidro they argue about Fusion and Hanko, and Marius warns of an end to their rivalry. The shaken Delivery Man says he cannot continue.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Delivery Man agrees to one more delivery
After an evening with his family, the Delivery Man is asked by the Conservative Faction to deliver a starship to Pulap and agrees on condition of three days' notice for future jobs.
- Book 3 · Ch 1Delivery Man leaves Fanallisto
Having set up a hotel room decoy with defended cases, he is told the deterrence fleet is deploying and hurries to leave for Earth.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Sol sealed in a force field
The Swarm materialized around Sol and imprisoned the system, with ANA and the deterrence fleet, cutting it off. The Delivery Man learns this while arriving on Gralmond.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Conservative executive recruits the Delivery Man
A Conservative Faction executive contacts him from outside the barrier and tells him to commandeer a ship and return to Purlap to collect a starship.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Delivery Man takes the Lady Rasfay
He infiltrates the yacht, finds Duaro with a lover, and demands the smartcore access codes while powering up weapons.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Delivery Man takes the ultradrive
The Delivery Man reaches Purlap, is shadowed by Marius, takes flight command of the ultradrive ship and, pressed by the unknown executive, sets course for the Leo Twins.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Delivery Man meets Gore
At Gore's asteroid habitat near Augusta, the Delivery Man learns Gore is the true Conservative Faction executive and agrees to join his plan to eliminate the Void.
- Book 3 · Ch 5Departure for the Anomine homeworld
Gore collects five confluence nest satellites and flies Last Throw into hyperspace while Marius pursues on Ilanthe's orders.
- Book 3 · Ch 10Passing the borderguard
The Last Throw drops out of ultradrive beside a borderguard; the smartcore negotiates, claiming humans seek to emulate the Anomine, and receives permission to examine items on the homeworld without removing them.
- Book 3 · Ch 10Arrival at the Anomine homeworld
Gore admits he has no firm knowledge where the elevation mechanism is. They settle into orbit to map the planet for anomalies and consider talking to natives.
- Book 3 · Ch 10Search for the elevation mechanism
The Delivery Man and Gore examine another Anomine device, find nothing, and Gore proposes stealing the Anomine's knowledge if the remaining sites fail.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Meeting Tyzak
The Delivery Man lands near an Anomine village, greets the elder Tyzak through a translator, and learns the Anomine reject technology by choice and preserve history through stories.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Journey to the place of separation
Tyzak agrees to walk the Delivery Man two days to the place of separation, which Gore and the Delivery Man deduce is the city with a wormhole stabilizer; they set off on foot.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Trek to the abandoned city
The Delivery Man and Tyzak hike for two days toward the abandoned Anomine city, swapping stories and fending off night beasts, while Gore studies the wormhole device.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Journey to the plaza
The Delivery Man and Tyzak walk fifteen hours through forest and the Anomine city, sensing the city's dormant neural AI, and reach the plaza where Gore landed.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Tyzak refuses to activate the machine
Tyzak reveals the plaza is the elevation mechanism but declines to reawaken it, so Gore plans to hack it and checks its power source.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Discovery of the power siphon
The Last Throw flies to the star and finds a force-field disc inside the convection zone. Gore proposes descending to infiltrate it.
- Book 3 · Ch 18Elevation mechanism awakened and refuses Gore
Tyzak agrees to ask the elevation mechanism to awaken, but it refuses to elevate Gore, so Gore plans to hack it after reactivating the siphon.
- Book 3 · Ch 20Descent into the star
The Delivery Man pilots the Last Throw through a star's photosphere into the convection zone toward the siphon, guided by Gore.
- Book 3 · Ch 20Hacking the siphon
The Delivery Man maneuvers Last Throw to the siphon, probes its control network, loads infiltrator packages, and on Gore's order starts the wormhole and power-up sequence.
- Book 3 · Ch 20Marius attacks the Delivery Man's ship
Marius fires quantumbusters at the ship in the star; a borderguard destroys them. Gore is exposed and the elevation mechanism denounces his hostile infiltration.
- Book 3 · Ch 20Marius novas the Anomine star
Marius fires novabombs into the star to destroy the power station feeding the elevation mechanism; the Delivery Man barely escapes in the Last Throw as the nova begins.
- Book 3 · Ch 21Homecomings after the Void's elevation
Oscar, Justine, Araminta and the Delivery Man return to loved ones; Araminta brings Aaron to the Silfen, where she meets Mellanie.