Sevencyclopaedia - C

C-26

(B-8: HOSTAGE)

The command ship used by Servalan to travel from Space Command HQ to Exbar. It looked like a pursuit ship, and may have been the modified Mark I pursuit ship Avon and Cally saw leaving Goth. It had a safe maximum speed of Time Distort 9, and an absolute maximum of TD-10.

CA 1/CA 2

(C-7: CHILDREN OF AURON)

Senior officials on Auron, male and female respectively. CA 1 referred to a Council of which these two may or may not have been members. He also described Cally as "that young rebel" which shows he at least knew of her, possibly personally before her departure from Auron. Being of an older generation, CA 1 and CA 2 were probably not very or not at all psi-developed. Since Avon et al developed the disease introduced by Servalan, CA 1 and CA 2 probably did likewise. Servalan ordered them to be taken out and shot, after which no more was seen of them.

Wen CAEN

(A-1: THE WAY BACK)

Doctor in the dome city - one of his/er patients was Payter Fen.

CALIPH OF CRANDOR

(C-4: DAWN OF THE GODS)

Flamboyant, archaically dressed lieutenant of the Thaarn, who welcomed the crew of the Liberator to Crandor, describing himself as the chief executive of the Thaarn, come to negotiate a price for the herculanium in Liberator. He wielded a neuronic whip, which he used to question Dayna and a recalcitrant Tarrant. He was last seen struggling with Groff in the Thaarn's control room, and presumably died when Crandor was destroyed.

The title "caliph" comes from the arabic Khalifah, a successor, and was originally bestowed on the successors of Mahomet. Quite why the Thaarn's lackey should choose such a title was not divulged.

CALIFERON

(C-13: TERMINAL)

Planet to which the Liberator was headed before Avon altered course for Terminal. Avon later told the crew to go there if he lost contact with them from Terminal. The ship would head there automatically twelve hours after his teleporting down anyway unless he returned earlier.

CALLISTO

(B-2: SHADOW)

Jenna was asked by Largo on Callisto to run a cargo of shadow to Earth. She refused and was arrested soon after. This suggests that the "near worlds" she mentions in The Way Back are those colonised planets and moons in close proximity to Earth.

Callisto is the outermost large (or "Galilean") moon of Jupiter, with a diameter of 4,800 Km (marginally smaller than Mercury), orbiting Jupiter at a distance of 1.88 million km. It was discovered by Marius and Galileo (within a few days of each other) in 1610. Callisto's heavily-cratered surface has altered little since its early formation.

CALLY

(37 episodes from A-4: TIME SQUAD to D-1: RESCUE)

Some confusion surrounds Cally's origins. In Time Squad she declared that she was sent from Auron to help the people of Saurian Major. In Dawn of the Gods, however, Tarrant asked her what she did to upset her people, and she admitted to being an exile in Children of Auron. CA 1 described her as a "rebel".


In Seek-Locate-Destroy
She first appeared carrying a flimsy-looking rifle (which was never seen again in future episodes), preparing for a suicide mission against the Federation communications relay station on Saurian Major. Her guerilla experience surfaced again in Duel, where she expressed approval of Blake's tactics in stalking Travis.

Known relatives: Zelda, a twin sister, who died in the destruction of the replication plant on Auron. According to Dayna, there were "plenty more like her on Auron, apparently", and the brood units seen in Children of Auron could incubate fifteen or more fetuses. Zelda acknowledged that she and Cally were from the same sibling group. In The Harvest of Kairos Cally telepathically detected images of her mother and father in Sopron: Avon told her that her parents were dead. If these were her natural parents she could not have been a clone (unless conventionally fertilised embryos were also cloned), and if she had a dozen or more clone-sisters they were never detailed.

Significant brawls: In unarmed combat she had a mixed record, losing to Blake in Time Squad, being knocked unconscious by the substitute Avalon in Project Avalon, by Gan in Breakdown, overpowered by Ensor Jr in Deliverance, and Mori's troopers in Volcano. She was overpowered by Sherm whilst grappling with Bayban. She had to be rescued by Tarrant from a link on Terminal. She also needed to be restrained by Blake in The Web. On the other hand, she incapacitated a trooper in Seek-Locate-Destroy and another in Bounty, Molok in Hostage, another trooper in Children of Auron, and one of Sula's rebels in Rumours of Death.

Bodycount: She seemed quite prepared to kill Travis in Seek-Locate-Destroy, but was restrained from doing so by Blake. Her first actual kill came as late as City at the Edge of the World, where she shot two of Bayban's men, one of them being Sherm. She also offered to kill Bayban. She later shot a link on Terminal. She also fired on and destroyed a gunship from Freedom City in Shadow after issuing two warnings.


In Shadow

In Shadow with Moon Discs
Captured by: Travis in Seek-Locate-Destroy, by the Amagons (along with the rest of the crew) in Bounty, by the Altas (again with everyone else) in Redemption, by the Federation in Horizon, by Molok in Hostage, by the Chengans in Powerplay, by Mori in Volcano, the Thaarn in Dawn of the Gods, by Servalan in Children of Auron, by the Ultra in Ultraworld, and by Servalan again (along with everyone else) in Terminal. Only in Dawn of the Gods did she manage to escape entirely unaided, though in Hostage she and Jenna disposed of Molok and kept the Liberator out of Travis" hands.

Rescues: With help from the moon discs she saved the Liberator from destruction in Shadow. She also attempted to rescue the rest of the crew (bar Avon) in Horizon. She probably saved Vila's life in Dawn of the Gods by telepathically telling him to run from the approaching vehicle, and later allowed the entire crew to escape by persuading the Thaarn to switch off the energy isolaters. She also rescued Avon and Vila in Sarcophagus.


In Weapon
Significant injuries: Cally sustained serious burns to her left hand in The Web, was tortured by Travis in Seek-Locate-Destroy, received a significant head injury from the android Avalon, knocked unconscious by Gan in Breakdown, suffered facial burns escaping from the stricken Liberator after the Intergalactic War, briefly contracted the disease introduced to Auron by Servalan and had her mind emptied by the Ultra (it later being restored by Tarrant).


Captured on Obsidion

Gagged on Obsiion (Volcano)
Places visited: Over the course of 37 episodes she set foot on Saurian Major, Centero, UP-Bounty, Aristo, Space World, Zonda, Horizon, UP-Gambit, Star One, Chenga, Obsidian, Crandor, Kairos, Keezarn, Auron, Earth, Ultraworld and Terminal - a total of just 18 planets/space stations. She remained aboard the Liberator in no less than 16 episodes.

Her first words ("Who are you") were telepathically transmitted to Blake, but she used her talent rather infrequently. See TELEPATHY for more details. Her last recorded spoken words were "She's beginning to go", referring to Liberator's breaking up above Terminal. Her final word was "Blake", telepathically screamed as the underground complex on Terminal blew up.


In Dawn of the Gods

In The Harvest of Kairos
She was subjected to mental take-over no less than five times, by the Lost in The Web, by the Darkness in Shadow, by the Thaarn in Dawn of the Gods, by an undead alien in Sarcophagus and by the Ultra in Ultraworld. She also detected the malign nature of the alien pathogens carried by Wanderer K47 in Killer. She suggested that the Lost were able to take control of her because she was unprepared for them, and the same is possibly true of the other occasions when malign influences seized control of her mind.

In Time Squad she stated that her work was in communications, and she managed to modify the teleport operating frequency fairly quickly in Moloch. Her general technical ability was not inconsiderable. She also appeared to have some medical skill, diagnosing the radiation sickness affecting Avon, Jenna, Vila and Gan in Orac and recognising the symptoms of fatigue shock in Horizon. In Voice from the Past Avon, Blake and Jenna were seen following exercises she had recommended, Cally herself sitting in a lotus position. Avon was not overly-convinced of their worth.

