Breeding Binge Those times when large Charonians land on the surface of a living world and use it as a breeding ground, often wrecking the planet’s natural ecosystem in the process. It might take hundreds of thousands or millions of years for a planet to recover. Though no human has witnessed a Breeding Binge, the damage caused by them is plainly visible on many of the Captive Worlds nearest to Earth.
Captive Suns or Captive Stars Those stars that have been captured and held by a Charonian Sphere to serve as suns for its Captive Worlds.
Captive Worlds Life-bearing planets that have, like the Earth, been abducted into a Charonian Multisystem. They are placed in orbit around Captive Suns, at distances and orbital periods that will maintain their climates. The Charonians, in effect, use the Captive Worlds as breeding cages to reproduce certain subspecies during certain parts of their life cycle.
Carrier Bugs Any of the lowest-level Charonian types, capable of only the simplest fetch-and-carry duties.
Central City Formerly Central Colony. The principal city and capital of the Lunar Republic.
Ceres Largest body in the Asteroid Belt. The de facto capital of the Belt.
Charonians Named for the Ring of Charon, the Charonians are the aliens responsible for the Earth’s Abduction. There are many species and subspecies of Charonian, ranging in size and complexity from Carrier Bugs to Spheres. They are partially living, partially mechanical. Though their ancestors were creatures not completely unlike humans, they have now guided their own evolution into forms so completely changed that it is often difficult to recognize them as living. The form and degree of Charonian intelligence are quite unclear.
Conner A citizen of the Lunar Republic. Derived from colonist and/or con-artist.
Consortium of Spheres Charonian term for the now-ruined network of linked Spheres and Multisystems connected by a web of wormhole links.
COREs, Close-Orbiting Radio Emitters Any of a large number of identical objects in various orbits, not all close, around all the worlds of the Multisystem. Their powerful radio signals—emitted over a wide range of frequencies—serve as an effective jamming mechanism. See SCOREs.
Directorate of Spatial Investigation (DSI) The organization charged with studying—and ultimately defeating—the Charonians. Wolf Bernhardt is the director. DSI works closely with MRI.
Dyson Sphere A huge sphere built entirely around a star, so as to provide huge surface area (hundreds of billions times greater than the surface area of Earth) and /or to capture all of the star’s radiated power.
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, a.k.a. the Earthpoint Singularity or Earthpoint Wormhole, occupies this space See Moon-point.
Event Horizon The minimum distance from a black hole required before time 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. Make the field strong enough, and get close enough, and time slows to a complete stop. Also defined as the point at which the local escape velocity equals the speed of light.
Event Radius The distance, usually measured in light-minutes or light-hours, between two points. 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.
Fast-Time Space Normal space, as seen from the Adversary’s point of view. Used to high-gravity, high-energy, slow-time environments, the Adversary views normal space as a strangely distorted—and hostile—place.
Ghoul Modules Large Charonian forms that docked themselves to the dead Moonpoint Ring. So called because they apparently brought the dead ring back to life.
GIGO, Garbage In Garbage Out A slang version of the obvious rule that inputting bad initial data will produce unreliable results. However, the primary usage is as a description of data that is known to be bad. “We can’t run the simulation. All we have is that GIGO data.”
Graser Gravity laser—a focused beam of gravity power.
Graviton An experimental ship using cannibalized Charonian equipment to generate a gravity-beam propulsion system, riding gravity beams sent by the Ring of Charon.
Guardian Charonian term for CORE.
Heritage Memory In effect, the collective race memory of the Charonian race. Each significant new experience of an individual is recorded and stored by at least one other individual, usually by a higher-level being capable of evaluating it. Copies of the appropriate sections of the heritage memory are placed in each newly made or manufactured Charonian. Each higher-level individual possesses a significant fraction of the race’s history, in the form of individual memory. As nearly all Charonian behavior is based on precedent, the Heritage Memory is of tremendous importance. A Charonian facing a situation outside the experience of its Heritage Memory will have no guide for its actions.
Hijacker The small stealthship destroyed in the first attempt to board a CORE.
Hijacker II Formerly the Scott. The Terra Nova’s largest lander, used in a key action against the Adversary.
Lander One of many huge creatures, long hidden in dormant stages inside asteroids, which move through space under broadcast gravity power radiated by the Lunar Wheel.
Leftover A mildly derogatory term for a citizen of Earth stranded in the Solar System by the Abduction.
Lifecode DNA, or any extraterrestrial equivalent of DNA. Any means of passing and storing an instruction set for a life-form.
Lunar Wheel A huge, toroidal Charonian structure deep inside the Moon. It circles the Moon’s core, and is aligned precisely with the border between the Lunar Nearside and Farside.
MG Wave Modulated gravity wave.
Moonpoint, Moonpoint Ring That point in space, relative to Earth, that occupies the space where the Moon once was. The Moonpoint Ring, a massive gravity-generator, holds the space now, with the Moonpoint end of the Earth-Solar System wormhole at its center. The Moonpoint Ring was killed in the battle for the Solar System. See Earthpoint.
Multisystem The huge artificial stellar system in which the Earth is placed. At its center is the Sphere. It includes a number of G-class stars, around each of which large numbers of life-bearing planets orbit.
Multisystem Research Institute (MRI) A think-tank associated with Columbia University in New York City, and with the DSI. A major—and rather moribund—center for study of the Multisystem and the Charonians.
Naked Purple Movement Also known as the Pointless Cause. One of a number of odd social and political movements. Its belief structure is kept deliberately obscure and conflicted. Owns NaPurHab, the Naked Purple Habitat, and Tycho Purple Penal on the Moon.
NaPurHab (Naked Purple Habitat) A large and rather shabby orbiting habitat owned and populated by the Naked Purple Movement. Originally in a figure-eight orbit between Earth and the Moon, NaPurHab is, as the book opens, in an increasingly unstable orbit around the black hole at the center of the Moonpoint Ring in the Multisystem. Its orbit is actually interior to the Moonpoint Ring’s circumference. Population ten thousand.