Security pass "for any area in Space Command". Such a pass was carried by Maryatt.
| The Federation's Weapons Development Base was a triple-A security installation, as one might expect given the nature of the work conducted there. Vila commented that "we have got into those before", suggesting operations not featured in previous episodes. | |
The title of a member of an academy, a society or association for advancing the arts, sciences, or both. It can also indicate a member of a national academy, a body that has a state's financial support and approval to co-ordinate research into the arts, sciences, or both.
In Games, this title was given to Gerren, a Federation professor. According to Avon, he was a 'brilliant geologist' and an 'expert in mining techniques'. Gerren later said that his present job was doing 'geological survey work for the Planetary Resources Commission'. Due to this background, it is possible to assume that the title indicated his membership of a Federation national academy, co-ordinating research into (at least) the sciences.
See also GERREN.
The civil wing of the Federation, as opposed to the military (Space Command). In theory Space Command was answerable to the Administration, but Trooper Par for one had other ideas. However, Servalan needed authority from the High Council to deactivate the defences in the Forbidden Zone. References include:
Dispensed by Cally to counter fatigue shock in Horizon: described as one third adrenalin, two thirds soma. The crew had been virtually living on it for weeks, according to Cally, yet Vila still had to ask what it was.
|
In Horizon it was injected, leaving Vila sleepy for about half an
hour, but Vila helped himself to a glass of adrenalin and soma in
Volcano and seemed visibly affected before downing half the glass.
|  |
Adrenalin is a stimulant hormone, raising heart rate in response to sudden stress.
Soma has a number of meanings. It can refer to the cell body of a nerve cell (from the Greek *soma* the body), but the more likely connection seems to be to Hindu mythology where Soma is the moon-plant, the juice of which bestows immortality -- an intoxicating drink called soma is used in some Vedic rituals. This strongly echoes the tranquillising drink of the same name in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. However, the derivation here may also be from the Latin *somnus* to sleep.
"Adrenalin and Soma" implies a combined stimulant/tranquilliser (Justin referred to it as a "stimulant", although it appeared to work on Vila as a relaxant in Horizon and Volcano. The names are not, perhaps, to be taken too literally. Taking large quantities of adrenalin in particular seems distinctly unwise. Adrenalin and Soma might therefore have been the trade name of a marketed product, or even a colloquial term of reference.
|
The description and possible title of a Federation lawyer. In The Way
Back, the arbiter of the court that tried and sentenced Blake called Tel
Varon 'your [Blake's] advocate'.
|  Tel Varon |
Site of Maravik's headquarters in the Hommiks" final battle against the Seska. Cato also referred to his surveillance system spying Dayna, Tarrant and Vila at "A-F 43".
Planet mined by the Federation for feldon crystals. The Federation failed to appreciate the energy-harnessing potential of feldon and thousands of people were accidentally killed in a series of explosions. Avon commented that they would have died anyway, since the Federation would have considered it uneconomic to remove anyone except "key personnel".
Word spoken by Chel. It might have been the name of one of his warriors, but could equally well have been an expletive of some kind.
|
A planet, population 6 million, all living around the equator, presumably
because it was the only habitable region of the planet. Temperature at the
poles was stated to be approaching absolute zero (but see under
BIRDS), which
gives a temperature gradient of something in the region of 250-300K if the
equator offered a breathable atmosphere and tolerable temperatures. Since
Avon and Del Grant visited one of the ice caps and found a breathable
atmosphere, the reference to absolute zero might not mean 0K as such, but be
a colloquialism for a region too cold to inhabit. The teleport distance from
the Federation bunker to the device's location was said to be 4,000 miles,
suggesting the planet was approximately Earth-size or smaller (Earth has a
polar radius of about 4,000 miles, and a surface journey from equator to pole
would be about 6,200 miles). Blake noted that the nearest planet was 500
space hours away.
|  A Pole of Albian |
Britain was referred to as Albion by the Greeks in the 4th Century BC, after the Albiones who lived there. It was also known as Albany. The term later applied more specifically to Scotland, under the name of Albin.
Simply defining an alien is not always easy. The inhabitants of planets like Sarran and Goth, for example, may or may not have originated from Earth. In Gold, Tarrant was told that Dayna could not be given drugs on Earth because she was an alien - this might be taken to imply that the people of Zerok were not human, or simply that they were not recognised Federation citizens. "Alien" in a general sense might have been a term for anyone not coming directly from Earth (cf EXOMORPH). Some definite (non-humanoid) aliens did appear, however, including the following.
| Shadow: a being from another dimension, referred to herein as the Darkness, took control of Orac in an attempt to enter our own universe. Zonda was home to the moon discs. |  Moon Discs |
| Weapon: a large predatory creature attacked Coser and Rashel during the night. Coser killed it using IMIPAK. The mood-responsive vegetable of the Clonemasters" city may have been a naturally-occurring species. |  |
| The Harvest of Kairos: a large insect-like species roamed the surface, devouring kairopan which it used for making silk. It could be deadly to encounter, although exactly how it killed was never shown. The same episode featured sopron, a rock-like organism which defended itself by projecting an image of itself as slightly more dangerous than its opponent. |  |
 A Link | Terminal: the corrosive cloud through which Avon took the Liberator may have been a form of life, though probably not intelligent. The planet Terminal was home to violent ape-like creatures called Links, which according to Servalan were what humanity was destined to evolve into. |
| A communications scrambler, converting messages into A-line pulse codes. The converter on Fosforon was constantly manned by three technicians. The TP crystal, essential to its functioning, was located within a high voltage area: Avon referred to 250,000 volts flowing through the circuitry. Avon sabotaged the converter so that Tynus could draw a spare crystal from the stores, allowing Avon to take the original. The sabotage effects could be attributed to a fire started by Tynus. Avon ultimately destroyed the converter after removing the crystal, hoping its absence would not be missed. |  Avon with the crystal |
Class of Federation computer, used by Belkov as the basis for Gambit.
