Stranger in a Strange Land

Human raised by Martians; watches a Fosterite service, cannot grasp lying or religious pluralism, concludes he is not a man because he cannot laugh; out-of-body observes the police raid with empathic precision.

Nurse who has made brief contact with Smith; smuggled a surveillance device; cautiously feeds Ben information while maintaining professional cover; begins noticing anomalies that may locate Smith.

Syndicated columnist; has published a column challenging the administration's treatment of Smith; briefs Jill on Smith's legal and financial status; takes counter-surveillance precautions.

Reveals that the Mars colonists signed away Larkin rights before departure; discusses Mars colonization prospects and the Martians' indifference to human presence.

Head of world government; outmaneuvered by Harshaw on press relations and sovereign protocol, ultimately signals agreement via a one-word note; accepts custodianship of Smith's wealth.

Notes Smith's anomalous metabolism; participates in the water brothers' lunch; gently challenges van Tromp's reticence about classified matters.

Translates Martian; defies seating protocol to sit with Smith; explains the untranslatability of 'grok' and the Martian view of Martian colonization to Jubal and the crew.

Physician brought in to watch a patient in suite K-12; greets Jill with apparent urgency when she comes to inquire about the powered bed.

Wing dietician who alerts Jill to the anomaly of a charity patient suddenly occupying a luxury suite under a complex special diet.

Harshaw appears in the transition to Part Four monitoring news of Mike with dismay, and in dialogue explains Rodin's caryatid and the Little Mermaid to Ben as symbols resonant with Mike's nature.

Astrologer who sincerely believes in her science; delivers a reading for Smith's horoscope that requires recalculating for a Martian birthplace, inadvertently giving Agnes sound political advice.

Government executive assistant who brought a gun to Ben's apartment and was among the two men Smith annihilated; Jubal identifies him as the operational link in the Smith cover-up.

Harshaw's secretary and licensed Fair Witness; provides legally precise testimony that the box shrank rapidly rather than simply vanishing, lending official credibility to the experiment.

Recently deceased Fosterite leader operating in the celestial frame; indignant at the suggestion Mike is an archangel; reassigned by Foster to a tripolaxic alien sector.

Water-brother and Nest resident who explains circle progression and water-sharing customs to Ben, predicts Ben's permanent transformation.

Emerging from the pool; excited and confident in Jubal; water-brother whose loyalty Smith perceives empathically.

Guards Smith alongside Miriam; participates informally in the water ceremony context; fetches gin during the lunch discussion.

Participates in the water ceremony; helps guard Smith from reporters; shows ferocity defending his personal space.

Federation Special Service Bureau captain leading the raid on Harshaw's compound; forced to comply with Harshaw's procedural demands.

Senior protocol officer who negotiates seating with Harshaw after junior officials fail; ultimately accommodates Harshaw's revised seating chart.

Guides the group through the Tabernacle, explains Fosterite practices, and attempts to position himself beside Mike during the service.

Guards the hotel suite corridor; previously involved in raiding Harshaw's compound; now assigned protectively, to Jubal's sardonic amusement.

Junior medical officer with latent xenophobia who disappeared between two rocks on Mars, apparently destroyed by a Martian.

Receives Jubal's hotel bill for routing through the Secretary General's office; handles logistics.

Second high priestess, physically near-identical to Jill; devoted admirer of Jubal who keeps a holographic portrait of him in the Nest's common room.

Deceased founder of the Fosterite church; operates in the celestial frame as Digby's supervisor, defends Mike's possible angelic identity, and reassigns Digby to a distant sector.

Tattooed Fosterite and devoted Nest member who tends Jubal personally, provides psychic tracking of Mike during the confrontation, and is described as the most practically capable teleporter.

Plump, maternal Nest member and wife of Sam; recounts her own difficult conversion from jealous wife to priestess, then encourages Ben before his initiation ceremony.

Church member who recounts his cancer healing, debates long-term church strategy with Jubal, and plans continuation after Mike's death.

Fosterite church leader who pressures the county attorney to prosecute Smith's congregation, framing Smith as an Antichrist.

Preaches against Smith's church using Matthew 24:24 as text, careful to exempt established churches from his diatribe.

Member who debates with Sam the practical capital requirements for continuing the church after Mike's death.