Tim Perjon

Tim Perjon was the best friend and closest confidant of John Powers, the last C.E.O. of the Mabach Consortium and a major criminal in the Corporate Wars. Perjon was originally given the death penalty, but had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, as he had played no major role in the atrocities of the war. Perjon lived to be eighty-four, and wrote a biography of Powers. His book is considered more truthful and tasteful than the biography written by Powers' butler.

Early Life

Perjon was born into the corpocracy on Mabach Prime in the later part of The Corporate Era. Though not born into a life of privilege, he was granted better opportunities than afforded some of his peers. Perjon's father was a scientist (industrial chemist) for the Mabach Consortium, and his mother was a homemaker. He was an only child.

Most children of scientists followed in their parents' footsteps in that region; but early aptitude tests showed Perjon had little affinity for the sciences. Faced with the probability he would become a worker, his father pulled some strings to get him appointed to an executive assistants' training program. The high-powered executives of the corporation were always needing help, it was considered a good opportunity. While technically part of the worker-caste, it still paid extremely well.

During indoctrination, Perjon met and befriended John Powers when the two were just fourteen. Powers was already the heir-apparent to the Mabach Consortium, but the two were still fast friends. Powers was in an executive training program at the time, and the two boys met largely by accident. And despite their drastically different social standing, each brought value to the relationship. Perjon spoke about it in his book:

"I had always been kind a' by nature a cautious kid. In school if I ever got outta line, my mom knew about it before I even got home. Johnny had a pretty strict upbringing, and now here he was, far from home, with no supervision and unlimited money. A kid like that can get into a whole lot a trouble. And he was adventurous: he was the guy that said, 'hey, lets turn down this street and see where it leads us!', and to me that was the greatest thing ever; I was used to staying on the streets I knew. But at the same time, I was the friend there to stay next to him and say 'don't talk to that stranger'. I think my cautiousness [sic] had a really positive impact on him; we never got into the club scene, never got into drinking or drugs like a lot of the kids in his program did. But we did go a lot of places and see a lot of things. And I think that bonded us."

The two boys finished their training programs together, and Powers immediately hired Perjon as his personal assistant. Technically as a very junior executive, Powers was not entitled to an assistant, but as a wealthy heir, he could buy whatever he wanted. By Tim's spoken account:

"Yes, technically, I was a paid friend. Let's not beat around the bush. Powers hired me to be his friend. Yeah, I did all the assistant stuff; it's what I was trained for, after all. I hailed the cabs, made reservations, kept his schedule. But he really did need the companionship. When you're that rich, where else are you supposed to get friends? The truth is, Johnny couldn't stand other rich kids. All they ever cared about was having the coolest car, the latest cellphone. As we got older, it was who had banged the most girls, or gone for the most drinking, or worse. Johnny hated all that. Don't get me wrong, he loved him some tail, but he hated the guys who lived for nothing else. So, who's he gonna go hang out with? The rich pricks he can't stand, or that cool guy who when he says, 'hey, let's go over to that building and see what the view looks like from the top' tells him 'yeah!'? The second guy, of course; and that was me all over".

Powers's Assistant

Perjon never married. He lived with Powers at his various residences and they spent nearly all their time together. The two had a very interesting rapport, and would casually bounce ideas off each other in the course of conversation. While Powers was known by his family reputation for opulence, the man himself was often very aspecific about what he wanted. Perjon said:

"It's not like I hurt for a social life at all. I got to hang out with my best friends all day. And yeah, I did some work. Eventually I had my own assistants, and that was cool. Powers needed someone to look out for him someone else who could do the difficult work of keeping him grounded and entertained, so he didn't have to resort to petty rich-boy nonsense. Plus, it helped that he liked to surround himself with the sort of people I really got along with. Then there was 

Lorretta Love... and we did love Lorretta Love..."

If Perjon was Powers' paid friend, Love was his paid on-again/off-again girlfriend, though Perjon claims she was another social companion:

"He (Powers) needed a woman's perspective. He didn't get her for sex, he didn't get her for arm-candy, he got her so he could always turn to one side and say 'what do you think about that?' to a woman he could trust. They had a weird relationship, but it wasn't complicated."

Corporate War

Perjon remained beside Powers all through the Corporate Wars and followed him into hiding after the conflict had ended. He remained by his best friend's side until they were extradited and sent to separate prisons. His request to be present at Powers' execution was denied.

Prison Life

Perjon had originally been given a death sentence, but this was commuted to life imprisonment at a Foundation prison, but elected not to go to a penal colony. He said this was due in part to his advanced age (he was sixty-two at the time), but chiefly because he felt he would be "too comfortable" at a colony, and that he deserved punishment for his part in the corpocracy. Given that he'd spent the last ten years living in relative luxury on a tropical beach, it was felt by most he probably did deserve a little prison.

Given his age and because he was not regarded as a violent criminal, he was quickly granted the status of a trustee and moved in two years to minimum security. In prison he worked for an animal rehabilitation program, helping to condition abused cats so they could be adopted out to loving homes. He also used the time to write a biography on John Powers. Under Foundation Law he was not allowed to earn royalties, but commented that 'since the only place he had to spend money would be at the prison commissary, it wouldn't do him much good'. The book sold well and the proceeds were funneled into various social program. Because he did not attempt to profit by it, Perjon was given some say in where the money went. Initially most of it was used to benefit the rebuilding societies in the former corpocracies. Later on he gave the royalties to the cat adoption program.

Death

At the age of 82, Perjon was offered the possibility of compassionate release. His health had begun to fail him, and he was scheduled to be relocated to a geriatric prison (effectively a high-security nursing home). Instead, the Foundation offered to release him to a regular nursing home, where he could live out his days. Perjon, however, was wary of either option. He had thus far served his sentence mostly in minimum security and around non-violent offenders; however the geriatric prison would have him housed primarily with murderers and rapists. Not that they posed any threat, but he was not interested in the company, especially since it would mean departing from his beloved cats. The other option was horrifying to him. Private nursing homes, under the corpocracy, had not done well. He had seen a few in his youth, and the experience had scared him. Though Foundation-run nursing homes were much better, he was still very concerned.

Instead, Perjon asked the warden for special permission to remain in his current unit, even though the prison did not have he proper facilities to care for him. He said he would rather die where he was of neglect than go anywhere else. As he had been a model prisoner and was very well-liked, the warden agreed to accommodate him as best he could. The other prisoners in his unit, many of whom had known Perjon for years, stepped up and aided in his care. He died peacefully at the age of eighty-four, his final words were reportedly "I'm sorry for what I was involved in. Take good care of the cats."