“"Why did you marry her?"
"Liked her. Part of the game. Good wife for a hero, all's well that ends well. Loved my first wife, look how that turned out. Thought it might go better this way. But damn - I think, in the end, I loved Alice, too. Funny how that kinda thing sneaks up on you."
- – Lee Crawford to Kevin Vacit, 2133
Lee Crawford was an American Earth Alliance Senator and the one most directly responsible for the formation of the Metasensory Regulation Authority and its successor, the Psi Corps.
History[]
Early life[]
Born in to poverty in Mississippi, Lee grew up in a block tenement in the outskirts of Natchez. As a child, Lee and his friends would sneak into the grounds of a large mansion that stood just over the hill from where he lived, just so that they could admire the place and spend a few minutes in the gardens before the gardeners could chase them off. Always a dreamer, young Lee always had a firm belief in extraterrestrial intelligence and as a child would often stand outside at night, shining his flashlight at the stars, thinking that perhaps one day "they" would get his message. Even as an adult Lee would cling to his belief that human contact with an alien intelligence was only a matter of time and he fully intended to be around when it happens and see them face-to-face. In his later years he would confide in his aid that it was the only thing he really dreams about.
Hero of Grissom[]
In his adult life, Lee married and lived with his wife at the Grissom Colony on the Moon. It was here that he would first come into the public eye when an accident caused the colony's dome to crack causing an explosive decompression throughout the colony. Only through the actions of Lee Crawford were some of the colonists able to survive the disaster, though Crawford's own wife was not among the survivors. The disaster was big news at the time, with Crawford heralded as the "Hero of Grissom." A title that people would still clearly remember decades later.
Public Office[]
Following the events at Grissom colony and the death of his wife, Crawford moved back to Earth. Taking advantage of his new-found fame, Crawford stood for public office and was elected as the United States Senator to the Earth Senate. Later in life, Crawford would assert that the reason he ran was because he believed that for the last two centuries, the most important fact for life on Earth had been the changes in science and technology and that politicians with little or no scientific knowledge were making decisions about things they didn't truly understand.
Standing on a globalist platform and alongside his assistant Tom Nguyen, Lee pushed for the advancement of science and space exploration. Though he was still popular in the public eye, 2115 saw the defeat of his bill to upgrade the twenty year old DeepProbe project which left Crawford in a sudden slump, with the party threatening to withdraw their support.
Dark Genesis Era[]
Lee was offered the chair of the Committee on Technology and Privacy, initially considered a do-nothing position, a bone intended to push Crawford out of the way. However, when Lee read an article titled "Investigations into Biochemical Sensory Transmission by Duffy and Philen" in the New England Journal of Medicine, Crawford seized the opportunity, realising the full implications of certifiable telepaths living among the normal population. He also realized that the Technology and Privacy Committee would be an ideal position from which to shape how the EA dealt with the Telepath situation.
In early 2116, Lee attended the launch of the Heimdal probe from the Von Braun Shipyard on the Moon, intended to update the DeepProbe network. Shortly afterwards, Lee met with Dr. Alice Kimbrell who told him that she had discovered a genetic marker that proves that the telepaths had not evolved naturally but had been artificially engineered. Unknown to them both, a group of telepaths who had been tailing Crawford for some time "overheard" their discussion and kidnapped the pair, intent of killing them outside the dome. After being led outside in pressure suits, Lee managed to overpower and kill the telepaths, saving one to interrogate. The would-be assassin revealed that he was working for Senator Vladmir Tokash of the Russian Consortium, Lee's main competitor for heading up the proposed Committee on Metasensory Regulation. Senator Tokash also turned out to be a telepath himself. Crawford contacted Senator Tokash and informed him that he had a way of detecting telepaths through a genetic marker and that unless Tokash wanted his Telepath status to become public, he would pull out of the running for the new committee and begin working for Crawford as his "right hand".
In 2117, Crawford appeared on the "DiPeso Show" in Los Angeles with the announcement of the formation of the Metasensory Regulation Authority. Shortly after leaving the set, Crawford surprised Alice with a proposal of marriage. Alice, having fallen in love with him agrees. By 2118 the marriage had already begun to show signs of stress with Alice starting to develop a drinking problem. By 2133 the relationship had fully imploded when Alice had an affair with Tom Nguyen. Though Alice stayed with Lee for a short time after Tom left, having chosen to replace him with Kevin Vacit, she eventually left Crawford following a drunken row. A very inebriated Crawford confessed that he'll miss Tom more that Alice, to which Vacit responded "Maybe that's why she did it."
In 2156, Lee was astonished to see one of his childhood dreams come true - contact with extraterrestrial intelligence - when a Centauri Republic ship arrives and makes contact with humanity.
Birth of the Psi Corps[]
In 2161, Lee met with EA President Elizabeth Robinson during which she informed the Senator that approval had been given for a universal MRA, to be called Psi Corps. She then surprised him by asking him to resign from the Earth Senate so and become the first Director of Psi Corps, a lifelong position. Lee agreed and asked a favour - that she arrange for him to meet face-to-face with the first Centauri Ambassador to Earth, due to arrive in a month's time. While on his way the Centauri Embassy in Geneva, a bomb planted in his car exploded, mortally wounding him. Moments before Lee succumbed to his injuries, Vacit was able to ensure that Lee got his wish and had a glimpse of the alien moments before death. Looking up at the Centauri, Lee's last words to the universe at large were "Got you, you bastard."[1]
Notes[]
- Crawford's drink of choice is Evan Williams whiskey.[1]