Zoe Nemova has worked her fingers sore to become one of the leading members of the Clockmakers team. The daughter of an influential Bank of Tunguska executive has been suffering from an obscure degenerative disease, a mutation of an old American military virus since she was eight years old. To pay for the expensive biomedical therapy that is only available in practice, Lev Nemov, Zoe’s father, dealt with high-risk and high-yield financial instruments, withdrew funds from the bank and sold financial information about the Khruleff family for the benefit of the Geigers. Zoe’s treatment successfully kept her alive, but by the age of sixteen she had replaced sixty percent of her body with wetware and biosynthetic organs. Just as things seemed to be getting better for them, sudden market fluctuations devastated Nemov’s risky ventures and the Khruleff located the source of the leak. Nemov fell into disgrace and was allegedly abducted by the Khruleffs to never be seen again. Her appetite for revenge was not quenched, the Khruleffs put a bounty on Zoe and her mother, but Nemov’s previous dealings with the Geigers included a clause that both women would be cared for and protected for five years. Under a false identity, Zoe graduated in engineering and cybernetics, and learned from her bodyguards how to operate a gun and how to live on the run. When the five-year period expired, the Geigers withdrew their protection, and Zoe and her mother became refugees with no capital other than their abilities, speed, and wit.
The following years were an interplay of jumps from the city to the space port, from the orbital to the lunar colony, never spending more than a few months in a particular place, always trying to stay one step ahead of the weapons Khruleff hired. During this time, Zoe put all her wits into her work as a repair technician and her studies to gain an advantage over her persecutors and her illness. After much effort, her undeniable talent earned her a position in the respected practice ArTechnodivarius Group, the elite of cyberengineers. With them, she was able to learn – and develop – some of the most esoteric and modern techniques and technologies of the time, a passion that spurred the creation of her inseparable companion, the ?-Well remote control. But the Khruleff dogs picked up their tracks, and once again she had to flee with her mother. Zoe reappeared years later due to her involvement in the C-7 incident, in which her mother died and she suffered severe physical trauma that led to further cybernetic enlargement.
- Infinity: Nomads
