Name that Oscar Gordon gave to his longhorse. (From the Latin adage ars longa, vita brevis: "Art [is] long, but life [is] short." The name may also have been intended as a pun: "long arse," because of the animal's unusual length from a human perspective.)
Au Minimum
Store in Heliopolis where Oscar Gordon rented camping gear and bought copies of the Herald Tribune. [French, "at the least]
Name on the door of the office to which Oscar Gordon came in answer to an ad for "a brave man". Oscar recognized the name as an alias of Count Cagliostro, and Star claimed he was her uncle.
Black Room
Site where the Egg of the Phoenix was activated, so that the new ruler of the Twenty Universes could absorb the previous rulers' memories.
blood kites
Unpleasant flying denizens of Nevia, extremely murderous but otherwise undescribed.
The destination of Oscar Gordon, Star, and Rufo on Nevia, through which they could reach Mile-High Tower. The Gate was a means of travelling between planets and universes. Specific Gates were connected only with certain other locations; travelers could not use just any Gate to get to any destination.
Center
Capital world of the Twenty Universes. It was Earthlike, but lacked Earth's natural disasters. It attracted tourists from throughout the Twenty Universes.
[mentioned in passing] Street to which Star's ad for a "brave man" directed applicants.
Doral Letva
Wife of Doral 't Giuk Dorali (see next entry).
Doral 't Giuk Dorali
Lord of the manor where Star, Rufo and Oscar Gordon rested after their crossing of Nevia Valley. He was an old friend of Star. Oscar heard his name as "Jock".
dragon
The Nevian variety looked more like Tyrannosaurus Rex than mythological dragons. They were omnivores and belched flame. They were most prevalent just beyond the Doral's land.
Cybernetic record of the experiences of all 203 Emperors of the Twenty Universes. Each new Emperor had all the prior knowledge implanted in his/her memory to provide continuity in the government. Star recruited Oscar Gordon to help reclaim it after it was stolen by a dissident faction.
When Oscar Gordon returned to Germany one his way home from Vietnam, he hoped to visit his mother, stepmother and siblings in Wiesbaden, but discovered they had just left for the United States on their way to his stepfather's new assignment at Elmendorf AFB in Alaska.
emperor
The term "emperor" is inaccurate for the rule and function of the leader of the Twenty Universes, but there is no accurate English translation for the true function.
Contraption that can hold a truckload of goods but fold in on itself to the size and weight of a normal backpack, by "folding" the contents into other dimensions. Rufo carried one on the expedition through Nevia, but lost it in the swamp.
Transport ship that Oscar Gordon barely avoided taking to the U.S. (he wanted to be sent to Germany) after his Army discharge.
General Smith
Transport ship headed for Germany via Singapore; Oscar Gordon hitched a ride on an Australian airship to catch it.
Global Association of Atomic Scientists
Organization to which Donald Cargraves belonged, which enabled him to acquire atomic fuel for experimentation (actually to load into the moon rocket).
(Rocket Ship Galileo)
Oscar Gordon
Born Evelyn Cyril Gordon, a college football hero with fencing skills who was drafted for the Vietnam "police action", and discharged after receiving a facial scar in battle. While living in Europe, he answered an ad for "a brave man" and was recruited by Star to help her retrieve the Egg of the Phoenix. He and Star were married during the journey; he learned only later her true status and identity. He lived with her for a while in her capital; but after realizing he had no useful function there he returned to Earth. Finding life on Earth equally unsatisfactory he managed to contact his other companion on the quest, Star's grandson Rufo, and returned to the adventuring life. With a name like Evelyn Cyril, he acquired several nicknames: "Easy" from E.C., and for his easy style of running; "Flash", from his college football career, which he disdained; "Scar" after his injury, "Oscar" being Star's version of this.
One of the perils of the road beyond the Doral's lands on Nevia. They vaguely resembled Earth hogs, but were larger, uglier, much meaner, and carnivorous.
horned ghosts
Unpleasant denizens of Nevia Valley: "much like the Minotaur; from [belly] down they were splay-footed satyrs." Oscar Gordon had to fight through them to get to the Doral's land.
horses
The riding beasts of Nevia resembled horses except that they had eight legs and pads instead of hooves, and were omnivorous.
Large, troll-like golem designed to prevent travellers from entering Nevia Valley. Not too bright and easily offended, he was goaded into attacking Oscar Gordon headlong and was destroyed by shoving his foot in his mouth until he'd swallowed himself and disappeared.
Oscar Gordon bought a ticket as a tribute to the Goddess of Fortune after he got his discharge to Germany. He later won 52 more tickets in poker games; most of them turned out to be forged, but after returning from his quest for the Egg of the Phoenix, he learned that one of them had won him a substantial amount, of which most went to state and federal taxes.
Jim (no last name)
[mentioned in passing] The husband of Oscar Gordon's old girlfriend; he was away from home on business when she invited him to dinner "for old time's sake".
Girl who sent Oscar Gordon a Dear John letter, but contacted him after he'd returned from the quest for the Egg of the Phoenix. She was clearly interested in renewing their "friendship" in spite of her marriage, but he backed out.
