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Lukas Kyle

Lukas · Luke

Lukas survives his threatened cleaning and stays close to Juliette, urging her to help rebuild the silo’s leadership.

Story so far

A twenty-five-year-old computer worker living in the upper mids, Lukas devoted his evenings to charting stars on the cafeteria screen, hoping a future shadow might continue the work across lifetimes. He grew close to Juliette, visited her in prison, and told her he had intended to ask her out. Her cleaning left him grief-stricken and contemplating suicide. Taking her possessions from Marsh, he secretly preserved her ID, multi-tool, watch, and ring before delivering the box to IT. Bernard Holland then drew him into training as a successor. Curious and frightened, Lukas learned that other silos existed and read The Order’s instruction to prepare for war after a failed cleaning. When the attack on IT came, he shot an old woman preparing to throw a bomb, cried while firing, and continued shooting at the attackers.

Confined beneath the server room, Lukas read history and the Legacy as well as his assigned procedures. He secretly called the neighboring silo and sustained a connection with Juliette through many conversations, although he concealed parts of the uprising and refused her request to kill Bernard. He came to distinguish the unchangeable past from a future people could still influence. Formally designated next in line to control Silo Eighteen and welcomed into Operation Fifty of the World Order, he learned that their own side had deliberately caused the catastrophe. This knowledge deepened his doubts about joining the system. After finding Juliette’s poem to George, initial jealousy led him to search records; travel logs and pressure to close the case convinced him George had been murdered.

Bernard turned Lukas’s request to leave confinement into a sentence to go outside and accused him of betrayal for communicating with Juliette. On the public march upward, Lukas again considered jumping from the stairs, but hearing her voice over Peter Billings’s radio helped him decide against it. He told Peter that their choices ahead would define them and that he had proof Bernard killed a man. Lukas survived and held Juliette’s hand when she woke in the infirmary, remaining with her and comforting her at night. Weeks later, he admits that he and Peter withheld some of her notes and urges her to fill the leadership vacuum. He also admits delaying her departure because he does not want her to go, kisses her, and pads her bag strap to protect her wounds.

Appearance

Lukas is a handsome young man of twenty-five with light brown hair and eyes that appear older than his face. He has worn overalls while carrying his charting supplies.

Role

Lukas is Bernard’s formally designated successor and now helps address the silo’s leadership vacuum. He remains close to Juliette during her recovery and departure.

