MURPHY’S APPEARANCE

Murphy appears to be a normal seventeen-year-old girl, with fair skin, cropped blond hair, and brown eyes. She is unusually tall, nearly six feet, and of average build. Her features are too sharp to be beautiful, but she is attractive nonetheless. Her face almost always has an expression of either serene, Zen-like calm, or panic and paralyzing fear, with no middle ground.

Murphy dresses in loose-fitting clothing, to allow for freedom of movement. She almost never carries anything on her person except a little cash: no weapon, no keys, no identification, etc. She has no identification, as she does not legally exist.

MURPHY’S SECRET ORIGIN

Murphy was genetically engineered as the capstone of Project MORPHINE, a corporate project to build a superior agent. MORPHINE is sponsored by Kenade Biotechnology, Limited (KBL), a large pharmaceuticals and genetic research company based on a number of backwater colony worlds, including Napthia. Murphy was the first successful human MORPHINE bred to project specifications.

Murphy’s childhood was traumatic. She knew no parents, but was raised instead by a series of psychologists, with occasional input from the genetic engineers who created and studied her. Kept in total isolation, the better for her caretakers to manipulate her, Murphy could count on one hand the number of people she met before her twelfth birthday. Most of her childhood was spent in the laboratory; she was allowed outside only at night, and then only for brief periods, never alone.

As Murphy grew, so too did her capabilities. At the age of six she could, without straining, lift more than 100 kg and run a kilometer under two minutes. These and other remarkable feats caused her handlers to become fearful: what if Murphy’s wrath should turn on them? Her adolescence was fast approaching, and with it, the psychologists predicted, increased defiance of authority figures. Her handlers had raised Murphy with a strong sense of social compassion, the better to maintain her compliance, but the MORPHINE project leaders feared this would be insufficient. Through a combination of hypnosis and behavioral conditioning, the scientists instilled in the budding superhuman a number of severe phobias. Crowds, loud noises, open spaces, and blood all induced in her fear, paralyzing to the point of catatonia. Though Murphy was to eventually become a highly-trained assassin/spy, the researchers chose mental blocks aimed at preventing any form of violence, to better force her docility during what they saw as a critical period in her development. They planned to replace these with more specialized phobias after this period, but their plans were broken when Murphy escaped.

After her rescue from MORPHINE by the Napthians, Murphy underwent extensive psychological counseling and deprogramming in hopes of curing her of these derangements, or at least lessening their severity. Currently she is able to function normally in most situations, but the right combination of extreme factors can push her over the edge and shut her down.

MURPHY’S LATER HISTORY

At the age of twelve, Murphy’s life turned from simple and idyllic to very complicated. One of the project researchers was fired after his drinking problem became a hindrance to MORPHINE. Disgruntled at the perceived insult, this scientist stole copies of a small amount of proprietary information, and sold it to the highest bidder.

The highest bidder turned out to be a group of radical militants who sought the isolation of their homeworld from interstellar culture. These Napthians engineered an assault on the MORPHINE research laboratory, killing three researchers and kidnaping Murphy. Their intent was to first free her from her catatonic episodes, then reprogram her with their political agenda, thus making a super-terrorist.

Murphy spent four years with the Napthians, learning all the things the MORPHINE psychologists had kept from her and undergoing regular deprogramming sessions to cure her paralyzing fear. She soaked up information like a sponge, although she later learned much of the history they had taught her (describing the cruel maltreatment of Napthia and her people at the hands of the interstellar culture) was skewed to the point of false. By the end of her fifteenth year, she considered herself expert at a large body of skills, from sneaking up quietly to performing emergency medical treatment to bending steel bars at precise angles. The Napthians were very pleased.

They made a singular error, however. Through hushed conversations overheard with her enhanced senses (and the occasional rifling-through of offices) Murphy became aware of the Napthians’ plan to reprogram her as a fanatic after curing the mental “safeguards” the MORPHINE psychologists instilled in her. Though angry at being manipulated so callously, Murphy waited until the Napthian therapists had made great gains in helping her deal with the induced phobias. Once she felt competent to survive out in the larger culture, Murphy fled the isolationists’ compound.