Described by Orac as a small cargo ship, it was Belkov's personal craft. It is uncertain whether the ship escaped or plunged into the black hole of Cygnus-XL. Alpha-3 might have been the ship's name, design model or registration code.
| The Moon Disc. The name sounds more like a catalogue number, but Zen called the moon disc species alpha 7/5 of the genus Corla. This implies other species of that genus, though none were mentioned or seen (they might have been non-telepathic, non-motile or both). |  |
Vila said Blake was an Alpha grade, describing them as a "highly privileged group". He added that Blake "wouldn't last a minute in the Delta service grades where I grew up".
No-one else was explicitly stated to be an Alpha. Servalan called Jenna (in The Keeper) "a superior grade citizen". Joban mentioned Alpha grades, amongst others, as coming to view Blake as a hero figure, implying dissatisfaction with the Federation at all levels of society.
| Humanoid servants of The System. The two seen were female - others may have existed. They acted under the direct control of The System and may or may not have been androids. If not, they had presumably been subjected to considerable augmentation, allowing direct neural interfacing (by touch) with The System and needed an integral life-support unit: Blake disconnected a line between Alta Two's neck and an abdominally mounted control unit. |  Alta One |
 Alta Two | Norm-1 described the Altas as "not really people at all". Of the two Altas seen in Redemption, Alta Two was killed/destroyed by Norm-1 and Alta One presumably killed/destroyed in the aftermath of Blake's departure. |
Scorpio attempted to enter the Altern system by lurking within the radar shadow of an asteroid. The system was visited with the intention of acquiring selsium ore to make fuel crystals, and appeared to be under Federation control.
A space-faring people, quite possibly of arab descent or having a superficially comparable culture. Generally known for smuggling, but apparently open to any form of money-making scheme including piracy, bounty hunting and slave-trading: Tarvin claimed to have sold his own grandmother before she had the chance to sell him. Tarvin boarded the Liberator with at least four fellow Amagons.
Blake mentioned America in reference to Lord Jeffrey Ashley's use of primitive biological warfare against the native peoples there.
The crews of Liberator and Scorpio encountered a number of androids:
|
In Project Avalon a perfect copy of Avalon was put aboard
Liberator to release a capsule of modified "Phobon Plague" and kill
the crew. Cally talked to the android and suspected nothing, but Chevner was
killed when he presumably showed signs of suspicion. Cally was injured by
the android and it took Blake, Vila, Gan and Jenna to restrain it. It was
partially reprogrammed by Avon, when Blake used it to secure the release of
the real Avalon. It was based on what the scientist on UP-Project
Avalon referred to as the "triple omega" model, and Avon called it the
best robotic engineering he had ever seen.
|  |
|
In Volcano menial tasks were carried out by an android, and it
appeared to act as Hower's attendant. It also administered a lethal dose of
narcotic to Bershar, suggesting if nothing else that Asimov's laws of
robotics counted for nothing in Blake's time.
|  |
 |
In Death-Watch Servalan used an android to violate the Teal-Vandor
convention in an attempt to provoke war between the two systems. The android
killed Deeta Tarrant, but was destroyed by Del Tarrant using a weapon
developed by Dayna. Avon conjectured that "Vinni" was the work of Servalan
working with a local arms manufacturing cartel, with a Vandor high
councillor's involvement also implied.
|
| In Headhunter Muller developed an android that could influence circuitry over a distance and matched Orac in power. It had megalomaniac designs, planning to enslave all humanity, and Orac at least believed it could do so. Avon planned to harness the android's potential by fitting the head with its attendant restraining mechanisms, but Dayna, on Orac's recommendations, destroyed it. |  |
Inhabitants of a galaxy outside our own. Not seen clearly on-screen, but approximately two metres long (or tall?) and perhaps rather less than a metre wide with no distinct appendages. A green glow accompanying the deaths of two of them suggests a luminous / phosphorescent integument or internal tissues (both specimens had been shot). By means unspecified (innate or technological?), they could adopt the form of a studied human individual (but not, apparently, easily: "Parton" reminded "Stot" that "maintenance takes effort"). By extrapolation, they might have been able to do the same for an unspecified individual, a non-human organism of appropriate size, or possibly an inorganic object, but none of these possibilities were explored. At least 11 of these beings had made their way to Star One.
Although popularly known in fan lore as Andromedans, the invaders are invariably referred to simply as "the aliens" in the series.
