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PROGRAMMED GUARDIANS

(A-4: TIME SQUAD)

Aliens or modified humans carried in cryogenic suspension aboard a sublight vessel carrying gene stocks and brood units from an unspecified place of origin to an equally unspecified destination. The ship was brought aboard Liberator on approaching Cygnus Alpha and the surviving crew (one of the four was long dead) thawed out.
They were programmed to protect their cargo from any possible threat, which included Blake's crew, and they injured Jenna, overpowered Gan and drained energy from the Liberator. Jenna killed two of the three remaining guardians (the first people seen to be killed with a Liberator handgun), the third died when he was pushed against a live power cable by Blake and electrocuted.

PROHIBITED SPACE ZONE

(A-10: BREAKDOWN)

Area of space Zen stated as having an "unacceptable risk designation". The terminology suggests that there were several - if not many - such zones, officially recognised and classified. The one crossed by the Liberator on its way to XK-72 contained a massive gravitational vortex.

PROJECT AVALON

(A-9: PROJECT AVALON)

Travis' plan to plant an android replica of Avalon aboard the Liberator and release a deadly virus modified from the so-called Phobon Plague, enabling the ship to be captured intact. Travis referred to the plan by this title and Avalon was not amused.

A broadcast announcement of "project A6 security green now in operation" may be a reference to Project Avalon or to some other operation.

PROJECTILES

(C-7: CHILDREN OF AURON)

Weaponry available to the Federation, almost certainly a generic term. Projectiles were fired from Servalan's star cruiser into the city on Auron, causing extensive devastation. Mark V projectiles had a very small burst radius, and were launched against the crew as they raced to the bio-replication plant.

PROSTHETIC DEVICES

(various episodes)

A number of these were featured. Travis" left arm, complete with lazeron destroyer, was among the first to appear. The only other artificial limb referred to was Zee's leg, constructed by Docholli, a cybersurgeon.

Vision replacements were fitted to Hal Mellanby, who had an image amplifier, and Ardus, who was fitted with a sonoscope.

Ensor was kept alive by a mechanical heart, a transplant organ not being available when needed, and Vila mentioned a pacemaker in Pressure Point.

Gan was fitted with a limiter implant to prevent him killing, and the body of Wanderer K47 crewman Wardin was fitted with a brain implant to control his body when he attacked Dr Wiler. Deeta Tarrant had microsensors implanted in his brain and a conducting mesh etched into his skull, all part of the sensornet through which audiences could take vicarious part in the combats of the Teal-Vandor Convention. The dynamon crystals worn by the Seska were apparently ingrafted.

Mechanical life-support systems were integral to the Altas and Moloch. The Altas could also communicate with the System by contact with a console, suggesting a possible fingertip receptor implant. The mutoids on UP-Project Avalon responded to broadcast commands without any visible reception device.

This is all a long way from the nerve-splicing and datanet interfacing of William Gibson's "cyberpunks", but the technology certainly appears to have existed in Blake's era.

As well as humans fitted with mechanical devices, there was a case of a machine adopting part of a human body. Muller's android donned its creator's head to pose as Muller and be taken to Orac on Xenon Base. Quite how the android managed to effect lip movement and facial expression on the head was (perhaps wisely) left undiscussed.

PROVINE

(B-9: COUNTDOWN)

Federation officer with the rank of Space Major. He was stationed on Albian in command of the Space Assault Force garrison there, but had formerly served with Central Control, and Blake thought he knew where Control had been moved to. Provine attacked Ralli, killed the guards at the rocket silo, and almost killed Blake but was fatally shot by him in a struggle. Before he died he told Blake that Central Control had been moved to Star One and that Docholli alone knew of its location.
The Fight with Blake

PROXIMITY MINES

(B-3: WEAPON)

Travis had the planets to which Coser had most likely fled seeded with small proximity mines in random orbits. They were virtually undetectable until they exploded, and one detonated when the Liberator drew close to one above UP-Weapon. No significant damage was sustained, however.

PSYCHOINSTRUCTION

(D-5: ANIMALS)

The final stage of Justin's perfection of Og, never completed.

PSYCHOMANIPULATION

(B-13: STAR ONE)

Psychomanipulation teams conditioned the technicians left behind on Star One to ensure that they did not try to disrupt the systems or broadcast its location. The head of the team responsible died under interrogation when Star One began to malfunction. Psychomanipulation may have involved similar techniques to those employed by criminotherapists.

PSYCHOSTRATEGIST

(B-3: WEAPON)

An expert on predicting the behaviour of an individual in given circumstances, assuming sufficient data was available. Carnell described himself as an "official" psychostrategist, suggesting that the Federation (or perhaps some other organisation) employed him especially for psychostrategical work. He also mentioned exacting a fee, which might indicate that he was working privately for Servalan or that Space Command had to buy his services from elsewhere in the Federation: the former seems more likely. The accuracy of a prediction depended on the psychostrategist having all the pertinent information: in Carnell's case, he was not told until too late of Rashel being with Coser, invalidating his predictions.

Psychostrategists were colloquially known as "puppeteers": Carnell was called such by Servalan's aide and he replied: "Do they still call us that?". The aide regarded him with something akin to awe, reflecting the power, putative or actual, that a psychostrategist had over individuals.


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