While Gil knew that it's a genuine Heterodyne artifact, none of his fiddling had given him any clues as to its use, and he didn't want to disassemble it. The visible features of the device are a blue sphere about 20cm in diameter; a brass band that encircles the globe longitudinally; a ring at the top and the Heterodyne trilobite at the equator are attached to the band; and other brass knobs, buttons, or ports (it's unknown what they are) protrude from or adhere to the globe. Attached to the lower part of the globe is a bust (or waist up statue) of the Titan Atlas as he may sometimes be depicted holding the globe of the sky. The statuette has an inverted-saucer-shaped base with at least two holes, as if it were designed to bolt onto something.