Character profiles: Dr Connor Rivers

Name: Connor Rivers
Age: 45-55

Position: Senior doctor, Martian Freighter Crazy Horse

Personality: Serious, intelligent and with a weakness for a good whisky.

Dr Rivers sat upright studying a hand held computer pad. He looked worried, but he often did when he had patients, thinking through every possible complication and treatment.

Inspiration & character creation: Dr Rivers was one of those characters that was necessary to create for reality's sake but didn't have a fleshed out character when I started writing. I knew it would be likely that people would need a doctor on a several-month-long interplanetary trip, but I wasn't sure how much he'd get involved with the rest of the story.

Of course, after Pilar Perez got ill, he became more central to the story, providing background information and eventually turning into something of a sounding board for Dak. He also seemed to be quite fatherly towards Anna, which was a nice development.