MURPHY’S CAPABILITIES

In many ways, the girl called Murphy is superhuman. Her reflexes, strength, speed, vision, hearing, sense of smell, and memory are all off the charts. Her internal clock is accurate to a tenth of a second. She always knows which way is north. Most toxins and drugs have no effect on her. She retains the heightened capacity to learn languages she possessed as a toddler. She can pick up a man twice her size and lift him over her head.

Though she has received some training in the use of firearms, Murphy eschews the use of guns. When she is forced into conflict, she prefers to fight hand-to-hand. This maximizes the advantages her preternatural talents give her. A favored tactic is to hide her strength and speed, as she does not appear a threat until it is too late.

As a child, Murphy was taught medicine, anatomy, and biochemistry. Since leaving MORPHINE, she has studied a range of subjects, from physics to psychology to military history. Her near-perfect recall and yen to learn have together caused her to read widely but not deeply; she is an expert only in the field of life science, but overestimates her grasp of other branches of knowledge.

Her psychological problems affect her only when circumstances conspire against her. While a crowd, an open space, an electrical storm, or an air raid would not cause her to go catatonic, being trapped in the middle of a crowd of people out in the open during an electrical storm with the bombs dropping certainly would.

With her induced phobias under control, Murphy’s biggest weakness is her overconfidence. She is more likely to assume that her many talents will allow her to survive an unpleasant situation than to take the steps necessary to prevent that situation from arising. So far, she has been correct.

MURPHY’S FRIENDS AND ENEMIES

MORPHINE still exists; loss of Murphy set the research back but did not cripple the project. The doctors had already learned a great deal observing her development, and continue to put that knowledge to use as they design and raise the next generation of broadly-enhanced human. However, since this next phase of the project was not begun until Murphy escaped, they’re all still under five years old. As such, KBL is trying to find and recover Murphy, the better to continue the MORPHINE studies. They had almost given up after years without sighting her, until Murphy left the Napthians. Now that she is in general circulation, KBL occasionally picks up hints of her location and movements.

The organization which freed/kidnaped Murphy is also searching for her. The Napthian separatists sunk a sizable amount of resources into Murphy, first in stealing her from MORPHINE, and then in training her for four years. Murphy has, of course, fled Napthia, but the group has sent agents off-planet looking for her (proof of how badly these isolationists want her back!). With little experience hunting the missing, the Napthians have not had much luck so far.

Murphy has also made a few friends since fleeing the Napthians. Most are simply good people who take pity on a homeless, penniless young bum. On almost every planet she’s visited, Murphy can secure a few nights’ lodging from this network of acquaintances. She’s also recruited a side-kick, a young man named Jensen who is unaware of the full extent of her qualities and believes he is protecting her from the scum of the universe.

MURPHY’S CURRENT SITUATION

Murphy is on the run and on the hunt. Vaguely aware that KBL is searching for her, she has made it her mission to end project MORPHINE. She’s aware that one penniless individual can’t effectively combat an entire multiplanet corporation, so she devotes herself to finding project MORPHINE’s new headquarters and damaging it enough for the project to become unprofitable. As yet, she hasn’t had much luck; Murphy hasn’t been able to reach the new MORPHINE research facility.

Currently she is moving from one likely planet to another, avoiding the Napthians she suspects are searching for her, while playing cat-and-mouse with MORPHINE. More than once, she has found recently-abandoned research stations, some only a few days old. Murphy might be superhuman, but she’s hardly invulnerable: no one can dodge high explosives. Is MORPHINE so afraid of her as to spend millions pulling up stakes whenever they catch a whiff of her, or is something more complex going on?

CHARACTERIZATION/ROLE-PLAYING NOTES

For all that she is a super-genius, Murphy is a hick. She was raised by indifferent engineers and educated in a right-wing militant compound on an ugly backwater world. She speaks with a broad accent unless it occurs to her not to; she never bothered to learn good table manners.

For example, Murphy has no identification, faked or legitimate. While law and order in her corner of the galaxy have collapsed to the point that an ID card is not necessary for travel, it is almost inevitable that this deficiency will someday catch her up. Obtaining a good fake ID or even a legitimate one from a poor planetary government would cost only a few hours and a handful of currency; Murphy simply hasn’t gone to the trouble of thinking far enough ahead to realize this.

