Ben Waller

The Bifrost Terminal will be a marvel. The pinnacle of modern innovation in a stunning package, the first in it's kind to meet the public eye. The Bifrost Terminal is ambitious. I'll give you that, but we at Paradigm Architectural are equal to the task."

-- Ben Waller, Head Architect and Founder of Paradigm Architectural

In an Interview for Interstellar Discovery 

(Upcoming Attractions Edition)

Founder, Architect, and Forman of Paradigm Architectural, the company hired by TITAN to oversee the design and construction of the Bifrost Terminal, Ben Waller is not a man to be trifled with lightly. He is ambitious, meticulous, and does not mind getting his hands dirty to make his dreams a reality.
     Now he haunts the very Terminal he built. He has kept tabs on his family, using the terminal's lingering connection to Paradigm's network to secretly help with work orders and oversee new designs so that they will be able to survive. The first portal open to the public, it's bold concept and design made the company popular despite the eventual tragedy. He would do anything it takes to find a way back to his family.

Anything.

Backstory

     As a young man, Benjamin James Waller dreamed of the sky. He had always been intelligent. He had to be. In a growing world, he worked twice as hard to get half as far, but still he dreamed of the stars in the night sky and wondered what they had not yet found. It had been years since the advent of interstellar flight, but he knew there was more out there. When he was old enough, he tested into one of the greatest schools of engineering and spacefaring on Thraelos: Antares University.

     He studied. Engineering, astronautics, astrophysics, art, architecture, and interstellar politics took the majority of his time. When he could, he worked construction to help pay for it. There was always something that needed built, and he made it clear that nothing was too dangerous for him not to give it a try. He graduated with honors and moved into a flat close by. 

     Years fly by. It wasn't long before Ben had the money and connections to start his own business. He brought with him all of the connections to local construction companies, their bosses, and the suppliers for all sorts of materiel. On his 30th birthday, he turned in the last of the required forms. Paradigm Architectural was open for business. It was as he celebrated with his friends and new employees that he met Yasmine. They hit it off immediately. Friends said it was because they both new what they wanted in life. Family said it was because they didn't put up with each other's [nonsense]. A year later, they were married. A year after that, they had a child. Theirs was a happy family. 

     When Ben was 35, the business had it's first big corporate job. He was approached by TITAN, a corporation overseeing multiple government contracts with not all of them on Thraelos. They had seen his designs of smaller buildings and seen his work on aeronautic transportation both theoretical and actual. They had a proposition: Design the most welcoming, elegant, and efficient teleportation this universe had ever seen. He accepted the challenge with relish. Many sleepless nights went into the project's design, much to his wife's dismay. While she worried, she ruefully confided to their friends that she couldn't be surprised since that was the man she married. 

     A year later saw him presenting his final design and structural drawings along with a surprise: a bid for the work of building it. Who better to insure that his design is implemented well? This is how he found himself the Site Foreman and Architect at their build site in the Pantheon Mountains. The money he saved by doing it himself had allowed him to not only stay in budget, but to better exploit his connections. It was about this time his wife announced their second child was on the way. He and his union crew of construction veterans got to work.

    As they completed the exterior and moved on to the interior, the Crew got a nasty surprise. TITAN had sent a corporate foreman and a small crew to work independently on some of the systems in the Terminal. After a lengthy discussion, Ben decided he was a plant by TITAN to try to undermine his union workers and be eyes for corporate. Though he complained vigorously, he was overruled. He could only keep an eye on them and ensure his people gave them a wide berth. After installing the backup system for the Terminal's power, he saw little of the corporate foreman or his crew though his own crew said they'd seen them lazing on their breaks.

     Despite this hiccup, the Bifrost Terminal completed it's initial tests with flying colors and was soon ready to open. He held his newborn son before leaving to put the Terminal through it's paces one last time.

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