Sam Ayou

Dr. Samantha Ayou, more commonly referred to as Sam, was a roboticist working for Alterra Corporation, and sister of Robin Ayou.

Life Prior to Below Zero
Prior to her sister's arrival on 4546B, Sam worked at the Phi Robotics Center under the supervision of Zeta Landon. It was at this lab that she invented the Spy Pengling. Sam was known to frequently misuse her creations, having used them to survey the off-limits Frozen Leviathan research site, as well as spy on Marguerit Maida.

While working in Sector Zero, Sam began a relationship with Danielle Valenti. Due to the nature of Danielle's work, their relationship became shaky in the days leading up to Sam's death.

At an unknown point in time, Sam was demoted from her position and sent to work at Outpost Zero. The reason for her demotion is currently unknown.

Sam's Crusade
During her time on 4546B, Sam learned of the Frozen Leviathan's existence from Fred Lachance, who was the first to discover the creature and its bizarre skin condition. Sam would later learn from pressuring Danielle and Vinh that the creature was infected with Kharaa, and that Alterra was mutating it.

Not wanting the bacterium to fall into the wrong hands, Sam proposed that she and her fellow coworkers ought to do something about it, but ultimately no one would join her cause.

Sometime later, Sam would make the lone journey to the Frozen Leviathan research site, but not without alerting the resident security guard, Parvan. With both personnel in the cavern, Sam set off an explosion in an attempt to halt the sampling of Kharaa, resulting in a cave-in that would end up killing both her and Parvan.

Sam's death would be ruled as an accident arising from her own negligence in a notice addressed to her sister.

Robin Ayou
Sam, and her sister, Robin were always on good terms, despite that their personalities clashed and that there was a 11-year age gap between them. Robin warned Sam about Alterra's true nature when she got her job at Alterra, but Sam didn't listen to her. Sam acknowledged that Robin was right about Alterra all along in her last message to her.

Lillian Bench
Lillian and Sam seemed to be on good terms, as Sam trusted Lillian enough to share her worries about the mutated Kharaa bacterium. In one of the PDAs found at Outpost Zero, Lillian calls Sam a good friend.

Zeta Landon
Zeta was Sam's boss, although they seemed to be on good terms. Both of them considered the other a friend.

Marguerit Maida
At first, Marguerit thought that Sam was "Alterra through and through", and therefore distrusted her. Later on, Sam trusted Marguerit enough to tell her about the mutated Kharaa. Marguerit convinced Sam to follow through with her plan to neutralize all the living Kharaa bacterium that's left, and even helps her by stealing a Seatruck and destroying all the mutated Kharaa at Omega Lab.

Danielle Valenti
Danielle and Sam were on good terms, and at one point started a romantic relationship. That relationship quickly became rocky after Sam discovered from Vinh Pham, that him and Danielle were mutating Kharaa. Danielle and Sam fought about it, and that was the last time they spoke to each other before Sam's death.

Trivia

 * Sam Ayou was originally named Sam Goodall in the first version of the story. It may be a reference to primatologist Jane Goodall, as Sam's sister Robin is a zoologist.