Maria Murdock

The original series offers little on her looks beyond her age, given as forty-nine, and the theatrical stage name "Twinkle" attached to her public persona. She presents as the commanding head of an organized movement rather than a face in the background.

Maria is a zealot who dragged a once-gentle environmental cause toward extremism, convinced that mankind has no right to meddle with the natural world. That conviction hardens into a readiness to loose a virus on an entire population, and she coolly manipulates her captors, feigning cooperation while trusting her followers to bail her out.

As leader of the Space Warriors, Murdock radicalized a group that had once championed peaceful conservation, ultimately orchestrating a plan to seed Ganymede's moon with a gene-warping virus. The scheme earned her a twenty-five million woolong price on her head. The Bebop crew snatched her at a diner near Ganymede, but she calmly let herself be detained, certain her people could void the reward by threatening to release the pathogen. Jet soon discovered the bounty had indeed been withdrawn and had no choice but to free her. During her stay she quietly realized her group had obtained a vial of the virus, and Spike, aware of the danger, slipped that very vial into her pocket as she left.

Reunited with her ship, Murdock learned that authorities had only capped, not banned, the hunting of Sea Rats, so she threatened to release a portion of the virus in protest. Her plan collapsed when the Ganymede Astral Gate sealed shut, snaring her vessel and forcing a violent deceleration. The hidden container spilled free and shattered, flooding the cabin with gas. In grim irony, Murdock and her followers fell victim to their own weapon, condemned to live out their days as apes.