The Song of the Jubilee (The Phantom of the Earth Book 1) (34 page)

SYNTHETIC ROBOT:
also called
synbots
or
bots
; made of synthetic alloys, typically sculpted to look transhuman. They are designed to perform a multitude of tasks, including but not limited to: provide keeper services to aristocrats, research services to supreme scientists, and record keeping services for the central government. Their communicable range is limited with the ZPF. They lack a consciousness.

TELEKINESIS:
the ability to move objects via the ZPF.

TELEPATHY:
the ability to communicate via the ZPF.

TENEHOUND:
a genetically modified greyhound, capable of connecting to the ZPF and controlling lower fauna; utilized by the Department of Peace to find criminals.

TERROR BIRD:
a flightless prehistoric bird known for its predatory jabs.

THREAT LEVEL:
included in classified dossiers in Marstone’s Database; on a scale of one to five, with one being the lowest and five being the highest; an indication of the willingness of a citizen to break the law or disturb the peace of the commonwealth; the higher the threat level, the more scrutiny given to neural feeds in Marstone’s Database. In some cases a high threat level could preclude a citizen from being qualified for athanasia. (
See
athanasia-qualified.)

TIMESCAPE:
analogous to a landscape, with all past and future events located there together.

TIMESCAPE THEORY:
the supreme scientist Heywood Querice’s theory that the time lapse for a traveler through space-time could be hours or days, but the time lapse for anyone in the present time should be seamless (i.e., theoretically, if backward time travel is possible, a person who travels back in time should return to the precise moment when they left).

TRANSHUMAN:
(
See Homo transition
.)

TRANSICEOUS PERIOD:
the geologic time period that encompasses the most recent 368 years of history, or since the last great extinction event known as the Reassortment Atmospheric Anomaly, which ended the Quaternary Period. (
See
Quaternary Period.)

TRANSPORT:
typically oval-shaped, made of synthetic alloys or carbyne, and constructed in Transport City, Portage Territory. They are built in several varieties, including intracity, intraterritory, and interterritory.

TWIN GODS OF THE COSMOS:
the two celestial beings, male and female, believed by the transhuman race to be creators of the metaphysical and physical realms, including the electromagnetic zeropoint field, and all the galaxies that are, that were, and that will be in all the ever-expanding universes. (
See
multiverse.)

UFICILIN:
an all-purpose healing agent.

UNDERGROUND PASSAGE:
the system of safe houses, businesses, waterways, caves, and tunnels overseen by Beimenians loyal to the Liberation Front.

UNDERGROUND REALM:
the generic term for all underground dwellings of humanity After Reassortment.

UNREGISTERED, THE:
also called
illegals,
these are residents of the underground that aren’t registered in Marstone’s Database. As an unregistered resident has broken Chancellor Masimovian’s Fifth Precept, if apprehended by the government, the individual is registered, then is either: (1) sentenced to exile in the Lower Level; (2) purchased by a house of development in the great city for employ as a Courier of the Chancellor; or (3) purchased by a house of development anywhere in the commonwealth and prepared for the Harpoon Exams.

VITAMIN T:
synisms designed to alter impulse waves sent into the ZPF from neurochips and from the transhuman consciousness; typically administered by a liquid dropper into the eyes, where the synisms can directly access the brain. Used primarily by the Liberation Front to elude the tenehounds.

VITAMIN X:
also called Vitex; contains synisms designed to reduce the transhuman body’s need for oxygen; not intended for long-term use; typically administered by a liquid dropper into the eyes, where the synisms can directly access the brain and body. Used primarily by exiles in the Lower Level.

WARNING COMMUNIQUÉ:
also called a Warning; the severest form of censure issued by the Office of the Chancellor; typically requires a majority vote by the supreme ministry.

WAVEFUNCTION:
synonymous with “the atom.” (
See
collapse of the wavefunction.)

WAVE-PARTICLE DUALITY:
a photon, an electron, an atom, a molecule, in principle any object, can be either compact and in one place or a wave widely spread out. You can display an object to be bigger than Masimovian Tower or smaller than an atom; you can choose which of these two contradictory features to demonstrate, for the physical reality of an object depends on how you observe it. (
See
collapse of the wavefunction.)

WESTERN HEGEMONY:
the United States of America and its allies during the Second Hundred Years’ War.

ZEROPOINT ATTACK:
an attempt by hackers to use the zeropoint field to destroy a quantum network or system.

