Mortimer Jenkins

The Science Corps researcher who crash-landed himself, Paul and Martha Masters (due to his   deception about his pilot abilities and experience[1] while they were trying to observe mating rituals of Green Hell’s Lightning Bolters.

Mortimer Jenkins was invited by the Science Corps to come to Green Hell when his doctorate was still fresh and he was just one of many fellow researchers, at the Neugruber Bio Sciences Institute on Venus. He was firmly convinced, that Martha Masters' shadow kept obscuring his work and his chances of recognition.

Mortimer considered the mandatory CHOPER Pilot training an insult on his intellect. These tests and the training was for uneducated and stupid techs and brutish soldiers, not for a man who held two PhD's. When he came to Green Hell, he was told it was the job of the most junior member of the Science Team to fly the Institute’s vehicle and be at the beck and call to shuttle the other members around whenever they decided they needed a flight. He had flown fliers on Venus, Earth and even on Titan and felt he didn't need any additional training or instructions and so he simply lied and claimed he already received CHOPERS training, prior to coming to Green Hell. For almost two years, he had been proven right and after 23 months without any accident he felt he was a good pilot. Like most persons using a modern flier he was oblivious to the fact, that most flying was done by the on-board Computronic. All the minute adjustments to the Arti Grav lift generators, the automatic correction to the propulsion turbines, keeping the flier perfectly stable regardless of wind and weather were done for him, making the task of flying so easy a child could do it.

The flier’s shields were effective simple electromagnetic deflectors and not real battle shields. A sudden onslaught of lightning from the bolters overwhelmed the shields and the electromagnetic energies were strong enough to disable the on board computronic; the combined lightning bolts of the beasts did not kill the scientists inside but it sent the flier with screaming, uncontrolled engines towards the planet's surface.

A trained pilot perhaps would have been able to divert the disaster, by cutting power to the thrusters and increase the lift energies to the Arti Grav, but Mortimer was neither a trained pilot nor a person who reacted well to crisis situations. Mortimer simply screamed on the top of his lungs and then the armored Science institute flier crashed through the canopy of the jungle trees, cutting through a Tantalus Oak, and moments later impacted with the ground.

Note:
[1] Union Ranger Solomon's investigation resulted in the pilot, Mortimer Jenkins, being found guilty of false official statements and recklessness resulting in injury. He lost all piloting privileges, received one UST year in a local prison, fined costs and damages. He was also discharged from and blacklisted by the Science Corps. He was last known to be back on Venus, but working as a tour guide at the Venus Zoo.