Warstrider 01 - Warstrider

by William H. Keith

  Charged Particle Gun (CPG): Primary weapon on larger warstriders. Including proton cannons and electron guns, they use powerful gauss fields to direct streams of charged subatomic particles at the target.

  Chiji: “Governor.” Specifically, the Hegemony governor of Shichiju worlds. Usually (but not always) an Imperial.

  CMP: Cluster Munitions Package. Missile or artillery round payload. Dispenses hundreds of mines, bomblets, or nuclear-triggered plasma bolts in a destructive “footprint” across a large area.

  Coaster: Intrasystem, low-cost space transport, usually for cargo, although sometimes passengers are carried. Cramped, old, and uncomfortable, they are characterized by brief periods of high-G acceleration and deceleration at either end of the journey, with a long interval of zero-G “coasting” between.

  Colonial Authority: Hegemonic bureaucracy charged with overseeing government, trade, and terraforming of the human-inhabited worlds.

  Commpac: “Communications package.” Long-range communications unit that plugs into both temporal sockets and is worn behind the head. It permits long-range communication and can serve as a modem to planetary computer networks without a direct palm interface.

  Compatch: Small radio transceiver worn on the skin and jacked into a T-socket. Allows cephlink-to-link radio communications.

  Compscam: Using computer networks—especially non-AI systems—to illegally divert money, equipment, etc.

  Cryo-H: Liquid hydrogen cooled to a few degrees absolute, used as fuel for fusion power plants aboard striders, ascraft, and other vehicles. Sometimes called “slush hydrogen.”

  C-socket: Cervical socket, located in subject’s cervical spine, near the base of his neck. Directs neural impulses to jacked equipment, warstriders, construction gear, heavy lifters, etc.

  C3, C-Three: Military term for Command, Control, and Communications, the essentials of battlefield command.

  DalRiss: Nonhuman intelligence first contacted in 2540. Native to Alya B-V (GhegnuRish), they are highly advanced in biological sciences, relatively backward in engineering and metallurgical sciences. Compound name reflects use of Dal, a gene-engineered organism, as “mount” by Riss (“Master”).

  Deplur: Depleted uranium. Ultradense metal used in massive projectiles such as 8-mm hivel ammunition.

  DHS: Directorate of Hegemony Security. Joint military-civilian bureau under Imperial overwatch tasked with internal security in both civilian and military sectors.

  Dracomycetes mirabila: Fungus harvested in jungle lowlands of Eridu, the source of a drug used for memory enhancement.

  DSA: Deep Seismic Anomaly. Seismic tremors associated with subsurface movements of Xenophobe machines.

  Durasheath: Armor grown as composite layers of diamond, duralloy, and ceramics; light, flexible, and very strong.

  El-shuttle: Saucer-shaped pressurized chamber ferrying passengers and cargo up and down the sky-el. The passen­ger deck has seats for up to a hundred people, complete with jackplugs and a recjack library.

  Embedded Interface: Network of wires and neural feeds embedded in the skin—usually in the palm near the base of the thumb—and used to access and control simple computer hardware. Provides control and datafeed functions only, not full-sensory input. Used to activate T- and C-socket jacks, to pass authorization and credit data, and to retrieve printed or vocal data “played” inside the user’s mind. Also called ’face or skin implant.

  E-suit: Environmental suit. Lightweight helmet and garment for use in space or hostile atmospheric conditions.

  Fabricrete: Artificial building material assembled molecule by molecule by nanotechnic constructors in Rogan Process, using dirt or refuse as raw material.

  Fukushi: Imperial welfare program that provides Level One Implant technology, free housing, and ration subsidies to dependent citizens.

  Fusorpak: Power unit carried on board most striders and large vehicles. Uses tanked slush hydrogen as fuel.

  Gamma: Third type of Xenophobe combat machine, usually relatively small and amorphous. Apparently a fragment of a Xenophobe Alpha, animated by one or more Xeno machine-organism hybrids. Its surface consists of nano disassemblers, making its touch deadly.

  Glowglobe: Magnetically suspended lighting element, programmed to hover in place and produce light chemically on command.

  Greens, Greenies: Political descendants of the Green Activist parties of the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries. Generally pro-environmental, anti-expansionist.

