Permod, Personnel Module A self-sufficient life-support unit about the size and shape of a coffin. It can be stacked and packed like a cargo module and flown in a cargo vehicle.
Plutopoint The point in space formerly occupied by the now-destroyed planet Pluto and its satellite Charon. Both worlds were totally absorbed into the Plutopoint Black Hole. The Plutopoint hole was then used to defend the remaining worlds of the Solar System against the Charonians.
Rabbit Hole The vertical shaft leading from the Lunar North Pole to the Lunar Wheel, forty kilometers below.
Ring of Charon Huge human-made gravity research tool, formerly orbiting Charon, Pluto’s moon. It now holds the Plutopoint Singularity at its center. See Plutopoint.
Ring-and-Hole Set, R-H Set The combination of a gravitic singularity (such as a black hole) and an accelerator ring (such as the Ring of Charon). Together, the two can be used to generate gravity waves and beams, and to form wormhole apertures. The Charonians use R-H sets extensively.
Saint Anthony The automated relay probe dropped through the Earthpoint-Moonpoint wormhole just after the Abduction. It provided the last exchange of information between Earth and the Solar System. Named for the patron saint of lost objects.
Solar Area or Solar Space Naked Purple terms for the Solar System. The distinction is an ideological one: “system” implies order and control, whereas the chaotic, uncontrolled randomness of nature dictates against order. “Area” and “space” do not imply order.
SCOREs Small COREs. A new form of spacegoing Charonian. As the book opens, many of them are moving toward Earth at great speed. See COREs.
Scorpion A fairly sophisticated Charonian type, capable of dealing (though not necessarily dealing well) with unexpected situations. The term is applied not only to the scorpion-shaped Charonians, but to all creatures of its approximate ability.
Seedship A robot starship that carries fertilized ova, or the equivalent, to a new planet around a new star. The seed-ship lands, grows the ova to adulthood, and thus colonizes a new star system without the need of transporting a complex life-support system.
SubBubble Subterranean bubble—a standard type of Lunar construction. Consists of a large excavation under the Lunar surface, usually formed by melting an area of sub-surface rock and then placing the interior under pressure. Much of Central City is composed of interconnected Sub-Bubbles.
Sunstar The star in the Multisystem around which the Earth orbits.
Terra Nova (TN) Earth’s only surviving major spacecraft In the Multisystem. Dianne Steiger is her captain.
TeleOperator A remote-control device, generally resembling a humanoid robot, but without a true robot’s capacity for independent action. Instead, a T.O. is controlled by a human operator in a control harness at a remote location. As is the case with most virtual reality devices, the sensations reported by the T.O. to the operator can seem real.
T.O. See TeleOperator.
Virtual Black Hole (VBH) Currently a theoretical possibility only. In concept, a VBH is formed by an artificial massless gravity source sufficiently focused that a microscopic black hole forms. If a VBH of a sufficient gravity gradient survives long enough, in the presence of sufficient mass, it should be able to absorb that mass and thus become self-sustaining.
Virtual Reality General term applied to any technology that makes a non-local environment (real or imaginary) seem utterly real to an observer-participant. See TeleOperator.
VISOR, Venus Interim Station for Operational Research A large station orbiting Venus. Planned as the headquarters for the terraforming of that planet.
Worldeater Charonian, and, later, human terminology for the massive life-form known to humans as Landers. See Lander.
Wormhole A link between two points in space, formed by creating two identically tuned black holes. The wormhole in effect renders the two points contiguous across a flat plane, no matter how distant they actually are from each other.
Wormhole Transit Loop A ring of equally spaced R-H sets that share an orbit around a Sphere. They serve as relay stations for communications and transport.