She was on various occasions referred to as an alien and a human (see AURON). The loneliness of a single telepath was referred to in Time Squad, when she cursed Blake with "May you die alone and silent", and in Mission to Destiny when she telepathically cried "Alone!" when roused from the effects of the sono vapour. Much was also made of this by the Thaarn - who claimed to share this loneliness, and offered to make her "queen of a thousand worlds" - and the undead alien in Sarcophagus, who believed that Cally could have no true loyalties to any non-telepath (Avon proved her wrong).

Cally's loyalty to Blake was apparently unflinching, although she did question his fanaticism in Star One and Blake accused her of colluding with Avon in Voice from the Past. In Sarcophagus she was quick to let go of Vila's hand having rescued him, but openly expressed delight at seeing him return in City at the Edge of the World. Her initial relationship with Jenna was rather bristly. Relations between Cally and Avon were ambiguous (and the subject of considerable fan discussion): they worked well as a team in City at the Edge of the World, but she lost no opportunity in putting him down in Children of Auron (admittedly, this was just after he had criticised Auron's isolationist policy). In Sarcophagus Avon relied on Cally's loyalty to the rest of the crew and himself in particular to defeat the undead alien.


In Moloch
She stayed with Liberator after the Intergalactic War, despite the lack of overtly dissident action taken by the crew in this period. She seemed to be left out of early discussions on Tarrant's plan to raid the kairopan transporter and disapproved of Avon's intent to execute Shrinker. In Sarcophagus she was seen sketching, suggesting a possible artistic bent, but no meaningful indication of any talent or ongoing interest was given. Last seen in Terminal, Avon reported her dead in Rescue, although her body was never seen.

Cally also has the distinction of having the most drastic haircut ever undertaken by a member of the crew, at some point between Orac and Redemption.

CAMERA

(various episodes) Written by Murray Smith and Chris Jones.

Cameras appeared or were mentioned in thirteen episodes in the series:

The majority of the cameras depicted or mentioned were used for surveilance purposes, the exceptions being Varon's tape camera in The Way Back and the camera in Ultraworld, both used to record information, as well as the 'remotes' in Death-Watch, used for entertainment purposes.

See also DETECTORS, SCANNERS.

CANCER

(D-7: ASSASSIN)

Code name for the professional killer hired by Servalan to eliminate Avon and his crew. Cancer had a jet black ship emblazoned with a crab, and a man wearing a dark outfit sporting a similar motif was taken to be Cancer by Avon, Tarrant and Soolin. He was in fact an actor purchased by Servalan on Domo. See PIRI.

CANDLES

(various episodes)

Candles were seen burning in the church on Cygnus Alpha. No indication given as to the source of the wax. The same applies to those seen burning in Meegat's underground bunker on Cephlon. Another candle was seen in the dungeons below the surface of Goth.

CANNIBALISM

(C-3: VOLCANO)

Mentioned by Vila as having occurred on isolated colonies. He considered Obsidian a viable contender for being populated by cannibals.

CAPTAIN

(various episodes)

Rank within the Federation and elsewhere. Tarrant told Avon he trained as a Federation Space Captain, and introduced himself to Avon and Dayna as "Captain Del Tarrant". Servalan's aide on Bucol-2 was a Captain. Shad and Deral were accorded the rank of Captain. Civilians could also hold this rank, as on the Space Princess voyaging under Captain Kennedy. Sherm addressed Bayban as "captain", but this was probably not a formal rank.

CARNELL

(B-3: WEAPON)

Psychostrategist, modestly self-described as "brilliant", who worked with Servalan in her attempts to secure IMIPAK. He mentioned discussing a fee, suggesting he expected her to pay for his services. He carried a computer chess game with him at all times, allegedly the best available, and said that he had beaten it six times in a row. He later gave it to a young officer as: "A small return for saving my life, but then it's all I own". Whether he meant his life or the game... After realising that his scheme would fail, due to him being misinformed, he fled into hiding, leaving a farewell message for Servalan in which he called her "the sexiest officer I have ever known".

CARRIER BEAM

(B-2: SHADOW / B-13: STAR ONE)

Jenna asked Orac to inform Space Command of the approaching alien fleet because Orac's carrier beam was "the fastest way to contact Servalan". This may indicate that Orac could make contact directly, rather than through a series of relays, or that its communications signals did travel physically faster than the Liberator"s. In Shadow Orac's carrier waves became the bridge through which an alien force (calling itself the Darkness) planned to enter the universe from its own dimension. Orac's carrier waves/beam passed through this dimension, as did Cally's telepathy.

CASARUS

(B-7: KILLER) By Murray Smith

Presumably a planet where, according to Vila, a type of 'swamp fever' was located that killed 'millions'.

CARTHENIS

(B-13: STAR ONE)

Mentioned by Durkim as one of the frontier worlds on which climate control had broken down. The brief clip of film shown by Durkim showed palm trees.

CASPAR

(D-4: STARDRIVE)

A planet in Sector 5, described as "Earth-type". Dr. Plaxton and her assistant, Napier, were in hiding there, developing the photonic drive for a group of space rats. Dayna and Vila teleported down, Avon, Tarrant and Soolin later landing in Scorpio. Caspar was one of the few planets on which Scorpio physically landed.

CASSIONA

(A-10: BREAKDOWN)

Cassiona was marked on the star chart consulted by Blake and Jenna when searching for possible sources of treatment for Gan. The necessary surgery could have been performed there, but it was a Federation stronghold.

CATEGORY ONE COURIER

(A-6: SEEK-LOCATE-DESTROY)

Means by which Prell informed Travis of Blake's theft of the cypher machine on Centero. Prell presumably decided to use a courier (probably a form of small, fast space craft) so as not to alert Blake to the fact that the theft had been detected.

CATO

(D-2: POWER)

Gunn-Sar's advisor on Xenon. He had access to and understanding of the forgotten computer and surveillance equipment buried in the heart of the Hommik stronghold, knowledge which he kept secret from Gunn-Sar. He had managed to learn something of the history of Xenon, some or all of which may have been known to others. He was killed by a bolt telekinetically fired by Pella from a crossbow held by Avon.

CAUDER

(B-9: COUNTDOWN)

Leader of the rebels on Albian, who gathered a force of 150 resistance fighters from groups all over the planet. He then hired Del Grant to plan their attack on the Federation garrison. He elected to stay on Albian - even if the solium radiation device detonated - when offered a chance to leave by Blake.

CELL UNIT M3

(A-1: THE WAY BACK)

The cell in which Blake was held whilst awaiting trial on Earth.

CENTERO

(A-6: SEEK-LOCATE-DESTROY)

Pronounced "Kentero" Planet from which Blake stole a Federation cypher machine. The planet had a breathable atmosphere. Blake teleported down with Avon, Vila, Gan and Cally, and Blake returned to rescue Cally from Travis. The planet was within a few hours" journey of the space station where Servalan appointed Travis to hunt down Blake.

CENTRAL CLINIC

(A-1: THE WAY BACK)

Located on Earth, and probably central only to the dome city seen in the episode. The three children allegedly assaulted by Blake were treated there by Dr Havant on the date 52.6.8, and other admissions on that date included Seer, Aylmer, Bric, Wyle and Mora. The access code from the Public Records Computer was alpha-00288-alpha.

CENTRAL COMPUTERS

(various episodes)

Possibly synonymous with Central Control, but references may be to the central records etc. of particular departments.

