Purpose[]
To prevent "things mankind are not yet ready to use" from being inappropriately applied or revealed.
History[]
The Consortium was originally founded by Trevor Grant in the 1940s and later re-built by Adam Barlowe as a 'consortium' of scientists and politicians who sought to control and guide scientific development to avert major tragedies. The Consortium's original purpose was to prevent the Manhattan Project, and thus the atom bomb, from ever existing.
They have a level of influence that covers almost the entire American government, as well as agents in several high-ranking positions across the globe. Beverly Barlowe claims their number of members is "in the thousands" ("The Ex-Files").
Methodology[]
The Consortium's primary methods of achieving their goals seems to be manipulation and espionage. Beverly Barlowe has killed or silenced several people who had knowledge of her connection to the Consortium. Yet in an alternate timeline, Beverly claims to have quit the Consortium, so it is assumed that the Consortium will let its members leave the group without having them killed ("Once in a Lifetime"). However, given her status as the daughter of an original member, it is possible that she was granted special privileges.
Though the organization was initially founded upon noble intentions, upon seeing the modern iteration of the Consortium Trevor Grant noted that they were too focused on expanding their own power ("I'll Be Seeing You").
Activities[]
The Consortium acts in Eureka through its agent and presumed high-ranking member, Beverly Barlowe.
The Manhattan Project[]
In 1947, in what is presumed to be the Consortium's first mission, Trevor Grant and Lily Morgan created the Bridge Device in order to send Adam Barlowe back to 1939 where he would sabotage the Manhattan Project and prevent the invention of the atom bomb. It is unknown how these events played out in the original timeline, however it is clear they failed. In the altered timeline, Barlowe was caught up in the investigation into Trevor Grant's disappearance and was charged for possession of classified documents that were stolen from Professor Einstein ("I'll Be Seeing You").
The Artifact[]
The Consortium targeted the Artifact as an object of power that mankind "was not ready for".
With the help of Beverly another agent of the Consortium, Congressman Arnold Faraday, manipulated Nathan Stark into giving him access to see the Artifact. ("Alienated"). This was possibly to confirm the Artifact's existence before the Consortium made any further moves.
Shortly before Nathan Stark and Kim Anderson were to perform a procedure to procure a sample of the Artifact, Beverly snuck into the lab and planted a device. This device caused the instruments of the procedure to malfunction, which had an adverse reaction with the Artifact. This resulted in the Artifact's destruction and the death of Kim Anderson ("Once in a Lifetime"). Beverly would later claim this outcome was an accident, if this is true it is possible she intended to take the sample for the Consortium ("All that Glitters").
After the destruction of the Artifact, Beverly and Faraday met to discuss it. They both agreed that the Artifact's energy wouldn't have simply dissipated, it had to have gone somewhere ("Phoenix Rising"). Paired with the knowledge that the Artifact was capable of human interface as proved by Carl Carlson ("Invincible") and given her later statements, it is likely Beverly suspected that the energy may lie within a person.
Beverly's part in the Artifact's destruction was discovered by Henry ("Family Reunion") who later shared this information with Nathan Stark ("Sight Unseen"). At this time Beverly was absent from Eureka and could not be confronted. It is presumed that Nathan used his government contacts at this time to begin a search for her.
At some point Beverly was captured and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, presumably for espionage.
Beverly was brought back to Eureka as a prisoner under Nathan's watch. Nathan intended to learn what she knew about the Artifact in his endeavor to help Kevin Blake - who had absorbed the energy and knowledge of the Artifact and was changing much like Carl Carlson. Beverly was uncooperative and before long Henry snuck into the cell to confront her ("All that Glitters").
Having hatched a plan together, Beverly and Henry fake a biohazard emergency at Global Dynamic and manipulate events to trap themselves with Allison and Kevin Blake in the emergency bunker below the complex. Beverly intended to use the teleportation device within the bunker to kidnap Kevin and deliver him to the Consortium, presumably for study. However Henry deceived her and instead used the device to separate Kevin from the Artifact. Beverly then escaped through the teleporter unable to be traced ("A Night at Global Dynamics").
With the Artifact separated from Kevin, its influence seems to be gone. While it could be said the Consortium was successful in keeping the Artifact out of the hands of Global Dynamics, Beverly's actions seem to suggest they wanted it for themselves - something they failed to achieve.
The Bridge Device[]
In the altered timeline, the Consortium made contact with Trevor Grant and sent Beverly Barlowe to speak with him. She tells him that the organization Trevor made in concert with Adam Barlowe is still active and has plans for Eureka ("Stoned").