Relationships

Juliette — Lukas’s attachment to Juliette survived her cleaning and his confinement. He cared for her during recovery, kisses her, and urges her to help lead.
Bernard Holland — Bernard Holland trained Lukas as his successor before threatening him with cleaning; Lukas later accused Bernard of killing a man and said he had proof.
Peter Billings — Peter Billings brought Lukas meals, escorted him toward cleaning, and listened as Lukas urged him to judge himself by his next choices.
Lukas's Mother — Lukas told Lukas's Mother about Juliette and later feared the danger his hidden knowledge could pose to them both.
Sources — 172 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 15
  • Jahns tentatively identifies the young IT technician summoned by Bernard as Lukas.
  • Lukas greets Jahns with a handshake and an awkward smile.
Chapter 20
  • Lukas appears to Juliette to be a handsome man in his late twenties.
  • Lukas lives in the upper mids and works on computers during the day.
  • Lukas relies on a cafeteria worker from his level to report favorable viewing conditions.
  • Lukas has spent a long time watching the night sky and says practice improves his night vision.
  • Lukas measures the position of a star using charcoal held at arm’s length.
  • Lukas wears a flashlight with red plastic covering its lens.
  • Lukas says the stars appear in different positions at the same time on successive nights.
  • Lukas expects completing his star chart to take several lifetimes.
  • Lukas hopes to inspire a shadow to continue his observations.
Chapter 22
  • Lukas joins Juliette despite knowing the clouds will prevent stargazing.
  • Lukas offers condolences for Juliette’s loss of her partner.
  • Lukas says he is not yet in a relationship.
  • Lukas is twenty-five years old.
  • Lukas says his mother annually reminds him of missed lotteries and her reduced chances of grandchildren.
Chapter 24
  • Juliette nearly collides with Lukas in the high twenties of the staircase.
  • Lukas carries a lapboard on his back and charcoal in his overalls.
Chapter 26
  • Juliette wonders whether Lukas has heard of her arrest.
Chapter 28
  • Lukas thinks the star Juliette has seen is an inconceivable distance away.
Chapter 29
  • Lukas visits Juliette while she is imprisoned in the mids.
  • Lukas has light brown hair and eyes that look older than his face.
  • Lukas tells Juliette her friends are collecting signatures to fight her sentence.
  • Lukas says he had been coming to ask Juliette out when they previously met on the stairs.
  • Lukas has told his mother about Juliette.
Chapter 32
  • Lukas considers working through the paid holiday on the morning of Juliette’s cleaning.
  • Lukas drew Juliette’s sheriff’s badge on one of his star charts while she spoke with him.
  • Lukas visited Juliette in her cell two nights before her cleaning.
  • Lukas spends most of the night before Juliette’s cleaning crying for her.
  • Lukas has had no appetite for two days.
  • Lukas had been testing Ethernet runs because he suspected a faulty server cable.
  • Lukas has told his mother about Juliette.
  • Lukas contemplates suicide by jumping from the fiftieth landing.
  • A hurrying porter makes Lukas suspect that something newsworthy has happened at the cleaning.
  • Lukas hopes that the petition from Mechanical may have persuaded the authorities to reconsider Juliette’s banishment.
  • Lukas takes Juliette’s belongings from Marsh to carry them upward.
  • Lukas tells Marsh that he and Bernard are good friends.
  • Lukas promises to guard Juliette’s belongings with his life.
Chapter 34
  • Juliette hopes hiding her body beyond the hills will spare Lukas the sight when he comes to watch the stars.
Chapter 35
  • Lukas takes the box of Juliette’s possessions to the pump control room on level thirty-eight.
  • Lukas uses his IT master key to enter the pump control room.
  • Lukas hides behind the server rack with the room’s light off while examining Juliette’s possessions.
  • Lukas has defied his boss and lied to Deputy Marsh while delaying delivery of the box.
  • Lukas feels guilty about intruding into Juliette’s belongings.
  • Lukas fears that his friends in IT would trade away Juliette’s possessions.
  • Lukas keeps Juliette’s ID badge in his breast pocket.
  • Lukas exchanges his multi-tool for Juliette’s to keep a reminder of her.
  • Lukas takes Juliette’s working watch and the ring from the wooden box.
  • Lukas replaces the watch and ring in the antique box with loose chits.
Chapter 38
  • Lukas arrives at IT on level thirty-four carrying a box of Juliette’s belongings.
  • Lukas has secretly searched Juliette’s belongings after hiding behind the servers.
  • Lukas conceals items from Juliette’s belongings in his chest pocket.
  • Lukas fears being searched and having his contraband discovered during Bernard’s inspection.