Murphy is also a sullen teen. She’s never been shown much affection, or known a healthy family life. More than once, people she thought she could trust were revealed to be manipulating and using her. Further, she is stronger, tougher, faster, and smarter than nearly everyone around her. All this combines to make her antisocial, distrustful, and arrogant. These qualities exist in stark contrast to the compassion and charity her guardians worked hard to instill in her. Her demeanor is often that of a cool, detached caretaker minding an errant child. Similarly, the slightest insinuation that she might have make a mistake sets her firmly on the defensive. She is a rigorous perfectionist, often correcting those around her on points as trivial as grammatical construction. Her speech is peppered with imperatives. This, combined with her featureless expression, can make her extremely irritating to be around.

IN MURPHY’S OWN WORDS

“No, I have already said, and if you were listening you would have heard me, that there was no way I could have known that it was a trap. Listen, and I will go over it one more time; maybe that will convince you.

“This particular time, I was on my way home from the grocery store. It was some nasty little planet parsecs from anything, called Myrras. I had never heard of the place, but Jensen said he had heard KBL had an office there. We had been there for a week and had not picked up word one of activity. After that amount of time, provisions were running low, so I gathered up some cash and went to find us some food. Do you understand that?

“Good. Now, I was carrying two plastic bags of food items: eleven instant meals, four kilograms of soy, and two liters of water. It was raining, too. I hate rain; it is unnatural for water to fall from the sky. It is also unsanitary. Imagine the situation.

“I was walking down the street, halfway to the hotel, carrying the bags and getting wet and wondering if I should bother to start running or if I was going to get wet anyway so it didn’t matter what I did. That is when I saw the incident in question taking place.

“Eighty-three meters away, plus or minus five percent, a well-dressed man I assumed to be a tourist was being mugged by a pair of apparent locals. The well-dressed man was handing one of the thugs a wallet, presumably his wallet, and the other one had a hand in his jacket pocket in a manner which suggested he was concealing a firearm of some kind. I set the groceries down under a bench. That was so they would not get wet. I assume you understand ‘wet.’

“I am aware it was not really any of my business, but I do not like violence. Much the same way, watching passively as a man with a gun takes someone else’s money does not sit well with me. Local law enforcement on Myrras is a joke. That is not surprising: any planet KBL would be interested in would not, as a defining feature have much in the way of law and order. Thus, even though it was not any of my business, I decided to intervene. It was a snap decision; I stand by it. You can understand that, I assume.

“I had eighty meters to accelerate. This was more than enough. I took Captain Gun down with a flying jump kick I was working on at the time. I messed it up, however, something I can admit freely. I meant to get him in the small of the back, but I instead hit him between the second and third vertebrae. I could hear his neck break, which was extraordinarily unpleasant. I did not have time to mourn, sadly: the other one, Captain Wallet, was reaching for something as well. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed. Fortunately, he blacked out before anything broke.

“Once they were down I was able to take a closer look. They were both just under two meters. The mean height of Myrras natives is one point six six meters. Their coloration was atypical, too; they were much fairer than most natives. Furthermore, they wore armor under their clothing. It had not done them any good, since I went for the neck on both of them. I recognized this as suspicious. Nonetheless, I had no reason to believe the victim of the attempted assault was anything but what he seemed.

“As such I turned to Captain Tourist, to reassure him. He had a flashlight-thing in his hands, pointed in my direction. I was trying to tell him it was all over and he was safe. Unfortunately, he flipped a switch on his thing and then… there was a bright light… and a loud noise… and it hurt and I couldn’t breathe and I couldn’t move and… well. That’s… what happened. It’s understandable under the circumstances.

[long pause]

“No, no, no… I do not feel that I am ‘a failure.’ And proper usage dictates ‘as if you were a failure,’ not ‘like you were a failure.’ Further, it is not necessary for you to analyze my emotions. I resent that. It really irritates me when people try to psychoanalyze me just while I… Uff. Okay, maybe I did make a mistake. Maybe it was dumb, I don’t know.

“I’m sorry. I just, you know, I just get frustrated. I do not mean to be supercilious; it just slips out… Am I doing it again? Sorry.

“Okay, yeah. I should’ve realized there wouldn’t be any rich tourists in the slums of a backwater like Myrras. It was a stupid mistake. Next time I’ll do better.”