Acorna’s Search

by Anne McCaffrey

  Khaari—Senior Linyaari navigator on the Balakiire.

  Khetala—Captured as a small child for the mines of Kezdet, later sold into the planet’s brothels. Rescued by Acorna, and now a beautiful young woman.

  Khleevi—Name given by Acorna’s people to the space-borne enemies who have attacked them without mercy.

  Kii—A Linyaari time measurement roughly equivalent to an hour of Standard Time.

  Ki-lin—Oriental name for unicorn, also a name sometimes associated with Acorna.

  Kilumbemba Empire—An entire society that raises and exports mercenaries for hire—the Red Bracelets.

  Kirilatova—An opera singer.

  Kisla Manjari—Anorexic and snobbish young woman, raised as daughter of Baron Manjari; shattered when through Acorna’s efforts to help the children of Kezdet her father is ruined and the truth of her lowly birth is revealed.

  Kubiilikaan—The legendary first city on Vhiliinyar, founded by the Ancestral Hosts.

  Kubiilikhan—Capital city of narhii-Vhiliinyar, named after Kubiilikaan, the legendary first city on Vhiliinyar, founded by the Ancestral Hosts.

  LAANYE—Sleep learning device invented by the Linyaari that can, from a small sample of any foreign language, teach the wearer the new language overnight.

  Laarye—Maati and Aari’s brother. He died on Vhiliinyar during the Khleevi invasion. He was trapped in an accident in a cave far distant from the spaceport during the evacuation, and was badly injured. Aari stayed behind to rescue and heal him, but was captured by the Khleevi and tortured before he could accomplish his mission. Laarye died before Aari could escape and return.

  Laboue—The planet where Hafiz Harakamian makes his headquarters.

  Lilaala—A flowering vine native to Vhiliinyar used by early Linyaari to make paper.

  Linyaari—Acorna’s people.

  Liriili—Former viizaar of narhii-Vhiliinyar, member of the clan Riivye.

  Lukia of the Lights—A protective saint, identified by some children of Kezdet with Acorna.

  Maarni—A Linyaari folklorist, mate to Yiitir.

  Maati—A young Linyaari girl of the Nyaarya clan who lost most of her family during the Khleevi invasion. Aari’s sister.

  Mac—Android and member of Becker’s crew on the Condor.

  Madigadi—A berry-like fruit whose juice is a popular beverage.

  Maganos—One of the three moons of Kezdet, base for Delszaki Li’s mining operation and child rehabilitation project.

  Makahomian Temple Cat—Cats on the planet Makahoma, bred from ancient Cat God stock to protect and defend the Cat God’s temples. They are—for cats—large, fiercely loyal, remarkably intelligent, and dangerous when crossed.

  Manjari—A baron in the Kezdet aristocracy, and a key person in the organization and protection of Kezdet’s child-labor racket, in which he was known by the code name “Piper.” He murdered his wife and then committed suicide when his identity was revealed and his organization destroyed.

  Martin Dehoney—Famous astro-architect who designed Maganos Moon Base; the coveted Dehoney Prize was named after him.

  Melireenya—Linyaari communications specialist on the Balakiire, bonded to Hrronye.

  Miiri—Mother of Aari, Laarye, and Maati. A member of the Nyaarya clan, lifebonded to Kaarlye.

  Misra Affrendi—Hafiz’s elderly trusted retainer.

  Mitanyaakhi—Generic Linyaari term meaning a very large number.

  MME—Gill, Calum, and Rafik’s original mining company. Swallowed by the ruthless, conscienceless, and bureaucratic Amalgamated Mining.

  MOO, or Moon of Opportunity—Hafiz’s artificial planet, and home base for the Vhiliinyar terraforming operation.

  Naadiina—Also known as Grandam, one of the oldest Linyaari, host to both Maati and Acorna on narhii-Vhiliinyar, died to give her people the opportunity to save both of their planets.

  Naarye—Linyaari techno-artisan in charge of final fitout of spaceships.

  Nadhari Kando—Delszaki Li’s personal bodyguard, rumored to have been an officer in the Red Bracelets earlier in her career.

  Narhii-Vhiliinyar—The planet settled by the Linyaari after Vhiliinyar, their original homeworld, was destroyed by the Khleevi.

  Neeva—Acorna’s aunt and Linyaari envoy on the Balakiire, bonded to Virii.

  Neeyeereeya—The most populous of the Linyaari clans.

  Ngaen Xong Hoa—A Kieaanese scientist who invented a planetary weather control system. He sought asylum on the Haven because he feared the warring governments on his planet would misuse his research. A mutineer faction on the Haven used the system to reduce the planet Rushima to ruins. The mutineers were tossed into space, and Dr. Hoa has since restored Rushima and now works for Hafiz.