Travis told Keera that her identity was recorded in the "central computers"; Keera herself believed that such information was not recorded anywhere.


This person, reluctantly, obtains the information, from the central computer for Varon, Blake's advocate, regarding the three children who brought allegations against Blake in episode one, The Way Back. He is not referred to by name.
The Assistant Kommissar mentioned the "central data banks" in Horizon: this may have been in connection with mention of Central Control (qv).

Several references were made in Orbit to "Central Records". Egrorian's file was noted as 15/9/834, and Tarrant discovered from Central Records that Pinder was only twenty-eight years old. This was some time after the destruction of Star One and so could not refer to Central Control, unless the central Federation computer complex had been rebuilt in the meantime.

CENTRAL CONTROL

(various episodes)

Also known as Federation Central Control. First mentions appeared to be in Weapon, where Cally guessed that Blake was planning an attack on Earth, and in Horizon, where the Assistant Kommissar requested permission to inform Central Control of Blake's presence. Central Control was out of communication range with Horizon, and also beyond the range of Flotilla 13, which came to the planet at the Kommissar's request.


Star One
In Pressure Point, Central Control was revealed to be the Federation's central computer complex, described by Blake as being built by the Administration when the Federation started expanding two hundred years previously. It handled all kinds of information, political, civil and military - it followed as a matter of course that without Control the Federation would be "more vulnerable than they have been for centuries". The Federation made no secret of Control's location, nor of the high security surrounding its deep underground bunker (see FORBIDDEN ZONE). Jenna noted that most Earth people had heard of the place. Many attempts to seize or destroy Control had been made, all unsuccessful: rocket attacks from space and large-scale ground assaults were mentioned. Blake, Avon, Vila and Gan could thus claim the distinction of being the first to penetrate the defences, albeit for nothing: when Travis arrived, he explained to Blake how the computer complex had been moved "thirty years ago" (but see STAR ONE). Two mutoids, Servalan, Jenna and Veron also entered the Control bunker. Only Gan never left alive.

Space Major Provine had at one time worked for Central Control and it was he who told Blake that the computer complex had been moved to Star One. Of those involved in its reconstruction, all had been killed, or rendered amnesiac by the cybersurgeon Docholli, except for fellow cybersurgeon Lurgen. See also STAR ONE.

CENTRAL EDUCATIONAL COMPLEX

(B-4: HORIZON)

Presumably a training centre for natives chosen to rule their planets on behalf of the Federation. The CEC was probably under the auspices of the Colonial Service. Ro trained at the CEC before returning to Horizon, and Movo, Selma and perhaps Porah probably also attended courses there.

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE CONTROL

(D-5: ANIMALS)

Borr was an Intelligence Commander at Central Intelligence Control. Details were few, but CIC may be the intelligence network established after the Intergalactic War to replace Federation Central Control. However, CIC may also be the Bureau of which Ardus was a former officer, and the Bureau was a pre-War department. It may, of course, have been integrated into a new Central Intelligence organ after the War.


Borr
In Seek-Locate-Destroy Rai handed Servalan microtapes from Central Intelligence. This may well be a shorthand reference to CIC, supporting CIC's pre-War existence and its synonymity with the Bureau.

CENTRAL SCIENCE COMPLEX

(C-3: VOLCANO)

Hal Mellanby and Hower both trained at the Federation Central Science Complex, which was probably but not necessarily on Earth.

Hal Mellanby was awarded a graduation medallion which Dayna took with her when she left Sarran. She continued to wear it around her neck until she reached Xenon after which no more was seen of it. Hower admitted to having had a similar medallion. The device on the medallion might be variously interpreted as mb or m6 or possibly something else entirely.

CENTRAL SECURITY

(C-8: RUMOURS OF DEATH)

Federation department, based on Earth. It was an early target for the rebels in the uprising after the Intergalactic War, and many of those not killed there were captured. Shrinker, whilst working with the rebels, questioned a "controller" from Central Security. Central's best agent was Bartolomew, otherwise known as Anna Grant.

CENTRAL SPACECRAFT REGISTER

(B-7: KILLER)

Register from which Blake, via Orac, obtained details of Wanderer K47"s disappearance, implying that at least some of its records went back 700 years or more.

CEPHLON

(A-12: DELIVERANCE)

Planet with a breathable atmosphere but very high radiation levels, the residue of a war that had almost wiped out the population. Ensor Jr. referred to it as once being "the trading and cultural centre for this entire star system". Gravity was 1.25g. It was inhabited by a very primitive and aggressive people which Meegat referred to as "scavengers". They wore skins, indicating some form of animal life on the planet. Meegat was one of another, dwindling, group of people (less than a hundred in number, by her own account) waiting for someone to arrive and fulfil the prophecies of Kashel the Wise. Avon, Jenna, Vila and Gan all teleported down, hunting for survivors from Ensor Jr's ship, and contracted severe radiation sickness as a result. The systems status reports on the chemical rocket in Meegat's bunker were spoken in Terran.

*CEROS

(B-10: VOICE FROM THE PAST)

Zen referred to Asteroid P-K118 being removed from what sounded like "Ceron" orbit, suggesting a planet or system by the name of Ceros.

CEVEDIC

(B-11: GAMBIT)

Described by Chenie as "Krantor's professional killer", he managed to bring Travis to Krantor but, despite intimidating Chenie, failed to locate Docholli. He eventually died in a shoot-out with Travis near the docking bays. His name was pronounced variously as Chevedik by Chenie, Chevedeet by Krantor, Sevedik by Cally, Shevedik by Toise and Shevedish by Travis.

CF-1

(D-2: POWER)

Institution in which Vila was held as a boy. He described it to Pella as an "academy", and she believed him until he mentioned he was chosen as technical advisor for the escape. CF-1 may or may not have been connected with the penal colony he mentioned in Stardrive.

CHAIRMAN

(B-2: SHADOW)

Leader of the Terra Nostra, who turned a heavy cruiser over to Largo to take on Blake. He later appointed Largo's enforcer to take Largo's place. He was seen feeding a large spider or spider-like creature in a cage.

There is no evidence to support or deny the theory that the Chairman was also the President of the Terran Federation.

CHALSA

(D-12: WARLORD)

along with Mida, Boorva and others. Apparently the ruler or representative of Komm, he might have broken the alliance before it was formed had not Mida spoken out in favour of Zukan.
2nd Left

CHARL

(B-12: THE KEEPER)

Ruler of Goth, full title Charl of the Tents of Goth. The Charl at the time of Blake's visit was Gola, but the position was contested by his brother Rod. They had both conspired to have their father dethroned and imprisoned. He later died in the dungeons. Gola defeated Rod in single combat, but was then poisoned by his sister Tara, who became Charl. Since Tara appeared to be somewhat older than Gola, it would seem that the position was inherited through the male line whenever possible.

CHASGO

(D-9: SAND)

Servalan's pilot on the second expedition to Virn, remaining in the ship until Servalan returned alone. He threw out the sand which entered the ship because he "didn't like the look of it".

CHEL

(C-1: AFTERMATH)

Leader of the Sarrans. He ordered the death of all War survivors who landed on Sarran, including two troopers who crash-landed shortly before Avon, saying that the prophesied day when "They will come from the skies to destroy us" had arrived. He had Lauren executed, and took Servalan prisoner. He narrowly failed to recapture her as she took refuge in Hal Mellanby's hideaway.

CHEMICAL ROCKET

(A-12: DELIVERANCE)

Type of space craft by which Kashel the Wise intended to send genetic banks and brood units from Cephlon to a new home. It was presumably shielded from the high radiation levels prevalent on the planet's surface. Flight time to Maclin Alpha was five hundred years. Referred to by Meegat as "Deliverance" and launched by Avon.

