Talen Ayers

Talen Ayers was a famous research geneticist and author whose work on xenobiology made him one of the best-known scientists of the Terran Dominion. A bestselling writer and a longtime defender of Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, Ayers was forcibly recruited into the secret zerg research effort known as Project Blackstone, where the realities of the program and the disappearance of his daughter gradually eroded his loyalty.

Scholar and author#

Ayers was born in a drafty, one-room farmer's shack. Despite his origins he attended Tarsonis University, graduating with top honors, and earned a double doctorate from Korhal Academy. One of his written works became the first treatise on xenobiology to be made an Augustgrad Times bestseller, and he later wrote Xenobiological Basics, which became an assigned text at the university in lectures given by Dr. Talise Cogan.

Ayers taught evolutionary theory to his daughter, Maren, including a hypothesis that mutation rates increase when populations are drastically reduced. Maren could not see the logic in it, since it would require biochemical communication at the genetic level, and her father failed her that semester despite her perfect test scores, saying she had missed the most important part. He was upset when she dropped out of graduate school to join the Dominion Marine Corps as a medic. She later came to believe his theory at the Siege of Cask, where a sharply reduced zerg population evolved a new breed, the baneling. Away from military science, Ayers continued to write for the public, and his agent, Ken, reported that his book Ayers on Aliens had sold ten million copies only a week before his kidnapping.

Recruitment into Project Blackstone#

Ayers was among the scientists taken for Project Blackstone, though in his case "recruitment" meant being removed from his house in the night by a ghost, without even time to pack a toothbrush. On arrival he received beta-level security clearance and was put off by the sterile reception given to him by Adjutant 33-27. He made his objections plain in an email to the project's head, Dr. Helek Branamoor, which the other researchers also received, insisting that as a supporter of the Dominion he would have come willingly had he simply been asked. Branamoor responded by restricting personal communication, canceling the introductory gathering, and setting the scientists to work on larva samples. The engineer Red Quinton complimented Ayers on the message, and despite their different fields the two became friends.

Ayers was later paired with Dr. Talise Cogan to study zergling specimens, complimenting her analysis of the modified zergling endocrine system and sending her his findings on zergling-to-baneling mutations. Cogan disagreed with his thesis on zerg "cellular recognition," the idea that individual zerg cells could respond to changes in the biome of another member of the same species, holding instead that such changes were driven by alpha zerg such as cerebrates. The pair went on to review the notes of the deceased Dr. Sandra Loew, head researcher on the failed Project Tamed, and to discuss the difficulties of dissecting a mutalisk specimen due from Choss. Over time Ayers found many zerg samples being routed instead to Quinton for weapons research over theory.

Doubts#

Ayers learned from Jake Ramsey that something had happened to his daughter Maren, and Quinton pointed him toward Dr. Daniel Rothfuss. In an email exchange, Rothfuss told Ayers that both his and Cogan's daughters had been considered "troublesome girls" by Mengsk himself, that the details of Maren's fate were highly classified and tied to Project Blackstone, and that inhumane research was being carried out in the facility's lower-level labs. Rothfuss hoped Ayers would help him destroy the project. Ayers gave him the benefit of the doubt, but soon afterward saw that Cogan was distraught over the death of her own daughter; she lashed out, applied for a transfer, and left. Confronting Rothfuss, Ayers learned that Cogan's daughter had lost contact at Meinhoff during the conflict between the Dominion and the Swarm, that Rothfuss did not actually know whether she was dead, and that he had been surprised by Cogan's reaction. Ayers returned to work without Cogan and made two copies of his journal in case his superiors learned of the conversations. He reflected that Rothfuss had offered no proof, and that Maren might have been mentioned only to seize his attention, but the seed of doubt about the emperor he had long defended had taken root.

Containment breach and aftermath#

As the facility ran low on supplies, Doctor Warren Held released a number of zergling specimens, intending to thin the human population so he would have more food, water, and air for his own work. The result was a bloodbath, though Ayers and several others barricaded themselves in the mess hall for a week as their supplies dwindled. They learned the shuttle Daisy 8 was still docked, but Doctor Leah Martine reached it first and fled, killing zerglings with her cane along the way and stranding the survivors. With seven zerglings remaining and Major Lee Treicher holding only six bullets, Quinton proposed rigging the fuel pumps of the garage hellions to send homemade ethanol laced with plasma through the ventilation system and incinerate each zergling in turn. The plan worked, though Quinton sacrificed his own life to destroy the last one, and Ayers swore his sacrifice would not be forgotten.

Descending to the lower levels to deal with Held, the survivors found he had already been killed by his last experiment, a protoss named Kaeon whom Cogan had released to take his revenge. With nothing left to do but wait, the group survived on plants grown by Doctor Vera Langridge until rescue came in the form of Valerian Mengsk, now emperor of the Dominion. Dominion forces restored the facility, restored communications, and delivered Valerian's promise of change and his hope that the survivors would keep working for Dominion interests. Ayers, who had learned that Valerian worked with the Queen of Blades to topple his father, first thought of treason, but on reflecting what the elder Mengsk had intended through Project Blackstone could summon no moral outrage. Settled aboard the science vessel DS Brin, Ayers warmed to Valerian's proposal and concluded that, distasteful as Blackstone's methods had been, advancing humanity was a worthy cause. Valerian asked him to head a reformed Project Blackstone, an offer Ayers was unsure how to answer, especially as even Valerian's most classified records held no information on Maren's fate.