  • Lukas pretends to discover the sliding lid of Juliette’s wooden box.
  • Lukas feels uncomfortable alone with Bernard for the first time.
  • Lukas wishes he had hidden more of Juliette’s possessions after seeing Bernard’s treatment of them.
Chapter 41
  • Lukas is unsure he has actually accepted Bernard’s offer to train for another job.
  • Lukas has his own access code and ID for the server room.
  • Lukas suspects there is more to learn about cleaning suits than about the servers.
  • Lukas thinks Sammi would be better suited to Bernard’s job.
  • Lukas worries that the new job might require him to give up charting the stars.
  • Lukas descends into the hidden area beneath the server room with a watch, ring, and ID in his breast pocket.
  • Lukas feels both curious and afraid about the responsibility Bernard is giving him.
Chapter 47
  • Lukas notices that the circles on Bernard’s chart are arranged like the servers.
  • Lukas conceals a picture of Juliette against his chest.
  • Lukas is startled when Bernard refers to multiple silos.
  • Lukas recognizes the beginning of the enormous book as the Pact.
  • Lukas believes his fascination with Juliette remains secret.
  • Lukas reads the Order’s instruction to prepare for war after a failed cleaning.
Chapter 50
  • Juliette recalls Lukas’s belief that the stars are very far away while struggling with the world map’s scale.
Chapter 51
  • Lukas waits with a loaded rifle on the conference table after receiving only five minutes of instruction hours earlier.
  • Lukas’s talk with Bernard was interrupted by preparations for people approaching from the down deep.
  • Lukas initially watches the fighting without firing his rifle.
  • Lukas shoots an old woman as she prepares to throw a bomb toward him.
  • Lukas cries as he empties his rifle’s clip during the second assault.
  • Lukas reloads and continues firing at the attackers.
Chapter 52
  • Lukas carries a rifle while watching the stairwell after the blast.
  • Lukas believes the fighting is over because their opponents are retreating down the stairs.
  • Lukas helps Bernard reach the server room.
  • Lukas uses his code and ID to enter the secured door.
  • Lukas has a copy of the master key used to open the server.
  • Lukas supports Bernard when the call leaves Bernard unable to stand.
Chapter 57
  • Lukas is reading a historical account of the Civil War instead of concentrating on his assigned studies.
  • Lukas can use a computer to view live camera feeds from the server room.
  • Lukas has been confined for about three weeks and asks Bernard how much longer he must stay.
  • Lukas lies to Bernard about keeping up with his studies of the Order.
  • Lukas worries that Mechanical could cut power to the farms and starve the silo.
  • Lukas believes the IT technicians will remain loyal to Bernard and the silo.
  • Lukas no longer knows the code needed to open the door that confines him.
  • After Bernard leaves, Lukas calls silo seventeen through the jack labeled 17.
  • Lukas receives an answer to his call and settles in to talk.
  • Bernard’s anger reminds Lukas of living with his drunken father.
Chapter 59
  • Juliette thinks about her last conversation with Lukas while preparing the suit’s air-hose connection.
Chapter 60
  • Lukas is sleeping alone in a hidden bunk room on level thirty-five.
  • Lukas has lost track of time and his normal washing routine during confinement.
  • Lukas feels overwhelmed by the scale and strangeness of the history he is reading.
  • Lukas and Peter Billings are about the same age.
  • Lukas senses competitive tension from Peter Billings but does not share it.
  • Lukas tells Peter that he mostly works on servers while confined.
  • Lukas says his apartment is in the mids, close to the up top.
  • Lukas asks whether the planned assault means he can leave confinement soon.
  • Lukas feels physically out of shape from confinement and the loss of his daily walk to work.
  • Lukas asks Juliette to reduce her daytime calls because Bernard is frequently present.
  • Lukas refuses Juliette’s suggestion that he kill Bernard.
  • Lukas has recurring headaches.
  • Lukas has omitted parts of the uprising from his account to Juliette.
  • Lukas lies that Peter will soon bring dinner so he can end his conversation with Juliette.
  • Lukas remembers shooting a small white-haired woman.
Chapter 62
  • Juliette recalls only two or three in-person meetings with Lukas.
  • Lukas and Juliette have since talked dozens of times, including about his childhood.
  • Juliette thinks Lukas might try to dissuade her from diving if he were present.
Chapter 63
  • Lukas pretends to study the Order while wanting to read the other books.
  • Lukas asks why the Order does not explain the origins of the silos or identify their builders.
  • Lukas reasons that the silo builders must have anticipated the disaster outside.