See also Rocket

CHENEY

(A-11: BOUNTY)

Subcommander, in charge of security forces around Sarkoff's residence. Cheney was the first trooper to be seen wearing a helmet with the visor raised. He apparently survived Blake's visit.

CHENGA

(C-2: POWERPLAY)

Neutral planet with a small population, inferentially in close proximity to Sarran. Settled some 200 years before the Intergalactic War, the population split into two groups: the Primitives tried to live a simple life in the forests, but the Hitechs placed all emphasis on technological development. The Hitechs came to use the Primitives, and others, as a source of organs for transplant surgery. The only Chengans named were Lom, Mall, Zee and Barr. The planet was visited by Vila, Cally and Servalan.

CHENIE

(B-11: GAMBIT)

A barmaid in Freedom City, who hid Docholli from Cevedic and arranged for his safe departure from the planet, calling on a debt owed her by the captain of a Trantinian planet hopper. From her bar on the Rink she could see everyone who came to Freedom City and she was thus a good source of information. She appeared to have at least two bouncers. Whether the bars was hers or she worked for an unnamed owner was not specified.

CHESIL

(C-11: MOLOCH)

A native of Sardos who, together with Poola, monitored traffic and incoming meteorites around the asteroid. She later joined Doran in looking for Vila, and was killed by Moloch.

CHESKU

(C-8: RUMOURS OF DEATH)

A High Councillor, loyal to Servalan after the Intergalactic War. Although married (rather less than happily) to Sula, he had no idea of her true identity. Sula shot him in the back as he tried to escape from her - she needed his clothes as part of her plan to infiltrate Residence One.

CHESS

(various episodes)

Chess appeared in several episodes. An abandoned game was found on the Ortega in Mission to Destiny. Carnell carried a computer chess game which he gave to a young officer before going into hiding. Defeating the Klute at Speed Chess on Freedom City offered a prize of one million credits. Avon and Vila produced a chess board when Blake, Jenna and Cally teleported up from Freedom City. Colonel Quute was seen to play chess or a very similar game with the duty tracer on Helotrix. Belkov in Games appeared to play a multi-tiered chess-like game with his Gambit computer, as did Orac in order to ascertain the nature of Gambit's logic. Lastly, Egrorian and Pinder played what seemed to be the same game as Quute and the duty tracer, and Pinder explicitly used the term "checkmate".

See also Speed Chess


On the Ortega

CHEVNER

(A-9: PROJECT AVALON)

One of the rebels working with Avalon and probably a Subterron. He was the only survivor of the massacre conducted by Travis" mutoids. Initially suspicious of Blake and Jenna, he played a crucial part in their "rescue" of Avalon, shooting at least three troopers with an M16 assault rifle, but was killed by the android Avalon on the Liberator.

CHOPPER

(D-10: GOLD)

Small spacecraft or aircraft. Keiller described the ship seen leaving the gold mine on Zerok as a chopper. See also SPACE CHOPPER.

CHRISTIANITY

(various episodes) By Murray Smith

With Islam, it was one of the two religions of late twentieth century Earth referred to in the series.

Explicit references:

  • In Deliverance, the star system that was the destination in five hundred years of the rocket Avon launched from Cephlon was called Magdalen Alpha. The system, or perhaps the constellation of which it was part, was either named after St, Mary Magdelene, or someone or something named after her. (See MAGDALEN ALPHA.)

  • In Pressure Point, a ruined church was seen by Blake and Gan. The former, when the latter asked what it was, called it a 'Place of religious assembly', later adding, 'The Federation had them all destroyed at the beginning of the New Calendar', suggesting that the Old Calendar might have been the Gregorian one.

  • In Gambit, a male visitor to the Big Wheel in Freedom City was dressed as a nun. (See NUN.)

Implicit, though unwitting references: Words or phrases were used by characters in the series which, while of Christian origin, had become so long detached from it that they were used quite unwittingly.

  • Judgement Day: In Horizon, Vila called his experience and that of the rest of the crew, when they encountered the planet's barrier, to 'Judgement Day'. (See JUDGEMENT DAY.)

  • Holy Writ: In Rumours of Death, when Major Grenlee was told that sealing the perimeter was standard operating procedure in the event of a surveillance malfunction, he replied, 'I don't give a damn if it's Holy Writ'. (See HOLY WRIT.)

See also RELIGION.

CHRONICLE DISCS

(D-2: POWER)

Data storage medium consulted by Dayna and Tarrant on Xenon to discover the history of the war between Hommiks and Seska. Nina, then a Seska, was seen reading a battle report until she was interrupted by the arrival of a large axe.

CHRONOMETER

(various episodes) Written by Murray Smith and Ellie Baskerville.

A timepiece originally designed to be accurate in all conditions of a ship's motion, temperature, pressure, and gravity, allowing accurate timekeeping - and therefore accurate navigation - to take place at sea. The first properly accurate Earth chronometers were designed and made by the British clockmaker John Harrison (1693-1776).

In the Blake's 7 universe, it was used to refer to a timepiece worn around the wrist, known to many inhabitants of late twentieth century Earth as a 'wristwatch'. In 'Gold', Keiller advised the passangers of the Space Princess to 'please tune all chronometers to frequency seven for syncronization with Federation Standard Time'.

Chronometers were worn by 17 of the characters in the series - most notably in the first season - in the following episodes:

The Way BackBlake, Maja, Varon, and Ravella
Space FallBlake, Avon, Laylan, and Raiker
Cygnus AlphaBlake, Avon, and Leylan
Time SquadBlake, Avon, and Vila
The WebBlake, Avon, and Vila
Seek-Locate-DestroyBlake, Avon, and Vila
Mission to DestinyBlake, Avon, and Vila
DuelBlake, Avon, and Vila
Project AvalonAvon
BreakdownBlake, Avon, and Vila
BountyBlake
DeliveranceBlake
OracBlake, Avon, and Ensor
TrialJenna
HostageUshton
CountdownProvine and Tronos
Star OneJenna
PowerplayTarrant
Rumours of DeathAnna Grant
AnimalsArdus
HeadhunterTechnician 241
In total, chronometers were worn in 21 epsiodes, Space Fall being the one when the largest number of chronometers were worn (4). Blake wore a chronometer the most times during the series, in a total of 12 episodes, followed by Avon in 10 and by Vila in 6. Avon and Vila wore their chronometers on their right wrists; all the other characters wore theirs on their left. Two characters wore different types of chronometers in different episodes: Blake wore a different chronometer from his usual one in 'Orac', while Jenna wore different chronometers in each of the two episodes she was seen wearing one.


Vila in Duel
Of particular interest was the external appearance of the chronometers. Most appeared to be all black in colour, resembling in shape the 'digital' wristwatches of late twentieth-century Earth. Among the exceptions were Blake's, which while mostly black and 'digital', appeared to be partly metalic with a flexible strap, rather than one that needed to be fastened. Two completely metalic-appearing chronometers were shown: Ensor's in 'Orac', which was of a silver metalic appearance, fitted with a buzzer; and Jenna's in 'Star One', with a gold metalic appearance, a slender strap, and a small round face, exactly resembling a late twentieth-century ladies' wristwatch.

Other chronometers shown were, in late twentieth-century terms, more conventional looking. Blake, in 'Orac', wore a chronometer that, while black, had a round face with hands. Overall, external chronometer design in the Blake's 7 universe appeared to be quite achronistic, relying on late twentieth-century wristwatch models.