  Niciirye—Grandam Naadiina’s husband, dead and buried on Vhiliinyar.

  Niikaavri—Acorna’s Grandmother, a member of the clan Geeyiinah, and a spaceship designer by trade. Also, as Niikaavre, the name of the spaceship used by Maati and Thariinye.

  Nyaarya—One of the clans of the Linyaari.

  Nyiiri—The Linyaari word for unmitigated gall, sheer effrontery, or other form of misplaced bravado.

  Order of the Iriinje—Aristocratic Linyaari social organization similar to a fraternity, named after a blue-feathered bird native to Vhiliinyar.

  Paazo River—A major geographical feature on the Linyaari homeworld, Viliinyar.

  Pahaantiyir—A cougar-like animal native to Vhiliinyar.

  Palomella—Home planet of Nueva Fallona.

  Piiro—Linyaari word for a rowboat-like water vessel.

  Piiyi—A Niriian biotechnology-based information storage and retrieval system. The biological component resembles a very rancid cheese.

  Qulabriel—Hafiz’s assistant.

  Rafik Nadezda—One of three miners who discovered Acorna and raised her.

  Red Bracelets—Kilumbembese mercenaries; arguably the toughest and nastiest fighting force in known space.

  Renyilaaghe—Linyaari clan name.

  Riivye—Linyaari clan name.

  Roadkill—Otherwise known as RK. A Makahomian Temple Cat, the only survivor of a space wreck, rescued and adopted by Jonas Becker, and honorary first mate of the Condor.

  Shahrazad—Hafiz’s personal spaceship, a luxury cruiser.

  Shenjemi Federation—Long-distance government of Rushima.

  Siiaaryi Maartri—A Linyaari Survey ship.

  Sii-Linyaari—Legendary aquatic race also developed by the Friends.

  Sita Ram—A protective goddess, identified with Acorna by the mining children on Kezdet.

  Standard Galactic Basic—Standard language used throughout human-settled space.

  Stiil—Linyaari word for a pencil-like writing implement.

  Techno-artisan—Linyaari specialist who designs, engineers, or manufactures goods.

  Thariinye—A handsome and conceited young spacefaring Linyaari from clan Renyilaaghe.

  Theophilus Becker—Jonas Becker’s father, a salvage man and astrophysicist with a fondness for exploring uncharted wormholes.

  Thiilir (pl. thilirii)—Small arboreal mammals of Linyaari home world.

  Thiilsis—Grass species native to Vhiliinyar.

  Twilit—Small, pestiferous insect on Linyaari home planet.

  Vaanye—Acorna’s father.

  Vhiliinyar—Original home planet of the Linyaari, destroyed by Khleevi.

  Viizaar—A high political office in the Linyaari system, roughly equivalent to president or prime minister.

  Vilii Hazaar Miirl—An officer in the Linyaari space fleet.

  Virii—Neeva’s spouse.

  Vriiniia Watiir—Sacred healing lake on Vhiliinyar, defiled by the Khleevi.

  Wii—A Linyaari prefix meaning small.

  Yaazi—Linyaari term for beloved.

  Yaniriin—A Linyaari Survey Ship captain.

  Yasmin—Hafiz Harakamian’s first wife, mother of Tapha, faked her own death and ran away to return to her former lucrative caree
r in the pleasure industry. After her accumulated years made that career much less lucrative, she returned to squeeze money out of Hafiz in the form of blackmail.

  Yiitir—History teacher at the Linyaari academy, and Chief Keeper of Linyaari Stories. Lifemate to Maarni.

  Brief Notes on the Linyaari Language

  by Margarget Ball

  As Anne McCaffrey’s collaborator in transcribing the first two tales of Acorna, I was delighted to find that the second of these books provided an opportunity to sharpen my long-unused skills in linguistic fieldwork. Many years ago, when the government gave out scholarships with gay abandon and the cost of living (and attending graduate school) was virtually nil, I got a Ph.D. in linguistics for no better reason than that (a) the government was willing to pay (b) it gave me an excuse to spend a couple of years doing fieldwork in Africa and (c) there weren’t any real jobs going for eighteen-year-old girls with a B.A. in math and a minor in Germanic languages. (This was back during the Upper Pleistocene era, when the Help Wanted ads were still divided into Male and Female.)

  So there were all those years spent doing things like transcribing tonal Oriental languages on staff paper (the Field Methods instructor was Not Amused) and tape-recording Swahili women at weddings, and then I got the degree and wandered off to play with computers and never had any use for the stuff again…until Acorna’s people appeared on the scene. It required a sharp ear and some facility for linguistic analysis to make sense of the subtle sound-changes with which their language signaled syntactic changes; I quite enjoyed the challenge.

