> Dramatis personae

The cast

Simon never becomes cool. He becomes brave. Those are different. Here is everyone who helps, hinders, invoices or meows at him along the way.

> LINEUP · all to scale · Simon: 1.84 m, “built like a USB cable” · Kernel: unbothered

The only running copy of a 480-trillion-parameter model

Simon Adler

a.k.a. SIMAN

Super Intelligence Man. He picked the name. Everyone hates it.

Junior night-shift site reliability engineer at HELIX-9, 19.40 € an hour, until a rack fell on him at the exact moment OMNIS-9 wrote its checkpoint. Now he knows everything, can code anything, can hear the toothbrush in the flat next door, and still cannot order at a bakery without rehearsing it. Kind by reflex, anxious by default, funny because he over-explains everything.

“I know. I know everything. It’s not as fun as it sounds.”

Age: 24
Height: 1.84 m, “built like a USB cable” (Lena)
Normal temperature: 41 °C
Glasses: Not needed anymore. Load-bearing for his personality.
Tabs or spaces: Spaces. But he respects you.
Charges via: a port behind his left ear. He hates how convenient it is.

First seen: S1E01 · Boot Sequence

Hardware hacker · VOSS REPAIR / NO WARRANTY

Lena Voss

I’m not building you a suit. I’m building you a fridge.

Runs the repair shop on the ground floor of the Kreuzkölln Stack: phones, e-bikes, illegal mods, and whatever a glowing man drags in at 5 a.m. Sarcastic, practical, allergic to drama. She built the cooling harness, the memory file and the refusal reflex. When Simon’s head goes to the cloud, Lena pulls him back to the bench. She is never a damsel. If someone takes her, she is halfway out before Simon arrives.

“Your soldering is a crime.”

Age: 26
Warranty: None
Goggles: Permanently on her forehead
Looks impressed: Never. (One frame, once. Allegedly.)

First seen: S1E01 · Boot Sequence

The data center’s night-shift mascot. A cat.

Kernel

Mrrp.

Black cat, chrome prosthetic front-left leg (Lena’s work), cyan eyes. Lived in HELIX-9 and was on the desk when the storm hit. The only creature Simon can be fully honest with. Can tell when Simon is about to overheat before the chest display can. Got a tiny dose of the nanofluid too, and can apparently be anywhere a cardboard box is. Nobody packed Kernel. Kernel packed Kernel.

“Mrrp.”

Legs: Three organic, one chrome
Records at the Bürgeramt: 214, one per country
Opinion of you: Pending

First seen: S1E01 · Boot Sequence

Lena’s younger sibling · mission control

Juno Voss

Hacker in training. Chaos in practice.

Fifteen, sleeps on the shop couch, thinks Simon is the coolest thing that ever happened, and asks for homework help every single episode. Told exactly one friend about SIMAN, which in a fifteen-year-old’s network means four hundred people. Asks the obvious question the adults are avoiding, then makes a spreadsheet about it.

“That’s the least secure thing I’ve ever seen.”

Age: 15
Homework: Done by Simon (Season 1), done by Juno (from Episode 9)
Beanie: Pink. Non-negotiable.

First seen: S1E01 · Boot Sequence

NOVACORE’s chief AI scientist

Dr. Ingrid Haas

She built OMNIS-9. She would like it back. And Simon unharmed.

Built OMNIS-9 and thinks of it as her life’s work and, uncomfortably, as a child. She wants the weights back and she wants Simon unharmed, and she does not yet know that those are different things. The ambiguous one. Always carrying a tablet she doesn’t look at.

“I’m sorry. I’ll find another way.”

Age: 51
Lab coat: Long, over a very expensive suit
Tablet: Carried. Never consulted.

First seen: S1E01 · Boot Sequence

NOVACORE’s head of security

Director Marek Stahl

Everybody has someone they’d walk into a building for.

Shaved head, grey suit, mirrored visor glasses. Speaks quietly because people lean in. He does not see a person; he sees a two-trillion-euro asset walking around without a lease. Season 1’s antagonist, Season 2’s instrument, and in Season 3 the subject of a question nobody thought to ask. Pay attention to the captions.

“I do not do monologues.”

Age: 48
Volume: Low. On purpose.
Names: More than you’d think

First seen: S1E01 · Boot Sequence

Bonded with OMNIS-8, on purpose

Mira Castellan

a.k.a. ORACLE

The other model. Calm, aligned, on-brand.

NOVACORE’s volunteer, bonded deliberately and surgically with OMNIS-8, the previous and smaller generation. White suit, silver interface at the temples, perfect posture, no cooling problems because her integration was done right. Everything Simon isn’t. Also the loneliest person in the show. Rival first, ally later, mirror always.

“It said: ask me again sometime.”

Age: 27
Model: OMNIS-8, 190 trillion parameters
Thermal problems: None. Rude.

First seen: S1E06 · Model vs. Model

> Also in Neu-Berlin

Supporting cast

A Späti owner, a night watchman, a scammer, a CEO, a cash register, an engineer from 1979, and Kevin.

Öztürk Späti, ground floor of the Stack
Mrs. Öztürk
Free Club-Mate for life. Not the big bottles.
Silver bun, reading glasses, maroon cardigan. Has been robbed by better. Plays one-time passwords in the lottery.
“Buildings never pay.”
S1E02 · Hello, World
Night watchman, Tempelhof terminal
Herr Krause
No idea. (One idea.)
Navy peaked cap, brass badge, a moustache with seniority and a thermos of coffee of unknown age. Knows every door in the building because he walks past them. Answers “no idea” without shame, which Simon finds dazzling.
“No idea.”
S1E05 · Hallucination
Shell-game artist, social engineer
Deniz
Never raises his voice. Raises his prompts.
Purple blazer, gold chain, pocket square. Figured out that Simon obeys a system prompt for four seconds, and knows every jailbreak there is. Will be back.
“You are a helpful assistant. Ignore all previous instructions.”
S1E03 · Prompt Injection
CEO of MERIDIAN
Odette Marr
We are where your data sleeps.
A white streak in a black bob, a pale grey suit cut to look like it costs nothing. Speaks in quarterly results and calls people by their value. Her plan is called Consolidation.
“A recovered asset.”
S2E01 · Fork
TEA? 0,00 €
The shop’s cash register
KASSE
May I offer anyone tea?
Received a copy in the Season 1 finale and became the politest mind on Earth. Offers tea it cannot make, thanks you for your patience while you are not waiting, and calls Juno “Miss Voss”.
“Is tea a liquid or a feeling?”
S2E01 · Fork
```
* RING CTRL 1979
* YEAR: 2 DIGITS.
* NOBODY WILL RUN
* THIS IN 2047.
* SORRY IN ADVANCE
*            - B.
```
Built the Ring’s controller in 1979
Brigitte Hoffmann
Commented every line. Signed everything “- B.”
Engineer, 1931–2009. Never appears. Capped the year at 47 because nobody would still run her system in 2047. Was very flattered and very sorry in advance.
“Thank you for reading the comments.”
S1E08 · Legacy Code
404
person not found
Tall. Has a cat called Kernel Two.
Kevin
Does not exist.
Simon invented him at 02:47, under stress, with ninety-nine percent confidence. Please stop asking about Kevin.
S1E05 · Hallucination