In astronomical terms, Andromeda is a constellation, which includes the star Beta Andromedae just 75 light years from Earth and the spiral galaxy M31 some 2.2 million light years distant. Since Liberator leaves the Milky Way to reach Star One, references to Andromeda in this episode must be taken to mean M31. In Greek myth, Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, placed among the stars after her death.
|
Very few animals of Earth origin were seen. Ensor kept tropical fish. Rats
were seen in Weapon, and also on Goth: Rashel told Coser that rats
were to be found on every colonised planet. Krantor was seen with a cat in
Gambit, and the Sarran warriors rode horses. In Rumours of
Death a dead squirrel was used by Balon to explain the fault in the
surveillance perimeter. A mouse was put through the mass/energy converter on
Sardos.
|  The Mouse in Moloch |
 A Rat from Weapon |
Less explicit references are also to be found: in Gambit Vila
mentioned poisonous snakes and Krantor said Servalan was as perfidious and
devious as a snake. In The Keeper Rod referred to his captors as
"dogs". In Ultraworld Tarrant asked Dayna if she had ever seen a
lizard suck a bird's egg dry, implying that he might have done so. In the
same episode Vila recited a tongue-twister about a woodchuck. In Sand
Tarrant compared Servalan with a panther.
|
When Wardin's body was removed from Wanderer K47 it was placed in an anti-contamination bag.
A feature of Scorpio, and probably other ships designed for surface landings. The antigrav gyros were damaged when Tarrant fled from a patrol of pursuit ships above Bucol-2, and the fault was traced to the inertial guidance, glycolene ballast tanks.
Antimatter was mentioned a number of times, but rarely in any detail:
See also NEGATIVE HYPERSPACE
Status of Liberator given by Zen after the crew's trial run of handling the ship's flight systems.
Described as an alloy in discussion between Blake and Avon, and used in a large Federation project investigating the transmission of matter. Avon handled the computer analysis, and Blake also worked on the project. The result seldom worked - living matter came out dead at the other end, if it came out at all. The teleport bracelets on the Liberator contained aquitar "or something very like it", according to Blake.
Two of the visitors to the Big Wheel in Freedom City wore a stylised arab costume. The Amagons" costume in Bounty was also vaguely along such lines.
| Blake's trial on Earth was overseen by an arbiter and two other members (no titles given) of a tribunal, although actual judgement and apparently sentencing as well was carried out by computer. Arbiter appears to be the formal title of a judicial authority within the Civil Administration. Travis" court martial in Trial was presided over by a tribunal, who did not deliver a verdict but decided upon an appropriate sentence. |  |
Ven Glynd's official title within the Civil Administration's Justice Department was Arbiter General.
|
A senior official of the Federation's Justice Department. It is possible that
he was the chief law officer of the Federation and legal advisor to the
Administration, with perhaps some powers relating to the judiciary. While
there is no direct evidence in the episodes for such powers, they may be
implicit in the very title 'Arbiter General' and in the activities of Ven
Glynd.
|  Arbiter (left) Clerk of Court (right) |
If we look at Ven Glynd's activities, we see that he wields considerable power. In The Way Back, he organises and authorises the manipulation of the evidence in Blake's trial, as well as appointing Tel Varon as the latter's defence counsel. He also had the power to order an inquiry into Blake's case, and perhaps to consent to the issuing of a holding order. Once Varon was aware of Ven Glynd's true role regarding Blake, he told Maja that they would have to go 'Higher up. Even to the President if we have to', suggesting the possible existence of a superior between the Arbiter General and the President, perhaps a Minister for Justice or an equivalent; and his next remark, about needing 'the strongest possible evidence' is again suggestive of Ven Glynd's high office. In 'Voice from the Past', after Ven Glynd has defected from the Federation, it is clear that he is a key mover with Le Grand in the conspiracy, having spent an unspecified period of time using his position to gather evidence of the Federation's injustices. His presence in the conspiracy convinced Blake that it was a serious proposition. Of interest is the fact that he is still referred to as Arbiter General, which presumes that the Federation did not want to advertise the fact that it knew of his defection to the rebels.
To the above evidence must be added a possible disclaimer. Ven Glynd was never referred to as Arbiter General in The Way Back, perhaps suggesting that he might not have held that office at that time.
See also ADMINISTRATION, ARBITER, HOLDING ORDER, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, VEN GLYND.
A prisoner on the London. Described by Vila as a "great oaf", he joined Blake in attempting to escape from Vargas, but before he could get a teleport bracelet he was speared to death by one of the priests.
Planet on which Del Grant organised a revolt against the Federation at some time prior to his activities on Albian. Grant had apparently been active on other, unnamed planets as well.
| A former officer of the Bureau, and the only surviving officer with knowledge of the XX-coded operations on Bucol-2. Blinded by a radiation flare, he wore a sonoscope to replace his lost vision. He reluctantly informed Sleer of the work on Bucol-2 after she threatened his family, but made the mistake of admitting he recognised her as Servalan. His ship was destroyed as he left Sleer's cruiser, Sleer having ensured beforehand that no flight plan for his journey had been filed. |  |
|
The planet to which Ensor fled. Stated by Ensor Jr in Deliverance to
be six days" journey from Cephlon, but at a speed unstated. 90% of Aristo's
surface was covered by oceans, described by Zen as highly acidic. Zen also
made reference to life evolving in those oceans, and several phibians were
later seen. The few areas of land were described as arid with primitive
plant life, and slowly disappearing beneath the steadily rising oceans.
|  |
 |
At the same time, mention was made of cities built by earlier civilisations.
it was not stated whether these had been built by earlier colonists or a
native species that had subsequently become extinct. Almost all of these
constructions were now underwater, although Blake and Cally found an obelisk
on the surface. Ensor produced a map of the tunnels, marked "Sub City/73
Section 22". The atmosphere was breathable, even if the climate appeared to
be volatile.
|
Aristo, translated from the Greek, apparently means "best".
See also PHIBIANS.