Also of interest was the lax attitude of the Federation authorities to the wearing of chronometers by prisoners, despite the security risks. Blake's chronometer was taken from him before his trial in 'The Way Back', but restored to him after he was sentenced; he was later seen using it to co-ordinate the attempted takeover of the London in 'Space Fall'. From what was seen in 'Hostage', Ushton was also presumably allowed to bring his chronometer with him to Exbar.

CHURCHES

(various episodes)

Vargas ruled from a building strongly reminiscent of a church in Cygnus Alpha: it was used for religious purposes. Vila's description of it was "The architectural style is early Maniac". The inhabitants of Mecron II worshipped in a cave used for church-like purposes in Games. The only "real" church was the ruined one on Earth in Pressure Point, in the vaults of which Veron trapped Blake, Avon, Vila and Gan. It was the pre-appointed rendezvous for Blake's meeting with Kasabi's rebels, and Blake had to tell Gan what the building was and what it had been used for.
The ruins in Pressure Point

Sir Winston CHURCHILL

(A-11: BOUNTY)

A portrait of Churchill is visible in Sarkoff's collection.

CIRCUIT INTEGRATORS

(A-1: THE WAY BACK)

Used by Dal Richie to bypass the security monitors on doorway Sub-43 of the dome city on Earth. Varon appears to have used a similar device when he later left the city, but his exit was detected.


In Richie's hand

CITIES

(various episodes)

Very few urban locations were visited by the crew. Blake was originally seen to live in an enclosed dome city on Earth (sources outside the series refer to "West Europ Dome" - no mention of this was made in the episode as broadcast). Space City was an artificial space environment, run by the Terra Nostra. Fen referred to a city on UP-Clonemaster, much of it alive and made of a mood-responsive vegetable life form. The conference centre on Atlay was presumably within a city. Freedom City was located on an unnamed planet. Keldon City was struck by the neutron drive unit of the destroyed Nova Queen. There was at least one city on Auron. At least some of the events in Death-Watch probably took place within a city. The magnetrix terminal on Helotrix was within an unnamed city, and some large pyramidal buildings were discernible in the background on occasion. In Warlord, Avon presented a videocast of pacified citizens on the planet Zondawl, this film having been taken in a distinctly urban environment.

CITY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

(C-6: CITY AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD)

Translated name of the city-like structure on Keezarn to which Vila was taken to open the vault door for Bayban. Vila deduced that the structure was not a city at all but a "travel terminus". It was destroyed by Bayban's use of a laser cannon in attempting to reopen the door.

CIVIL ADMINISTRATION

- see ADMINISTRATION

CIVIL LIST

(D-2: TRAITOR)

Practor was noted by the General on Helotrix as having been on the Federation's Civil List for years, and his loyalty was beyond question. The Civil List may have been a catalogue of reliable individuals who could be entrusted to handle affairs for the Federation on their home worlds. Alternatively, it may refer to a noble or equivalent class native to Helotrix.

CIVILIAN CITATION

(B-4: PRESSURE POINT) By Murray Smith.

The description of a Federation award for bravery, which possibly originated from a mention in an official Federation dispatch. Travis told Veron in _Pressure Point_ that she might receive the award because she trapped Blake and most of his crew in a building without their teleport bracelets, suggesting that it was at least conferred on civilians who risked their lives to prevent crime.

No further details were given of the award in terms of where it stood in any Federation order of precedence, or if its recipients were allowed to wear any emblem or ribbon.

CLERK OF COURT

(A-1: THE WAY BACK/ B-10: TRIAL) By Murray Smith.

An official seemingly responsible for compiling and keeping court records, a function unchanged since the late twentieth century AD. The clerk of the court that tried and sentenced Blake in The Way Back was referred to as such, but only in the episode's closing credits. Travis's court martial in Trial had an unmentioned and uncredited official, seated opposite Major Thania, who appeared to perform the function of a clerk.


Arbiter (left) Clerk of Court (right)

CLIP GUN

(D-1: RESCUE ff)

Multi-purpose sidearm developed by Dorian on Xenon. The weapon could fire a variety of ordnance depending on which colour-coded clip was inserted. Dayna listed "laser, plasma bullet, percussion shell, micro grenade, stun, drug" as among those available, and described the weapon as "the best I've ever seen". Stun clips were coloured red. Dorian made at least five of these clip guns, and the gun locker on Scorpio could hold up to six clip guns and nine ammunition clips.

Two clip guns were destroyed by Muller's android, using its ability to influence circuitry over a distance.

CLONEMASTERS

(B-3: WEAPON)

The origin of the Clonemasters is obscure. Cloning was developed some considerable time before Blake's period, but fears of it being deployed as a weapon led to the secrets of cloning being entrusted to the Clonemasters. The Clonemasters were all themselves clones, propagated from the original trustees on their unnamed planet. The Federation protected the Clonemasters, but not out of altruism, and had to pay for the Clonemasters" services. The only Clonemaster to be named was Fen and she, like all the others, was bound by the Rule of Life.

In Children of Auron Servalan mentioned the "untimely destruction of the Clonemasters", probably during the Intergalactic War.


Clonemaster Fen

CLONING

(B-3: WEAPON / C-7: CHILDREN OF AURON)

Cloning technology was not available to the Federation (surprising, given the genetic engineering experiments on Bucol-2 and modification of the Phobon Plague for Project Avalon) but entrusted to the Clonemasters. Cloning was usually carried out from a cell taken from the intended subject, but two clones of Blake were made from his DNA identity profile.
The first Clone of Blake

The second Clone of Blake
One of these clones was killed by Travis, the other remained with Rashel on UP-Weapon, guarding IMIPAK. This second clone told Servalan and Travis that he was 34 years old, but born 5 hours ago, indicating the accelerated rate of development possible through the Clonemasters" technology.

Cloning was also developed by Clinician Franton on Auron some decades prior to Liberator's visit. Whole batches of identical individuals were grown from a single white blood cell. The Replication Plant seen in the episode gestated about 15 fetuses in each brood unit. The technology was lost when Ginka persuaded Servalan to allow him to open fire on the plant, destroying it. The fetuses grown from Servalan's cells appeared to be telepathic, since she felt them die from her star cruiser. Cally and Zelda may well have been clones, but not necessarily (see CALLY).

In Animals Servalan asked Justin how soon Og could be ready for cloning.

COFFEE

(C-11: MOLOCH)

Shortly after Servalan arrived on Sardos, Grose offered her "coffee, from beans". This might imply the existence of synthetic or ersatz coffee.

COLONIAL SERVICE

(B-4: HORIZON)

The Kommissar and Assistant Kommissar were representatives of the Federation's Colonial Service on Horizon. Few details were given, but the Central Educational Complex was probably within the Service's sphere of responsibility.

COLOUR BLINDNESS

(A-13:ORAC) written by Murray Smith

It is highly likely that Ensor was colour blind; for he was unable to distinguish between the red and green buttons on the device used to administer electronic anaesthesia to him.

See also ELECTRONIC ANAESTHESIA.

COMBAT GROUNDS

(C-12: DEATHWATCH)

The computer-selected environments in which disputes between Teal and Vandor were settled by a fight to the death between the champions of each system. Darvid referred to environments from "other planets, other cultures, other times", with each champion given the same weapons and any necessary survival equipment. The principle of using such chambers was summed up in the phrase: "Let no man say; "This man chose the ground on which we die"". Exactly how these combat grounds were generated is unclear: some at least appeared to be outdoor locations, yet energy/mass conversion on this scale was implicitly unique to Sardos. The sensormesh technology indicates a possible application of a "virtual environment", but Tarrant was not fitted with such equipment.
The door to the chamber

COMMANDER TECHNICIAN

(B-7: KILLER)

Tynus described his position on the Q-base on Fosforon as Commander Technician, subordinate to Federation Security.

