Dr. Carla Paolini is the unwitting, but not unwilling, target of Maxwell's advances since his arrival to this end of the galaxy. The feisty Terran brunette has led a self-determined and exemplary scientific career, culminating in her current post as head of the Deep Science research station in the Thynome system. Recognized as a scientific prodigy when she built her first teddy bear replicator in kindergarten, she was swiftly enlisted and advanced through several elite academies before earning her triple doctorate from the University of Interplanetary Exobiology.