Region of space in which Beta 5 was located. Although listed as Federation territory, it was remote and undeveloped, probably uninhabited.
| One of Kasabi's rebels who, together with Berg, ventured too far into the Forbidden Zone and activated the defence mechanisms there. He died along with Berg. |  On the left. |
| A Federation officer (she appeared unhappy at being called an "agent") who infiltrated Blake's headquarters on Gauda Prime. Blake regarded her as a useful recruit and noted that she had a reputation as a killer - she was seen to shoot two bounty hunters. There was a high price on her head. Although shot in the leg by one of Blake's fellow bounty hunters, she appeared to recover quickly soon after reaching Blake's headquarters. She did not reveal herself for what she really was until Avon had killed Blake, at which point she shot first Deva and then Dayna before being knocked out by Vila. Given that she was acting out a role, Arlen was probably not her real name. Her bogus identity may have been a total fabrication, or she may have been posing as a genuine person of that name. |  |
Quoted by Vila soon after arriving on the starship sent from Keezarn some 3000 years earlier: "One small step for man".
On July 21st 1969 former US Navy pilot Neil Armstrong (1930- ) became the first man to set foot on the Moon during the Apollo XI mission.
Planet on which Dorian obtained nutrients for the Seska's hydroponics plant, in return for which they offered technical advice.
| One of two rebels on Albian sent by Cauder to guard the rocket silo. Provine killed the other, and then tried to convince Arrian to come with him, offering him a position of power on the planet when it was recolonised. Arrian refused, so Provine shot him and stole his uniform. |  |
Blake mentioned the artificial gravity field as one of the systems already activated when he arrived at the mining plant on Asteroid P-K118. Such fields were probably commonplace, though were not mentioned in any other episode.
The Thaarn in Dawn of the Gods had developed a means of controlling gravity. This technology was presumably highly advanced, since the gravitational pull exerted on Liberator from Crandor was comparable with that generated by a Black hole.
Traction beams, mentioned in Dawn of the Gods and Games, might be regarded as a form of artificial gravity.
When Jenna first detected the programmed guardians" projectile on the way to Saurian Major, she asked Blake if there were any artificial satellites present on their chosen course. See SATELLITES.
Device used by Ven Glynd to bring Blake to Asteroid P-K118. Initial development was on Auron, and Cally remembered two of those working on it leaving the planet before she did. Ven Glynd, however, talked of help from sympathizers on (rather than from) Auron. Avon reckoned it would need an enormous amount of power to operate, but not at close range (when on the Liberator with Blake, for example). Ven Glynd also referred to it as a Course Interceptor. He asserted that it was used only to bring Blake to him, but Blake was rendered helpless by its signal when down in the conference centre: it is possible that Avon's investigation of its workings triggered this. The device was smashed by Avon, releasing Blake from its control, after which he remembered nothing of events since it was first used against him.
| Junior officer on the London, rank not mentioned but possibly flight engineer. He was seen to be studying for a commander's credentials. Artix released the prisoners from the holding area on the planet by remote control, once the ship had taken off from the surface. Leylan told him he was young enough to live down his part in the events on the voyage. |  |
 |
Mentioned by Blake as a British officer who supplied hostile Indians with the blankets of smallpox victims. Blake used this incident as a basis for guessing the reasons behind the mysterious appearance of Wanderer K47 above Fosforon.
This early use of biological warfare was used by a General Jeffrey Amherst, presumably the historical basis for the incident cited by Blake.
Sarkoff took Blake to be an assassin, and accepted his presumed impending death in the belief that "assassination has always been a legitimate tool of statecraft". In Project Avalon Servalan mentioned that two attempts had been made on her life as rumours of Blake's activities became more widespread.
Cancer was a professional killer.
|
Unnamed Federation official serving a tour of duty on Horizon, having been
there for two years at the time of Blake's visit and not apparently scheduled
for replacement. He had not heard of Blake or the Liberator in all
that time, indicating Horizon's isolated position. Blake finally shot him
before he could shoot Ro. Assistant Kommissar may or may not have been an
official rank within the Colonial Service.
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Asteroid to which Ven Glynd summoned Blake. P-K118 had a diameter of 0.102
spacials and a very low gravity (Blake said: "you cover ground fast if you
can keep your feet"). Removed from Ceron orbit five years before Blake's
visit and mined for urite ore, it was worked out within two years and
abandoned in Beta region, wherever that might be. The facilities were left
intact, as legally required by the Interplanetary Mining Agreement.
|  |
The remains of a beta-class asteroid found on Crandor contained all naturally-occurring minerals except herculanium, which had been removed (despite earlier references to herculanium being an alloy).
In Sarcophagus the crew debated whether or not to pursue an asteroid from which they could extract unique and valuable minerals. The asteroid was hours away when the alien sarcophagus appeared, and once it went back into the orbit of its sun it would be inaccessible for another three months.
In Moloch Vila mentioned asteroid clusters in passing as Liberator followed Servalan to Sardos.
In Stardrive Avon tried to use a large asteroid's radar shadow to sneak Scorpio into the Altern system. The plan was to approach to within "50 yards", but Scorpio collided with the asteroid and suffered damage to the main drive chamber. The idea was apparently Vila's, but he had had little confidence in it working.
