Character from The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
Brilliant Protogen scientist and clinical sociopath who studies the protomolecule with detached fascination. Later recruited by Duarte to build Laconia's alien-tech arsenal.
Cortazar's sociopathy was identified by Protogen and surgically enhanced — they removed what little empathy he had to make him a better researcher. The result is a man who views the protomolecule with pure intellectual wonder and human suffering with absolute indifference. He is not cruel; cruelty requires awareness of pain. He simply doesn't register other people as real. He survived Protogen's collapse because he was too valuable to kill. Fred Johnson kept him imprisoned on Tycho Station for years, extracting protomolecule knowledge. When Duarte built Laconia, Cortazar was the prize — the one scientist who could interface with Ring Builder technology and build weapons from alien ruins. He gave Duarte the magnetar weapon, the construction platforms, and ultimately the protomolecule injection that transformed Duarte himself. He serves whoever lets him do his work.
Neat, precise man with an unremarkable face and eerily calm demeanor. Everything about his appearance is controlled and orderly — clean clothes, trimmed hair, no wasted motion. His eyes have the flat, assessing quality of someone cataloguing specimens rather than engaging with people. Moves through spaces as though other humans are furniture.
Also known as: Cortazar, Paolo Cortazar, Dr. Cortazar