Geri

Geri is an orphaned Rodian boy whose mechanical ability quickly proves essential to Den Dhur and I-Five. Introduced as an assistant assigned by Degan Cor, he is not merely a helper: he has built his own droid and an unusually capable diagnostic station, and later collaborates with I-Five on a plan to make the droid’s synaptic cortex easier to move between receptacles.

Identity and Introduction

Degan Cor offers Den Dhur an assistant, and Den discovers that the prospective helper is a child: Geri, a Rodian orphan. Although Den is reluctant to take on the arrangement, the boy’s orphanhood makes refusal difficult. The introduction establishes Geri’s vulnerability, but the work that follows gives him an identity beyond the circumstances that prompt Den’s sympathy.

Geri has built a droid he calls Candy, a name derived from the idea of a sweet tin can. The machine began as an old P2 unit, but Geri replaced its turret with the head of an RX-series pilot droid, leaving it scarcely recognizable as its former model. Den privately thinks Bug-Eyes would suit it better, but keeps the thought to himself, aware that it could hurt Geri’s feelings and that he is hardly in a position to criticize anyone else’s eyes.

Mechanical Skill and Invention

Geri’s talent is most plainly demonstrated by his diagnostic station. Three artificial-intelligence modules are daisy-chained so that an operator can assess and repair a droid’s neural pathways in less than half the time the work would otherwise take. Den initially assumes Degan Cor assembled it. Geri corrects him without boasting: he made it himself. Degan, Geri explains, says he has a knack for machines.

That understated admission shifts the scene’s understanding of the boy. Den recognizes the pride and affection involved in having a hero, recalling the feeling from his own distant past; I-Five immediately observes that the group has come to the right place. Geri’s competence is not presented as an abstract promise but as a functioning workshop invention that can materially assist the droids’ repair and preparation.

Collaboration with I-Five

Geri’s work extends beyond his own machines. I-Five describes him as resourceful and creative, and Geri responds by running a hand along I-Five’s carefully handcrafted braincase. Its design includes an elegant, gleaming sagittal crest running from the front of the helm to the back. Geri explains that the braincase contains extensive shielding and a special shock mount, while the crest is reinforced with tri-clad durasteel; if necessary, he says, I-Five could use it as a battering ram. Candy rolls up and gives what sounds to Den like mechanical laughter at the description, a small comic exchange that also places Geri’s familiar droid alongside the work he has done for I-Five.

In the workshop, Geri and I-Five have placed I-Five’s synaptic grid cortex in a steel mounting cage behind the droid’s optics, beneath a helm that can be opened by releasing a catch. The arrangement allows the cortex to be moved more easily from one receptacle to another. When an astromech unit is brought into the operating theater, Den understands the next step: I-Five intends to interface directly with the ship through the astromech. Geri greets the idea with open excitement and wishes he had a droid capable of thinking like I-Five.

Narrative Role

Geri’s scenes pair youthful enthusiasm with concrete technical contribution. His orphanhood explains why Den accepts the assistant arrangement, but the story does not leave him defined by that appeal to sympathy: his self-built diagnostic station, customized droid, and collaboration on I-Five’s transferable cortex establish independent skill and initiative. His admiration for I-Five also turns the workshop’s technical plan into a scene of shared fascination, with Geri not only helping the group but eagerly imagining what such a machine might make possible.