Randall Ackerman

Randall was a short, heavyset middle-aged man with a bald path on the top of his head. He tried to cover it by slicking back the remainder of his hair. In a show of defiance to his friends, he grew a very thick mustache that curled up at the ends. This became his signature. His voice was gruff from years of smoking, though he finally managed to quit.

Randall had worked for BioHelp on previous jobs and was assigned to be the Section Chief on board the Hidden Sun. His responsibilities included managing the Jobs Program (where children are paired with crew members for a month), as well as running the nightly flight simulations.

Author’s Note:

Section Chief Ackerman has a small but vital role. It was important to forgo the typical classroom environment and pair the kids with crew members as well as the learning rooms removed a need to have physical classrooms on board the Hidden Sun. It also distinguishes the learning experience from other children’s books. There was the thought of dividing the children up by gender and having a second Section Chief, but in the end it didn’t gel with the community I was trying to establish. Everything was going to be inclusive. Dividing the children into two groups would have set a precedent that I didn’t want to set.

When it came to supervising the simulations, Section Chief Ackerman was a natural fit.

Charlie’s Note:

Section Chief Ackerman was a by the book type of guy. He was always kind to Brandon and his encouragement during his first simulation went a long way in developing his leadership skills.