Harry Turtledove - In the Balance

(Characters with names in CAPS are historical, others fictional)

Aloysius captive in Fiat, Indiana

ANIELEWICZ, MORDECHAI guerrilla leader in the Warsaw ghetto

Arenswald, Michael engineer Heavy Artillery Battalion Dora

Bagnall, George flight engineer in RAF bomber crew

Bauer, Klaus hull gunner in Heinrich Jagers tank

Becker, Karl engineer Heavy Artillery Battalion Dora

Bell, Douglas bomb-aimer in RAF bomber crew

BOR-KOMOROWSKI, TADEUSZ general, Polish Home Army

Brodsky, Nathan Jewish laborer at Warsaw airport

Burkett, Dr. biology professor at University of Chicago.

Chase, Otto cement plant worker at Dixon, Illinois

CHURCHILL, WINSTON prime minister of Great Britain

Collins, Colonel U.S. Army officer

COMPTON, ARTHUR supervisor, University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory

Daniels Pete Mutt manager, Decatur Commodores (II-I League)

Daphne barmaid at the White Horse Inn, Dover, England.

David child of Jewish fighter, Warsaw

Doi, Colonel Japanese interrogator of Teerts

Donlan, Kevin U.S. Army private in Naperville, Illinois

Embry, Ken pilot of RAF bomber crew

FERMI, ENRICO nuclear physicist at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory

Finkelstein, Sam doctor

Fiore, Bobby second baseman, Decatur Commodores (II-I League)

Fuchs, Stefan loader in Heinrich Jagers tank

Goldfarb, David RAF radarman in Dover England

Gorbunova, Ludmila Red Air Force pilot

Gordon captive in Fiat, Indiana

GROVES, LESLIE U.S. Army colonel

HITLER, ADOLF German Fuhrer

Hocker, Maximilian lieutenant colonel, German Army, Paris

HULL, CORDELL U.S. secretary of state

Jacobi, Nathan BBC newsreader

Jager, Heinrich major Sixteenth Panzer Division

Jones, Jerome RAF radarman in Dover England

Karpov, Feofan Red Air Force colonel

Kasherina, Yevdokia Red Air Force pilot

Kobayashi, Lieutenant-Colonel Japanese interrogator of Teerts

Kraniinov, Viktor Red Army lieutenant colonel in Moscow

Lane, Edward Ted radioman in RI4F bomber crew

Larssen, Barbara graduate student in medieval literature; Jens wife

Larssen, Jens nuclear physicist, University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory

Leah Jewish fighter in Warsaw

Lejb Jew in Hrubieszow, Poland

Lidov, Boris NKVD lieutenant colonel, Moscow

Liu Han Chinese peasant woman

Marie captive in Fiat, Indiana

MARSHALL, GEORGE U.S. Army Chief of Staff

Max Jew who survived Babi Yar; Soviet partisan

MOLOTOV, VYACHESLAV foreign commissar of the USSR

Okamoto, Major Japanese interpreter and interrogator of Teerts

Old Sun tailor in China

PATTON, GEORGE U.S. Army major general

Pavlyuchenko, Kliment kolkhoz (collective farm) headman in the Ukraine

Popova, Yelena Red Air Force major

RIBBENTROP, JOACHIM VON German foreign minister

Riecke, Ernst captain, Sixteenth Panzer Division

Risberg, Buck soldier in Aurora, illinois

Rodney captive in Fiat, Indiana

Russie, Moishe ex-medical student in the Warsaw ghetto

Russie, Reuven Moishe Russie s son

Russie, Rivka Moishe Russies wife

Sal captive in Fiat, Indiana

Sanders, Charlie black man feeding soldiers in Naperville, Illinois

Schmidt, Dieter driver of Heinrich Jagers tank

Schneider, Sergeant U.S. Army recruiting sergeant

Schultz, Georg gunner of Heinrich Jagers tank

Sebring, Gerald nuclear physicist, University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory

Simpkin, Joe rear gunner in RAF bomber crew

SKORZENY, OTTO SS Hauptsturmfuhrer

Spiegel, Michael German Army lieutenant colonel in Satu Mare, Romania

Stansfield, Roger Royal Navy commander; CO of HMS Seanymph

Sullivan, Joe pitcher Decatur Commodores (II-I League)

Sylvia barmaid at the White Horse Inn, Dover England

SZILARD, LEO nuclear physicist, University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory

THOMSEN, HANS German ambassador to the United States

Thomsen, Pete reporter on the Rockford Courier-Journal

TOGO, SHIGENORI Japanese foreign minister

Tompkins, Charlie mechanic in Strasburg, Ohio

Virgil sailor on the merchant ship Caledonia

Wagner, Eddie U.S. Army private near Delphi, Indiana

Whyte, Alf navigator in RAF bomber crew

Yeager, Sam outfielder Decatur Commodores (II-I League)

Yi Min Chinese apothecary

Yossel Jewish fighter in Poland

ZINN, WALT nuclear physicist, University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory

Atvar fleetlord, invasion fleet

Breltan radar technician, 67th Emperor Sohrheb

Drefsab intelligence operator on Atvars staff

Erewlo subleader, communications section

Feneress shiplord-member of Strahas faction

Gefron killercraft pilot, flight leader

Gnik outpost commander at Fiat, Indiana

Hassov shiplord-member of Kirels faction

Horrep shiplord-member of Strahas faction

Kirel shiplord, 127th Emperor Hetto

Krefak missile battery officer

Krentel landcruiser commander

Mozzten shiplord based in U.S.A.

Relek shiplord 16th Emperor Osjess

Relhost assault force commander in attack on Chicago

Ristin soldier captured by U.S. Army

Rolvar killercraft pilot

Shonar shiplord-member of Strahas faction

Ssofeg prison-camp official in China

Straha shiplord 206th Emperor Yower

Svallah artillery supervisor in the attack on Chicago

Teerts killercraft pilot, flight leader

Telerep landcruiser gunner

Tessrek senior psychologist

Ullhass soldier captured by U.S. Army

Ussmak landcruiser driver

Votal landcruiser commander

Xarol killercraft pilot

Zingiber Northern Flank Commander in the attack on Chicago

Zolraag governor of Warsaw

Fleetlord Atvar strode briskly into the command station of the invasion fleet bannership 127th Emperor Hetto. Officers stiffened in their seats as he came in. But for the way his eye turrets swiveled in their sockets, one to the left, the other to the right, he ignored them. Yet had any been so foolish as to omit the proper respect, he would have noticed-and remembered.

Shiplord Kirel, his body paint less elaborate only than Atvars, joined him at the projector. As Atvar did every morning, he said, Let us examine the target. Kirel served the fleetlord by touching the control with his own index claw. A blue and gray and white sphere sprang into being, a perfect representation of a life-bearing world floating in space.

All the officers turned both eyes toward the hologram. Atvar, as was his custom, walked around the projector to view it from all sides: Kirel followed him. When they were back where they had begun, Atvar ran out a bifurcated tongue. Cold-looking place, the fleetlord said, as he usually did. Cold and wet.