[mentioned in passing] A point in Singapore the farthest distance from the docks; Oscar Gordon narrowly avoided being taken there "by mistake" by a cabdriver.
World to which the Egg of the Phoenix was taken after being stolen. Humans can tolerate its atmosphere for only a few hours. The Eater of Souls called it "Hoax".
Lady Vivamus
Oscar Gordon's sword. The name comes from the motto engraved on the blade, "Dum Vivimus, Vivamus" (Latin for "While we live, let us live!").
[mentioned in passing] Horse that matched one of Oscar Gordon's Irish Sweepstakes tickets.
Majatta. A misspelling of Marjatta.
Marjatta (no last name)
Swedish woman whom Oscar Gordon met on L'Île du Levant. She was a performer in a Paris revue. She invited him to visit her should he ever be in Sweden, and he did after his return from the quest for the Egg of the Phoenix.
Mile-High Tower
Massive, forbidding structure on Karth-Hokesh where the Egg of the Phoenix was guarded after being stolen. A denizen of the Tower claimed it was originally located in the Carpathians on Earth.
Pastry cook in the Doral's household, with whom Rufo spent the night.
Nancy Lee
Imaginary boat Oscar Gordon mentioned in listing his fantasies after realizing he didn't want to go back to school.
Nebbi (no other name)
Comparative linguisto-historo-political culturologist and insufferable snob. Oscar Gordon met him on Center and endured his belittling remarks about Earth.
World that has almost the only Gates to Karth-Hokesh. It is thus important to the Twenty Universes, but Nevia has no interest in the outside world. The people are generally friendly to outsiders, but the animal life is extremely hostile and dangerous. Oscar Gordon, Star, and Rufo traversed its lands to reach the Gate. Star taught Oscar its language, "rich in profanity and words for making love".
Old Nasty (no other name)
Oscar Gordon's name for His Wisdom CLXXXII, a predecessor of Star. His memory imprint affected her badly. She described him as a brilliant success in a critical age but a bad-tempered beast who hated the very people he helped.
Peasant who returned to the Doral the longhorses that Star, Rufo, and Oscar Gordon had borrowed. Seeing his awe of the group, Oscar "knighted" him, bestowing on him the name Lerdki 't Pug Easy. Privately, however, Oscar called him "Manure Foot".
Those encountered on Nevia were as large as wolves, and hungrier. Oscar Gordon had a phobia about them, stemming from unpleasant childhood experiences; one of the Eater of Soul's attacks was an hallucination of a rat swarm.
Renault (no first name)
Employee of American Express in Nice, France, who confirmed that Oscar Gordon's winning Irish Sweepstakes ticket was counterfeit.
Star's grandson and a comparative culturologist. He acted as Oscar Gordon's groom on the quest for the Egg of the Phoenix. After Oscar returned to Earth and realized he was not happy there, he contacted Rufo and they set off searching for another adventure. Some of Rufo's colleagues called him "the Mad Scientist" for his radical theories.
Name most commonly used by the Empress of the Twenty Universes. The Egg of the Phoenix, which contained the memories of all her predecessors, was stolen just before her reign. She recruited Oscar Gordon for the quest to retrieve it; they were married during the quest. After retrieving the Egg, she returned to the task of absorbing the memories of all her predecessors and making decisions for the worlds within the realm. Her official title is Her Wisdom CCIV, and her given name has numerous variations, including Aster, Esther, Estrellita, Ettarre. The Doral called her Ettyboo and various other nicknames; Oscar usually called her Princess.
Guest at a party Oscar Gordon and Star attended on Center. A student food designer and mathematico-sybarite, she was disappointed when Oscar turned down her proposition but delighted by the sandwich he'd made himself. She was particularly entranced by Lady Vivamus.
Sylvester (no first name)
Couple mentioned in a conversation overhead by Oscar Gordon on a bus; cited as an example of everything he no longer understood about Earth culture.
Twenty Universes
Domain that extends through various dimensions, encompassing a number of worlds within the dimensions. It is not explicitly described, but it is ruled by an "emperor" (see Star) who cybernetically absorbs the memories and experiences of all previous emperors. The capital world, Center, is a cosmopolitan crossroads for the many species that inhabit the Twenty Universes.
Two Maggots
Establishment in Paris that Oscar Gordon frequented while waiting for Rufo to answer his personal ad.
Vita Brevis
Oscar Gordon's name for the longhorse loaned to Star by the Doral. [From the Latin saying, ars longa, vita brevis: "Art is long, but life is short"; Oscar called his own mount Ars Longa.]
wart seven
Rufo's description of a hit on a dragon when he, Oscar, and Star fought their way through the dragons of Nevia to the Gate. The term refers to hitting a circular target on the inner edge of the sixth ring toward the bullseye, almost but not quite in the seventh ring.
J. L. Weatherby
Original owner of a winning Irish Sweepstakes ticket; he lost it to Oscar Gordon in a poker game.
