HISTORY

Sylwia Kujawa is yet another in a long line of brilliant scientists employed by GigaCorp. Kujawa was born on 22 February 2119 in Krakow, Poland. Her parents - one Polish, one Japanese - were scientists employed by GigaCorp's aerospace division. Her parents spent most of their careers designing and improving spaceframes for corporate spacecraft. This employment was very much to their liking. Not only were they well remunerated for their efforts - thereby giving their family a lavish lifestyle - but they were also quite content in their work. Young Sylwia thus equated working with GigaCorp with happiness and assumed from her earliest days that she would follow in her parents' footsteps.

Attending university in Russia, Kujawa found that her scientific interests tended more toward the “soft sciences” of biology and chemistry rather than engineering and physics. She studied under some of the finest minds in all of Europe while in Russia. It wasn't long afterward that she decided she would do graduate work in biochemistry and genetics. Her parents worried that she might not find employment with GigaCorp as she had hoped, but Kujawa pressed forward anyway.

Kujawa completed her undergraduate degree in 2139 at the age of 20. Her parents continued to counsel her against pursuing her biological studies. They knew well that GigaCorp had not actively pursued genetic research since the “dark ages” when Longstreet initiated the ALEXANDER Project. Kujawa could not accept that GigaCorp would be so blind as to neglect such an important field of study. After all, humanity's exploration of space demanded that it be ready for any eventuality. Only science - including genetics - could provide humanity with the defenses it needed against the unknown.

Kujawa, supremely confident, made an appointment to meet with GigaCorp recruiters on Luna (although its HQ was on Prosperity Station, GigaCorp had set up a massive recruitment center on the Moon to attract the best and brightest from throughout the solar system). On Luna, Kujawa met with representatives of GigaCorp's scientific divisions. To her surprise, she found that what her parents had told her was indeed correct. GigaCorp had little interest in genetic engineering and disavowed the earlier work done by its founder, Emmet Longstreet. Moreover, the UN had taken steps to ensure that genetic engineering not be abused in space. GigaCorp respected these provisions.

Kujawa was horrified. Upset at what she viewed shortsightedness on GigaCorp's part, she launched into a lengthy tirade against her would-be recruiters. She passionately argued the case for casting aside the “archaic prohibitions and taboos that keep humanity shackled to the past.” If humanity was to have a future, she explained, it must free itself from the limited vision she now saw at GigaCorp. She then vowed never to work for the corporation - a decision that wounded her to her core. Kujawa planned to return to Earth and graduate studies.

Fate intervened, however. The asteroid disaster occurred while Kujawa waited to return home. In an instant, everything she had known, everyone she had loved, was gone. Shattered and broken, she had nowhere to turn. Her life seemed to have no meaning and no direction. Fortunately for Kujawa, her impassioned oratory at the recruitment center had caught the attention of Dr. Fernando Williams, a scientist in the employ of GigaCorp. He approached Kujawa and asked to speak with her privately.

At first, Kujawa refused Williams. She had nothing to say to him, especially now. Williams pressed on and explained that she should listen to what he had to say. Reluctantly, she did so. Williams then revealed to her that he was a geneticist employed by GigaCorp. Kujawa was skeptical after what she had been told by the recruiters. Williams explained that GigaCorp preferred not to highlight its genetics research division. The horrors wrought by GeneFlex last century are still fresh in their minds.

To assume as many naively did that GigaCorp had no genetics division was foolish, Williams stated. GigaCorp had a division for almost everything. In addition, all of the points Kujawa had made were valid ones shared by the company's board of directors. Humanity must move forward and free itself from its past - even its genetic past. At the same time, it was incumbent upon corporate geneticists to avoid the mistakes of GeneFlex and the ALEXANDER Project. Humanity must be aided through research, not replaced.

Williams then asked Kujawa if she'd be willing to work for GigaCorp as a geneticist. The corporation would send her to the best schools on Luna and educate her. Later, the corp would hire her and set her to work on a variety of projects related to her field of specialty. Kujawa was intrigued by the offer and accepted it. She then remained on Luna to study and received her Ph.D. in biochemistry before she was thirty years old. Once done, she returned to Prosperity Station, where Williams put her to work.

Kujawa enjoyed her work with GigaCorp, but she found its genetics division to be “too conventional” in its thinking. They were unwilling to take risks or push the boundaries of their research. Kujawa was, however. In particular, she spent a great deal of her time looking into ways to “improve” humanity both for survival in space and for profitability in the eyes of the board of directors. In time, she delved into the sealed ALEXANDER Project files. She became very interested in Longstreet's plans and came to believe there was indeed a method to his madness.

Kujawa was also interested in learning more about Longstreet's “children,” the Bios. She poured over every bit of intelligence about them in hopes of wresting supposed secrets from them. Few knew of her extracurricular interests and those who did discouraged them. Nevertheless, she persisted. Kujawa even encouraged GigaCorp to mount more intelligence gathering missions into the territory of the Bios. Some might call her obsessed, but Kujawa would simply call it “scientific curiosity.”

Whatever the truth of the matter, Sylwia Kujawa is now an influential member of GigaCorp's scientific division. She wields much influence and the board listens to her opinion on scientific matters. Her efforts have resulted in the creation of several genetically engineered product lines - something unheard of before her arrival. Kujawa's curiosity about the Bios remains strong and grows stronger with each day. Exactly what she would do if she encountered them face to face remains to be seen. For now, her obsession has grown to the point where it threatens to consume her and her work.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Sylwia Kujawa is a very attractive Eastern European woman in her early thirties. She has straight blonde hair that almost appears white upon first seeing it. She wears her hair long, pulled back in a ponytail when she is working in the lab - which is most of the time.

Kujawa's skin is very fair and her eyes are blue. Most often, she wears a pair of thick goggles to protect her eyes when she is working in the laboratory. She also commonly wears a lab coat beneath which she wears plain utilitarian clothing. Kujawa gives very little thought to her appearance. She does not seem to understand that she is actually an attractive woman, as she has never been known to use her beauty to her advantage. If anything, her physical attractiveness has worked against her. Some outsiders do not take her seriously because of it. Others find it unappealing in a woman so single-mindedly devoted to the “betterment of humanity through science.”

Kujawa speaks with a noticeable Eastern European accent. Her time in Russia as a younger woman has made it difficult to ascertain precisely what kind of accent it is, however. Kujawa has good posture and carries herself in a proud way. When speaking to others, she can often be condescending, as she assumes that few outside her own division of GigaCorp truly understands what it is she is undertaking on their behalf. This does not make her popular, even with the board of directors who realize the importance of her work. As with so much about her work, Kujawa does not care. This often gives her a single-minded expression that can be quite unsettling in one as young and attractive as she.