Character Profile and Interview: Dr. Antoine Gomez

***Spoiler Alert***

 If you have not read Shark Station yet, reading the character interview questions and answers below will spoil it for you. This is meant to be read after you’ve finished reading the book.

Character Profile

Name: Dr. Antoine Gomez

Age: 24

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Hazel

Favorite Color: Purple

Official Job on Shark Station: Head Marine Engineer and Maintenance Specialist

Personality Description:

Dr. Antoine Gomez is a young, enthusiastic scientist who helps balance the divide between the teenagers and adults on Shark Station. Determined, passionate, and understanding, Antoine’s personality is a blend of a scientific and creative mind. Fairly adaptable, he can be comfortable alone or in a crowd. Both socially and intellectually adept, he does well bridging the gap between the scientific and non-scientific world. He easily finds himself lost in his work and can talk about it for hours on end. A bit of a daydreamer, he is constantly thinking of ways to improve structural integrity underwater.

Dr. Gomez has the INFJ-T or Advocate personality type. If you want to read more about this personality type, you can visit https://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality.

***Spoiler Content Below This Point***

Character Interviews

Question 1: What inspired you to become a marine engineer?

Answer:  When I was a kid, I was mesmerized by the construction of the protective dome surrounding the city of Oceania. I wanted to know how it worked and kept us all safe from the crushing pressure of the abyss. I asked my mother what kind of person studied those things and she told me structural marine engineers do. That was it. I wanted to become one of those when I grew up. I dreamed of designing a material that could withstand fluctuations of both heat and cold, allowing a city to thrive near hydrothermal vents.  At the age of fourteen, I built a model of such a building and tested it small-scale. It failed when I tried to present it at a science convention. However, a gained a mentorship from one of the top marine engineers in the city. She helped me get where I am today and I’m extremely grateful for her help.

Question 2: Why did you volunteer to go to Shark Station?

Answer: In Oceania, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to build a pressure-sensitive system. Of course, you can research and study the ones that are already completed and have been for decades but going to Shark Station gave me the opportunity to examine a station that was built recently (at least compared to the city). It also gave me a chance to think of and begin developing improvements for substation anti-pressure buildings.

Question 3: What was it like for you living on Shark Station?

Answer: I really enjoyed it. I’ve never been in a place as remote as the station before. Unlike a lot of the other residents in Shark Station, I’d never been on a submersible with only a few other people. I’m used to living in a city with millions of people. Living in an environment with only nine other people was definitely a change and I found myself truly getting to know my station-mates. I enjoyed it and spending time with Max. He’s a brilliant mind when it comes to engineering and I see him going far in the field of robotics.

Question 4: What was it like knowing the teenagers were your only hope and the surmounting odds they faced?

Answer: Honestly, I know most adults would be terrified to know their fate rested in the hands of a group of teenagers, but I didn’t. Dylan, Allie, Max, Devon, and Samantha impressed me with their capabilities that they displayed several times throughout the trip to Shark Station and while we were there. I knew they’d do whatever they could do to save all of us, regardless of any personal differences. They’re good people and the determination I saw within each of them let me know we’d survive.

Random Question: Would you have used the SCUBAPS to escape Shark Station?

Answer: Although I am a marine engineer, I would say I’d emphasize on the engineer part versus the marine part. Don’t misunderstand me, I do love the ocean, but as far as swimming long distances in it at depth, that I do not enjoy. In fact, I’ve never swum in the ocean before if you can believe it. I’ve only swum in pools inside Oceania and I’ve rarely been outside the city. I think I would be paralyzed with fear if I had to use the SCUBAPS to swim from Shark Station to the surface. I honestly don’t think I would have made it.