The clear, pale yellowish liquid that separates from the blood when clotting takes place. In Duel, it was shown that mutoids needed such serum at regular intervals, presumably being unable to produce it on their own.
Mutoids could receive blood serum in two ways: in prepared cylindrical containers, placed in a chest unit underneath the tunic; or by drawing blood directly from others, by means of a hypodermic unit at the right wrist.
It appeared that only human blood serum was suitable for mutoids; because the mutoid brought down with Travis drew blood from a number of vampire bat like creatures, but found it unsuitable. As a result, it later unsuccessfully tried to draw blood from Jenna.
| The natives of Horizon used blowpipes to deliver darts tipped with anaesthetic or lethally toxic drugs. Direct hits were scored on Blake, Jenna, Vila, Gan (two hits required to render him unconscious) and Cally. Ro used a blowpipe dart to kill the Kommissar. | |
A space rat, and along with Brig one of Atlan's henchmen on Caspar. He captured Vila and Dayna, and would have killed them on Atlan's order if Dayna hadn't pretended to be one of Dr Plaxton's former students. He was presumably one of the three space rats killed by remote-detonated grenades whilst pursuing the crew back to Scorpio.
| Rashel described herself as a labour grade slave and a bond slave, the latter term suggesting something of her duties. She said that bond slaves were "not supposed to overhear the conversations of the free grades". |  |
Mentioned by Cally when held prisoner on Crandor, saying that the legend of the Thaarn was the oldest story in it. Possibly a religious text, but unlikely since Cally refers to the Thaarn legend as no more than a story for children, and thus more likely a collection of myths and legends comparable to the Epic of Gilgamesh or the Mabinogion.
See also THAARN.
In Cygnus Alpha, Vargas consulted a book, presumably a religious text, to discover the meaning of Blake's coming. The book was hardback, shabbily bound (or frayed through age) and appeared to have been printed.
In Power, Gunn-Sar made a fleeting reference to books, suggesting that some Hommiks at least may have been literate.
| A cumbersome piece of equipment, exact use unspecified. Cally referred to having finished using it on Liberator and offered it to Dayna. Cally was seen using it again in Death-Watch, holding a large crystalline object under the screen. The object might have been a data storage device. |  |
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One of the planetary leaders conscripted by Avon for his alliance against the
Federation. Boorva represented Tarl, against which Zukan lodged territorial
claims.
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Fitted to space craft for additional short-term thrust. References include: Hostage: Blake gave the command "Full boost" to Jenna, suggesting that boosters may have been fitted to the Liberator. Star One: a ship as large as the Nova Queen was fitted with emergency boosters, but they could not be engaged fast enough to avoid a collision with an unmanned ore carrier above Keldon City. Rescue: Scorpio was fitted with an orbital booster, used on the surface to help lift the ship off the ground. Traitor: Avon told Soolin that ships like Scorpio were fitted with short-burn boosters to help lift their payloads into orbit. This was probably a reference to the orbital booster mentioned above. Avon had assigned Orac to redesigning the boosters to give Scorpio greater in-flight speed.
| Intelligence Commander at Central Intelligence Control. He was requested by Sleer to track down anyone involved in the XX-coded project on Bucol-2, and Ardus was sent to Sleer as a result. |  |