See also METEORS
Federation officer with the rank of Colonel, and commanding officer of the Federation units forced down on Sardos during the Intergalactic War. He created Moloch by putting a computer projection of the Sardoans" evolution into the mass/energy transformer. He later attempted to destroy Moloch, who sentenced him to be kept in a state of sensory deprivation whilst retaining full consciousness. At some point before this Astrid sent a communique to Servalan reporting his suspicions of Grose's loyalty (unless Servalan made this up to protect herself). His fate at the end of the episode was unclear, but if his life support system was still functioning after Moloch's death he could have been removed unharmed (physically at least) by the Sardoans.
Identified by Zen as the location of Orac's predicted destruction of the Liberator. This point was in the 12th Sector and according to Blake, "halfway across the galaxy", though this might have been a figurative remark.
Ordered on-line by Avon when Liberator suffered minor course deviations. Deviation continued to the point where asymmetric thrust could no longer compensate.
Leader of the space rats on Caspar, but not, however, a space rat himself, something of which Plaxton was aware. The other space rats might not have known who he really was (whatever that may have been). He intended to use the photonic drive, fitted to his underlings" space choppers, to gain control of all space trade routes. He presumably died when Avon detonated a grenade under his trike.
Venue for the annual summit meeting of all Federation governors, though whether it was a regular venue or not is unclear. Security arrangements for the convention were in the hands of Deputy Commander Galt, and included force walls around the planet.
The method of analysis employed by Zen to discover that all herculanium had been removed from a beta class asteroid and the main drive stabiliser unit found on Crandor.
Planet with a breathable atmosphere, a probably large population and a high level of technology. What the people called themselves is open to dispute: Cally said: "My people are the Auronar" in Time Squad, but in Sarcophagus she described herself as "an Auron". Both terms might have been in equally common usage.
Just how truly alien the Auronar were is a matter of contention. Jenna referred to Cally as an alien at the end of Time Squad. Sarkoff said to her: "Your people don't originate from Earth." In Sarcophagus Cally said: "I'm not quite human." Avon in Shadow described her as "more human than I am", and the commandeered Orac in that episode told her that she was "the last of the humankind" in order to isolate her. Cally described herself as "not all that alien" in Voice from the Past. Deral remarked that the fetuses Servalan showed him looked "quite human", to which Servalan replied, "They are". The people of Auron certainly seemed to have been subjected to some form of genetic engineering, since this was the process by which Franton induced telepathic and other psi-abilities in all young Auronar. In Dawn of the Gods, Cally recited the legend of the Thaarn, stretching back over a million years, in which telepathy was described as "promised", but she admitted that this was reckoned to be just a children's story.
Another Auron legend was that of the Lost, cast out as "unfit to share the soul of Auronar" at some unspecified time. The Lost, or survivors of them, were apparently encountered by Blake as the corporate being Saymon in The Web. Saymon called Cally "our daughter", and told Blake that he and the minds of which he was comprised were "from the Auronar, but not of them".
Auron technology included development of artificial telepathy transmission: Cally knew of the project but apparently did not work on it. She recalled two members of the development team leaving Auron before she did. In Dawn of the Gods she said that Auron had yet to develop the traction beam.
Auron followed a policy of strict isolationism, although LeGrand referred to having anti-Federation sympathizers on Auron. This policy was particularly enforced after the Intergalactic War, despite being well away from the war zone. According to Avon, this was because they considered themselves too good to become involved with the rest of humanity (sic). Cally defended this on the grounds of Auron being neutral, but added with reference to herself: "We're not all gutless". The isolationist policy was made by a Council, presumably a ruling body, and opposed by clinician Franton, but as his daughter said to CA 1, "those in opposition were simply ignored". This insularity had left Auron free of all diseases for "more than three decades" according to Orac. Nevertheless, Auron did have stargoing vessels, including the C-type Patrollers, one of which was picked up by Servalan on its way back to Auron. The pilot was infected with an alien pathogen before continuing on his way home.
One of the best-known features of the Auronar was their mental powers, especially telepathy. Deral stated that all Aurons were telepathic. In Dawn of the Gods Cally said that some of her people were telepathic "to a degree". Widespread telepathy seems to have its origins in the cloning process developed by Clinician Franton snr. Cally said in Shadow that telekinesis was rare "even among my people". In Children of Auron, Servalan used an ionic beam on pilot 4-0 to prevent his telepathic abilities sensing what she was doing. This suggests that some Auronar may have had some mind-reading ability, or were popularly thought to.
 |
The other, and perhaps most distinctive, feature of Auron society was the
fact that a large and probably growing proportion of its population were
clones. A process of spontaneous cell differentiation was developed by
Clinician Franton snr. some decades prior to Liberator's visit. Most
younger Auronar were probably clones, and Cally and Zelda were from the same
sibling batch.
|
See also BOOK OF AURON, CALLY, CLONING, SAYMON, TELEKINESIS, TELEPATHY, THAARN.
Travis was suspended from duty for massacring unarmed civilians after their surrender on the planet Auros. He was later tried for the murder of 1417 people on Zircaster, and it is tempting to assume this is the same incident, although Zircaster itself was stated to be a planet. Either two different massacres took place, or Auros was also known as Zircaster.
| Sarkoff possessed an automobile, probably genuine, and neither Cally nor Blake knew what it was, other than a vehicle of some kind. Registration number was RT 277. |  |
When the crew started to try and repair the damage resulting from the attack by two Space World vessels, Avon told Cally to "strip down the auto-navigator". Whether this device was part of the navigation computers or a peripheral unit to them was unstated.
In Time Squad Zen deduced the purpose of the programmed guardians after examination of the cryogenic capsule's auto-navigation unit.