COMMERCE

(various episodes)

The commercial infrastructure of the galaxy was rarely alluded to in any detail, but a few references include the following.

  • Space Fall: the crew of the London operated on a fixed-price contract, and prison ships were rumoured to dump their human cargo in deep space and pocket their fee after altering the ship's running log.
  • Voice from the Past: Asteroid P-K118 was said to have been worked out by a mining company.
  • Terminal: the artificial planet Terminal was built by a consortium of united planets (or United Planets?), possibly a commercial rather than a political consortium.
  • Traitor: the General on Helotrix assumed that Orac's investigations into space craft design could be ascribed to "commercial jiggery-pokery". He suspected the Skellerians of being responsible.
  • Games: Avon pointed out that Gerren used his prospecting information to manipulate the commodities market.
  • Gold: the gold mine on Zerok was disguised as a vegetable processing plant, and the abundant "ZVP" logo on containers and guards" uniforms probably stood for Zerok Vegetable Processing, which sounds like an independent corporation

Cartels were mentioned in three episodes. Vinni was suspected to be the work of an arms manufacturing cartel; Muller worked for a robot development cartel and, more intriguingly, the Ultra referred to Avon's embezzling of 500 million credits from the Federation's banking cartel. There is therefore some evidence to suggest that the Administration was not directly responsible for all financial and commercial operations within the Federation.

COMMUNICATIONS

(various episodes)

Communicators of various forms were seen in most if not all episodes, and to list them all would be impractical. Some of the more pertinent facts are given here.

At least some communications were faster than light, and thus not in the electromagnetic spectrum. Hyperspace sub-beam communication was first mentioned in Seek-Locate-Destroy, presumably the same as the sub-beam transceiver on Cephlon and Coser's sub-space communicator in Weapon. Orac's carrier beam passed through the same dimension as Cally's telepathy. Instantaneous long-range communication was seen between Servalan and LeGrand in Voice From the Past, to name but one example.


On the London

On the Liberator
Few indications of range were given, but clearly varied according to the device used. The teleport bracelets used by the crew could transmit over at least a thousand spacials, since this was a standard orbital distance. Central Control was beyond the range of both the Federation contingent on Horizon and the pursuit ship flotilla called to Horizon by the Assistant Kommissar. Orac, on the other hand, could contact Servalan's HQ from Star One, beyond the edge of the galaxy, and given the purpose of Star One the computers there could presumably do the same.

Communications were frequently relayed on their journey. A large relay/booster station had been built by the Federation on Saurian Major. Blake blew it up. Scrambled messages were relayed through Centero and the A-line converter on Fosforon. Some planets were endowed with a magnetrix terminal to relay communications, and Hunda planned to isolate the Federation forces on Helotrix by destroying the terminal there. Avon's directions to Terminal were relayed through a communications satellite, and Gerren's communications with Avon were through an obsolete communications beacon in Sector 4.

It was noted in Weapon that a Federation "priority-1 communication" was automatically relayed to the senior officer present at the receiving end.

Short-range hand-held communicators of various designs were seen in many episodes. More unusual was Krantor's dressing table mirror, which also doubled when required as an audio-visual link.

Orac had what it called in Hostage a unique ability to intercept transmissions.

See also CYPHER MACHINES, HYPERSPACE SUB-BEAM, ORAC

COMPUTERS

(various episodes)

Several computers were given names, these being Zen, Orac, Slave and Gambit. All were fitted with speech circuits and could communicate vocally, as could the judgement computer at Travis' court martial, the inboard computer on the ship to which Vila and Kerril were transported in City at the Edge of the World and Practor's "house computer" in Traitor and the LFS operated by Tarrant in Games. The Public Records Computer on Earth in The Way Back responded to verbal commands. Computers with an organic content included Ultraworld and Moloch. Many other computers appeared almost everywhere, even in the Hommik stronghold on Xenon (although apparently only Cato knew what they were and how to use them). The most powerful computer complex in the galaxy was Federation Central Control, originally on Earth but later moved to Star One.

COMPUTER FLIGHT COORDINATION

(B-13: STAR ONE)

Registered space flight within the Federation was handled by CFC through Star One. Durkim mentioned CFC breaking down on twenty different worlds, and gave Servalan a graphic example in the collision of the passenger liner Nova Queen with an unmanned ore carrier above the planet on which Keldon City was situated.

CONFIRMATION CIRCUITS

(A-7: MISSION TO DESTINY)

Mentioned by Avon, but with few details. What they did do was convert numbers into the written word, revealing to Avon that the "54124" scrawled by a dying Rafford was actually "SARA".

CONSTELLATION

(various episodes)

Several uses of the word "constellation" suggest a slightly different meaning to current usage. The word normally means a pattern of stars as seen in the night sky from Earth, the component stars themselves frequently being widely separated in space. In Blake's time, however, a constellation would appear to be a discrete group of stars in close proximity to each other. In Orbit, for example, Egrorian referred to Porphyrus being in the constellation adjacent to Malodar, some 17 light years away. This subtle change in meaning is what one might expect in a spacefaring, as opposed to Earthbound, culture.

CONTROLLED BEAMING

(B-10: VOICE FROM THE PAST)

When Cally mentioned the artificial telepathy transmission project on Auron, Avon asked "Controlled Beaming?", presumably to clarify his own understanding of the technology.

CONTROLLED PARTICLE EMISSION

(B-2: SHADOW)

Property of the substance with which Largo laced the shadow he gave to addicts on Space City. The enforcer said it was "not exactly" radioactive. It was detectable "with the right equipment" and enabled the Liberator to be tracked on its way to Zonda, owing to Hanna's presence on board.

CONTROLLER

(A-6: SEEK-LOCATE-DESTROY / C-8: RUMOURS OF DEATH)

In Seek-Locate-Destroy Bercol and Rontane made mention of the growing criticism of Space Security by "the controllers of the Outer Planets".

In Rumours of Death Shrinker told Avon that he interrogated a controller from Central Security whilst working for the rebels.

There is no definite link between these two uses of the word and neither is adequately defined.

CORE

(C-10: ULTRAWORLD)

The living heart of Ultraworld, a vast brain-like organism that, in the words of Relf, "lives to expand and must expand to live". It expanded through the process of nucleoplasmic absorption, described the Ultra as a very complicated process but essentially boiling down to consuming anyone unfortunate enough to be fed to the Core. Cally and Avon narrowly escaped this fate. The power of the Core was considerable: as exerted by the Ultra it twice affected Tarrant, and was used to bring the Liberator into dock. The Core, however, could only comprehend logical thought, and it was distracted by Vila's illogical riddles and word puzzles while Orac reflected the Core's own wave emissions back at it, destabilising the Core and eventually destroying Ultraworld.

COSER

(B-3: WEAPON)

Beta grade technician who single-handedly developed IMIPAK at the Federation's weapons development base. Realising that his superiors were going to take all the credit for his invention, he destroyed all records of his work and fled with IMIPAK and the slave woman Rashel to an unnamed planet. He was killed by Servalan, using IMIPAK, shortly before Blake arrived.


Coser

The demise of his spaceship
Coser was described by Carnell as a good pilot, and had a known admiration for Blake. He recognised Blake as soon as he saw him, not knowing that "Blake" was in fact a clone working for Servalan.

