41. Zachary’s sternum, sometimes referred to as the breastbone, had been manufactured out of a carbon-grapheme mesh.
42. Obviously not the car racing organization, NASCAR in this instance stands for Neurologically-Activated Sleep Cancelling and Revitalization. Basically, the pills, developed and sold by RocheLillyAbbott, are the legalized, standardized, OTC (over the counter) methamphetamine of the time.
43. Cannabis, better known as “marijuana” or “weed,” has been legal for over ten years. It was in use in society at this time at the same level as alcohol. Or, more accurately, coffee (caffeine).
44. Automatically notified.
45. Six dimensions. These include height, width, length, depth, scent, and taste. 7-D, which added texture/touch, would not be invented for another decade. Note that “dimensions” is used loosely here, and more as a marketing term than a scientific one.
46. Gas is no longer odorless at this point in our history, or colorless. Due to the ubiquity of natural gas, and the demise of most other fossil fuels, gasses are now odor– and color– coded. In this case, the gas is pink and smells of strawberries.
47. An interesting expression, especially in this context. “Hell’s bells” refers to a tale, possibly apocryphal, wherein deafening bells are rung in Hell whenever the Devil takes a soul (similar to how a bell is struck when a bartender gets a hefty tip). However, hell’s bells is merely an old phrase denoting astonishment, along with “jeepers creepers!” or “holy mackerel!” or “holy Toledo!”
48. Too Much Freakin’ Information. An olde-timey expression experiencing a resurgence during this period. Or so Helena hoped.
49. According to archeological discoveries in this timeframe, the historical figure of “Jesus,” or “The Christ,” had the middle initial “Z,” not “H,” as had been previously assumed.
50. One of the original half-man/half-machine prototypes, created in the early 1980s. The “man” had the ability to run faster, jump higher, and so on, than any ordinary (even physically gifted and expertly trained) man. Later, a television show was based on leaked information about the “robot man.” The TV show could only speculate on the prototype, however, and had little based on the facts of the real Six Million Dollar Man. (He was actually a $5.74 million dollar man, still considerable money in those days.)
51. Pronounced AAN-gwije-nah CAP-ree-jee-nuhs, it was the only female demon of the troupe. She/It had one head, six breasts, four arms, and two legs. The skin fit tight against the bones of her/its body and seemed like leather hide dried onto the bones of a skeleton. The name translates approximately to, “Goat, born of a Snake.” She prefers to be called, “Angie.”
52. Tobacco-based cigarettes were virtually nonexistent at this point. Near the end, however, tobacco companies pretty much threw in the towel and admitted how bad their products really were. New brands emerged at that time, including Canceretts, Hellbox, To Die For (a ladies’ brand), and of course, Satans.
53. Also known as DNSCUMCNY/PH, for short. Which is pronounced “dun-SCUM-sinny-FUH” by those in the know.
54. Self-Contained Robotic Intelligence Device. SCRID is pronounced “skrĭd”; rhymes with “did.”
55. International Police Force, USA division.
56. ‘Robocop,’ ‘Robocop 2,’Robocop 3,’ and then ‘RoboCop’ and ‘RoboCop 2’ all over again (note the capital ‘C’ in Cop).
57. Divine Intervention.
58. The Will of God.
59. At this point in history, the USA was governed simultaneously by the Gold President, the Silver President, and the Bronze President. These men and women are the top three vote-getters from the once-a-decade presidential election. They serve together, finding common ground for each of their party’s political agenda, working with the other presidents to solve the country’s problems in a truly tri-partisan way.
60. New York State and New York City are now two different geographical and political entities sharing only a similar name, and no longer the same government. New York City and Long Island make up New York City. The rest of the former Empire State makes up New York State; basically everything north of the Tappan Zee Bridge.
61. Though still called the Pentagon, the building in years previous had been expanded into an octagon.
62. Victoria’s Secret changed their name to Victorious Secrets to support the perpetual war effort in the Middle East in 2027, when the company became the official underwear provider for the US armed forces—the same year, not by coincidence, that female recruits surpassed male.
63. NovocainPLUS was released to the public the previous year and consisted of the standard Novocain for numbness, along with the new ingredients in “PLUS”: Paralyzer-Lite, Universal Sedation. This added a stronger numbing sensation, as well as drowsiness. Full unconsciousness was the point of higher doses, however.
64. It is believed that the demons are not using a physical checklist here, but were going from memory. Winging it, so to speak.
