David Brin - Infinity's Shore

to

Ariana Mae, our splendid envoy,

who will speak for us at the threshold of the fantastic

twenty-second century.

Alvin—the humicker nickname of Hph-wayuo, an adolescent hoon of Wuphon Village.

Asx—member of the Jijo Council of High Sages, representing the traeki race.

Baskin, Gillian—Terragens agent and physician, acting captain of the dolphin survey vessel Streaker.

Blade—a blue qheuen, son of Log Biter; a wood-carver and friend of Sara Koolhan.

Bloor—deceased photographer who discovered the secret Rothen identity.

Brookida—dolphin metallurgist on Streaker.

Cambel, Lester—High Sage of Earthlings on Jijo.

Chuchki—dolphin engineering mate on Streaker.

Creideiki—a dolphin, former captain of the dolphin vessel Streaker. Lost on Kithrup years ago.

Dedinger—human zealot who wishes all races of Jijo to devolve so one day they may be uplifted from innocence.

Dwer—son of the papermaker Nelo Koolhan, chief tracker of the Commons of Six Races.

Emerson D’Anite—a human engineer, once part of the Terragens spacecraft Streaker’s crew, until he crashed on Jijo.

Ewasx—a Jophur ring stack transformed from the old sage Asx by the imposition of a new master ring.

Fallon—a retired tracker; Dwer’s former mentor.

Foo, Ariana—the emeritus High Sage of Human Sept (retired).

Harullen—gray qheuen intellectual. Leader of a heretical sect that believes illegal settlers should voluntarily stop breeding and let Jijo return to its time of fallow rest.

Hikahi—former third-in-command of Streaker, lost at Kithrup.

Hph-wayuo—Alvin’s formal hoonish name.

Huck—humicker nickname of a g’Kek orphan raised in Wuphon. Alvin’s friend.

Huphu—Alvin’s pet noor beast.

Jass—young hunter of the Gray Hills band. Rety’s past tormentor.

Jimi—the “blessed,” born higher along the Path of Redemption.

Jomah—the young son of Henrik the Exploser.

Jop—Dolo Village tree farmer, believer in the old Sacred Scrolls.

Joshu—Sara Koolhan’s late suitor, an itinerant bookbinder who died in Biblos of the pepper pox.

Kaa—dolphin, pilot of Streaker. Formerly known as Lucky Kaa.

Karkaett—engineering mate on Streaker.

Keepiru—former chief pilot of Streaker, lost at Kithrup.

Knife-Bright Insight—a blue qheuen, High Sage for the qheuen race.

Kunn—human pilot of the Rothen-Danik ship.

Kurt—a leader of the Explosers Guild. Jomah’s uncle.

Lark—a naturalist, junior sage of the Commons, and heretic.

Ling—Danik crewwoman of the Rothen ship. A skilled biologist.

Makanee—female dolphin, ship’s surgeon on Streaker.

Melina—Nelo Koolhan’s late wife; mother of Lark, Sara, and Dwer.

Mopol—a male dolphin, spacer second class on Streaker.

Mudfoot—a wild noor, named by Dwer Koolhan.

Nelo—papermaker of Dolo Village, patriarch of the Koolhan family.

Niss—a sapient computer lent to Streaker by Tymbrimi intelligence agents.

Old Ones—general term for the “retired” races of the Fractal World.

One-of-a-Kind—an ancient mulc spider assigned to decompose a ruin high in the Rimmer mountains.

Orley, Thomas—a Terragens agent assigned to Streaker, lost at Kithrup. Husband of Gillian Baskin.

Ozawa, Danel—deputy sage, knowing hidden secrets of Human Sept.

Peepoe—a female dolphin; geneticist and nurse on Streaker.

Phwhoon-dau—the hoonish High Sage.

Pincer-Tip—a red qheuen friend of Alvin’s, who carved the bathyscaphe Wuphon’s Dream out of a tree trunk.

Prity—a neo-chimpanzee; Sara’s servant, skilled at math imagery.

Purofsky—a sage of Biblos, specializing in arcane physics.

Rann—leader of the Danik humans aboard the Rothen ship.

Rety—a human sooner, she fled her savage band’s hidden offshoot colony in the Gray Hills.

Ro-kenn—a Rothen “lord” whose human followers included Rann, Ling, Besh, and Kunn.

Ro-pol—possibly Ro-kenn’s mate, killed before Battle of the Glade.

Shen, Jeni—a human militia sergeant.

Strong, Lena—part of Danel Ozawa’s expedition to the Gray Hills.

Suessi, Hannes—engineer on Streaker, cyborg modified by Old Ones.

Taine—a Biblos scholar who once courted Sara Koolhan.

Tsh’t—a female dolphin, once Streaker’s fifth-in-command, now sharing command with Gillian Baskin.

Tyug—the traeki alchemist of Mount Guenn Forge, a vital assistant to Uriel the Smith.

Ulgor—an urrish tinker and supporter of the Urunthai.

Urdonnol—urrish apprentice serving Uriel.

Uriel—urrish master smith of the Mount Guenn Forge.

Ur-Jah—the urrish High Sage.

Ur-ronn—Alvin’s urrish friend. Part of the Wuphon’s Dream expedition. Uriel’s niece.

Uthen—gray qheuen naturalist. Helped Lark write field guide to Jijoan species.

Vubben—the g’Kek High Sage.

Worley, Jenin—part of Danel Ozawa’s expedition to the Gray Hills.

yee—an urrish male ejected from his pouch home by his former mate. Later “married” to the sooner girl Rety.

Zhaki—a male dolphin, spacer third class on Streaker.

Those who hunger after wisdom often seek it

in the highest heights, or profound depths.

Yet, marvels are found in shallow sites

where life starts, burgeons, and dies.

What pinnacle, or lofty mount,

offers lessons as poignant

as the flowing river—

a crashing reef—

or the grave?

— from a Buyur wall inscription,

found half-buried in a marsh

near Far Wet Sanctuary

Kaa

What strange fate brought me,

Fleeing maelstroms of winter,

Past five galaxies?

Only to find refuge,

On a forlorn planet (nude!)

In laminar luxury!

SO HE THOUGHT WHILE PERFORMING SWOOPING rolls, propelling his sleek gray body with exhilarated tail strokes, reveling in the caress of water against naked flesh.

Dappled sunlight threw luminous shafts through crystal shallows, slanting past mats of floating sea florets. Silvery native creatures, resembling flat-jawed fish, moved in and out of the bright zones, enticing his eye. Kaa squelched the instinctive urge to give chase.