ZEROPOINT DISK:
also called a
z-disk
; a storage device that could only be activated using the ZPF.

ZEROPOINT FIELD:
also called the ZPF or the
field
; the subatomic world through which all matter in the cosmos is connected. Transhumans learned to access and manipulate waves within the electromagnetic ZPF in order to achieve telepathy, telekinesis, interstellar communication, interstellar travel, and time travel.

ZEROPOINT WALL:
a part of the ZPF manipulated in order to block unauthorized access or communications.

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read The Phantom of the Earth. None of this would be possible without you! Thanks to my friends and family for your support and patience during this process. Thanks to speculative fiction authors David Brin (
The Postman, Uplift Saga
), who read the first chapter of
The Song of the Jubilee
and offered writing advice, Jason Gurley (
Eleanor, Greatfall
), who designed the book covers, and Tammy Salyer (
Spectras Arise Trilogy
), who copyedited the manuscripts. Thanks to Mike Corley for creating the maps. Thanks to Penn State-University Park astrophysicist Dr. Zachary Prieskorn for reading several drafts, providing scientific and editorial perspective, and forming the space and time travel appendix. Thanks to Harvard University synthetic biologist Dr. George M. Church for searching the manuscripts for opportunities and offering scientific suggestions. Thanks to Columbia University synthetic biologist Dr. Harris Wang for meeting with me to discuss the project. Thanks to iGEM participants Clay Swackhamer (biological engineer), who read the manuscripts and provided scientific and editorial feedback, and Michael Easterbrook (chemical engineer), who read
The Song of the Jubilee
and
The Gambit with Perfection
and supplied scientific suggestions with a focus on the Reassortment Strain. Thanks to Matt Harkenreader (nuclear engineer) for helping me flesh out the terraforming appendix. Thanks to Victoria Chen (science engineer) for reading the first three books and providing scientific and editorial perspective on
The Song of the Jubilee.
Thanks to the Chinese University of Hong Kong iGEM team for sending me their updated research on synbio data storage (
E. cryptor
). Thanks to my beta readers: Amber Triplett, Bill Sullivan, Carl Nelson, Casey Miller, Cheryl M-M, John Boettcher, Joyce Gravino, Karen Klink, Kathryn Cunningham, Kelsey Mecher, Laura Johnson, Lauren Stoolfire, Michelle Hofacker, Natalie Hughes, Rowena Hoseason, Veronica Sardo, Violet Lauderdale, and Yulande Lindsay. Thanks to my concept artists Daniel Kvasznicza (
300, Arkham Origins
) and Juan Carlos Barquet (
The Origin Mystery
). Thanks to Polgarus Studio for formatting the books for publication. Special thanks to my editor, Erin Wilcox, without whom this project would never have been completed.

While synthetic biology and other technologies are treated fictitiously in The Phantom of the Earth, I delved into many excellent nonfiction models for inspiration. The most influential sources included:
Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves
by George M. Church and Ed Regis, PhD,
The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe
by Lynne McTaggart,
More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement
by Ramez Naam,
Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth
by DK Publishing, and
Algorithmic Puzzles
by Anany Levitin and Maria Levitin. Other sources that helped me apply concepts of earth science, theology, martial arts, what could happen to the planet’s surface if humans suddenly disappeared, exoplanets, quantum physics, classical physics, metaphysics, and time include
The Earth Machine: The Science of a Dynamic Planet
by Edmond A. Mathez and James D. Webster;
Time Travel and Warp Drives: A Scientific Guide to Shortcuts through Time and Space
by Allen Everett and Thomas Roman;
The World Without Us
by Alan Weisman;
Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness
by Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner;
Exoplanets: Finding, Exploring, and Understanding Alien Worlds
by C. R. Kitchin;
God’s Universe
by Owen Gingerich;
The God Theory: Universes, Zero-point Fields, and What’s Behind It All
by Bernard Haisch;
The Book of Five Rings
by Miyamoto Musashi; “Wormholes, Time Machines, and the Weak Energy Condition” by Michael S. Morris, Kip S. Thorne, and Ulvi Yurtsever, published in
Physical Review Letters
; and
A Question of Time: The Ultimate Paradox and the Secrets of Consciousness
, a compilation of articles from
Scientific American
. Discovery Channel’s
Inside Planet Earth
and National Geographic’s
Down to the Earth’s Core
also influenced details inside Vigna and Earth. Note: any egregious errors beyond what would be considered acceptable artistic license in applying the science or technology to The Phantom of the Earth are my own.