65. And pretty much everywhere else.
66. The kind used to create tunnels through mountains, etc.
67. Martial arts icon of a by-gone era, but a name synonymous with Asian action films. Bruce Lee died young, under mysterious circumstances. His son, Brandon Lee, who played “The Crow” in the movies, also died tragically young. Let’s hope this is not also the fate of Zachery Zemeritus.
68. These gigantic demon creatures faced nonstop freezing temperatures while flying to Earth through space. From what we have been able to work out from news reports, journals, and 4D blogs from that time, it appears the demons counteracted the chill somewhat by following a path that took them from star to star, and from sun to sun, to stay as warm as possible. The beasts flew through the iciness of space for short periods of time.
69. A game character developed by Capcom in the late 1980s, its imaginary technologies (such as spitting fire out of the end of arms and shooting spinning blades at foes) were used as the prototype for the first part-robot being, MegaMonkey. A number of problems were encountered, which led to the death of the original MegaMonkey and the project had to be abandoned. However, the discoveries made during the MegaMonkey research and development were to become the foundation for some of the tech later applied to Zachary.
70. That’s French for one, big, hideous, horrible, frightening group of shitheads. Loosely translated and specific to this case, anyway.
71. Or, to be more accurate, into his Wernicke’s Area, the region of the lobe that handles speech comprehension.
72. “Mil” in “Mil-Dot” is not, as is often thought, short for “Military.” Rather it refers to “milliradian,” which can be thought of as similar to degrees, as in 360°.
73. Minute-of-Angle, like Mil-Dot Reticle, is a shooting term concerned with accurate targeting. That’s really all you need to know.
74. Previously, the bot had calculated the demons’ flight patterns—their up-and-down and side-to-side movements—as well as their velocity. By including their predicted evasive tactics in the formula, impact was now all but guaranteed.
75. For all intents and purposes, 100 percent assured. “Five nines” refers the five nines in 99.999%.
76. None of the demons had any experience with demon childrearing, not even the female, Anguigena “Angie” Caprigenus.
77. This damage should not have been possible, given how Zachary’s armor had been designed and implemented. But there you are.
78. Available Redundant Replacement Parts.
79. A specialized robotic repair robot. SPLIFFs were “Skilled, Programmable, Lightweight, Internal-Functioning, and Freethinking” units.
80. This was spoken by an enraged Atrōx “Rocks” Manzer, who was getting less enjoyment than he thought he would from beating an unconscious foe even more senseless. One could assume that Atrōx Manzer wanted some resistance, at least the semblance of a fight.
81. Scientific Wild-Ass Guess. A hybrid of when exact calculations can only go so far, and then rest of the way has t
o be figured based on guesswork. And a wing and a prayer.
82. Basically, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. When dealing with gigantic demons, you can multiply that by 100.
83. Rat Kings may or may not be real, and thus are considered “crypto-zoological.” In theory, a rat king is created when an overpopulation of rats cram into too small a space. While facing out in a protective stance, the rats’ tails entangle and eventually knot together. In earlier centuries, people believed that a Rat King was one giant rat with multiple bodies.
84. Pronounced VUR-mess muss BAH-silly-us. Literally, “Vermin, the Rat King.”
85. These were instantly fixed by nano-bots directed to the repair site by Borgy.
86. Zachary was delirious, low on oxygen, and didn’t really know what he expected her to do.
87. They used to make bulletproof vests out of the early versions of this stuff. SuperKevlar is better, stronger, and more, well, super.
88. Popular in the previous century, the original Slinky toy was made from flat Swedish steel wire twisted into a coil. Basically, a Slinky was a spring. It was, however, thought to be capable of sentient behavior such as walking down stairs (alone or in pairs) while making a “slinkity” sound, or bouncing up and down a bit like a clown.
89. A marketing device created by StaplesDepot Corporation, the idea of an “easy” button took hold in the popular imagination for a short period in the early years of the millennium.
90. Later shortened in other accounts to simply, OPERATION: SAVE MALLORY.
91. Diarrhea, in other words, for those who may not know the term. Also known as the skitters, the trots, and by various more colorful euphemisms (that color being brown).
92. Fact.
93. Another cultural reference to a popular fad from a previous era. The small rubbery Troll dolls had odd faces (neither young nor old), with hair spiked straight up almost to the same length as their body. Their hair came in a rainbow of colors—yellow, blue, pink, green, orange, red, purple. Well, rainbow.
94. Really, electro-magnetic pinchers.
DEMON DAYS: Love, sex, death, and dark humor. This book has it all. Plus robots. Page 20