  Grennel: Common name for a freshwater bladder plant harvested on Eridu. It is the source of a drug useful in treating impotence.

  Guntower: Unmanned sentry outpost armed with various energy or projectile weapons. May be automated, remote-controlled, or directed by an on-site, low-level AI.

  Hab: “Habitat.” home, though it usually refers to a structure used primarily for recreation or entertainment rather than a dwelling.

  Hardware: Any physical computer equipment, but usual­ly specifically applied to cephimplants, sockets, and other equipment surgically implanted within brain, skin, or bone.

  Hegemony: Also Terran Hegemony. World government rep­resenting fifty-seven nations on Earth, plus the Colonial Authorities of the seventy-eight terraformed worlds. Tech­nically sovereign, it is dominated by Imperial Japan, which has a veto in its legislative assembly.

  HEMILCOM: Hegemony Military Command. Local mili­tary command-control-communications (C3) headquarters, usually based in sky-el orbitals, charged with coordinating military operations within a given sector.

  Hivel Cannon: A turret-mounted, high velocity rotary can­non. Similar to twentieth-century CIWS systems, it fires bursts of depleted uranium slugs with a rate of fire as high as fifty per second. Usually controlled by an on­board AI, its primary function is antimissile defense. It can also be voluntarily controlled and used against other targets.

  HMC: Hegemony Military Compound. Military base sup­porting at least one battalion of warstriders plus auxiliary forces.

  Hotbox: Strap-on rocket or scramjet booster. Small modules allow striders to softland after an airdrop or provide jet-assisted boosts for navigating rough terrain. Larger modules provide surface-to-orbit thrust for aerospace transports.

  Hunorm: Human-normal. Refers to link-feed senses, espe­cially vision, in human-normal ranges, as opposed to spectra normally invisible to humans, such as infrared.

  ICS: Intercom System. Provides shipboard voice communi­cation for unlinked personnel. Also refers to linked commu­nications between crew members of a single vehicle.

  Imbedded Interface: Network of wires and neural feeds imbedded in the skin—usually in the palm near the base of the thumb—used to access and control simple computer hardware. Provides control and datafeed functions only, not full-sensory input. Used to activate T- and C-socket jacks, to pass authorization and credit data, and to retrieve printed or vocal data “played” inside the user’s mind. Also called ’face or skin implant.

  Jacker: Slang for anyone with implanted jacks for neural interface with computers, machinery, or communications networks. Specifically applied to individuals who jack in for a living, as opposed to recreational jackers, “recjacks.”

  Kanrinin: “Controller.” Device that plugs into subject’s T-and C-sockets, allowing almost total motor nerve control by others. Used to handle or transfer prisoners.

  Kansei no Otoko: “The Men of Completion.” Nihonjinn faction at Court and within the Imperial Staff dedicated to cleansing upper levels of Imperial civilian and military organizations of gaijin influence.

  Kokorodo: Literally “Way of the Mind,” a mental discipline practiced by Imperial military jackers to achieve full mental and physical coordination through AI linkage.

  K-T Plenum: Extraspacial realm at the hyperdimensional interface between normal fourspace and the quantum sea. From Nihongo Kamisamano Taiyo, literally “Ocean of God.” Starships navigate through the K-T plenum.

  Kuso: Japanese word for feces. Not a Japanese expletive,
it is used as such by Inglic-speakers.

  L-LOS: Laser Line of Sight. Straight-line path clear of inter­fering smoke, dust, or other obstruction along which laser communications can be established.

  Loki: 36 Ophiuchi C (Dagstjerne) II. World 17.8 light-years from Sol currently undergoing terraforming by colonists of Scandinavian descent. Place names taken from Norse mythology, including Asgard (synchorbital), Bifrost (sky-el), and Midgard (towerdown). Capital: Midgard. Language Norsk-Lokan, a dialect of Norse.

  Lung Chi: DM+32° 2896 (Chien) IV. World terraformed by colonists of Manchurian descent. Overrun by Xenophobes in 2537–8.

  Magflitter: Personal air transport, flown through interaction with a planetary magnetic field.

