Mao Kwikowski

A vast mercantile corporation, controlled by Jules-Pierre Mao, that supplied Protogen's Eros atrocity.

Story so far

Mao-Kwikowski Mercantile ("Mao-Kwik") is the corporate empire controlled by Jules-Pierre Mao. Before the Eros incident it was one of Protogen's major suppliers — providing the medical equipment, radiation rooms, surveillance and encryption infrastructure, warehouses, and freighters used to build Protogen's shadow station and carry out the atrocity. After Protogen's exposure, Mao-Kwik was among the first to cooperate with investigators, turning over confidential correspondence.

It commands its own communications arrays and encryption, making it nearly impossible for even the UN to surveil — a fact Avasarala weighs as she looks for other ways to track messages between Mao-Kwik installations and Venus.

Appearance

A sprawling interplanetary mercantile concern with private warehouses, freighter fleets, and independent communications and encryption infrastructure.

Role

The Mao corporate empire, materially entangled with the protomolecule conspiracy.

Relationships

Jules-Pierre Mao — Its controlling owner, who steers it and shielded it during the Protogen investigation.

Avasarala — The UN operator seeking a way to penetrate its guarded communications.

Sources — 1 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 10

A vast mercantile corporation, controlled by Jules-Pierre Mao, that supplied Protogen's Eros atrocity.