The autopsy on K47 crewman Wardin was listed by Dr Wiler as autopsy report 149,906. The law not unnaturally required that life was extinct before examination could begin, and space death autopsies were conducted in a sealed mortuary in case alien organisms were present in the corpse.
A system found on board Federation ships and the Liberator, as well as being part of the high-intensity radiation grid guarding Central Control on Earth. This system repaired damage automatically, without the need for human intervention. The obvious benefits of such a system were an overall reduction in personnel, which would be particularly valuable on board ship, freeing the remaining crew for other tasks.
The first such system is found on the Federation civilian ship London in Space Fall. The ship was caught up in a space battle, and the outer hull was punctured astern; but Raiker reported to Leylan that the 'Auto-repair circuits' were sealing it. From a later explanation by Jenna, as well as by Nova's death, it would appear that those circuits were responsible for activating the sealing gel which flooded into the endangered section and which went 'solid in seconds'.
Compared to the auto-repair system on the Liberator, the one on the London appeared to be of a far more basic nature, dealing only with structural damage, not damage to components, and with no regenerative capacity; but this was to be expected, given the latter's age and the former's far superior technology. The Liberator's auto-repair system was first mentioned in 'Time Squad'; but it was not described in detail until The Web, when the primary drive increased speed due to a deliberately induced malfunction. Zen reported that the 'automatic repair service' should have it under control in 11.302 minutes.
Later in that episode, after Cally cut the forward detector links, Zen reported that 'repair monitors are assessing the damage'; to a later question he reported that, as the partial malfunction was still not traced, 'Repair monitors are in phase two reassessment'. Later confirmed by Avon, this shows the methodical manner the auto-repair used to locate then repair the damage.
Avon demonstrated the efficacy of the system when he tried to use another of the ship's systems, bypassing the detector computer. In one of his attempts, circuit boards shorted and burned out; but the auto-repair restored the circuitry in seconds, a repair that would have taken days to repair in an ordinary computer system, suggesting that it had regenerative capability. Avon endorsed Gan's response to this of 'fantastic', pointing out that a fortune could be made from it.
Redemption demonstrated what happened to the auto-repair when the Liberator's systems were taken over. The crew had to replace damaged components manually, the replacements appearing to come from an 'auto-repair cavity'. Either some components were kept there for such an emergency; or the system could still operate at an elementary level, regenerating components there instead of in situ.
Exactly how effective the Liberator's auto-repair system could be was shown in Aftermath, when the damage suffered due to Andromedan attack overwhelmed its capacity, leading to a malfunction in the ship's life support system, forcing the crew to leave by life capsule. Despite this considerable damage, the ship was soon operating at 54% of normal capacity, increasing as the auto-repair systems completed their functions. Zen estimated that repairs would be complete in 2 hours and 34 minutes, and reported that the weapon systems were fully operational.
Despite its great abilities, the auto-repair system was unable to cope with the cloud of minute fluid particles encountered in Terminal. After going through the cloud the hull sensors stopped working and the auto-repair circuits were activated. While the substance began to corrode the Liberator's hull, it was not until later that Vila noted a 'very-high level discharge' from the energy banks, such that their regenerative capacity was exceeded. This was due to auto-repair circuits working at maximum capacity; but the damage was exceeding their recitification capacity. The result was the development of dangerous structural weaknesses in many areas of the ship, the circuits fighting a losing battle and burning up the energy banks. The final result was the breakdown of systems, including Zen, and the ship's destruction when Servalan had the main drive activated.
All the auto-repair systems shown in the series were in ships with one exception: the high-intensity radiation grid guarding the entrance to Central Control on Earth, as seen in Pressure Point. When cut, it was capable of total self-repair in 8 seconds. From what was seen, it appears to have a form of regenerative capacity, though nowhere near as sophisticated as on the Liberator.
While auto-repair systems had many benefits, they also had certain drawbacks. First, presumably due to their basic programming, they could not _anticipate future damage_, which would mean interference in human autonomy. In The Web, Zen refused to identify Cally's role in deliberately inducing the malfunction in the primary drive, as 'involvement is not permitted'; and he refused to reprogramme the system to deal with the future explosion of the bomb she attached to the primary power channel as 'Pre-emptive interference in crew activities is forbidden'.
Second, auto-repair systems were methodical. The one on the Liberator, according to Avon in The Web, 'starts at the beginning and it works its way through. It's slow'. Due to its methodical nature, Avon could anticipate how long a particular repair would take. The fact that the radiation grid in Pressure Point would take exectly 8 seconds to self-repair if cut gave the crew the chance to get to Central Control's entrance.
Third, they had to rely on other systems to find out what damage they needed to repair. The Liberator's system relied on the hull sensors; but the malfunction of the latter by the fluid particles in Terminal limited the data for analysis, thus limiting the system's capacity for repair. This, combined with the actual damage caused, eventually resulted in the ship's destruction.
See also FORBIDDEN ZONE, LIBERATOR, LONDON.
The auxiliary computer on Liberator were responsible for every minor adjustment of the ship's systems required when in flight, and were ultimately controlled by Zen. When Zen shut down, as in this episode, the auxiliary computers did likewise, and manual control of the ship became next to impossible.
