Cory Vance
Cory Vance
Overview
Cory Vance is one of two. The other is Trev. The Park has, after six years of shared catwalks, mostly given up on telling them apart at distance. Up close it is easier: Cory's right cheek twitches at a frequency the Park's residents have informally clocked at every nine seconds, the result of a salvage cheek-augment Cory had installed in 2180 from a source he has never named, including to Trev.
He wears mismatched salvage clothing layered without much thought, a baseball cap worn backward at all hours, and a single patched-up sneaker on the left foot paired with a different patched-up sneaker on the right. He defers to Jay-Roc constantly with the consistent phrase "yeh, Jay-Roc" — which Jay-Roc has interpreted as professional crew protocol and stopped commenting on. Cory finishes Trev's sentences without noticing. The two never speak in scenes where Jay-Roc is present. He shares Bunk 14 with Trev and Jay-Roc, sleeping on the salvage-foam pad along the bunk's south wall to the left of the door. The pad has not moved since 2180. Bubz feeds him on the Thursdays Jay-Roc forgets the patty allocation. Cache-Miss the kittenbot has begun sleeping on Cory's foam pad, and Cory has not been informed that this is a status promotion.
The Patty Economy
Cory is paid in Helix WellnessProt vat-grown patties out of the same diverted pallet Randy eats from. The exchange rate is two patties per shift. Jay-Roc has set the rate unilaterally. Cory has not asked Jay-Roc to clarify and has not raised a wage dispute in six years. Cory has never been observed to use credits. The Park's interpretation is that nobody has explained credits to him, and the explanation has not been forthcoming because the patty system functions. Randy has, on one documented Thursday short, offered Cory a quarter-patty. Cory accepted. Trev did not need to be asked.