C James - Dome Six

crawlers

Large rectangular platforms with chest-height railings that enable maintenance workers to perform inspections and repairs on the roof of the Dome. They travel up and down via channels in the Dome’s lattice structure.

Cytocorp

The company that started the Dome Project in 2083, Cytocorp is credited for solving the problem of antibiotic resistance and became inconceivably powerful in the process.

Cytomatrix

A Cytocorp product used as the building blocks of bioprinting. It is stored and used as a pink-colored gelatin and is a finite supply, since it cannot be produced in the Dome.

Directorate

An administrative unit of the Authority. The Directorates are Production, Housing, Infrastructure, Security, Health, and Education.

Dome Project

An ambitious effort undertaken by Cytocorp to protect generations of people from the Burn, and as a “reset” for society. It was announced in 2075 and the first Originals entered in 2083. There are eight Domes, all located near the confluence of two major rivers. Each one is 4 km (2.5 mi.) in diameter and is virtually identical on the inside, though the outside appearance of each is slightly different.

Elders

Citizens begin working at age 16 and continue to age 65, at which point they are considered Elders and given easier work until they are consigned to the Box.

Epoch

A 20-year period in the Dome. At the end of each Epoch, readings are taken from the Apex and communicated to citizens.

FPC

Food processing center. All organic material from the Towers is separated, cleaned, and processed in this underground facility, which also houses the immense multimeal processor and the cricket farm. Waste organic material is composted in a large room, the heat from which supplements solar power collected from the roof.

graphene

A supermaterial made from a single layer of carbon atoms.

IDA

Intelligent Data Archival. IDA is the Dome’s ubiquitous AI, which is constantly analyzing data collected from CHITs, Listeners, and all the Dome’s systems. Most IDA functions are voice-activated.

IDA tablet

A tablet device that enables user access to the publicly available parts of IDA. At this point in the Dome’s life, most working tablets are used in the schools.

incinerator

Any waste that can’t be repurposed, recycled, or broken down through natural processes goes into the incinerator. This is also how bodies are disposed of. Smoke and ash are vented directly outside, which reportedly has led to some people trying to escape that way.

klaxon

A type of loud electric horn.

Legacy

The AI-driven representation of a person officially listed as deceased. A combination of lifelong data analysis and voluntary contextual entries are combined to create these avatars for the purpose of providing education, entertainment, and companionship to the living.

Listeners

Microscopic wireless microphones hidden throughout the Dome. IDA uses geolocation and speech analysis to link recordings to citizens. Certain keywords, when paired with neurobiological data, throw flags that subtract points from Ration Rewards and can, in some cases, lead to an Authority intervention.

Macro

Short for “macro-organism,” a catch-all for any small, multicellular synthetic organism that is bioprinted for a specific purpose, typically the targeted release of therapeutic agents. In the Dome, Macros take the form of tiny helminths (worms) 2 mm in length.

multimeal

The Dome’s staple food product, multimeal is a bland mush made from fruits, vegetables, and cricket meal. It is gray-green in appearance.

Nexus

IDA’s datacenter, buried deep beneath the Authority building. The immense processing and storage demands of the Dome require IDA’s components to be submerged in liquid coolant. At any given time, only the Administrator and one designee, typically the director of Infrastructure or Security, may access IDA’s core functions through the Nexus.

Northern Cities

Four state-sized megacities in the northern part of America, each encircled by protective walls and completely controlled by Cytocorp. The four Northern Cities are Pacifica, Lakeland, Easton, and Atlantica, each with a population exceeding 100 million.

Nucleus

The ring of large memorial stones in the middle of the Agora into which the names of the dead are carved. It is a place of solemn remembrance.

Originals

The first generation of Dome citizens who moved in in 2083, Originals were subject to an intense screening and selection process which required them to be free of all disease and major genetic defects.

pickers

Fully automated robots that deliver small parts from the shelves in the Stores to the Requisition office on demand.

Placement

IDA’s determination of what role an individual should play in Dome society, Placements occur on or near age 16, depending on schooling status. Following a 2-year apprenticeship, IDA runs the algorithms again based on the new data to determine if its original model for citizen productivity was correct. If not, a new Placement is given. Once the apprenticeship period is over, it is rare for IDA to reassign anyone. The Authority can override a Placement, such as in extenuating circumstances that IDA can’t contextualize.

Quietus

The prescribed end-of-life ceremony in which citizens end their organic life and begin again as Legacies.

rad

Wider streets that stretch radially from the outer edge of the Agora to the support wall at the perimeter. Every fourth rad has a train line.

Ration Rewards

A program described in the Charter as a “citizen incentive for compliance.” A period of high productivity and few flags earn Ration Rewards, which can be used toward whole fruits or vegetables — typically pineapples or strawberries.

rations

Resources in the Dome are precious, so IDA uses rolling averages based on CHIT data to calculate how much food and water is required by each citizen. Personal water is carried in steel bottles and a typical adult is afforded 4L per day (about a gallon). Citizen-specific spigots are located in living units, while public spigots and cafeterias use CHITs to determine how much food and water to dispense. Rations are also gender-specific; female rations include powerful birth-control drugs that can only be turned off by the Authority. Mixing rations between genders leads to illness.

Scrubbers

Biosynthetic beetles designed to cleanse human bodies in the Dome without the use of water. A jar contains about 200 Scrubbers, which are poured over the body in a “scrub tub.” The Scrubbers then roam about the body consuming excess bacteria, oils, and dead skin. These factors are chemically altered by the Scrubbers’ metabolism, resulting in a pleasant-smelling byproduct similar to perfume. Most citizens scrub once or twice per week.

sector

The Dome equivalent of a city block formed by two adjacent rads and two adjacent arcs. Sectors are larger at the perimeter.

Stores

The vast underground bunker where the Dome’s supplies are kept. The Stores are roughly 1/3 of the Dome’s footprint and, because of the amount of air inside at any given time, are the last refuge against a low-O 2emergency. The Stores also process and manufacture textiles and other materials from hemp, which is grown exclusively in Tower 3.