Derek appears to be a Shuggling, one of the one-off creatures that Mama Shug births from time to time. Unlike the grays, who only last a few weeks before they need to be recycled, Derek is at least hundreds of years old and possibly older than human species. Periodically, Derek will divide himself into two identical copies of himself. One copy will continue to work as the Consortium’s biological specialist (as well as doctor and cook) while the other copy will return to Mama Shug to be reabsorbed.

Unlike Joyce, Derek does understand compassion. His humor is always good natured and never cruel, and he does what he can to ease the minds of the humans who pass through the Antarctic base.

For the time being, Derek has adopted a patois informed by American gangster films, but he has many such personalities at the ready and could change up his presentation at any time.