Embassy of the Great Powers of Heaven and Hell. Also a research center.
'Is it?' said Heineman. 'I thought it was a research institute.'
In fact, it was both. La Lantis, which represented the interests of the Conference of Heaven and Hell in Chalakanesia, was both a scientific research institute and an embassy. Accordingly, Chalakanesians were never quite sure whether the Great Powers meant to treat with them as human beings or study them as specimens.
Teladex was both Director of La Lantis and the ambassador who represented the Conference in Chalakanesia. He was at one and the same time a scientist who had to study the Chalakanesians and a diplomat who had to negotiate with them: an anomalous situation, and one which offended his sense of proprietary as much as it offended Heineman. It made it difficult for him to take a strong line with Heineman. [NoP Ch2]