Theresa
Names: TheresaTeachTheresa Sykorski
First appears in Book 4: Heaven’s River, chapter 50 (16. Still Trying)
Appearances
What you know
Book 4: Heaven’s River
- Ch 50Theresa taught philosophy, math and history at Peachland and holds several doctorates.
- Ch 50Theresa laments Quinlans abandoning difficult history in favour of myth and belief in the Administrator as a deity.
- Ch 52Theresa argues that true morality is only possible without a deity's rewards and punishments.
- Ch 52Theresa catches Bob with Bender's matrix and deduces he is not a native Quinlan, partly from his saying gravity is .86 G.
- Ch 52Theresa believes Bob is only rescuing a friend and chooses not to expose him.
- Ch 54Theresa Sykorski, late of the University of Peachland, has a well-known family name and uses it to send the police away from Bob.
- Ch 67Theresa Sykorski lives in a large courtyard house in Misty Falls and has aged noticeably since Bob last saw her.
Book 5: Not Till We Are Lost
- Ch 4Theresa Sykorski has agreed to be the first Quinlan replicant when she dies, given her education and standing.
- Ch 16Theresa Sykorski dies at home surrounded by family, and Bob scans her brain despite her relatives' disapproval.
- Ch 16Theresa Sykorski becomes the first Quinlan replicant, awakening in the Quiniverse in a younger body.
- Ch 16Theresa knows Bob as the Bawbe who ended the era of control.
- Ch 22Theresa has designed a human avatar with ANEC's help and visits a Bobiverse pub day with Bob.
- Ch 22Theresa reports that ANEC ensures all Quinlans can choose replication, though most decline.
- Ch 25Theresa calls herself first citizen of the Quiniverse and personally teaches new ex-Quinlans the basics.
- Ch 25Theresa tries a quinny, borrowing Bridget's unit, to visit Heaven's River in physical form.
- Ch 30Theresa reports that several Quinlan replicants have turned themselves off and deleted their backups, with no clear pattern.
- Ch 39Theresa has immersed herself in the UFS Federal Library and studies differences between Quinlans and humans.
- Ch 39Theresa proposes a Quinlan media company and thinks cultural exchange with humans will go both ways.
- Ch 39Theresa was a talented dancer in her youth and is humbled by human ballet.
- Ch 39Theresa may take on a role in exobiological diplomacy, having already talked to a few people.
- Ch 46Theresa wants to meet a Pav and warns that Quinlan teeth and claws are more effective than they look.
- Ch 46Theresa enjoys feeling young again and grows playful with Bob.
Connections
- family ofBelindagranddaughter
- member ofUniversity of Peachlandformer teacher
- friend ofBob
- member ofSykorski family
- inMisty Falls
- member ofSnarks
- leadsQuiniversefirst citizen
- partner ofBobpossible, Bob is unsure
Key moments
- Book 4 · Ch 50Hurricane crosses segments
The captain takes a subcontract to Orchard Hill and two passengers, Theresa and Belinda, so the Hurricane will cross the segment mountains.
- Book 4 · Ch 50Theresa puts Snidely in his place
Over lunch Theresa reveals she taught at Peachland and holds several doctorates, rebuking Snidely; Belinda bares her claws when he insults her grandmother.
- Book 4 · Ch 50Bob discusses replication as life after death
Bob explains replication, information theory and the Closest Continuer to Theresa, Oric and Frieda, intriguing Theresa.
- Book 4 · Ch 52Theresa discovers Bob's secret
Theresa sees Bob with Bender's matrix; Bob confesses he is not Quinlan, that the Administrator is an engineered construct, and that he is rescuing a friend. She agrees to keep his secret.
- Book 4 · Ch 52Police waiting at Misty Falls
Disembarking with Theresa and Belinda at Misty Falls, Bob walks straight into a circle of police.
- Book 4 · Ch 54Theresa saves Bob at Misty Falls
Theresa claims Bob's trunk as hers and invokes her family name, and the police back off; she bids Bob farewell.
- Book 4 · Ch 66Bob explains ANEC's history
Bob relays Theresa's account: Quin destroyed itself in war, survivors fled to Heaven's River, and ANEC-23 imposed pre-steam technology and scattering to prevent extinction.
- Book 4 · Ch 67Bob visits Theresa
Bob returns to Misty Falls, is welcomed by Belinda, and tells an aged Theresa he has come to grant her wish to learn more about her world and his.
- Book 5 · Ch 16Death of Theresa Sykorski
Bob, in his quinny Enoki, attends Theresa Sykorski's death at the family villa and scans her brain amid her relatives' unease.
- Book 5 · Ch 16First Quinlan replicant awakens
Bob and ANEC design an awakening space in the Quiniverse, and Theresa is activated as the first Quinlan replicant, startled but accepting.
- Book 5 · Ch 22Theresa at the moot pub
Bob brings Theresa, in a human avatar, to a Bobiverse pub day where Steven Gilligan explains the megastructure boom and opens negotiations with Bill for the O'Neill Corporation.
- Book 5 · Ch 25Herbie joins the Quiniverse
Theresa activates and welcomes Herbie, a newly replicated Quinlan, into the Quiniverse while Bob and ANEC observe.
- Book 5 · Ch 25Theresa visits Heaven's River in a quinny
Using Bridget's quinny, Theresa joins Bob in Heaven's River, where they eat at a pub serving hamburgers and see towns being upgraded.
- Book 5 · Ch 30Quinlan replicants self-deleting
Theresa shows Bob a VR of old Quin, then reveals that some Quinlan replicants have switched themselves off permanently. Bob offers to gather human data.
- Book 5 · Ch 39Theresa proposes Quinlan–human cultural exchange
Theresa shows Bob Quinlan multi-voice singing and human dance, proposing a Quinlan media company and noting nobody has studied human–Pav sensory differences.
- Book 5 · Ch 46Moot news
At a sparsely attended moot, Bill shares news of the Pav home-world expedition, George's reports and a mobile O'Neill cylinder idea; Theresa reveals ANEC's colony ship.
- Book 5 · Ch 46Bob and Theresa discuss replicant suicides
Bob tells Theresa ex-humans are also switching themselves off and argues it is ultimately their own choice; she agrees.
- Book 5 · Ch 49First Quiniverse moot
The Quiniverse holds its first moot to welcome its thousandth member; a brawl over who is the thousandth is defused when ANEC turns it into a cartoon.