Samantha Peterson
From Wotchipedia
| |
| Samantha Agatha Peterson, Ph.D. | |
| |
| | |
| Birthday: | May 17, 1969 |
|---|---|
| Age: | 30 (when last on Earth) |
| Height: | 6'4" |
| Weight: | 525 pounds |
| First comic: | Accidental Centaurs on January 15, 2002 |
| Favorite movie: | 'Casablanca' |
| Favorite TV show: | "Cheers" |
Sam is a character from the webcomic Accidental Centaurs. She also appeared in the Wotch during the crossover storyline "Accidental Wotch" (called "Wotch This!" in Accidental Centaurs.
Sam can be a bit hot-headed and impulsive, and it was this impulsiveness that lead to the accident that opened the wormhole between Earth and otherSpace, turning her and Alex into centaurs. She and Alex became romantically involved during the development of the teleporter, and have stayed together despite obstacles that would drive any other couple apart.
[edit] Biography
Dr. Samantha Peterson was, at one time, regarded as one of the world's foremost experts in real-time mission-critical data processing systems. It was this expertise that brought her to the Massachusetts labs of KlaeCorp, a high-tech research-and-development firm that was in the process of developing a working matter teleportation system.
As an undergrad at MIT, she worked on a project to revamp NASA's telemetry network in the wake of the Challenger accident, and she consulted with the space agency on numerous unmanned missions. She was also a major contributor to the systems aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, and had been selected as a mission specialist for a Hubble repair mission. Unfortunately, her voyage aboard the Space Shuttle was grounded by a bout of appendicitis.
While at KlaeCorp, she began to work closely with particle physicist Alex Tischenko. The two started off as rivals for funding for their respective departments, but this blossomed into a full-fledged romantic relationship.
Sam is highly impulsive, and this trait led to the accident that sent her and Alex into otherSpace. Faced with the cancellation of the teleporter by new corporate ownership at KlaeCorp, Sam talked Alex into a clandestine test of the almost-ready teleporter. A mix-up involving the control computer's software leads to the catastrophic overloading of the capacitors that operate the dematerialization chambers targeting lasers. It is this event that causes the hyperdimension rift that causes Sam's metamorphosis into a centaur. But far from this event reducing her impulsiveness, it has only increased since.
Sam has found much to enjoy about her new body. As a fitness and exercise buff on Earth, Sam revels in her new form, the human portion of which has the characteristics of a younger woman. Her equine portion gives her a lot to be happy about, as she can now outrun and outlast even the most fit triathlete. In addition, her exposure to magic (being turned temporarily into a djinn in "I Dream of Genie" (appearing only in the print edition of Book I) and being fused with the Wotch in "Wotch This!") has awakened magical abilities in Sam. Lenny is acting as a magical tutor for her as she explores these new abilities and learns to bring them under control.
[edit] History since arriving in otherSpace
After discovering an abandoned city, Sam is abucted by a swarm of insectaurs, who carry her off to be transformed into an Insectaur Queen, in hopes of continung their species. Alex and Lenny follow to rescue her. She is eventually returned to her normal body (normal for otherSpace, that is). The three then escape from the insectaur hive as the Insectaur Queen is destroyed by the spider-things.
