Heaven's Reach (84 page)

Holy Egg—a mysterious mass of psi-active stone that emerged from a Jijoan volcano a century ago, accompanied by widespread visions.

humicker—slang term for someone who mimics humans, because Earthling texts dominated literate life on Jijo after the Great Printing.

Ifni—a vulgarization of “Infinity.” In spacer tradition, a name given to the goddess of luck. Personification of chance or Murphy's Law.

Izmunuti—a red giant star close to Jijo's sun; spews a carbon wind masking Jijo from supervision by the Institute for Migration.

jadura—approximately forty-three hours.

Jijo—a planet in Galaxy Four. Home of seven sooner races: humans, hoons, qheuen, urs, g'Kek, the devolved glavers, and “demodified” Jophur known as traeki.

Kazzkark—a space station operated by the several major Galactic Institutes, including the Institute of Navigation.

kidura—approximately one-half second.

Kiqui—an amphibious presapient race native to Kithrup.

Kithrup—a water world rich in heavy metals.

Midden—a vast undersea crevasse, or subduction zone, formed by plate tectonics, running alongside the Slope on Jijo. All dross generated by the inhabitant races—from skeletal remains to the hulls of sooner spacecraft—is
dumped into the Midden, where natural forces will carry it below Jijo's crust for melting.

midura—a unit of time, approximately seventy-one minutes.

Morgran—a transfer point where
Streaker
was first attacked by warships of the most fanatic religious clans.

neo-chimpanzee—humanity's first clients. Fully uplifted neo-chimps can speak; the “unfinished” variety that accompanied humans to Jijo are mute, but able to communicate with sign language.

neo-dolphin—uplifted dolphins; clients of humanity.

noor—a Jijoan term for tytlal, a Galactic species uplifted by the Tymbrimi, and living on Jijo in secret sapient form. To Jijoans, noor are bright, dexterous, mischievous otterlike creatures. Noor cannot be tamed, but the patient, good-natured hoon are able to employ some on their ships. Noor are considered pests by other sooner races.

NuDawn Colony—a world colonized by the Terragens before contact was made with Galactic Civilization, in unknowing violation of migration laws. The inhabitants were forcibly and violently evicted by hoonish bureaucrats, supported by Jophur and other vigilantes.

Oakka—a regional headquarters of the Institute of Migration.

Orders of Life—seven types of sentient life are known among the Five Galaxies:

oxygen breathers
—members of Galactic culture, including humans.

hydrogen breathers
—utilize “reducing” atmospheres, having slower metabolisms. Most inhabit giant gas planets, drifting among the
clouds, performing internal simulations of the world.

Retired Order
—former patron races that have reached senescence and “retired” from Galactic affairs.

machine
—self-replicating sentient machines. Generally confine themselves to high-radiation areas or zones of deep space unwanted by either hydrogen or oxygen civilizations, though a few types are tolerated for their usefulness.

Transcendent
—races that have “passed on” to a higher plane. Galactics are riven by many beliefs about this stage of life. The first to transcend (it is assumed) were the Progenitors.

memetic
—bizarre “thought” organisms residing primarily in E-Level hyperspace.

Quantum
—organisms discovered only during the last 100 million years, existing between the interstices of the universe, making scant contact with Galactic society. Their way of life seems to depend on macroquantum uncertainty.

There is widespread disagreement over whether the number of life orders should equal eight. Even more are suspected. Contact between life orders is dangerous, and widely discouraged.

patron—a Galactic race that has uplifted at least one animal species to full sapience.

pidura—six to the seventh power duras, or approximately four days.

Polkjhy
—the name of the Jophur battleship that landed on Jijo in search of the fugitive Earthship
Streaker.

Primal Delphin—semilanguage used by natural, nonuplifted dolphins on Earth.

Progenitors—the legendary first spacefaring race, who began the cycle of Uplift two billion years ago, establishing Galactic society.

rewq—quasifungal symbionts that help the Six Races “read” each other's emotions and body language.

sooners—outlaws who colonize worlds designated fallow by the Galactic Institute of Migration. On Jijo, the term means those who try to make new illegal settlements, beyond the confines of the Slope.

Streaker
—a dolphin-crewed Terran starship. The
Streaker
's discoveries led to unprecedented pursuit by dozens of Galactic factions, each seeking advantage by possessing the dolphins' secrets.

stress atavism—a condition found among newly uplifted species, which tend to lose their higher cognitive functions under stress.

Terragens Council—the ruling body of humanity's interstellar government, in charge of matters directly affecting relations between Earthclan and Galactic society.

Toporgic—pseudomaterial substrate made of organically folded time.

transfer point—an area of twisted spacetime that allows faster-than-light travel for vessels entering at a precise angle and velocity.

Tymbrimi—a humanoid species allied with Earthclan, known for cleverness and devilish humor.

tytlal—see noor.

Uplift—process of turning a presapient animal species into a fully sapient race ready to join Galactic society. Performed by “patron.”

wolfling—a derogatory Galactic term for a race that appears to have uplifted itself to spacefaring status without help, or else to have been abandoned by its patron.

ylem—the underlying fabric of reality itself.

Zang—a phylum of hydrogen breathers consisting of single cells, sometimes organized to resemble huge squids. They live in the atmospheres of gas giants. Jijo's entire region (Galaxy Four) has been leased to hydrogen breathers by the Institute of Migration.

DAVID BRIN is the author of ten previous novels,
Sun-diver, The Uplift War, Startide Rising, The Practice Effect, The Postman
(which was adapted for film by Warner Brothers),
Heart of the Comet
(with Gregory Benford),
Earth, Glory Season, Brightness Reef
, and
Infinity's Shore
, as well as the short-story collections
The River of Time
and
Otherness.
His most recent work of nonfiction is
The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Freedom and Privacy?
He has a doctorate in astrophysics and has been a NASA consultant and a physics professor. He lives in southern California, where he is at work on his next novel.