Shadow of the Swan (Book Two of the Phoenix Legacy) (49 page)

KRISTUS EVE: A religious holiday occurring at the summer/winter solstice on Terra celebrating the birth of the Mezion as Avatar.

LADY: Any Elite woman over Age of Rights.

LECTOR: A University teacher of advanced degree. The title is more prestigious than GuildMaster or GuildMistra, but is used only in reference to persons actively involved in teaching.

LECTRILOCK: A lock employing electrical field bonds that can only be negated by a lectrikey emitting specific frequency sequences.

LEDA: The largest city in the Centauri System; on the planet Pollux; site of the Home Estate of the House of D’Ord Hamid; and site of the first colony in the Centauri System.

LETTAPE: A communication typed on a special keyboard console, then transmitted onto a tape spool at the receiving console, where it is projected on a lettape screen.

LETTAPE SEQ: A number sequence designating a personal frequency used to direct lettapes to a particular person’s lettape console.

LIFE VOW: A religiously sanctioned vow regarded as binding until death.

LIGHTPEN: A pen-like electronic device used to write on photosensitive surfaces, such as vellam or scriber screens, or to write on or manipulate data on a computer data display screen.

LITIGATION BOARD: A House judiciary panel staffed by Fesh; its function is to adjudicate disputes between or involving Bonds.

LORD: Any Elite male over Age of Rights who is a First Lord or the first born of a First Lord. (“My lord” as a form of address is used for both Lords and VisLords.)

LUMENSA: A wall-sized screen that displays varying patterns and colors in response to sound (usually musical) stimuli.

MAM-AN: Matter/Anti-Matter Annihilation. The term, especially when abbreviated, usually refers to the MAM-AN generator and/or drive, developed by Fredric Cadmon, which exploits and controls the massive energy yields of matter/anti-matter annihilation.

MANELA CHANDELIER: A large, intricate light fixture, often referred to as a “canopy” chandelier, created by the Thirty-second-Century designer, Simyon Manela.

MANKEEN REVOLT: A sixteen-year-long (3104-3120) civil war instigated by Lord Lionar Mankeen, leader of the Mankeen League, which was made up of over three hundred dissident Lords of the PanTerran Confederation.

MANTLET: Clothing worn by young Elite males (generally under the age of seventeen), similar to a cloak, but shorter, usually fingertip length.

MARBLEX: A manufactured structural material similar to natural marble in appearance, but more durable and resilient.

MARCHING FORESTS: Also “Pygmy Forests.” An aggregation of predominantly photosynthetic species, all interdependent, some true symbionts, found in the Barrens of Castor at altitudes below + 1,500 meters (Helen Base Point). The organisms are low-growing, reaching a maximum height of one meter, and migrate collectively across hundreds and even thousands of kilometers in the course of a Castorian year, following the seasonal advance and retreat of the icecaps, which provide their only source of water.

MARICAINE: (Medical) An illegal and marginally addictive drug prized as a mild stimulant and euphoric.

MARLITE: Marblex with a phosphorescent material added to create a perceptible luminescence.

MATTER TRANSMITTER. (Phoenix) Abbreviated MT or, in the long-range form, LR-MT. A device functioning on Drakon’s principle of chrono-spatial eversion that transports, or transmits, objects or persons virtually instantaneously from one point in space/time to another.

MEMFILE: Computer memory or data storage file.

MERCFLEET: The Selasid Interplanetary Systems mercantile fleet.

METALITE: A steel alloy impregnated with conductive filaments that when electronically stimulated become luminescent. The stimulus control is generally set to respond to a reduction in the surrounding light level.

MEZION: Yesu Kristus, the Holy Mezion, Avatar of the All-God; an incarnation in human form of the All-God.

MICROSPEAKER: A miniscule tape spool equipped with an audio speaker.

MIDHAR: The equatorial desert of Castor, girdling the entire planet and varying from two to five thousand kilometers in breadth.

MINICEIVER: Also “ear ‘ceiver.” A radio receiver worn in the ear, its signal audible only to the wearer.

MINICORDER: A miniature audio recorder used for surveillance or espionage.

MOD-STIM DEVICES: (Phoenix) Modulated frequency stimulus devices. Mechanisms emitting aural or visual frequencies that induce synergistic resonances with a subject’s brain waves in order to produce the receptivity state necessary to conditioning.

