 Who is Ggarran?
The sight of an Earthman on Vega III, where it was impossible for an outlander to be, brought angry crowds to surround John Crownwall as he strode toward the palace of Viceroy Tronn Ffallk, ruler of Sector XII of the Universal Holy Empire of Sunda. If they carried out the threats of their present attitude, Earth would have to send Marshall to replace him. A pair of guards, their purple hides smoothly polished and gleaming with oil, crossed their ceremonial pikes in front of him as he approached the entrance. "And just what business do you have here, stranger?" asked the senior of the guards, his speaking orifice framing with difficulty the sibilances of Universal Galactic. "Just tell him that a man has arrived from Earth to talk to him. An elegant courtier, with elaborately jeweled harness, bustled from inside the palace, obviously trying to present an air of strolling nonchalance. His Effulgence commands you to appear before him at once." Behind him stood a heavy and pompous appearing Vegan in lordly trappings. "It's all right, Ggaran," said the Viceroy languidly. "It was only decided yesterday, back on Earth, that I would be the one to make the trip here. What I meant was that I expected someone from Earth to break through our blockade and come here. Still, if you were on your home planet only yesterday, that's astonishing even to me. "If you wanted someone from Earth to come here to see you, why did you put the cordon around Earth? And why did you drop a planet-buster in the Pacific Ocean, and tell us that it was triggered to go off if we tried to use the distorter drive? But you did come, so I can tell you that although I am the leader of one of the mightiest peoples in the Galaxy, whereas there are scarcely six billions of you squatting on one minor planet, we still need each other. I rule over a total of a hundred Satrapies; these average about a hundred Provinces each. There are more inhabited planets in the Galaxy than there are people on your single world. I, personally, rule three hundred trillion people, half of them of my own race. There was even serious discussion of destroying Earth out of hand, while it is still possible. While these creatures could by no means be classed among the intelligent races, there was a general expectation, which we reported to the Sunda, that they would some day come to be numbered among the Servants of the Emperor.
 The Viceroy's advisor
 The Viceroy's advisor  The head of the palace guard  The leader of the Vegans  The leader of the Sundans