by Wren, M. K.
TYCHO: The largest city on Luna, site of the Home Estate of the House of Arment Ivanoi.
UNDER THE SHADOW: (Bond Religion) A person who is, or lives, under the Shadow is one whose life or soul is in jeopardy.
UNIVERSITY SYSTEM: A Concord agency established in 2903 by Lord Paul Adalay, first Chairman of the Directorate of the PanTerran Confederation. The University provides facilities for higher education (beyond the Basic School level), as well as for scholarly and scientific research, and for endeavors in all the arts. University campuses are found in all major cities in the Two Systems.
VACCUP: A drinking vessel, usually made of plasex, with double walls sealing an insulating vacuum that maintains liquids at hot or cold temperatures.
VACMOP: A cleaning implement with a suction hose, the mouth of which is surrounded by absorbent plasponge bristles.
VACUUM COLONY: Any human habitation (not necessarily a colony in a literal sense) that requires habitat systems in order to maintain conditions suitable for human existence.
VELLAM: A photosensitive laminate pressed into thin sheets and used primarily for printouts and for hand writing with a lightpen.
VF (VISUAL FREQUENCY) CAMOUFLAGE SCREEN: An energy-field screen used to shield an area from long-range visual observation, as from airborne vehicles or ships, by selective disruption of light waves.
VIDICAM: A vidicom image encoder or camera.
VIDICOM: Transmitted electromagnetic signals translated into three-dimensional, color images on vidicom screens, which range in size from a few centimeters in height and breadth to the typical home-use screen of 1.75 by 1.75 meters, to large wall screens up to six by six meters. The term may also refer to the screen receiver itself or to the PubliCom System and its broadcasts.
VIOLAN: (Music) An instrument with seven electronic beamed “strings” over a hollow sounding box with an attached tone or fingering bar. Sounds are produced by drawing a charged rod, or “bow,” across the strings.
VISLORD: Any Lord who is not a First Lord or the first born of a First Lord. He is referred to as VisLord, but addressed as “my lord.”
VIS-SCREEN: Visual-image screen. A vidicom screen used to view areas not accessible to direct visual observation, as in space vessels where the only visual access to anything outside the ship is through vidicams mounted on the hull transmitting images to vis-screens within the ship.
VOICE LOCK: A lock that opens only in response to a voice it has been programmed to recognize by VP ident. A special code word is usually programmed as an additional precaution.
VOLANTE: An Elite social dance performed by couples facing each other in two concentric circles, men outside, women inside, to music with a distinctive sequence of rhythms. At the end of each sequence, or chorus, there is a short “allegro” during which the two circles move in opposite directions. When it ends, each dancer takes the person he or she is then facing, as partner for the next chorus.
VP IDENT: Voice print identification. A means of identifying an individual based on the unique spectrogram pattern formed by his or her voice.
WHEEL OF DESTINY: A symbol, in the form of a seven-spoked wheel, sacred to the Order of Gamaliel. The wheel (or circle) represents continuity and eternity; the seven spokes represent the Order’s seven secret “logos” (philosophical concepts and/or disciplines), mastery of which, adherents believe, leads to true Insight, a state of total comprehension.
WINDOWALL: A window made of thick (10 cm) glass reinforced with extremely fine, and virtually invisible, strands of flexsteel. Windowalls can span up to six meters in width and heighth without internal structural supports.
Glossary—Outsider Terms and Slang
ASK FATE: To court disaster by naming it beforehand, especially in jest.
BLADE: A knife. Also a member of the Brotherhood assigned to act as a guard or enforcer.
BLOOD EDICT: A decree, order, or command made with the tacit understanding that the penalty for defying it will be death.
BODY-DECKER: A person prone to wearing an abundance of jewelry or other personal ornamentation.
BROTHER: Any male Outsider “cleave” to the Brotherhood.
BROTHERHOOD: A loose but ubiquitous organization dominant in the Outside. Most Outsiders are involved in it directly or indirectly.
BUTTON MAN: Also “Top Button Man:” A person in a position of command or authority.
CALL (A PERSON) FRIEND AND BROTHER, OR SISTER: An oath by which the person named is granted the loyalty and protection usually pertaining only in actual blood relationships.
CAST A SHADOW: To threaten.
CATCH: n. An arrest.
CHARM SNAGGER: A swindler who employs appealing personal attributes to dupe his or her victims.
CLAN: An organizational unit within the Brotherhood. The person wielding the most authority within a clan is known as the “clanhead.”
CLEAVE: adj. Loyal; faithful.
CROSS (ANOTHER PERSON’S) LINES: To infringe on another person’s privacy or pry into matters he or she considers personal or secret; also, to infringe on his or her business prerogatives or interests.
DIVVIES: Shared advantage or profit.
DODDER: A person of limited or diminished intelligence.
DOOR: A means of escape.
DOUBLE DEUCE: The number two hundred; “deuce” is twenty. DOVEY: Easy or pleasant.
DOWNSIDE: Below, on a lower level, or beneath the surface (of a planet).
EAR MAN: A spy.