MONTECTOR: A device used to detect the presence of electronic monitors.

MORPHININE: (Medical) A strong analgesic with an alkaloid base chemically related to opium; addictive only when taken in massive doses over a long period of time.

NAVCOMP: Navigational computer; or as an adjective referring to the programs, read outs, etc., it produces. The term is also used to refer to the techs who operate it.

NEOMEDIT: A furniture design introduced in the early Thirtieth Century characterized by use of transparent materials with delicate supports often in the form of the “Roman” arch.

NETHER DARK, WORLD OF: (Bond Religion) In the afterlife, the zone to which sinners and the un-Blessed are consigned; equivalent to Orthodox Mezionism’s hell.

NETVINE: A photosynthetic organism native to Pollux found at low altitudes, generally near the sea. It is rootless, with thin, thread-like stems covered with microscopic lobe-leaves. In pursuit of sunlight and atmospheric moisture, it forms fine-meshed nets suspended between any available natural protuberances. Airborne “seed” fronds, carried by winds, have been found at altitudes of up to ten thousand meters.

NULGRAV: A mechanism for nullifying gravity. The first nulgrav generator was designed by Domic Peresky, House of Hild Robek, in 3055, based on principles set forth by Ela Tolstyne in her
Treatise on Matter/Anti-Matter Interactions
, in which she predicted that one such interaction would be repulsion.

OBSAT: Manned observational satellite in stable orbit around a planet or satellite.

ORCHESTRAL ORGAN:(Music) Also “Orchestron:” A large, electronic instrument capable of simulating the sound of any musical instrument as well as producing sounds unique to itself in any combination. Orchestral organs usually require a minimum of three musitechs for live performances. They can also be played by computer-programmed tapes.

OUTSIDE: The term may refer to the state of being “outside” the law or recognized social classes, to the subsociety existing in that state, or to the districts found in most major cities where Outsiders and their illicit businesses are tolerated. Outsiders comprise an officially unrecognized and largely criminal and/or fugitive class with a population estimated at forty-five million.

PAGE: An Elite boy between the ages of ten and fifteen, usually the son of a House VisLord or the scion of a Cognate House, granted the privilege of being educated in the Home Estate of a First Lord.

PANTERRAN CONFEDERATION: A planet-wide union of Houses analogous to the Concord, its political offspring. It was founded at the culmination of the Wars of Confederation in 2903 and flourished until the onset of the Mankeen Revolt in 3105.

PEDWAY: A moving walkway for pedestrian travel.

PELADEEN REPUBLIC: A monarchal republic established in the Centauri System in 3135 under the titular leadership of Lord Quintin Peladeen, terminated in 3210 upon its defeat by the Concord in the War of the Twin Planets.

PELISSE: A light outdoor garment worn by Elite women, typically ankle length, with long, wide sleeves; usually hooded and often made of fur, or fur trimmed.

PLANETARY TRANSYSTEMS: The transportation systems, operated under franchise by the House of Hild Robek, which include any kind of surface transport. (“Surface transport” is interpreted in Robek franchises as any form of non-marine, mechanical conveyance operated at an altitude of less than four thousand meters.) Public transportation systems and metropolitan Trafficon grid systems are included in Robek franchises as well as the manufacture of all equipment necessary to these systems and all vehicles used for surface travel.

PLASEAL: A thin, non-elastic, plasex film that adheres to itself upon the application of heat.

PLASEX: A general term for various synthetic, nonmetallic compounds produced by polymerization of organic compounds. These can be molded or cast into a variety of forms, or rolled into sheets or films.

PLASIFOAM: A packing or insulating material made of air-infused plasex.

PLASKIN: A thin, highly elastic plasex film.

PLASMENT: A cement mixed with certain types of plasex giving it resilience and durability, as well as excellent insulating capacity. It is used architecturally to coat walls, floors, and ceilings, both interior and exterior.

PLASTEEL: A structural plasex reinforced with lattices of steel rods.

PLATTNADE: A platinum-titanium alloy generally used for fine tableware or for jewelry mountings.

POCKETCOM: Pocket communicator. A device used for personal communication equipped with a two-way vidicom screen (usually less than ten centimeters in diameter), a radio transceiver, and frequency control.

POINT OF HONOR: A personal challenge to be answered in a formal fencing match. Like fencing, “the Sport of Lords,” the point of honor is a custom practiced exclusively by Elite males.