A feature of the flight deck aboard Liberator: Orac gave Blake information on Wanderer class vessels through the auxiliary monitor.
| Dissident leader who had started resistance movements on over a dozen worlds. She called on Blake's help for transport to a safer planet, but was betrayed by Terloc and captured by Travis. |  |
Android Avalon | She was duplicated in android form and planted on the Liberator, a plan known as "Project Avalon". Jenna had met her at some previous, unspecified, time before escaping with Blake to the Liberator (the android failed to recognise Jenna, and Jenna made no comment on this), and Cally said she had admired Avalon's work "for a long time". Avalon left the unnamed planet in the episode with Blake but was not seen or referred to at any later time. |
Helot freedom fighter with Hunda's 4th Column. Avandir monitored Igin's return from the city, and took part in the ambush of the adapted Helots sent out by Colonel Quute. He also took part in the assault on the city once Forbus" antidote to pylene-50 had been supplied to Hunda by Tarrant and Dayna.
| Some facts are given regarding Avon's past. He trained with Tynus, and they later worked on a fraud together. Avon was arrested, but did not implicate Tynus and was presumably acquitted (see below). In Cygnus Alpha he referred to handling the computer analysis on the Federation's matter transmission project: Blake was also involved with the project, although they did not work together. At some point he conceived the idea of embezzling a large sum of money by undermining confidence in the Federation's banking system (Vila mentioned five million credits in Space Fall. |  In Space Fall |
 In Cygnus Alpha | The Ultra later cited a sum of 500 million credits, but in Space Fall Avon talked of lifting 100 million credits if he managed to escape from the London, implying that this was far more than his original target). The plan was discovered by Federation security and thought to have political motivations, hence the assignment of Bartolomew to "run" him. Bartolomew was, of course, Anna Grant and according to Shrinker, anyone Avon "so much as looked at was marked for collection". |
|
Travelling "halfway across the city"
(which city was never specified) to buy exit visas, Avon was shot when the
seller increased the price to ten times the original amount and could
apparently have got even more for turning Avon in. Avon then killed the man,
but had lost a lot of blood and was forced to lie low. He was sheltered by
some unspecified people, during which time he heard that Anna had been
arrested. He waited for a week until leaving, having heard by then that Anna
was dead. At some point after Anna's "death", and probably after his arrest,
Del Grant threatened to kill him if they ever met again.
|  In Time Squad |
 In Seek-Locate-Destroy |
He discussed a past fraud operation with Tynus in which he was arrested but
kept quiet, allowing Tynus to go free. This may be the crime for which Avon
was deported, but if so then Bartolomew would be expected to have had Tynus
brought in too (this may, of course, have happened, but Tynus made no mention
of it). Avon's activities with Tynus may thus have been an earlier criminal
enterprise. It may also have been crime that initially brought Avon into
contact with Keiller: Keiller was being blackmailed for his criminal record
(or at least claimed to be). Quite what Avon and Keiller had done together -
if anything - was not, however, detailed.
|
|
Aboard the London, Avon planned to arrange a deal with the crew
whereby he would be set free and the rest of the prisoners dumped in space.
He quickly deduced that they would then have to kill him to keep his mouth
shut. In Blake's escape attempt he took control of the computer room, but
was recaptured when Blake surrendered. He boarded the Liberator with
Blake, but needed to be restrained by Jenna from leaving Blake on Cygnus
Alpha. Thereafter he stayed with the Liberator until its destruction
at Terminal, and with the Scorpio until its final flight to Gauda
Prime.
|  In Mission to Destiny |
 |
Known relatives: The defence mechanism active when Avon first boarded the
Liberator (he was the sixth person to enter the drifting ship) tried
to lure him with an image of his brother. No further details given.
|
| Bodycount: When asked by Jenna in Cygnus Alpha if he could ever kill face-to-face, he answered "I don't know", which is strange considering he had already done so. It is not unlikely that he was simply trying to avoid talking about the subject. Although by no means incapable of killing, he was not - initially at least - one for taking lives without reason, and as late as Aftermath prevented Dayna from dispatching an unconscious Sarran. He was first seen to shoot anyone in Deliverance, when he killed a scavenger. |  In Shadow |
 In Weapon |
He also killed one of the President's security personnel on
Zonda; a trooper on UP-Weapon; four Federation troopers on Horizon;
Tynus; two of Mori's troopers in Volcano; one of the Thaarn's guards
on Crandor (Tarrant also shot one, and one of these two was only wounded);
four of Shad's guards in The Harvest of Kairos; at least two of
Bayban's men on Keezarn; Shrinker (effectively) and Anna Grant in Rumours
of Death; Dorian's creature in Rescue; two Hommiks and later Pella
in Power; two space rats in Stardrive; a mutoid in
Animals; a guard on Zerok, at least one guard on the Space
Princess; four troopers on Betafarl in Warlord; and two bounty
hunters and later Klyn on Gauda Prime before finally killing Blake himself -
at least 36 kills.
|
|
Notable brawls: In hand-to-hand fighting he knocked out the computer
technician on the London; overpowered Sara on the Ortega; was
overpowered by Gan in Breakdown; knocked out a trooper in
Moloch; lost a fight with Gunn-Sar in Power; overcame Pella's
telekinetic power in the same episode; and acquitted himself well against
Benos" pirates in Assassin.
|  In Trial |
|
Places visited: Avon set foot on Saurian Major, UP-The Web,
Centero, XK-72, Cephlon, Aristo, Space World, Space City, Zonda,
UP-Weapon, Horizon, Earth (twice), Fosforon, Exbar, Albian, Asteroid
P-K118, UP-Gambit, Star One, Sarran, Obsidian, Crandor,
UP-Sopron, Kairos, Keezarn, Auron, Ultraworld, UP-Death-Watch,
Terminal, Xenon, Caspar, Bucol-2, Domo, Mecron II, Zerok, Beta 5, Malodar,
Betafarl, and Gauda Prime - a total of 38 planets/space stations.
