Shed Garvey (TV)

This page is about the TV character. For the books incarnation, see Shed Garvey (Books).

Books character	TV character

Shed Garvey was the medical technician aboard the Pur'N'Kleen ice hauler Canterbury and one of the only survivors of its destruction. He was rescued by the MCRN Donnager only to be killed when that ship was itself destroyed in an attack.

Biography[]

Background[]

Shed was born sometime in the 24th century. He was presumably of Earth or Lunar origin as he identified himself as an outside admirer of Martian culture (and a Martian female in particular) and did not exhibit any Belter anatomical, linguistic, or cultural distinctions. At some point in his life, Shed was on the run from a drug dealer, and decided to get a job aboard the Canterbury, (which supplied water for the Asteroid Belt's residents) in order to escape the dealer. To ensure he got the job, he faked his medical records.

Closer to an EMT than a doctor, Shed was called upon for everything from social diseases to life-or-death surgeries. When the Canterbury was gutted to clear the way for cargo the medical bay was removed, forcing Shed to resort to performing operations on a dining table. In addition to his official medical duties aboard the ship, Shed also provided illicit 'recreational' supplies to his fellow crewmembers.

Throughout the series[]

Season One

In "Dulcinea", Shed treats Cameron Paj's severed arm in the mess hall aboard the Canterbury as the med facility was unavailable. He warns Paj to beware that the company would try to shortchange him on the prosthetic replacement arm to which Paj was entitled. He offers Jim Holden some of his recreational relaxant sticks to help him sleep, which Holden politely refuses. Later, he is called to bring the Canterbury's XO into mental health treatment. When the Canterbury dispatched the Knight shuttle to investigate the Scopuli, Shed is chosen by Holden to come along, in case of possible survivors needing his medical assistance. He voices disinterest in participation on the objective as well as a willingness to desert his obligations. When the shuttle arrives at the site of the Scopuli, Shed suggests a bit of dishonesty about actually going aboard to investigate. Just before the team, consisting of Holden, Shed, Alex Kamal, Naomi Nagata, and Amos Burton, is to conclude their excursion, they are recalled by Canterbury upon the unexpected emergence of an advanced and unknown stealth ship. Shed and the others watch in slack-jawed horror as the the stealth ship launches a nuclear assault on the Cant, destroying her.

In "The Big Empty", with the surviving crew at risk of losing their limited remaining air supply, now down to a mere four hours' worth of oxygen, Shed protests the efforts to leave the shuttle in order to repair the Knight's radio antenna. He then suffers a panic attack, but Holden calms Shed down by giving him a dose of downer relaxant from his own illicit baggy stash. In turn, Shed manages to valiantly save Alex from hypoxia by improvising a conjoined breathing apparatus. Once his oxygen supply is depleted, Shed loses unconsciousness and required resuscitation by Holden. Alex expresses gratitude at Shed's actions. Shed and the other Cant survivors are captured by the MCRN Donnager.

In "Remember the Cant", Shed and the others are locked in the Donnager's brig while Holden is taken to the bridge. Shed remains calm and level-headed compared to Amos, voluntarily proceeding into his holding cell without resistance. Once the Marines depart with only one of their number remaining to guard, Shed gloomily remarks that they are going to be executed. Later, he attempts to warm up to Corporal Dookie to offset tensions while Amos was trying to instigate a physical confrontation, expressing his admiration of the Martian culture and mentioning he had once dated a Martian woman.

In "CQB", when the Donnager enters combat with six mysterious gunships, Shed nervously suggests his fellow captives take a seat and buckle up. The intensity of the battle causes Alex to suffer a panic attack, at which point Shed tosses Alex a relaxant while talking to him to calm the pilot down.

“	"Trust me, we're all going to be just fi-"	„
	— Shed's last words

While in mid-sentence, there is a loud metallic clank and Shed falls silent. Alex, Naomi, and even the normally unshakeable Amos look on in horror to see Shed has been cleanly decapitated by a railgun round penetrating through the room, blood pouring from his neck out through a hull breach into space. When Holden arrives with three Martian Marines to rescue the captives, he is shocked and sighs "Oh, Shed..." at the sight of his colleague's headless corpse.

His body is left aboard the Donnager and vaporized when the battleship is scuttled.

Personality[]

Shed was a calm, easygoing man with a hopeful personality with only few exceptional circumstances.

He cared about his fellow crew members and would lend any aid he could to help them or calm them down in a crisis, although he himself was occasionally prone to panic attacks and despair, such as when Holden had to calm him down before attempting to fix the Knight's transceiver array, when Naomi had to remind him to act promptly with the hypoxia threat to Alex, and when he made a gloomy remark after the Martian Marines left all but one of the surviving Canterbury crewmembers in the Donnager's brig.

He was also a quick thinker and selfless, as shown when he saved Alex's life when the former ran out of oxygen in his suit and Shed improvised a shared breathing tube, giving Alex what precious air he had left even to the point where Shed himself passed out from asphyxiation.