  Medsystem: Any AI-oriented electronic network dedicated to monitoring and controlling biological functions during cephlinkage. Bodily functions are monitored through micro-circuitry imbedded within ship or combat suits, which in turn are plugged into the AI overwatch system. All physical sen­sations, including pain, can be edited from the human brain’s awareness.

  Meteffectors: Metabolic Effectors. Nanotechnic devices that increase the efficiency of certain bodily processes, convert­ing body fat to energy, and food to muscle tissue.

  Microbion: Gene-tailored, microscopic artificial life-form designed to perform some ecological or life-support function, such as adjust a planetary ecology’s tolerance to high or low carbon dioxide levels.

  MJ: Megajoule. Measure of energy. The detonation of one kilogram of TNT releases approximately five MJ of energy.

  Morphing: Xenophobe ability to change shape or repair itself within certain limits, made possible by flexibility of positioning and bonding between the machine’s nanotechnic “cells.”

  MSE: Mental Stability Evaluation. Test recorded by full sen­sory link determining a subject’s reactions, flexibility, and the presence of potentially hampering or unwanted prejudices or mental debilities.

  Nangineering: Nanotechnic engineering. Use of nano­technic devices in building or in medicine.

  Nanits: “Nanotechnic units.” Molecule-sized or smaller programmable machines.

  Nano-Ds: Nano disassemblers. Xenophobe weapon, deliv­ered by mag-accelerated projectile or through contact with a specialized appendage, consisting of billions of submicro­scopic machines programmed to disassemble molecular bonds. A high concentration of nano-Ds can cause several kilos of mass to disintegrate into its component molecules within seconds.

  Nanoflage: Nanofilm on military vehicles designed to trans­mit colors and textures of vehicle’s immediate surroundings. Selectively reflective, it does not reflect bright light or motion.

  Nanomold: A semiportable nanovat used in construction. Placed on site, it uses Rogan’s Process to convert dirt or other locally available raw material into fabricrete walls or prefab building sections.

  Nanovat: Industrial tank used for growing nanotechnic prod­ucts. Small vats can produce, on order and with proper raw materials, food, garments, disposable computers, and other small items. Large vats are required to grow pieces of large manufactured goods like vehicles.

  Navsim: ViRsimulation used in ship navigation.

  NCM: Nanotechnic Countermeasures. Submicroscopic devices programmed to hunt down and destroy enemy nanotechnic disassemblers before they cause irreparable damage. In combat, applied as a patch or an aerosol.

  Neopsychometrics: The science of measuring human psy­chological variables, such as aptitude, emotional disturbance, or psychotechnic disorders. “Neo” pertains to the revolution in human psychology brought about by link-assisted diagno­sis and treatment.

  New America: 26 Draconis IV. Frontier colony 48.6 light-years from Sol.

  NOI: Nippon Orbital Industries, manufacturer of cephimplants and other DI (direct interface) equipment.

  Null: Person possessing no cephlink hardware and unable to engage in financial transactions, interface with computers, or engage in useful work. Large numbers of Nulls on Frontier worlds and even in some areas on Earth constitute a growing and problematical lower class.

  PLSS: Portable Life Support System, pronounced “pliss.” A small and lightweight unit providing air, heat, power, and waste recycling for environmental suits and other protective garments.

  Prebiotic: A world similar to Earth in the distant past, before the evolution of life. Possessing primitive atmospheres carbon dioxide, water, methane, and ammonia, they can be tailored through terraforming techniques to eventually develop Earthlike environments.

  Psychotechnic Disorders: General term for a group of men­tal disorders resulting from breakdowns in an individual’s abilities to relate to high-tech, computer-oriented society. They include:

  Technic Depression (TD): Feeling of inferiority to AIs, coupled with an inability to cope with speed of information transfers, virtual reality shifts, or changing styles.

  Technomegalomania (TM): Delusion of godhood fos­tered by virtual realities. Marked by depression, anger, or hostility when subject is in the real world, by feelings of invulnerability and power when linked.

  Technophobia (TP): Unreasonable fear of machines, computers, or aspects of technic society, such as analogues or cephimplants.

  Quantum Sea: Energy continuum reflected in “vacuum fluctuation,” the constant appearance and reabsorption of vast quantities of energy on a subatomic scale. Tapped by starships operating within the K-T plenum.