  • Lukas understands the Legacy as humanity’s achievements and hope for what the world can become.
  • Lukas distinguishes the past from the future by saying people cannot change what has happened but can affect what happens next.
  • Lukas interprets the Order as guidance for preventing and repairing problems between the past and a hopeful future.
Chapter 64
  • Lukas has been keeping Juliette informed about the danger her friends face.
Chapter 67
  • Lukas tells his mother that his current work will bring a substantial promotion.
  • Lukas confirms that he shadowed in IT.
  • Lukas identifies maintaining the Order as his primary duty to the silo.
  • Lukas doubts whether the sacrifices demanded of him are justified.
  • Lukas has spent little time in the Suit Labs and says his boss intends to schedule more.
  • Lukas tells the voice that he would not have handled the lower-level conflict differently.
  • Lukas is formally designated next in line to control and operate silo eighteen.
  • Lukas is welcomed into Operation Fifty of the World Order.
  • Lukas asks how the circumstances that led to silo life began.
  • Lukas concludes that their own side caused the catastrophe, and the voice confirms his conclusion.
Chapter 70
  • Lukas learns that the destruction of the world was deliberate.
  • Lukas is confined because of the dangerous knowledge he is learning.
  • Lukas worries that he and his mother might have been shot if he had disclosed what he knew during her visit.
  • Lukas argues that he and Bernard are now participants in the system that destroyed the world.
  • Lukas questions whether he could become one of the people responsible for running the silos.
Chapter 73
  • Lukas listens to the fighting because he expects Juliette to ask how it ends.
  • Lukas wants to tell the fighters to stop killing each other.
  • Lukas fears that Juliette may have been hurt while undertaking dangerous work.
  • Lukas recognizes a similarity between Juliette’s technical work and his star charts.
  • Lukas becomes jealous after finding Juliette’s handwritten poem addressed to George.
  • Lukas uses personnel records and ID photographs to search for the George in Juliette’s poem.
  • Lukas concludes that the George in Juliette’s poem is dead.
  • Lukas records the deceased Mechanical worker’s ID and case number to investigate further.
Chapter 76
  • Lukas detects a possible smoky smell at the server room air-conditioning vent.
  • Lukas requests the closed investigation file on George Wilkins to confirm what he has discovered in the server records.
  • Lukas has found travel logs coinciding with George’s death and numerous messages urging Holston to close the case.
  • Lukas realizes George was murdered.
  • Lukas asks to leave confinement and sleep in his own bed.
  • Lukas fears Bernard after being pressed to say that he wants out.
Chapter 77
  • Juliette remembers that Lukas receives updates about the uprising on a radio below the servers.
  • Bernard says Lukas betrayed him by communicating with Juliette.
  • Bernard announces his intention to send Lukas out to clean the following morning.
Chapter 78
  • Lukas is taken from the server vault on a public march toward his death.
  • Lukas considers jumping from the staircase to choose his own death, recalling earlier suicidal thoughts.
  • Lukas believes he is being sent outside because the knowledge he could share threatens everyone in the silo.
  • Lukas feels that his own condemnation gives him a deeper understanding of Juliette’s innocence.
  • Lukas hears Juliette on Peter’s radio ten levels above IT.
  • Lukas decides against jumping from the stairs while listening to Juliette and Bernard argue.
Chapter 79
  • Juliette is trying to get back in time to intervene in Lukas’s impending cleaning.
Chapter 80
  • Juliette fears she and Lukas may die together if her rescue plan fails.
  • Lukas is not the cleaner Juliette finds dead after the airlock fire.
Chapter 81
  • Lukas is alive and holds Juliette’s hand when she wakes after her rescue.
  • Lukas tells Juliette she is in the infirmary on level thirty-three.
  • Lukas says the infirmary is the best in the silo and offers a place to keep Juliette safe.
  • Lukas stays beside Juliette as she reads her notes.
  • Lukas comforts Juliette when she wakes distressed at night.
  • Lukas tells Juliette he heard her voice on Peter’s radio during his march to cleaning.
  • Lukas tells Peter that their choices going forward define who they are.
  • Lukas tells Peter that Bernard killed a man and that he has proof.
Chapter 82
  • Lukas admits that he and Peter withheld some of the notes sent to Juliette.
  • Lukas urges Juliette to help fill the leadership vacuum and hold the silo together.
  • Lukas admits that he has delayed Juliette’s departure because he does not want her to leave.
  • Lukas kisses Juliette.
  • Lukas pads Juliette’s bag strap to protect her wounds.
Character portrait