Rayne Orbison

Rayne Orbison (2053-2100) was Head of Tech for Ramdhun Corporation and inventor of the machines.

Birth and adolescence

Rayne was an Orbison which meant he had no family. He was born in 2053, three years after the Sweep. It was unusual for an Orbison to rise to be a Section Head in a corporation, but Rayne had showed early promise and the prejudice against Orbisons was not as strong in New Singapore as it was elsewhere. Rayne had a miserable childhood, more so than most hanyos because he lost his skin sensitivity later than the norm, making him the preferred target of bullying by his peers. He was also from the age of six or seven quite overweight, a condition almost unheard of in hanyos whose high metabolism usually kept them rake thin and ripped. The Ramdhun doctors were baffled by his failure to lose weight and tried for some years to 'correct' him. All their efforts failed, and Rayne was barred from donating sperm to Human Resources to prevent his condition from passing on, a fact he deeply resented. In 2068 he graduated school and joined Ramdhun's tech division as a junior programmer.

Early career

Rayne quickly proved to be the go-to guy for tech-related problems, and he showed an amiable willingness to spend hours fixing other hanyos' video games or configuring their devices. He also avoided conflict, which largely protected him from the more vicious manifestations of hanyo politics, although he did have to endure constant sniping and sniggering. By 2075 he had found his niche, and kept manily to his lab which his colleagues only visited if they wanted something done. His boss Shah Rukh Vaghela came to trust him, as he appeared to have no agenda. When not working, he spent his time trawling the dark web for interesting music videos or porn.

The Joking Clown

Rayne's life changed when in 2077 he discovered the Joking Clown.