COUNCILLORS

(various episodes)

Very few senior political figures appeared through the course of the series. Senator Bercol in Trial described himself as an ex officio member of the High Council (he had earlier been addressed as Councillor - see BERCOL). In Hostage Servalan had an interview with Councillor Joban, who had supported her appointment to the post of Supreme Commander. In Rumours of Death Councillor Chesku, a close advisor of Servalan, was shot dead by his wife, Sula.

See also HIGH COUNCIL.

COUNCIL OF SURVIVORS

(D-2: POWER)

Referred to by Cato. After the war that had destroyed 10,000 years of progress on Xenon, the Council of Survivors had decreed that civilisation should start again from the beginning with "wooden tools, flint arrowheads, the wheel", and didn't appear to have progressed very far by the time Avon arrived. The Hommik council referred to by Cato may have had its origins in this council.

COURSE COMMANDS

(various episodes)

A number of course commands were given in the series, in a variety of formats. As examples:

In Mission to Destiny the Ortega's last course before Rafford's death was "delta red two". In Children of Auron the Liberator is following course 82804 to Earth. Course was later changed to 0310 for Auron and later still to 03K20 for Kahn. In Moloch Servalan was shadowed by Liberator along "course 6453 nil curvature". In Headhunter, Scorpio was following course 850 by 281 to Pharos, and returned to Xenon on course 152 by 005.

COURSE INTERCEPTOR

(B-10: VOICE FROM THE PAST)

Mentioned by Avon as a project conducted (unsuccessfully) by Space Command. The device was intended to attune itself to the circuitry of ships" computers, presumably to control them. Ven Glynd referred to the artificial telepathy transmitter as a "course interceptor", but any control it exerted appeared to be restricted to Blake.

COURT OF INQUIRY

(A-12: DELIVERANCE)

A tribunal of commissioned military officers, appointed to investigate and report on matters connected with the military, including the conduct of military personnel. If the latter is the case, all the tribunal's members should be senior to the person whose conduct is being investigated. If the appointing authority directs, the tribunal will offer opinions and recommendations on the matters investigated.

Despite its title, it is not A "court" in the conventional, judicial sense. Those appointed to carry out the inquiry are temporary appointees, not judges, and exercise no judicial functions. While such a tribunal has established formal procedures, including the power to subpoena witnesses and to administer oaths or affirmations, its report to the appointing authority is not binding, and may be disregarded by the latter.

This may explain a couple of remarks made by Servalan to Travis in /Deliverance/. She first said that she was afraid that his suspension and "the court of inquiry into your [Travis's] mishandling of the Blake affair might have broken his spirit. She then said that he was "expected to resign the service". This presumably refers to the fact that the court of inquiry mentioned severely censured Travis's conduct in its report, and may have made recommendations; but it itself had no authority to discipline him. This severe censure on top of his suspension had, however, made many presume that the resulting humiliation would have led Travis to resign from the military.

COURTS (FEDERATION)

(A-1: THE WAY BACK/ B-10: TRIAL) By Murray Smith

Two Federation courts were shown in the series: the civil court that tried and convicted Blake for at least 8 offences against 3 children (The Way Back); and the court martial that tried and convicted Travis for the murder of 1,417 unarmed civilians (Trial). Both trials suggest a Federation courts system, particularly a criminal courts system, that while similar in places to Earth courts systems of the late twentieth century AD, is different in others. Differences also exist between the two trials, presumably as Travis's was for a more serious offence and before a military court.

See Very Expanded Notes about Courts.

CRANDOR

(C-4: DAWN OF THE GODS)

An artificial planet created by the Thaarn. Vila described the gravity as "about normal". The Caliph described Crandor as "the Palace of the Lord Thaarn, Master of the Universe". According to Groff, the Thaarn's subjects had been promised planets of their own, where they would "rule like kings", but the Caliph referred to slave-masters and using the strange vehicles the crew encountered as being used for rounding up runaway slaves. No computers or calculators were permitted to be used on Crandor, and energy isolaters prevented the use of weapons and other technological devices. When the Thaarn switched off the energy isolaters at Cally's request the gravity generator could be placed into reverse, allowing Liberator to escape before the planet destroyed itself.

One of the strange vehicles being used for rounding up runaway slaves

CREDIT

(various episodes)

Unit of currency throughout much of the galaxy. References include the following:

  • Space Fall: Vila referred to Avon nearly stealing CR 5 million out of the Federation banking system. Avon later expounded on a plan to lift CR 100 million from the system. In Ultraworld the Ultra stated that Avon's theft was in fact of CR 500 million.
  • Bounty: Tarvin planned to sell Liberator and its crew for CR 13 million, or CR 12 million without Jenna. This suggests that Blake was worth CR 2 million, the rest of the crew CR 1 million, and the ship CR 6 million. Jenna told Tarvin that the ship's strongroom contained CR 300 million, "give or take the odd ten million".
  • Deliverance: Servalan agreed, without authority, to pay CR 100 million for Orac. She told Travis that acquiring such a sum through the proper channels would take years.
  • Gambit: Krantor mentioned the Big Wheel making CR 4 million a week. Vila's "win" of CR 5 million was a record, and doubled when he forced the Klute to a draw at speed chess. The croupier mentioned the CR 1 million reward for defeating the Klute as "the biggest prize in the galaxy". Servalan agreed to pay CR 8 million for Travis and Docholli, dead or alive. Jenna called Cally a "ten credit touch" when they distracted the bouncers for Blake - this is a rare reference to a minor sum of money, and about the most useful for guessing the "real world value" of the credit.
  • Aftermath: Hal Mellanby had a CR 3 million bounty on his head.
  • Powerplay: Zee and Barr were paid CR 2,000 for bringing Vila to the Slaughterhouse. This might have been a different denomination to the Federation Credit.
  • Animals: CR 20 million was allocated to the top secret research project on Bucol-2.
  • Games: Gerren estimated Belkov's secret stash of feldon crystals as having a value of CR 1 billion.
  • Gold: the shipment of gold stolen from the Space Princess had a potential value of "17 billion". Keiller was expecting to be paid 6 billion, but Avon talked the other party (later revealed to be Servalan) into paying 10 billion for it. The sums may refer to the Federation Credit or to Zerok local currency. Either is possible.

CRIMINOTHERAPISTS

(A-1: THE WAY BACK / B-10: VOICE FROM THE PAST)

Employed by the Federation, they practised hypnotic illusion to revise or suppress memory. The term "criminotherapist" was not used in The Way Back, but Dr Havant described to Ven Glynd and Alta Morag how sealed off areas of memory were normally impenetrable, although mental trauma or nervous breakdown could render them accessible. Havant later went on to say that creating an illusion of reality was "quite simple". Varon deduced that this process had been performed on Carl Deca, Renor Leesal and Payter Fen, to make them believe that Blake had assaulted them, and he told Maja that the technique had been perfected "years ago" but banned by the medical profession.

The criminotherapists referred to in Voice from the Past used drugs, hypnotic signals and audio support in their work, after a time the signals alone being sufficient to bring about the desired response in a patient. Blake had presumably been treated by criminotherapists, something which Ven Glynd exploited by transmitting, with the Auron artificial telepathy device, the hypnotic signal with which he had been formerly treated. Blake's voiced renunciations of the Freedom Party were a side effect of this transmission, its primary purpose being to tell Blake to head for Asteroid P-K118, which he did.

In the same episode, Servalan mused over the idea of turning Governor LeGrand over to criminotherapists.

CRIMO

(B-8: HOSTAGE)

Criminal psychopaths, intelligent but sadistic individuals. Travis was accompanied by four crimos on Exbar, all in uniform suggesting that they were or had been Space Command personnel. Molok was teleported into space by Jenna and Cally, exploding instantly. Of the other three, one was crushed by rocks tumbled down a slope by Avon, Blake and Ushton, one was thrown over a cliff by Ushton, and the third was also killed by Ushton.

