Jenny Sutton

Jenny Sutton is one of the first people to help Dan Davis find his footing after his unexplained arrival in 1970, and she becomes a trusted partner in the work that follows. Her gentleness at their first encounter, practical assistance with Dan’s return to ordinary life, and later role in building a business with John Sutton make her an essential part of the new life Dan constructs in the past.

Identity and First Encounter

Jenny appears beside John when they discover Dan sitting on gravel and pine needles. She is described as pleasant and pretty, somewhat younger than John, and wide-eyed at the sight of the stranger. While John questions Dan sharply about trespassing and his unusual clothes, Jenny intervenes with a quiet appeal: “Don't, John,” she said gently. “I think he's hurt.” Her response shifts the encounter from suspicion toward care; she notices Dan’s possible injury before treating him as an intruder to be dealt with.

The scene also establishes the unusual social setting in which Dan meets the Suttons. They and the other club members wear only smooth coats of tan, and the group is discreet about Dan’s personal affairs. John and Jenny stay in their own cabin, while Dan sleeps on a cot in the clubhouse dormitory. Jenny’s kindness is thus not an isolated gesture: it introduces a household and a community prepared to give an unsettled stranger practical help without pressing him for an explanation.

Helping Dan Establish Himself

After the Suttons remain at the club through Monday morning, Jenny helps Dan move from temporary shelter toward independence. On Tuesday, May 5, 1970, she drives him around so he can rent a small loft in the old commercial district. The room is sparsely equipped, with a drafting table, workbench, army cot, and little else; Dan is watching every dime. Jenny’s assistance comes at the moment when he has recovered some cash but must quickly begin rebuilding his working life.

The money that makes this possible comes from gold Dan found in the mountains. John arranges for Dan to receive its mint value as bullion, less the standard fees charged by licensed gold buyers. Dan never sees the gold again, and John supplies vouchers rather than explaining the transaction’s details. Jenny’s role is distinct: she is not described as handling the gold sale, but she provides the transportation that lets Dan turn its proceeds into a workshop and resume his work.

That work begins with Dan’s plans for Drafting Dan and Protean Pete, his redesigned all-purpose automaton, whose Thorsen tubes must be properly instructed. The loft is more than a place to stay: it becomes the base from which he can develop working models and prepare inventions for commercial use. Jenny’s practical help connects the Suttons’ initial hospitality to the independent enterprise Dan is trying to create.

Work with John and Dan

Jenny contributes directly to the company’s early organization. She types descriptions for the inventions, while John retains a patent attorney to help with the claims. Dan leaves the arrangements—including the division of shares—to John, preferring to concentrate on the technical work and trusting that John will not be tempted as Miles Gentry had been. Jenny’s typing is a concrete part of the process by which Dan’s designs become materials that can support patent applications and a business.

Dan proposes the name Aladdin Autoengineering Corporation, which John initially finds too elaborate, suggesting Davis & Sutton instead. Jenny’s place in the venture is therefore more than that of a host helping a visitor: her labor is part of the company’s founding, even though the exchange about its name foregrounds the differing preferences of Dan and John. Dan’s trust extends to both Suttons, whom he sees as people he can rely on while he returns to work and leaves the business arrangements in their hands.

The partnership also depends on Dan’s inventions becoming useful in ordinary life. He realizes that Protean Pete can perform household tasks as well as commercial jobs, and begins teaching it the tasks Flexible Frank had learned. This development is Dan’s, not Jenny’s, but it clarifies the practical world around her contribution: while he designs and instructs the automaton, Jenny types the written descriptions and John oversees patent help. The company takes shape through distinct kinds of work rather than through Dan’s inventions alone.

Marriage, California, and Later Contact

Jenny’s quietness makes her interventions especially consequential. John says she never talks unless she has something to say, and she signals the importance of her response by putting down her knitting. When John argues against moving to California, describing Colorado’s seasons and mountain air and recalling his wartime stationing there, Jenny says she would not go so far as to refuse a return. She points out that they could join the Oakdale Club, where outdoor swimming is available year-round, and explains that she had been thinking about it after seeing ice on the pool at Boulder.

Her answer changes the discussion from John’s firm rejection to a real possibility. Jenny had been born in California, which John calls her “secret shame,” yet she is willing to consider going back. Her preference is grounded in a specific prospect—the Oakdale Club’s outdoor swimming—rather than an abstract endorsement of Dan’s plan. The exchange shows her able to speak up within her marriage and to redirect a decision through a measured, concrete suggestion.

Years later, Dan receives a note from John saying that he is complying with Dan’s request not to be met, despite Jenny’s wishes. John sends her love and says she hopes Dan will not be too long in looking them up; he adds that they are both well and that Jenny is even more beautiful than she used to be. The letter preserves her affection and interest across the separation, while also making clear that she would welcome a visit. Her role in Dan’s life is not confined to the brief moment when she helps him after his arrival: she remains part of the trusted relationship he has built with the Suttons.