History[]
The Glyph, a supporting character in Book II of The Ballad of Halo Jones used to be a boy. Or possibly a girl. Whoever it was, it wasn't happy with its gender, so it changed it. Six months later, it felt unhappy with its new gender and changed it back again. It ended up changing its gender 49 times, and was left as an anonymous, androgynous waif with no personality, whom nobody noticed. It was essentially invisible, and people would forget its existence as soon as it stopped speaking.
The Glyph used its power of imperceptibility to stow away on the starliner Clara Pandy so that the presence of other people would provide it with a sort of pseudo-companionship. It shared a cabin with Halo Jones and Toy Molto, neither of whom knew that they had a room-mate when it wasn't directly in their line of sight. The continued existence and history of the Glyph were, therefore, known only by the reader, after the Glyph narrated its life story and then turned round to discover that Halo and Toy had left the room.
The Glyph was fond of Halo and saved her life twice (not that Halo noticed). The first time was when Halo had to catch a rat to replace the dying member of the rat-king hiding in the Clara Pandy's presidential cabin. The rat-king told her that if she didn't find a new rat within an hour she would be killed. Halo found it impossible to catch a rat, but the Glyph managed it easily. The second time the Glyph saved Halo's life was when Toby, her robot dog, was trying to murder her. Toy Molto locked the frenzied Toby in the ship's furnace, but he broke out and charged after the girls, glowing red-hot and bent on slaughter. The Glyph killed him by emptying a barrel full of flammable liquid into his path. Both Toby and the Glyph were killed by the subsequent explosion.
The Glyph featured in the nightmare Halo had (about being trapped in cobwebs) on Pwuc in 4960 AD.
Powers and abilities[]
Powers
Nobody ever notices it. Not even rats.
Abilities
Petty theft.
Strength level
It looks pretty puny.
Weaknesses
Loneliness.
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
None. It appears to have no personal possessions whatsoever apart from its nondescript clothes.
Transportation
The Clara Pandy.
Weapons
Barrel full of flammable liquid.
Links[]
- Appearances of The Glyph
- Character Gallery: The Glyph
- Images that feature The Glyph
- Fan-Art Gallery: The Glyph
- The Glyph quotations