Folk Legend 894M — The legend of how Prince Caucalsia fled Atalanta, Manco, to Blito-P3 where he set up a colony called “Atlantis.”

Grand Council — The governing body of Voltar which ordered a mission to keep Blito-P3 from destroying itself so the Invasion Timetable could be maintained.

Gris, Soltan — Apparatus officer in charge of Blito-P3 (Earth) Section 451 and an enemy of Jettero Heller.

Heller, Hightee — Sister of Jettero Heller and most popular entertainer in the Voltar Confederacy.

Heller, Jettero — Combat engineer and Royal officer of the Fleet, sent by Grand Council order to Blito-P3.

Hisst, Lombar — Head of the Coordinated Information Apparatus who, to keep the Grand Council from discovering his plan, sent Soltan Gris to sabotage Jettero Heller’s mission.

Hot Jolt — A popular Voltarian drink.

Hypnohelmet — Device placed over the head and used to induce a hypnotic state.

Invasion Timetable — A schedule of galactic conquest. The plans and budget of every section of Voltar’s government must adhere to it. Bequeathed by Voltar’s ancestors hundreds of thousands of years ago, it is inviolate and sacred and the guiding dogma of the Confederacy.

Knife Section — Section of the Apparatus named after its favorite weapon.

Krak, Countess — Condemned murderess, prisoner of Spiteos and sweetheart of Jettero Heller.

Lepertige — Large catlike animal as tall as a man.

Manco — Similar to Blito-P3 and home planet of Jettero Heller and Countess Krak and the source of Folk Legend 894M.

Manco Devil — Mythological spirit native to Manco.

Meeley — Landlady of Soltan Gris.

Odur — See Oh Dear.

Oh Dear — Nickname for Odur, a clerk in Soltan Gris’s Section 451,

Raht — An Apparatus agent on Blito-P3 who, with Terb,

was assigned by Lombar Hisst to help Soltan Gris sabotage Jettero Heller’s mission.

Rockecenter, Delbert John — Native of Blito-P3 who controls the planet’s fuel, finance, governments and drugs.

Roke, Tars — Astrographer to the Emperor of Voltar, Cling the Lofty. Roke’s discovery that Earth was destroying itself prompted the Grand Council to send Jettero Heller on mission.

Section 451 — A Section in the Apparatus headed by Sol-tan Gris that is responsible for just one minor star, Blito, and one inhabitable planet in the 3rd orbit (Blito-P3) known locally as “Earth.”

Ske — Driver for Soltan Gris.

Snelz — Apparatus platoon commander at Spiteos, who befriended Jettero Heller and the Countess Krak when they were prisoners there.

Space Code a-36-544 M Section B — Section of the Voltarian Space Code that prohibits landing and prematurely alerting the population of a target planet that is on the Invasion Timetable. Violation carries the death penalty.

Spiteos — The secret mountain fortress and prison run by the Apparatus on the planet Voltar where the Countess Krak and Jettero Heller had been imprisoned.

Spurk — Owner of “The Eyes and Ears of Voltar” company who was killed by Soltan Gris to steal the micro-devices that he had Prahd Bittlestiffender implant in Jettero Heller.

Stinger — A flexible whip about eighteen inches long with an electric jolt in its tip-lash.

Tayl, Widow Pratia — Nymphomaniac on Voltar.

Terb — Apparatus agent on Blito-P3 who, with Raht, has been assigned by Lombar Hisst to help Soltan Gris sabotage Jettero Heller’s mission.

Too-Too — Nickname for Twolah, a clerk in Soltan Gris’s Section 451.

Tug One — Powered by the feared Will-be Was time drives, it had been in storage since its sister ship, Tug Two, reportedly blew up.

Tup — An alcoholic beverage on Voltar.

Twolah — See Too-Too.

Voltar — The seat of the 110-planet Confederacy that was ruled by Cling the Lofty as the Emperor, through the Grand Council, at the time of Jettero Heller’s mission. The empire is over 125,000 years old.

Will-be Was — The feared time drives that allow Jettero Heller to cover the 22 1/2-light-year distance between Blito-P3 (Earth) and Voltar in a little over three days.

Zanco — Cellological equipment and supplies company on Voltar.

831 Relayer — Used to boost the signals from the audio and optical bugs implanted in Jettero Heller so that Sol-tan Gris can secretly monitor everything Jettero sees and hears.

To My Lord Turn, Justiciary of the Royal Courts and Prison, Government City, Planet Voltar, Voltar Confederacy

Your Lordship, Sir!

I, Soltan Gris, late Secondary Officer of the Coordinated Information Apparatus, Exterior Division of the Voltar Confederacy (Long Live His Majesty Cling the Lofty and All 110 Planets of the Voltar Dominions), in all humbleness and gratitude am herein forwarding the second volume of my accounting of MISSION EARTH.

I am still relying on my notes, logs and strips to record everything as you requested. In this way, I hope to prove to you that my incarceration in your fine prison is well founded.

At the same time, I’m sure Your Lordship will see that nothing was my fault, especially the violence described earlier. Jettero Heller is to blame for everything that happened. Until his appearance, I was merely another Secondary Officer in the Apparatus. That I happened to be the head of Section 451 meant little. Section 451 had only one yellow dwarf star that had only one populated planet (Blito-P3) that its inhabitants called Earth.

Like many other planets, Earth was on the Invasion Timetable. It wasn’t to be conquered for another century, so there was no urgency about the scouting mission sent there. (Scouts are still used because other methods, such as reconnaissance satellites disguised as comets, work fine as general fly-by probes of systems but they can’t get air, soil or water samples of particular planets.)

That was how Jettero Heller entered my life. Heller led this particular scouting party to Earth. They slipped in, got their information and left unnoticed. And even if seen, there was no real problem. Earth governments very conveniently disclaim the existence of “extraterrestrials,” explaining away every sighting and keeping everything a secret. (Anyone who poses a threat is diagnosed by a psychiatrist, which is a profession funded by Earth governments to keep the riffraff in line.)

When Heller returned to Voltar, he filed his report and that was when all Hells broke loose.

My task as the head of Section 451 was to make sure that all such reports were altered, so that no attention was drawn to Blito-P3. The reason was the secret Apparatus base in a country called Turkey. But Heller’s report got by me and ended up before the Grand Council.

What he found was quite alarming: Earth was polluting itself at a rate that would destroy the planet well before the still-distant invasion. That meant the Grand Council would have to order a pre-emptive strike, a very unpopular idea given the costs and resources. But it was even more unpopular with my boss, Lombar Hisst. He wasn’t happy being the head of the Apparatus. He wanted to take over Voltar and the base in Turkey was the key that he would lose if he didn’t act fast.