- Former police captain William Boone is recruited as the Commander of Security and Interspecies Relations for the Taelons. He is given a CVI and skrill.
- Boone is also recruited by the Liberation as a double-agent. His CVI's motivational imperative is removed by fellow Liberation double-agent Dr. Julianne Belman so that the Taelons will not become Boone's highest priority.
- FBI Agent Ronald Sandoval assigns Taelon shuttle pilot Capt. Lili Marquette as Boone's second-in-command. Lili, too, is an undercover agent for the Liberation.
- Jonathan Doors, CEO of Doors International and Taelon partner, fakes his own assasination in order to lower his profile so that he can lead the Liberation.
- Kaitlin Boone, William Boone's wife, is murdered. Jonathan Doors claims the Taelons killed her in order to remove her as a barrier to Boone's acceptance of their job offer.
- Eddie Jordan, the Liberation operative who helped fake Jonathan Doors' death, is found dead. It is unclear if the Taelons or Jonathan Doors killed him.
William Boone
- Boone was married to Kaitlin Barrett Boone, and Eddie Jordan was the best man at their wedding
- When Kate asks Boone why he’s suspicious of the Taelons, he says, "I don’t trust anyone or anything when I don’t understand what their motivations are and I never will," to which she replies, "Why can’t you just trust?"
Lili Marquette
- Lili helped design the pilot certification program and shield interface for the Taelon shuttles that she pilots.
Jonathan Doors
- Jonathan Doors, president of Doors International, walked away from $32 billion because "we’ve become sheep, and I don’t like the shepherds."
Da'an
- Da’an is the American Companion whose headquarters are located in Washington D.C.
- Da’an says, “Since my young days, visions of starspace have filled my awareness, dreams that one day I might grasp at the jewel of a distant world.”
The Taelons
- Agenda on Earth
- The Taelons, also called the Companions, arrived on Earth three years ago.
- Da’an’s reply when Boone asks why the Taelons have come to Earth: “Your planet is at an evolutionary crossroads. The human species has arrived at this crucial moment when you must take the first step into uncertain frontiers. Our Taelon race evolves along a different path. Our experience here feeds us knowledge about the forces that will bear upon us in our evolutionary course.”
- Since the Taelon arrival, human “farmers have applied Taelon science to ensure that every child…will go to bed with a full stomach [and human] physicians have utilized Taelon technologies to help combat many human afflictions.” Kate Boone later confirms that the Taelons have “wiped out hunger” and helped eliminate many diseases.
- The Taelons intend to work with Doors International in a joint venture in order to create what Da’an calls a “forum where human minds can absorb Taelon concepts in order to better your world.”
- Attitudes and Beliefs
- Da’an: “For Taelons there is no fear in naturally passing to the next level.”
- Culture
- Their home planet is also called Taelon.
- Government
- The governing body of the Taelons is called the Synod.
- Language
- The Taelon greeting is “[s]inaüi [e]uhu[r]a.”
- Physiology
- Sandoval says, “He, she—neither really applies. Just ease of reference” when Boone asks why he describes Da’an as a “he.” This implies that the Taelons have no biological sex, are hermaphrodites or are so alien that sex does not apply to them at all.
- Da’an statement that he has dreamed of space travel “since [his] young days" implies that Taelons age.
- Technology
- CVI: The CVI, or "cyber virus" as Sandoval calls it, is "half computer chip, half Taelon germ." The CVI enhances basic intelligence and recall. “It puts you in your memory,” Sandoval states. The CVI also contains a motivational imperative, or MI, that redirects the bearer’s priorities in favor of the Taelons. “You must master the talents of your implant,” says Da’an. “Let it guide you to a more profound phase of awareness.”
- Skrill: The skrill appears to be an organic weapon that Sandoval says is an appendage of the central nervous system, controlled through the CVI. Da’an cautions Boone: "Respect the life force in your skrill. Much of what it bears derives from the intensity of your essence."
- Shuttle: The Taelon shuttle can travel at speeds of at least 6 ¼ miles/second, as Morovsky states that it travels 1500 miles in 4 minutes. Lili refers to its “inter-dimensional” capability.
Miscellaneous
- The president of the United States is named Thompson.
