Dr. S. Tim Sail (full name unrevealed) was a scientist. His specialty was in genetic engineering and research.
Sail was a slender man with dark hair, large eyes, and thick eyebrows. He wore a goatee on his chin.
"Cloning" Moon Maid[]
At some point, Sail was recruited by the criminal Mr. Bribery to create a duplicate of the deceased Moon Maid. To achieve this goal, Sail partnered with the cloning researcher Dr. Zy Ghote, though Sail kept his involvement with the criminal underworld a secret from Ghote.
Using their combined expertise, Sail and Ghote were able to genetically alter the human woman Mindy Ermine into a duplicate of the deceased Moon Maid. They were also able to alter her mind so that she had no memory of her life as Mindy. Sail hid the new Moon Maid in an abandoned nightclub (which also contained a laboratory) with two moon experts to work as her handlers until she was ready to be revealed to the world.
Despite Sail's efforts to contain her, the new Moon Maid proved to be rebellious and she evaded her handlers on several occasions. After this happened multiple times, Sail decided to alter his plans. Acting under instructions from Bribery, Sail arranged to meet Diet Smith at Smith's research facility, where Sail promised to introduce Smith to the new Moon Maid. This meeting was a ruse intended to distract Smith while Sail's associate Bardoll stole the one remaining Space Coupe in Smith's facility. This plot was stopped by Dick Tracy. Bardoll was killed during a struggle with Tracy, and Sail was briefly detained at police headquarters.
Showdown at the Wheaten Farm[]
After their encounter with law enforcement, Ghote parted ways with Sail, and went to tell Diet Smith everything about the creation of the new Moon Maid. Bribery sent more of his subordinates to direct Sail's actions, and Sail was part of one of the various groups that converged at the Wheaten family farm during a heavy rainfall.
Sail was reunited with Ghote, who had arrived in Smith's Space Coupe. Ghote was shot in the arm by Mumbles (who was there as part of an unrelated scheme involving the Apparatus), and Sail pulled Ghote into the Space Coupe to treat the wound. Seeing an opportunity to steal the Space Coupe, Sail had his associate Flash Munro (one of the Munro Brothers) take control of the vehicle and try to fly it away. The controls were over-ridden by Diet Smith (who was seemingly unaware that the Space Coupe was occupied) and it was sent hurtling out into space. The occupants of the Space Coupe have not been seen or heard from since. Diet Smith later discovered evidence that led him to believe that the Space Coupe had crashed on the planet Jupiter, with no indication of survivors.
Notes[]
- The name "S. Tim Sail" is a play on "stem cell", a type of cell that exists early the development of multi-cellular organisms that can can develop into a variety of other cells. The use of stem cells to treat various illnesses or genetic issues has been the subject of some controversial research.
- Sail claimed to have worked on a project with the billionaire industrialist Oliver Warbucks. Warbucks denied this, but Sail later claimed that this denial was to protect classified information.