PORCELEEN: An extremely high-fired, nearly translucent ceramic used for tableware or small art objects.

PRESSYRINGE: (Medical) A disposable syringe equipped with a compressed-air capsule.

PRINTLOCK: A lock operated by the reading and identification of thumbprints of programmed persons.

PRIORITY RATINGS: Access ratings given to publications or information by the Board of Censors. Information given a Priority-One (or Pri-One) rating is accessible only to the Chairman, Directorate Lords, and with Directorate approval to certain Fesh, such as First Commanders of Conpol, the SSB, and Confleet. Pri-Two information is accessible generally to any Elite and to Fesh granted specific access permits by a Lord. Pri-Three information is available to any Elite, to ranking Fesh scholars and scientists, or to upper echelon House, Concord, or Church personnel with a blanket access permit, rather than the limited specific access permit necessary for Pri-Two memfiles. Pri-Four information is open to all Elite and Fesh without restriction.

The term “Pri-One” is also used informally to indicate anything regarded as important or vital.

PROX SCANNER: Proximity scanner. A radar system employed for surveillance within a limited area.

PSYCHOCONTROLLER: In Conpol and the SSB, personnel trained in psychoscience and specializing in interrogation procedures.

PSYCHOMAXIC DRUGS: A popular term for hallucinogenic and euphoric drugs.

PUBLICOM SYSTEM: Public Vidicom System. The vidicom broadcasting system operated by the House of DeKoven Woolf under its commutronics franchises.

PULSED LASER: A laser used as a strategic weapon in which emissions are pulsed, creating shock waves within the target. This augments the laser’s effectiveness and avoids the tendency of unpulsed emissions to create a plasma in massive, metallic targets, which prevents full penetration of the beam.

RECOGNITION CONDITIONING: (Phoenix) A type of conditioning that enables the subject to recognize things or persons at a preconscious level on the basis of sensory clues—such as the sound of a particular voice—implanted by conditioning.

RELIQUARY RITE: (Bond Religion) A ceremony centered on a relic—usually part of the ashes of the cremated body—of a new saint, marking his or her acceptance into the Bond pantheon of saints.

RIGHTNESS: (Bond Religion) An event deemed ordained by the All-God.

RITES OF PASSING: (Bond Religion) Funeral service preceding the cremation of the dead.

ROCKWOOD: A photosynthetic organism native to Pollux and very similar to Terran conifers in appearance, although its divided, lobed leaves resemble Terran ferns or Castorian barrengorse rather than coniferous needles, and its smooth, cylindrical trunks are invariably double or triple. The trunk tissue is highly siliceous, its structure supporting growth to heights of 125 meters. Rockwood reproduces by means of wind-disseminated spores formed in spore buds on the upper parts of the trunks.

SANNA: (Bond Religion) A traditional chant or song of glorification, reverence, etc.; a hymn.

SANSERET SILK: Ornamental silk brocade from the House of Sanseren, patterned on Second Dark Age brocades found in Ceylonia, and characterized by stylized floral and animal designs.

SCANNER: Any type of system, such as radar, employed in nonvisual observation; specifically, the screens displaying their signals.

SCOUT: A small, short-range Confleet ship generally used for reconnaissance; it is hangared offplanet in TC Corsairs, can be piloted by one person, and will accommodate three.

SCRIBER: A small (usually Fifteen by twenty centimeters), flat, photosensitive screen on which a lightpen is used as a writing instrument. The images created are impermanent and can be negated instantly by switching off the screen.

SEANOVA: An invertebrate marine organism native to Pollux, approximately twenty centimeters in diameter, with ten to twenty tentacles radiating from an ovoid body, the epidermis covered with minute spines that are also sensory organs. During its annual mating period, the seanova becomes luminescent and changes color from its usual blue-gray to a reddish orange. Populations estimated at up to five million congregate in the surf off protected, sandy beaches where they link tentacles to form glowing, undulating masses. Seanova “rafts” remain intact for two to three Polluxian days, while both males and females eject quantities of germ plasm, some of which finds its way into the open brood sacs of asexual “mothers,” where the young develop.

SEC-CON: (Phoenix) Security conditioning. A form of conditioning that prevents voluntary revelation to any nonmember of information pertaining to the Phoenix.

SECOND GEN: (Phoenix) Second generation. Any person born to Phoenix members after its founding.