David Brin - Heaven's Reach

Glossary of Terms

allaphor — the metaphorical interpretation made by sentient minds of certain features in E-Level hyperspace.

Anglic — a human language created in the Twenty-First century, using many English words, but influenced by other pre-Contact tongues and modified according to new understandings of linguistic theory.

Buyur — former legal tenants of Jijo, froglike appearance, known for wit, foresight, and gene-crafting of specialized animal-tools. Departed when Jijo was declared fallow half a million years ago.

client — a race still working out a period of servitude to the patrons that uplifted it from presapient animal status.

criswell structures — fractal shells designed to surround small red suns, utilizing all light energy. The fractal shape allows maximum possible “window area,” unlike a simple Dyson sphere.

Daniks — a vulgarized term for “Danikenite,” a cultural movement dating from humanity’s first contact with Galactic Civilization. Daniks believe Earthlings were uplifted by a Galactic patron race that chose to remain hidden for unknown reasons. An offshoot cult believes Rothen are this race of wise, enigmatic guides.

dura — approximately one-third of a minute.

E-Level hyperspace — a dangerous hyperspatial region in which the distinctions between consciousness and reality become blurred. Self-consistent concepts may exist without a host brain or computer to contain or contemplate them. See allaphor.

Earthclan — a small, eccentric Galactic “family” of sapient races consisting of neo-chimpanzee and neodolphin clients, along with their human patrons.

Egg — see Holy Egg.

Embrace of Tides — a quasi addiction that causes elder races to seek the sensation of gravitational tides, close to very dense stars.

er — genderless pronoun, sometimes used when referring to a traeki.

fen — plural of “fin,” Anglic shorthand for a neodolphin.

Fractal World — a place of retirement for races that have nearly transcended the Civilization of the Five Galaxies. (See criswell structures.)

Galactic — a person, race, concept, or technology deriving from the aeons-old Civilization of the Five Galaxies.

Galactic Institutes — vast, powerful academies, purportedly neutral and above interclan politics. The Institutes regulate various aspects of Galactic Civilization. Some are over a billion years old.

Galactic Library — a fantastically capacious collection of knowledge gathered over the course of hundreds of millions of years. Quasi-sapient “Branch Libraries” are found in most Galactic starships and settlements.

Gronin Collapse — historical name given to the last time in Galactic history when the expansion of the universe caused transfer points between galaxies to “pull apart,” thus fragmenting Galactic society.

Holy Egg — a mysterious mass of psi-active stone that emerged from a Jijoan volcano a century ago, accompanied by widespread visions.

humicker — slang term for someone who mimics humans, because Earthling texts dominated literate life on Jijo after the Great Printing.

Ifni — a vulgarization of “Infinity.” In spacer tradition, a name given to the goddess of luck. Personification of chance or Murphy’s Law.

Izmunuti — a red giant star close to Jijo’s sun; spews a carbon wind masking Jijo from supervision by the Institute for Migration.

jadura — approximately forty-three hours.

Jijo — a planet in Galaxy Four. Home of seven sooner races: humans, hoons, qheuen, urs, g’Kek, the devolved glavers, and “demodified” Jophur known as traeki.

Kazzkark — a space station operated by the several major Galactic Institutes, including the Institute of Navigation.

kidura — approximately one-half second.

Kiqui — an amphibious presapient race native to Kithrup.

Kithrup — a water world rich in heavy metals.

Midden — a vast undersea crevasse, or subduction zone, formed by plate tectonics, running alongside the Slope on Jijo. All dross generated by the inhabitant races — from skeletal remains to the hulls of sooner spacecraft — is dumped into the Midden, where natural forces will carry it below Jijo’s crust for melting.

midura — a unit of time, approximately seventy-one minutes.

Morgran — a transfer point where Streaker was first attacked by warships of the most fanatic religious clans.

neo-chimpanzee — humanity’s first clients. Fully uplifted neo-chimps can speak; the “unfinished” variety that accompanied humans to Jijo are mute, but able to communicate with sign language.

neodolphin — uplifted dolphins; clients of humanity.

noor — a Jijoan term for tytlal, a Galactic species uplifted by the Tymbrimi, and living on Jijo in secret sapient form. To Jijoans, noor are bright, dexterous, mischievous otterlike creatures. Noor cannot be tamed, but the patient, good-natured hoon are able to employ some on their ships. Noor are considered pests by other sooner races.

NuDawn Colony — a world colonized by the Terragens before contact was made with Galactic Civilization, in unknowing violation of migration laws. The inhabitants were forcibly and violently evicted by hoonish bureaucrats, supported by Jophur and other vigilantes.

Oakka — a regional headquarters of the Institute of Migration.

Orders of Life — seven types of sentient life are known among the Five Galaxies:

oxygen breathers — members of Galactic culture, including humans.

hydrogen breathers — utilize “reducing” atmospheres, having slower metabolisms. Most inhabit giant gas planets, drifting among the clouds, performing internal simulations of the world.

Retired Order — former patron races that have reached senescence and “retired” from Galactic affairs.

machine — self-replicating sentient machines. Generally confine themselves to high-radiation areas or zones of deep space unwanted by either hydrogen or oxygen civilizations, though a few types are tolerated for their usefulness.

Transcendent — races that have “passed on” to a higher plane. Galactics are riven by many beliefs about this stage of life. The first to transcend (it is assumed) were the Progenitors.

memetic — bizarre “thought” organisms residing primarily in E-Level hyperspace.

Quantum — organisms discovered only during the last 100 million years, existing between the interstices of the universe, making scant contact with Galactic society. Their way of life seems to depend on macroquantum uncertainty.

There is widespread disagreement over whether the number of life orders should equal eight. Even more are suspected. Contact between life orders is dangerous, and widely discouraged.

patron — a Galactic race that has uplifted at least one animal species to full sapience.

pidura — six to the seventh power duras, or approximately four days.

Polkjhy — the name of the Jophur battleship that landed on Jijo in search of the fugitive Earthship Streaker.

Primal Delphin — semilanguage used by natural, nonuplifted dolphins on Earth.

Progenitors — the legendary first spacefaring race, who began the cycle of Uplift two billion years ago, establishing Galactic society.

rewq — quasifungal symbionts that help the Six Races “read” each other’s emotions and body language.

sooners — outlaws who colonize worlds designated fallow by the Galactic Institute of Migration. On Jijo, the term means those who try to make new illegal settlements, beyond the confines of the Slope.

Streaker — a dolphin-crewed Terran starship. The Streaker’s discoveries led to unprecedented pursuit by dozens of Galactic factions, each seeking advantage by possessing the dolphins’ secrets.

stress atavism — a condition found among newly uplifted species, which tend to lose their higher cognitive functions under stress.