|  In Countdown |
 In Killer |
Captured by: Tarvin's pirates, along with the rest of the crew, in
Bounty; by the Altas (again, with everyone else) in Redemption;
by Veron, along with Blake, Vila and Gan in Pressure Point; by Travis"
crimos in Hostage; by Klegg in Powerplay; by the Thaarn (with
the others) in Dawn of the Gods; by Servalan in The Harvest of
Kairos; by Servalan again in Children of Auron; by the Federation
(voluntarily, in order to get to Shrinker) in Rumours of Death; by the
Ultra; by Grose and Lector on Sardos, where he was tortured by Lector; by
Servalan on Terminal; by Dorian in Rescue; by the Hommiks in
Power; and by the pirates of Domo in Assassin (again
voluntarily) where he was sold to Servalan for 2,000 vems. In the same
episode he was captured by the professional killer Cancer, and only saved by
the sudden arrival of Tarrant and Soolin. He was almost executed by
Federation troopers on Betafarl, but saved by Soolin.
|
|
Significant injuries: Avon suffered relatively few injuries in his
time as one of the crew, but was wounded on the left hand by a spear-like
energy weapon carried by Geela in The Web; shot in the left arm arm by
Travis in Hostage; shot in the left arm (again) by Mori in
Volcano; contracted the alien disease used by Servalan against the
people of Auron (presumably cured by Orac); was brutally interrogated when he
went hunting for Shrinker; had his memory emptied by the Ultra and incurred a
damaged wrist from Lector in Moloch. He was also said to be suffering
from back pains in Horizon.
|  |
 In Dawn of the Gods |
Avon was frequently rendered unconscious. He was knocked out by Gan in
Breakdown, by Servalan in Terminal, by falling from a life
capsule in Aftermath, by Tarrant in Powerplay, by Cancer in
Assassin, and by an electric shock when trying to place the head on
Muller's android in Headhunter, and by the troopers who captured him
on Betafarl. His greatest number of knockouts occurred in Power where
he was knocked out by a hommik who captured him, by another hommik after he
defeated Gunn-Sar and by a computer keyboard telekinesed by Pella.
|
|
Rescues: For someone who professed to care little for his compatriots, he
effected a surprising number of rescues. He saved Blake from a bomb planted
by Cally in The Web; was the first to offer to go back down to Cephlon
to look for Jenna in Deliverance; rescued Blake and Cally from Travis
in Orac; saved Blake from an animated power cable in
Redemption; defeated Federation forces on Horizon almost
single-handed, saving the rest of the crew; engineered Blake's retrieval from
the Host in Trial; voluntarily removed his teleport bracelet to
continue disarming the solium radiation device in Countdown; and made
a point of looking for a missing Tarrant in Rescue.
|  in Moloch |
He was forced to rescue Servalan twice. In Aftermath he had to save her from the Sarrans in order to find out where she had hidden Orac, and in Rumours of Death he agreed to release her from the cellar where Sula had had her chained in exchange for Bartolomew's identity.
|
"When it comes to computers, he's the number two man in the Federated worlds"
was how Vila described him in Space Fall, but Avon's technical
expertise was wide-ranging. He devised a detector shield for the
Liberator, first used in the attack on Servalan's HQ in Trial.
In Time Squad he displayed a sound knowledge of space craft design,
and in Countdown showed considerable expertise in the field of bomb
disposal. In fact, he did very little with computers throughout the course
of the series, and was unable to effect more than a rudimentary reprogramming
of the android Avalon, although he did manage to bypass Zen and get the
automatic back-up computers on-line in Breakdown.
|  In Hostage |
 |
He claimed, even before he met Blake, that he didn't trust anyone, but when
asked (in a flashback) by Anna if he trusted her he replied, "Oh yes, I'm
afraid I do". He later told Del Grant "If there had ever been a time when I
could have given my own life to save her, I would have done it". This was
before he shot her. His relationship with Servalan developed precipitously.
They met twice, in Orac and Weapon, and then only briefly,
before speaking to each other in Aftermath when she offered him
co-rulership of the galaxy (he refused). Thereafter they met no less than
seven times, in The Harvest of Kairos, Children of Auron,
Rumours of Death, Death-Watch, Terminal,
Assassin, and Gold. She once told him, in Death-Watch,
that she regarded him not as an enemy "but as a future friend", yet happily
abandoned him to his fate on Terminal. In Traitor he said "I need to
kill her myself", but showed no subsequent sign of actively pursuing this
goal, though opportunities were admittedly very limited.
|
|
He was last seen standing over Blake's body, surrounded by at least twelve
troopers. A number of shots were heard to be fired, at least eight from
standard Federation weapons, three to four more from another weapon. This
may have been Avon, but some of the troopers were armed with non-standard
weaponry. Whether or not Avon could have survived up to twelve hits or more
remains unknown.
|  |
 | Not everything Avon said about himself could be taken literally, never less so than in Aftermath when he told Dayna, "I'm not very keen on watersports". Just how true this statement might have been will, alas, never be known. |
Site of the last battle between the Hommiks and the Seska twenty years before the crew were brought to Xenon.
Person of unknown age, gender etc admitted to the Central Clinic of the dome city on Earth on the same day as the three children allegedly molested by Blake.