Alex Kuhnberg

William Scully is a fifth-former at the exclusive Melton College where the sons of the elite are groomed for leadership. His father is a government scientist, the inventor of the Scully Suction Cleaner. One day his father is accused of treason and William is summarily expelled. Meanwhile, in a fortress community on the Island of Whyte, his mother Beth Bullen, the NAC's leader, muses over the circumstances of William's birth and that of his sister Ellie.