Roger Allen - The Ring of Charon

Gravity power and wormhole links. Those were the keys to the stars—and Earth was out there somewhere, waiting for the good people of the Solar System to put that key to the lock and find them.

Gravity power, wormholes, the simple knowledge that intelligent life had once existed elsewhere, even if it were now mutated into something strange and incomprehensible. The sure knowledge that the stars were reachable. They had learned a great deal from their tormentors, back here in the wounded wreck of the Solar System. And there was a great deal more to learn, locked in the broken machines and dead servants of the enemy.

And what of the Earth, surrounded by the wonders of the Multisystem, with who knows how many habitable worlds just out of reach? The knowledge Earth and Terra Nova might find was limitless.

For there must be other wormholes in the Multisystem, other links to other multisystems, links to ancestors and relatives of this Sphere, reaching in all directions of space, back to every place the Charonians had journeyed in uncounted millions of years.

Look at it that way, look at it the right way, and humanity was not merely clinging to life, battling for survival, but quite accidentally poised for new and great adventures, both here and on the lost Earth.

Today was for rest.

Tomorrow the Hunt for Earth could begin.

The Charonians do not use language in the human sense, but instead rely almost entirely on visualized imagery for communication and instruction. (As they do not use language, there is some legitimate question as to whether their visualizations can be considered thought at all.) The portions of the book described as seen by Charonians are therefore not in any sense translations, but human-style verbal labels of convenience on the visual images processed or transmitted by the Charonians.

Each Person in the Naked Purple community earns a name, which is in large part determined by his or her work status and personal attributes. Names shift and change over time.

Productive work of any type is seen as a necessary evil to be discouraged, and ultimately stamped out altogether. How society will function when that is achieved has never been made clear. Language is seen as the direct tool of ideology, and thus there is a constant search for better or more socially correct ways to say things. Puns and combined meanings, particularly those that take the wind out of a self-important person or activity are highly thought of. That such constructions, and the emphasis upon them, frequently become self-important themselves merely adds to the tension of the concept. Purity of expression is valued over clarity, with the result that much Naked Purple prose and speech is almost undecipherable. Incomprehensibility itself is highly regarded. Furthermore, many names and terms are assigned ironically.

Amalgam Creature.A merged group of several Landers. See Lander .

Autocrat of Ceres.The absolute ruler of the largest asteroid, and the only effective instrumentality of law or justice in the Belt Community. The Autocrat’s reputation for draconian justice serves to prevent most from daring his wrath.

Barycenter.The center of gravity for any orbiting system; the point around which two bodies in an orbital relationship revolve. In most systems, for example the Sun-Mars system, or the old Earth-Moon system, the larger body contains such a large fraction of the system’s mass that the barycenter is actually inside the large body. In the case of more nearly equal masses, for example Pluto-Charon, the barycenter can be a point in open space between the two masses.

Belt Community.A loose political association of the larger and more sensible governments in the remarkably disorganized Asteroid Belt.

Biosphere.That hollow sphere of space around a star in which a life-bearing planet can survive. Although other variables are involved, the basic constraint is simple: inside a biosphere, solar radiation is neither too strong or too weak, and Earthlike temperatures are possible.

Caller, Caller Ring.Charonian term for the object (or possibly life-form) exemplified by the Lunar Wheel. This form is extremely similar to a Keeper Ring such as the Moonpoint Ring .

Carrier bug.One of the lowest-level Charonian type, capable of only the simplest fetch-and-carry duties. Alternatively, any of the low-level Charonian types.

Central City.The principal city and capital of the Lunar Republic. Formerly called Central Colony.

Charonians.Named for the Ring of Charon, the hypothetical aliens controlling the massive machines discovered after the Earth’s vanishment.

Conner.A citizen of the Lunar Republic. Derived from colonist and/or con artist , in the days when Conners were dismissed as both. Previously a pejorative term, now generally accepted.

COREs, Close- Orbiting Radio Emitters. Any of a large number of identical objects in various orbits around all the worlds of the Multisystem. Their powerful radio signals—emitted over a wide spectrum of frequencies—serve as an effective jamming mechanism.

Dyson Sphere.A huge sphere built entirely around a star, so as to provide huge surface area (hundreds of billions times the surface area of Earth) and/or to capture all of the star’s power. Named for twentieth-century scientist Freeman Dyson.

Earthpoint.That point in space, relative to the Moon and the rest of the Solar System, where the Earth once was. The Earthpoint black hole, also known as the Earthpoint singularity or wormhole, now occupies this space. See Moonpoint .

Event Horizon.The minimum distance from a black hole required before time and/or light can escape—or, to put it another way, the minimum distance required before events are possible. The stronger a gravity field, the slower time moves and the more light is redshifted. If the field is strong enough, time and light are slowed to a complete stop. Also defined as the point where the local escape velocity equals the speed of light.

Event Radius.The distance, usually measured in light-minutes or light-hours, between two points. The event radius is so called because no event can have any effect at a given distance until light (or radio waves or other electromagnetic energy) has had time to cross that distance. Referred to as a “radius” because light expands out spherically. Not related to Event Horizon .

Gee-point object.Any fairly small object emitting modulated gravity power. The term is applied generally not only to Landers, but also to the large objects of similar behavior appearing through the Earthpoint wormhole. See Lander and Worldeater .

Graser.Gravity laser , a focused beam of gravity power.

Heritage Memory.Charonian term for the memories of previous generations of Charonians, together with the experiences of other members of the current generation, downloaded and stored in a Charonian’s memory for reference. Each form of Charonian receives an edited subset of the mass memory appropriate to its needs.

K-Crash, Knowledge Crash.While a massive downturn in Earth’s economy has certainly taken place, no one is certain that it has been caused by a surfeit of information, as suggested in the K-Crash theory. According to the K-Crash idea, Earth’s economy reached the point where the simplest decisions could not be made without massive reference to the various databases. Many jobs became so complex that the training for them could take an entire lifetime.