The authors have done their best to use the vernacular of
Earthers in the event that unredacted editions of this work will be smuggled
past the UNE censors. However, some distinctions common to spacers may be
unfamiliar and we thus offer this brief glossary.
A very densely populated
structure or hyperstructure. Popularized by twentieth-century Earth visionary
Paolo Soleri, who coined the term.
Astronomical Unit. One AU is
the distance from the Earth to Sol, or about 149-million kilometers. The speed
of light is about 0.3 million kilometers per second, so it takes an
electromagnetic (EM) signal about eight minutes to travel one AU. That’s a huge
distance!
Physicists have not figured
out how to send radio and other electromagnetic (EM) signals faster than the
speed of light (FTL), so FTL ships consistently outrun their messages. Since
information is often more valuable than mass, ships carry messages and
news-storage systems that synchronize with beacons near stations. Ships resync on-board
memory with these beacons every time they leave a station and enter a new
system. Each ship that downloads to a beacon receives some revenue.
Mark IX Cила Грузчик, or
Power Loader designed on a Russian colony near Bernard’s Star. They are
nicknamed “Cruisers” because in English, the name sounds like “silly
cruischick.” Cargo handlers sometimes refer to themselves as Cruisers, but the
term is considered an insult if used by anyone else, especially when referring
to a woman.
Electromagnetic waves, like
radio, TV, light, infrared, ultraviolet, gamma, and X-rays, which travel at the
speed of light.
Electromagnetic pulse. A
strong EM wave that essentially zaps all nearby electronics.
Earth Time. A useful
baseline for coordination in time. Loosely based on Earth Standard Time and the
convenient assumption that there is one single time for everything in the
universe. ET is useful in all astrophysical calculations and has nothing
whatsoever to do with the timekeeping devices on each ship or mass. An exact
correlation is very difficult over light-years because everything of interest
moves at fractions of the speed of light. Navigation computers only have a
useful approximation.
Floor typically refers to
the horizontal platform under your feet on a colony, moon, or planet with a
stable gravity. Deck refers to the similar structure of a vessel. However,
stationers think of their stations as stable and permanent and use floor.
Spacers often refer to the deck on a station, which identifies them to
stationers.
Voluntary organization of
Earth farmers first organized in the United States in the nineteenth century.
Earth agriculture became socialized by 2040 under UN regulations and land
productivity has declined ever since.
A large mass that distorts
space-time like a bowling ball on a trampoline.
Interstellar Sports
Association.
In common language these can
be stated as (1) all positions are relative (there are no fixed reference
points, only conventions); (2) everything is moving all the time; and (3) you
can only know for sure where things were, not where they are. (0) Law 0 was
included later to keep the math honest. Law 0: the arrow of time is
unidirectional.
Archaic technology from
early twenty-first century where an array of low-power lasers separated
adjoining rooms with a translucent curtain of light. It replaced the modestly
priced hanging beads found more commonly in environments with steady gravity.
Light curtains were also less likely to become a choking hazard if gravity
shifted or was lost.
Navigator, rating-four. This
designation refers to the skill level of a navigator as assessed by an
independent agency. In this case, John’s post is chief warrant officer of
navigation. A nav-five rating would qualify him to be posted to pilot and
senior navigator for the Tiger, but Jerri currently held that post. The
post is different from rank, such as captain, commander, pilot, chief warrant
officer, petty officer, or seaman. Rank and post are also different from skill
level.
Officer On Deck. The OOD is
the ship’s officer in charge of the bridge during a shift and serves as the
direct representative of the captain
Sometimes just known as
sphere. When you jump, there is uncertainty in time and space about where you
will end up. This is due to your lack of certainty of the positions and masses
of everything along your path. This uncertainty is shown by drawing a sphere
around a calculated destination. The second law of nav says, “Everything is
moving all the time,” so it is difficult to calculate precisely where you will
end up, unless you know every mass and where it’s all going. That’s impossible
to do without infinite compute resources. So there is always an uncertainty of
where you’ll end up, and that uncertainty can be shown as a sphere. It’s
actually more like a sphere with a hollow center because there is absolutely no
chance you will hit what you aimed at. The sphere grows exponentially with
distance, so shorter jumps have smaller spheres.
Warm-suit—emergency gear for
an air leak. Warm-suits have a carbon mesh and an inflatable clear hood to
allow the wearer to survive in a vacuum for a few hours. A rebreather and
temperature control are built in. It will not last more than a few hours in a hard
vacuum and is no protection against weapons.
lash or a wink.
The executive officer or first officer is next in command to
the captain.
(c) 2014, 2015 B. R. Strong, Jr.
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