EYE-OVER: n. A close scrutiny.
FACE OFF: A confrontation.
FLOAT: An Outside business establishment vending alcoholic beverages and providing music and/or other entertainment, and characterized by the use of nulgrav mechanisms to create a “floating” environment.
FORTUNE: A wish for another person’s good fortune, an expression that serves primarily as a greeting or a farewell, especially the latter.
FRINGER: A person who is an Outsider, but not a born or soul Outsider; usually a runaway or fugitive from Conpol or the SSB.
GAFF: To cheat or swindle.
GIM: n. A fraudulent, illegal, and/or deceitful scheme or act, the purpose of which is personal gain for the perpetrator. Also, a scheme or act involving great risk to the perpetrator, but with a more admirable motive.
v. To deceive, swindle, or cheat.
A “gim artist” or “gimmer” is a person who gims others; he or she may also be said to “run a gim.”
GLIM: Inkling; hint.
HACKLE: To disturb, bother, or arouse suspicion. Also used in the form “to be hackled”; i.e., disturbed, etc.
HEADPRICE: A reward, or the amount of the award, offered, usually by Conpol or the SSB, for information leading to the apprehension of a person on their fugitive or runaway lists.
HOUND: A Brother who specializes in finding and tracking people.
INSIDE: The opposite of the Outside, either as a place or a state of being “Inside”; i.e., a non-Outsider, or someone living within the official or accepted social order in the Concord.
ITCHY NOSE: The state of having suspicion or anxiety about someone or a situation.
KEEP (ONE’S) BLADE SHEATHED: To show restraint or to offer no threat.
KINLY: A feeling of closeness toward another person; a friendly attitude.
LAST FALL: Defeat and/or death.
LAY: To wager.
LIFTER: A space vessel.
LINE IN: To provide information; to make someone privy to a situation.
MAXOBOOTH: A type of entertainment offered in most Outsiders’ districts providing, via helmets equipped with electronic beam probes, a choice of simulated sensations or moods.
MOLLY-DODDLE: Nonsense; foolishness.
NOB: To fraternize with, be friendly, or converse with.
NODDY: An informer; usually one who directs Conpol or the SSB to fugitives or runaways in exchange for the headprice.
NUCH: A term of insult (m
asculine).
OLD SER: Father.
ONE ON: An expression of approbation, encouragement, or agreement.
ON THE SHORT END: At a disadvantage, or deprived.
PASSKEY: The price exacted for providing a “door.”
PIN: v. To kill, usually purposely.
n. A killing or murder, also called a “pinning.”
POLE, OR POLER: A Conpol officer or agent.
PRICE IN (A PERSON’S) BLOOD: Retribution by death.
PSYGAME HOUSE: A type of entertainment found in most Outsiders’ districts offering games based on psychological fantasies realistically staged with a combination of live actors, holograms, vidicom projections, and other visual and aural effects.
PULL A LOOK: To attract attention.
PULL DOWN: To defeat and/or kill.
QUIV: A coward. A person behaving in a cowardly manner is “on the quiv.”
RED PANIC: A state of extreme anxiety.
RUN THE GANT: To accept a challenge, or attempt a dangerous course of action.
RUN SHORT: To be deterred, forestalled, or frustrated in one’s desires or aims.
SCAN: Also “scan straight:” To understand clearly.
SCREENED AREA: A private or secret part of a person’s life. SEAL: To convict and incarcerate.
SERALLIO: A house of prostitution.
SHAD: An officer or agent of the SSB.
SHIVVY: Dangerous or frightening.
SHOW TOOTH: To object or take exception to someone or something in a potentially violent manner.
SKIMP: Lacking, or in short supply.
SMELL OUT: To find, uncover, or unmask something or someone.
SODDY: Dull, old-fashioned, stilted; sometimes used in the sense of “prim.”
SOUL-LINK: A relationship between two or more persons considered more significant and more binding than friendship, love, or even blood ties.
SOUL OUTSIDER: A person born into the Outside and committed to its way of life.
SPIN: A story or tale, often by implication exaggerated or outlandish.
SPOOK: To escape, run away, or desert.
STAT: Status; situation.
STIMUTHEATER: A type of Outside entertainment combining theatrical presentations, usually pornographic in nature, with drug or electronically induced stimuli enhancement.
SWEET: An attractive woman, especially one with an air of innocence or naïveté.
TEN-CARAT BRASS: A term of insult; a sham, false, or faked.
TICE: Attractive; enticing.
TOOK: n. A person who is easily deceived; a victim, or prospective victim of a gim. “Tooky” is used as a derisive form of address.
TOOTH MAN: A gim artist or charlatan who uses personal charm to achieve his ends; the “tooth” refers to a habitual smile.
TURN A ‘CORD: To make a difference, to change or affect the outcome.
UNMOTHERED: A term of insult.
UPPERCASTE: Elite.
UPSIDE: Above, an upper level, or the surface of a planet. It may also refer to the Inside.
WEAVE: Clothing, especially in the sense of costume.
More from M.K. Wren
The Phoenix Legacy
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