Kofi Mandela is the Corona Tower pool boy and general gofer.

Kofi wears a polo and shorts with canvas shoes, all in the cream and tan Corona colors. He sports tight hair cut in a row-like pattern to imitate braided hair.

If there's one thing that Kofi's learned in his job, it's when to mind his own business.

In Book 8, Sunchaser's Gambit, we learn that to Garik Shayk's hybridized nose, Kofi smells like sun and water and coconut.

We first meet Kofi Mandela in Book 1 of The Hyman-Hybrid Series, Shattered by Glass.



Dieter Schafer is a high school senior at Bay City High.

Dieter is a recent arrival in Bay City. He lives in Corona Tower in Stamford Suites with his father.

Dieter has a slim build with a thick shock of tousled hair cut short on the sides. He over-enunciates many words as English is not his native language, and he occasionally has to search for the correct thing to say. He has full, expressive lips and a wide smile. 

The exclusive luxury of his Stamford Suites apartment is lost on Dieter. He wants nothing more than to be a skater. His father is undergoing treatment at Bay City Medical, and to make his son happy (and to entertain him on days he is in treatment), Dieter's father has outfitted an abandoned warehouse as an indoor skate park. 

In Garik's absence, Dieter has filled in for him with Muhammad Saud and Ibn Hariri. He is excited when Garik shows up. To Dieter, Garik is an underground legend, the boy who managed to break into the off-limits and highly secretive basement research compound located underneath the Corona mall. Deiter's friends often call him Deet. He skates with a Baker Brand board.

We first meet Dieter in Book 4 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Reflections of the Silverback.

 


Margaret Rodheimer is Meg, Weston Rodheimer's deceased wife.

We never meet Meg except through references by Jantzen Hefferly and Weston Rodheimer.

Meg was pregnant when she was killed on a skiing vacation with her husband. Garik Shayk sees a picture of her on the ski slopes in Book 8, Sunchaser's Gambit, when Weston Rodheimer briefly reveals his tortured memory of her death.

Meg is the reason her husband was the first in the program to make the change from human to hybrid. HIs anger at her death drove him to take the chance that he could bring her back to life through the life-altering process of DNA melding with another person. 

We never meet Margaret "Meg" Rodheimer, but she is pivotal to the story. Her death drives Weston Rodheimer's loss of emotional empathy and his careless disregard for the participants in the human-hybrid program whom he considers failures.


Kang Song is Corona Tower's event planner and hospitality head. 

Song uses a traditional name arrangement, with her surname first and her given name last. She is often seen in a black business suit with a white banded collar, diamond bracelets, and diamond earrings. She tinkles as she moves.

Song is excessively concerned that everything runs smoothly and everyone is pleasant to one another. She tends to bow when she speaks and says, "Sorry," often.

Garik Shayk, after his transformation, notes that she exudes an aroma of vanilla and cherry blossoms.

Song is mentioned in Book 1, Shattered by Glass, but we first meet Ms. Kang in Book 8 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Sunchaser's Gambit.


We meet Steve Tsuchiya when Garik Shayk is restricted to his apartment on the upper floors of Corona Tower for two weeks. Steve is of average height, with dark, very straight hair, and neutrally pleasant looks.

Steve shows up at Garik's door three times a day, never creased and never stained, in a Corona Tower uniform, with a meal delivery from Stamford Suites Grill. 

Garik learns almost nothing about Steve during their two weeks of interactions, except that Steve has impeccable manners and is efficient at sidestepping questions with a smile.

Outside of his life in the Tower, Steve is a motocross rider, which is how he keeps his slim and toned shape. He has raced Supercross in Salt Lake City, the Australian MX in Canberra, and won the previous year at Fox Raceway in Pala, California. Steve is a little guy only in the Tower. In real life, he is at the top of his game.

We first meet Steve Tsuchiya in Book 9 of The Human-Hybrid Project, The Electrified Sword.