  Rank: Terran Hegemony ranks are based on the Imperial Japanese rank structure, though the English terminology is preferred in common usage. A rough comparison of rank in the Hegemony Military, as compared to late twentieth-century America, is given below:

  Enlisted Ranks

  US. Army/Marines

  Imperial Military

  Private 2nd class/(no equivalent)

  Nitto hei

  E-2 Private/PFC

  Itto hei

  Superior private/(no equivalent)

  Jotto hei

  E-3 PFC/Lance Corporal

  Heicho

  E-4 Corporal/Corporal

  Gocho

  E-5 Sergeant/Sergeant

  Gunso

  E-9 Sgt. Major/Sgt. Major

  Socho

  WO Warrant Officers (CWO)

  Jun-i

  Commissioned Ranks

  US. Army/Navy

  Imperial Military

  O-O Cadet

  Seito

  O-1 2nd Lieutenant/Ensign

  Sho-i

  O-2 Lieutenant/Lieutenant (jg)

  Chu-i

  O-3 Captain/Lieutenant

  Tai-i

  O-4 Major/Lieutenant Commander

  Shosa

  O-5 Lieutenant Colonel/Commander

  Chusa

  O-6 Colonel/Captain

  Taisa

  O-8 Major General/Rear Admiral

  Shosho

  O-9 Lieutenant General /Vice Admiral

  Chujo

  O-10 General/Admiral

  Taisho

  O-11 General of the Army/Fleet Admiral

  Gensui

  Rebrief: From “RAM-edited briefing.” Originally a means to update RAM-loaded information by rewriting cephlink-stored data. Now means downloading fabricated data into a subject’s RAM for purposes of interrogation or brainwashing.

  Recjack: Using implants for recreational purposes. These range from participation in ViRdramas to shared multiple sensual stimulation to direct stimulation of the hypothalamic pleasure centers (PC-jacking).

  Riderslot: Opening in an ascraft or other transport’s hull designed to receive striders. Usually equipped with grip­pers, magnetic locks, and autoplug ICS and datafeed con­nectors.

  RJ: Military slang for free time spent recjacking.

  Rogan Process: Nano construction technique, named after inventor Philip Rogan, employing assemblers and any plenti­ful raw material. Through “RoPro” or “RoProduction,” walls, buildings, roads, any similar large structure, can be “grown” out of rock and earth quickly and cheaply.
/>   SDT: Subsurface Deformation Track Path through a plan­etary crust previously used by Xenophobe underground travelers. Rock once turned plastic by intense heat and pressure offers subsurface “highways” more easily traversed by subsequent craft.

  Sekkodan: The Imperial Scout Service, tasked with exploring and cataloging new worlds, as well as operating high-speed courier ships between the worlds of the Shichiju. Its members wear green uniforms and it is considered to be a civilian bureau rather than a military unit.

  Schiz, Schiz Out: Slang for mental breakdown brought on by jacked shutdown of mental activities for a protracted period of time, or through severe mental stress during linkage.

  Selfware: Jacker slang for the human mind, both the physical processes of neuronic impulses and the less quantifiable pro­cesses of consciousness, reasoning, and “self.” If software is the program run on hardware, selfware is the program run on wetware.

  Sempu: “Whirlwind.” Shotgunlike antipersonnel weapon firing shot connected by strands of monofilament.

  Sensphere: Tennis-ball-sized gold sphere held against palm implants. Creates a pleasant, mildly stimulating, and erotic tingle through the interface circuitry.

  Servot: A robotic, general-purpose servant.

  Shakai: “Society.” The elitist, upper-class culture of Imperial Earth.

  Shichiju: Literally “The Seventy.” Japanese term for the seventy-eight worlds in seventy-two systems so far colonized by Man.

  Shishino Chi: “The Lion’s Blood.” Imperial equivalent of the Purple Heart.

  Silicolubricant, Silicarb: Greasy black silicon compound used to reduce friction in interior working parts.

  Sky-el: Elevator used to travel between a planetary ring and the surface of the planet. A cheap and efficient way of moving people and cargo back and forth from surface to orbit. Earth has three sky-els: Singapore (Pulau Lingga), Ecuador (Quito), and Kenya (Mount Kenya). New Earth has two. Other worlds have one. Some, including New America, have none.