  The notes appended here represent my first and necessarily tentative analysis of certain patterns in Linyaari phonemics and morphophonemics. If there is any inconsistency between this analysis and the Linyaari speech patterns recorded in the later adventures of Acorna, please remember that I was working from a very limited database and, what is perhaps worse, attempting to analyze a decidedly non-human language with the aid of the only paradigms I had, twentieth-century linguistic models developed exclusively from human language. The result is very likely as inaccurate as were the first attempts to describe English syntax by forcing it into the mold of Latin, if not worse. My colleague, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, has by now added her own notes to the small corpus of Linyaari names and utterances. It may well be that in the next decade there will be enough data available to publish a truly definitive dictionary and grammar of Linyaari; an undertaking which will surely be of inestimable value, not only to those members of our race who are involved in diplomatic and trade relations with this people, but also to everyone interested in the study of language.

  NOTES ON THE LINYAARI LANGUAGE

  1. A doubled vowel indicates stress: aavi, abaanye, Khleevi.

  2. Stress is used as an indicator of syntactic function: In nouns stress is on the penultimate syllable, in adjectives on the last syllable, in verbs on the first.

  3. Intervocalic n is always palatalized.

  4. Noun plurals are formed by adding a final vowel, usually -i: one Liinyar, two Linyaari. Note that this causes a change in the stressed syllable (from LI-nyar to Li-NYA-ri) and hence a change in the pattern of doubled vowels.

  For nouns whose singular form ends in a vowel, the plural is formed by dropping the original vowel and adding -i: ghaanye, ghaanyi. Here the number of syllables remains the same, therefore no stress spelling change is required.

  5. Adjectives can be formed from nouns by adding a final -ii (again, dropping the original final vowel if one exists): maalive, malivii; Liinyar, Linyarii. Again, the change in stress means that the doubled vowels in the penultimate syllable of the noun disappear.

  6. For nouns denoting a class or species, such as Liinyar, the noun itself can be used as an adjective when the meaning is simply to denote a member of the class, rather than the usual adjective meaning of “having the qualities of this class”—thus, of the characters in Acorna, only Acorna herself could be described as “a Liinyar girl,” but Judit, although human, would certainly be described as “a Linyarii girl,” or “a just-as-civilized-as-a-real-member-of-the-People” girl.

  7. Verbs can be formed from nouns by adding a prefix constructed by [first consonant of noun] + ii + nye: faalar—grief; fiinyefalar—to grieve.

  8. The participle is formed from the verb by adding a suffix -an or-en: thiinyethilel—to destroy, thiinyethilelen—destroyed. No stress change is involved because the participle is perceived as a verb form and therefore stress remains on the first syllable:

  enye-ghanyii—time unit, small portion of a year (ghaanye)

  fiinyefalaran—mourning, mourned

  ghaanye—a Linyaari year, equivalent to about 1 1/3 earth years

  gheraalye malivii—Navigation Officer

  gheraalye ve-khanyii—Senior Communications Specialist

  Khleev—originally, a small vicious carrion feeding animal with a poisonous bite; now used by the Linyaari to denote the invaders who destroyed their home world.

  khleevi—barbarous, uncivilized, vicious without reason

  Liinyar—member of the People

  linyaari—civilized; like a Liinyar

  mitanyaakhi—large number (slang—like our “zillions”)

  narhii—new

  thiilir, thiliiri—small arboreal mammals of Linyaari home world

  thiilel—destruction

  visedhaanye ferilii—Envoy Extraordinary

  About the Authors

  Anne McCaffrey is considered one of the world’s leading science-fiction writers. She has won the Hugo and Nebula awards as well as six Science Fiction Book Club awards for her novels. Brought up in the United States, she is now living in Ireland with her Maine coon cats, her piebald mare, and a silver Weimaraner and declines to travel anymore. She is best known for her unique Dragonriders of Pern series.

  Elizabeth Ann Scarborough is the author of Channeling Cleopatra and the Nebula Award-winning The Healer’s War, as well as more than twenty science fiction and fantasy novels. She lives in the Puget Sound area of Washington State.

  Don’t miss the next book by your favorite author. Sign up now for AuthorTracker by visiting www.AuthorTracker.com.

  BOOKS IN THE ACORNA SERIES

  First Warning

  by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

  Acorna’s Triumph

  by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

  Acorna’s Rebels

  by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

  Acorna’s Search

  by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

  Acorna’s World

  by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

  Acorna’s People

  by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

  Acorna’s Quest

  by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball

  Acorna

  by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball

  See Also

  Anne McCaffrey’s The Unicorn Girl

  An illustrated novel featuring stories by

  Mickey Zucker Reichert, Jody Lynn Nye,

  and Roman A. Ranieri

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ACORNA’S SEARCH. Copyright © 2001 by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBou
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  PerfectBound™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

  Mobipocket Reader July 2005 ISBN 0-06-088000-7

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