Beverly informs Grant of the D.E.D, a weapon in development at Global Dynamics that has the power to destroy all technology in a targeted area. She told Grant that he was in the ideal position to help the Consortium destroy the device and gives him an access code to Global Dynamics mainframe. When the D.E.D begins to overload as a result of being targeted by a frequency emitting device, Zane Donovan and Douglas Fargo surround it with a forcefield to block the signal. Grant uses the access code given to him to disable the forcefield and allow the process to continue. Fearing the destruction of the device and the potential loss of all technology in the town, General Mansfield ordered the D.E.D moved out of Eureka. This was part of the Consortium's plan all along and they ambushed the convoy to steal the D.E.D. ("The Ex-Files").
The Consortium used a plasma device found within the D.E.D to power a new and improved Bridge Device. Beverly convinced Grant to return to his proper time to prevent her father's arrest and to utilize his knowledge of the future to alter the past in the Consortium's vision. The energy pulse given off by the activation of the Bridge Device caused Allison Blake's death when her car was thrown. As a reaction to her death, Jack Carter attacks Grant and is pulled back into 1947 along with him. After each explains their situation they resolve to stop the Consortium from building the second Bridge Device and thus prevent Allison's death. Carter left himself a warning on a recording he knew he listened to in the present which allowed them to stop the Bridge Device's activation. With these events, the Consortium lost the D.E.D, the Bridge Device and their association with Grant ("I'll Be Seeing You").
The Astraeus Crew[]
Beverly Barlowe and a number of other Consortium agents intercepted Allison Blake on her way to a health conference and injected neuro-implants into her brain ("Reprise"). These implants were later activated to allow Beverly to personally control Allison ("Up in the Air").
With the help of high ranking Consortium leader Senator Michaela Wen, Allison/Beverly was named the Interim Director of Global Dynamics while Fargo trained for the Astraeus mission. Allison's changed behavior does not go unnoticed by Carter and when he confronted her, Beverly activated nano-transmitters that were injected into all citizens of Eureka as part of the Astraeus inoculations which rendered them all unconscious with the exception of Zoey Carter and Jo Lupo. During this time Beverly and a few other Consortium agents attempted to download all the data from Eureka's mainframe but they were interrupted by Jo and only managed to steal a portion ("Omega Girls").
As the Astraeus entered final preparations to launch a computer virus dormant in the Global Dynamics mainframe activated. The virus rewrote the Astraeus' destination coordinates and activated the FTL drive. Due to the earlier nature of this launch, Allison Blake was still aboard the Astraeus in addition to the Astraeus crew ("One Giant Leap"). This computer virus was likely either planted by Beverly during her time in Allison's mind or by Senator Wen during the launch preparations.
The Astraeus travelled to a location not far from Eureka where the Consortium awaited them. They were removed from stasis and placed into a computer matrix. This matrix used the data stolen from Global Dynamics and information from the crews' minds to create a simulated version of Eureka. The Consortium intended to use this matrix to trick the crew into developing various technological advances for them ("Lost").
The additional and unexpected presence of Allison Blake stressed the matrix and errors began to occur, many of which were witnessed by the crew. Holly Marten was the first to question the reality in which the crew resided for which she was killed by Senator Wen. Meanwhile, the scientists of Eureka discovered a way to track the Astraeus' FTL flight and began to close in on the Consortium facility. Senator Wen warned the facility which managed to evade them however these actions caused Carter to suspect Wen's involvement ("The Real Thing").
The death of Holly Marten caused a rift between Wen and Beverly for which Wen removed Beverly from the project. This caused Beverly to approach Carter and Jo to offer her aid in the rescue of the crew in order to prevent more senseless deaths. Using her information, she and Henry worked together to send Carter into the matrix with a plan to cause the computer to send out a signal they could track in the real world. Their plan accidentally caused a cascade failure in the system and are nearly deleted, Allison and Carter manage to eject Zane from the matrix who then manages to eject the others. Senator Wen attempted to stop Beverly and Carter's plan but was rendered unconscious by Henry. When things had settled Beverly and Wen had disappeared. Beverly placed Wen into a matrix of her own, alone and trapped as a sort of imprisonment for what she had done to Holly and likely to protect herself ("Force Quit").
Other Activities[]
- The Consortium gave Walter Perkins stolen military technology to use in his Tachyon Accelerator. When this project failed, Beverly Barlowe poisoned Susan Perkins to tie up loose ends ("Pilot").
- The Consortium was involved in Carl Carlson's experiments with cellular regeneration. When he was mutated by the Artifact they also intended to manipulate him into helping them but Carlson became aware of this when he read Beverly's mind ("Invincible").