Updated: June 23, 2024

Alpha Control Reference Manual:

Zachary Smith was born in November 6, 1945. He spent most of his earliest years in Lower Manhattan, New York City, until his parents were killed in a boating accident. The young Smith later then went to live with his Great Aunt Maude and Great Uncle Thaddeus Smith in Marietta, Georgia. Aunt Maude was the matriarch of the Smith family, and she raised Zachary with a stern hand. In his own words, the doctor admitted that he sometimes had a tendency to be lazy, but the determined lady pressured him into obtaining reasonable grades at school. Aunt Maudes husband, the late Thaddeus Smith, was an eccentric, superstitious, and bizarre person who had been a bad influence on young Zachary.

When Smith turned 18 years old, his Aunt Maude managed to obtain Marshall scholarships for the entrance of both Zachary and his cousin Jeremiah to Oxford University. At Oxford, Smith worked on his degree in psychology and became the Grand Master of the Oxford Chess Society for three years in a row. He later entered Harvard University, where he earned his doctorate. It is to be assumed that his school years in England accounted for the posh accent with which he spoke in adulthood.

Soon after graduating, his Aunt Maude died. Smith was at his aunt's bedside when she died, and thought Jeremiah killed her since he gave her a medicine before she died, but the coroners inquest found him not guilty of foul play. Jeremiah was never seen again.

At some point, he became affiliated with a secret organization known as Aeolus 14 Umbra, a group of elite foreign secret agents who did not want America to succeed in their colonization effort. Smith was sent to work in the Space Corps as a double agent for the organization.