Unlike Battlefield Earth, which was told in a third-person viewpoint that hopped around from character to character as needed, Mission Earth is a first-person story centered around this Soltan Gris. This is not to say that Gris is our hero - quite the contrary, in fact. Gris admits that someone named Jettero Heller is the proper hero of his tale, and that he himself is its villain. Though he adds that it's the Gods' and/or Fate's fault that he did what he did, and "I cannot help it if villainy comes naturally to me," which I think is a dig at evolutionary science or something on the author's part. And yes, this will be another novel in which Hubbard makes occasional mention of gods and other supernatural figures without going into any detail about them, with the exception of a sun god that he at least gives a name, if memory serves.
Next, Gris reveals the existence of a place called Spiteos, the Coordinated Intelligence Apparatus' secret prison thought long-abandoned by the rest of the Voltarian government, and that Heller had been confined within it before the government issued its orders concerning the planet Earth. Then he goes on to talk about how Heller is a combat engineer of the Fleet, defined as "one who assists and prepares the way for any and all contacts, peaceful or warlike, and serves his respective service in engineering and combat-related matters."
Which is a strange concept, "serves his respective service" aside. Is a combat engineer an ambassador, an infiltrator, a soldier, or a scientist? The correct answer is that Jettero Heller can do whatever he damn well pleases because he's just that good. Think of "combat engineer" as a synonym for a Hubbardian hero - someone who is brilliant, handsome, daring, popular, strong, and basically the best at whatever task he sets out to do. Imagine Battlefield Earth's Jonnie Goodboy Tyler with the benefits of actual military training and a proper education and you'll have an idea of how obnoxious Jettero Heller is going to be.
As a combat engineer, Heller had been assigned to scout nearby inhabited worlds and take orbital photos and atmospheric samples, and one such world he visited was our very own Earth. The mission went smoothly and undetected, Heller and his crew returned home, and a log of his journey was filed, with a copy being sent to the Coordinated Information Apparatus as per routine. And then, Gris rants, everything went horribly wrong.
One report. One single, stupid, errant scouting report of a single, stupid planet and I end up in prison confessing my crimes.
Of course, it didn't all happen that quickly or that simply. What did happen is the horrifying tale of MISSION EARTH.
I remember when it all began.
He remembers it like it happened yesterday... yesterday... yesterday...
Go back to the stuff between the cover and this chapter
"The horrifying tale of "MISSION EARTH". Apt words.
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