CROSSBOWS

(B-12: THE KEEPER / D-1: POWER)

Crossbows were used as weapons on Goth and by the Hommiks of Xenon. The former fired bolts which exploded on impact.

CRUISER

(various episodes)

Type of vessel. References included the following: "Planet listing" K-14 was noted as a repair and supply base for Federation deep space cruisers; the Ortega was described as a Mark III Galaxy Class cruiser; Servalan came to UP-Project Avalon aboard a "command cruiser"; the Amagons boarded the Liberator from the civilian cruiser Star Queen; the Chairman of the Terra Nostra gave Largo a heavy cruiser to pursue the Liberator; in Volcano the Liberator was attacked by eight Federation cruisers, of which 4-5 were destroyed; in Children of Auron Servalan's ship was described by Patar as an "ex-Federation cruiser" (and in Moloch by Servalan as a Mark II Star Cruiser); Karla told Deeta Tarrant that he would probably be transferred to a military cruiser now that war had been declared; Slave reported the launch of three B-19 cruisers from the surface of Helotrix; Servalan flew to Malodar in an L-Type Cruiser

CRYOGENIC CAPSULE

(A-4: TIME SQUAD)

Jenna described the projectile brought on board as "a cryogenic capsule", referring to the three deep-frozen humanoids on board (she was unaware of the fourth). Avon described the vessel as "primitive" and too small to sustain a full life-support system "by the look of it". The ship was of a type unfamiliar to Jenna and she noted that the controls were all manual and very basic. The auto-navs had malfunctioned, prompting cut-out of the propulsion units and triggering the distress call.
Avon described it as having a sublight drive, no take-off controls and no weaponry. He reckoned it could be hundreds of years old, and travelling on a one-way trip. A name or recognition code was visible on the exterior, but too abraded to be decipherable.

The four passengers, one of whom had died in transit, were guardians of genetic stocks and brood units on their way to an unspecified destination.

See PROGRAMMED GUARDIANS.

C-TYPE PATROLLER

(C-7: CHILDREN OF AURON)

Space craft of Auron manufacture. The C-type patroller flown by Pilot 4-0 was crippled by an ionic beam and brought aboard Servalan's star cruiser, where the pilot was infected with an alien pathogen before returning to Auron on manual. Despite its ungainly appearance, the craft could make surface landings.

CURSE OF CYGNUS

(A-3: CYGNUS ALPHA)

Illness contracted by all those who set foot on Cygnus Alpha. Vargas convinced new arrivals that there was no cure, but that the symptoms could be suppressed by daily doses of a drug. The drug, however, was nothing more than "a simple compound", the illness passing naturally after a few hours. It was contracted by Vila, Gan, Arco, Selman and the other prisoners who landed on Cygnus Alpha, and also presumably by Blake. The first symptoms appeared about two hours after arriving on Cygnus Alpha.

CUSTOMS GUARDS

(A-11: BOUNTY)

Tarvin and Jenna remembered the time when they hid in the mountains on Zolat-4 from 300 customs guards. Jenna saved Tarvin's life during this period, but no further details were given.

CYBERSURGERY

(B-12: GAMBIT)

Cally referred to Docholli as "the Federation's top cybersurgeon", although the exact nature of his work was unclear. He operated on the technicians who built Star One's computer complex, removing all knowledge of its location from their memories (though he arranged to fake the operation on Lurgen, a fellow cybersurgeon). On the trip to Freedom City, he rebuilt Zee's lost leg "out of pieces". He carried a small case of instruments with him, some of which he used to reconnect Travis" arm. This might have been a simple operation, however, since Jarriere disconnected it himself. On the other hand, Jarriere might also have been a cybersurgeon.

Lurgen was also a cybersurgeon, one of the 30 technicians who built Star One. He apparently used his skill on Goth to heal Gola.

See also PROSTHETIC DEVICES.

61 CYGNI

(B-7: KILLER) By Murray Smith

A binary star system, consisting of two orange dwarf stars, 11.1 light years from Earth. While one of the closest star systems to the latter, it was still uncharted by the time of Blake's 7, and popularly called the Darkling Zone as a result. This was due to the disappearance of a large number of space ships there over a number of centuries, including Wanderer Class One K47.

The events shown in Killer led to Blake's presumption that the star system was inhabited by 'an alien civilization, highly advanced, deeply distrustful of mankind, avoiding all contact'. This alien civilization returned K47 loaded with a virus that, according to Dr. Bellfriar, was devised to 'confine him [man] to his own planet [Earth]'.

See DARKLING ZONE.

CYGNUS ALPHA

(A-3: CYGNUS ALPHA)

Federation penal colony to which convicts from Earth and possibly elsewhere were sent. The London made the journey from Earth in eight months" ship time, according to Raiker. The small population was ruled by Vargas with Kara as his high priestess. Some species of small animal, probably a rat, lived on Cygnus Alpha, since the roast corpse of one was seen to be eaten by Laran. Throughout the course of the episode, Cygnus Alpha was never shown in daylight.

Vargas told Blake that the first settlers on Cygnus Alpha were fifty convicts sent by the Federation. They struggled to survive, but found their efforts threatened by later shiploads of prisoners. Vargas" great-great-grandfather, who came in on the first shipload, then founded an authoritarian religion to hold the community together. This dates the religion's founding back about 100-150 years. Vargas also stated that he had never ruled more than five hundred people at any one time. He also described human souls as the only currency on the planet.

Of the dozen or so followers seen only one, Kara, was female.

The star Alpha Cygni, also known as Deneb, is some 1,600 light years from Earth. It is catalogued as an A2 star, and as such is unlikely to have a planetary system.

CYGNUS XL

(D-8: GAMES)

A black hole, and the final star in the sequence that revealed the location of Belkov's missing feldon crystals. Locking the panels of Orbiter onto Cygnus XL pulled the ship towards the black hole.

Cygnus X-1, a powerful X-ray source with a supergiant companion, is a possible black hole in the constellation of Cygnus.

CYNRA

(A-13: ORAC)

Seen on the same star chart as Aristo on the Liberator's flight deck.

CYPHER MACHINES

(various episodes)

Used by the Federation (and presumably others) to transmit coded messages, they were a target of Blake's on several occasions. In Seek-Locate-Destroy Blake snatched a cypher machine from the Federation's communications centre on Centero, later Servalan says she must tell Central Security to change the code system after learning that Blake stole the cypher machine on Centero.. In Bounty, Blake tells Sarkoff how he learned of the Lindor Strategy after capturing a cypher machine. In Killer, Avon and Vila were sent down to Fosforon to acquire a TP-crystal to allow Blake to decipher pulse-coded A-line messages.

Among coded messages appearing in the series, Travis sent Blake a summons to Exbar in a code destandardised 50 years previously. In the same episode (Hostage), Avon contacted Servalan on Top Priority General Code 107, and Servalan received a call from Councillor Joban on Priority Code 9.

The trouble with capturing cypher machines was that they became useless once the codes had been changed. Travis could have had the codes altered within hours of Blake's attack on Centero, but held back to lure Blake back with news of Cally's capture. Blake told Sarkoff that the codes were changed after he learned of the Lindor Strategy. In Voice from the Past he used the changing of codes and the sense of futility it generated to reinforce his commitment to LeGrand's bloodless coup.

It is also worth noting that Orac could intercept and decode transmissions, as it did with Travis" message to Blake. This implies unspecified limits to Orac's capabilities: if it really could access any information Blake required, there would have been no need to take risks capturing cypher machines.


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