Peter Billings

Peter Billings is a young man of the silo's upper levels, a junior figure in the judicial world who is working his way toward a judgeship of his own. He is presentable, deferential, and ambitious in the mild, patient way of someone who expects institutions to reward waiting his turn. His name enters the contest over the empty sheriff's post: Bernard, the powerful head of IT, puts Billings forward as his preferred candidate, setting him opposite Juliette, the down-deep mechanic favored by Mayor Jahns. Billings himself stays largely offstage in this dispute, a name on paper passed between offices, which suits both his temperament and the men promoting him.