The Rainbow Cadenza: A Novel in Vistata Form

by J. Neil Schulman

  COURT-VENEREED: (I) Past tense of COURT-VENEREAL.

  C.P.O.: (I) Corps Post Office. The internal mail system of the Peace Corps.

  CRONE: (A) The third aspect of GODDESS in the WICCEN trinity of MAIDEN, LADY, AND CRONE, largely an exclamation equivalent to "God" or "Christ" today.

  CROSS, VENUS: (A) The traditional symbol for woman, used as an official insigne in the Peace Corps signifying the rank of MATRIARCH.

  CRYONIC SUSPENSION: (A) The process whereby a human being is preserved at below-freezing temperatures, usually until medical treatment can be accomplished. In Rainbow Cadenza, this is accepted medical procedure following CONTROLLED HYPOTHERMIA, and the"DEANIMATEd" person is preserved in a VIVARIUM.

  CRUZVILLE: (I) City in PACIFICA PARISH, NORTH AMERICAN CONCORD, originally Santa Cruz, California. See ALAMO CITY.

  CURFEW: (N) In Federation, refers to sunset, the point at which TOUCHABLE hunting becomes legal for the night. Certain Touchables--such as mothers with small children--are allowed immunity for the night so long as they are in designated ghettos by curfew. See VAGINATOWN.

  DAEDALUS: (N) A FREE-SPACE HABITAT in the asteroid belt but which has long-term plans to migrate to the orbit of Jupiter, where its main industry would be commercial exploitation of the Jovian moons and the gas-mining of Jupiter itself. The farthest out of the habitats, it is noted for its wild frontier mentality. Named for mythic hero, father of Icarus--see ICARATE.

  DANCE CARD: (N) In the post-BRUSHFIRE WAR period, a record of a woman's compliance with the EQUALIZATION-OF-SEX-OPPORTUNITY LAW. By Joan Darris's time, usage has reverted to its original meaning of a card at a social function whereby partners make appointments for dances--only men now keep the card.

  DAYGLOW, DAYGLOWING: (N) From Dayglo. In lasegraphic usage, refers to the phosphorescent black light used in a dome to keep light levels comfortably low during entry and exit.

  DEADER: (N) A recorded BRAINPRINT taken from a person now deceased. Compare LIVE and ICICLE. DEANIMATE: (I) Not moving. Frozen in CRYONIC SUSPENSION, but not permanently dead.

  DEASIL: (A) Clockwise.

  DEEP HEAVEN: (A) Term used by C.S. Lewis in the "Ransom" trilogy for outer space beyond the orbit of Earth's moon. Usage adopted in the ST. CLIVE habitats.

  DEMIMONDE: (N) In a zero-gravity CATHEDRAL, there are opposing domes, with laser images duplicated "upper" and "lower." The "lower" dome (with reference to the lasegrapher's attitude) is the demimonde. Also play on French term for Underworld.

  D.H.: (I) DEEP HEAVEN.

  DIALECTIC: (A) Literally "through words," it refers to the logical process of contrasting a statement (thesis) with a contrary statement (antithesis) and integrating both statements into a new statement containing both (synthesis). In the dialectical materialism proposed by Hegel, a political thesis finds its realization in its antithesis, but to avoid the excluded middle in Aristotelian logic, this would require a shifted context, bringing in at least one new dimension to those considered in the original statements. In LASEGRAPHY, dialectic refers to a leitmotif countered by another leitmotif, creating psychological tension, then releasing tension by resolving into a third LEITMOTIF encompassing the first two. By the tension dialectic theory that Wolfgang Jaeger used, the basic human tension is doubt about survival: the tension of sowing released by reaping, the tension of hunting released by the kill, the tension of hunger released by eating, the tension of sexual arousal released by orgasm; and the eschatological dialectic of human existence--as symbolized by an ascending spiral--is represented by genetic reproduction: one parent's genetic code as thesis, the other's as antithesis, the child's as synthesis. In this theory, all forms of art and music derive their fundamental biological power from applying cognitive dialectics within a defined context of willingly suspended, or suspenseful, disbelief: as examples, in painting, trompe l'oeil; in poetry, oxymoron; in drama, plot; in music, melody; in dance, kinesics.

  DICHROIC: (A) Literally, "two colors." Relates to dichroism, the property of a crystal, mirror, or filter to pass only one of two spectral lines: dichromatic. Dichroic filters are used in CHROMATIC LASERs to separate out spectral lines before further modulation or re-mixing.

  DICHROIC SCALE: (I) THE THIRTY-SIX-COLOR SCALE of LASEGRAPHY. Should have been"diachroic scale" for"through colors" in comparison to"diatonic" for the scale in music, but the term "DICHROIC" was already in use by lasegraphers to refer to filters in their laser instruments.

  DICTERIA: (A) Originally the state-run houses of PROSTITUTION in ancient Athens, the term was adopted by the Federation Peace Corps for the network of hotel-like facilities where CORPORALs provide sexual services to COMMEN.

  DICTERIAL: (I) Referring to the DICTERIA. Usage comparible with "military," since this is the primary function of the Peace Corps.

  DICTERIAT: (I) Comb. DICTERIA + secretariat. The primary administrative unit of the Peace Corps (1/10th of a CLEAVAGE, comprising 450 women, divided into two TROOPs) and, by extensions, the singular for dicteria and the actual building where CORPORALs service COMMEN.

  DIFFRACTIONS: (A) A kaleidoscopic duplication of LASER imagery by passing the beam through a HOLOGRAPHIC plate. One of the three basic types of laser image, along with RAW SCANs and LUMIA. See also SCANNING, LASEGRAPHIC.

  DIRECT-EMOTING CONSOLE: (I) An experimental device which uses FIRE GEMS to modulate and transmit psychic impulses from one person to another. Joan realizes this could be the logical next art form after lasegraphy.

  DISC: (A) Any flat, circular medium which can record, store, or play back information signals, whether visual, aural, mechanical, or in language.

  DISCOTHEQUE: (N) A place where DISCs are read: library.

  DISNEY: (N) One of the cylinders in AD ASTRA--a city.

  DIVISION: (N) In the Peace Corps, 1/10th of a CORPORATION, comprising 45,000 women segmented into 10 CLEAVAGEs.

  DOME: (A) See CATHEDRAL, LASERIUM®, MEDIA TEMPLE.

  DOMESTIC COMPUTER: (I) A computer used in a residence to run the household.

  DOUBLE READING: (I) MONITOR jargon for getting the same BRAINPRINT reading from two different persons. A sure indication of illegal activity, since all brainprints are discrete.

  DOVES: (A) Insignia of peace used in Peace Corps by the rank of MATRON.

  DRAFT, THE: (A) See CONSCRIPTION.

  DRYER, IVAN: (A) (1939 - ) First person to record a lasegraphic composition in a film titled Laser Image (1970), and in 1973 pivotal founder of Laser Images, Inc., a commercial entertainment and special effects company which produced NASCENT-PERIOD concerts, usually in planetariums, under the trademarked name LASERIUM®. When last heard of, Chief Holographer on the Crystal Odyssey, first torchship sent out to explore the Alpha Centauri Star System.

  DRYER SCHOOL OF LASEGRAPHY: (I) Institute of lasegraphic studies in NOVA PAULUS, AD ASTRA, associated with the UAANP, of which Wolfgang Jaeger is the Dean. Named for IVAN DRYER.

  DUMBJOHN: (A) A derisive term for a new cadet in a military academy, later was combined with the prostitute's term of a customer--"john"--as a derisive term used by a CORPORAL in the Peace Corps for a visiting COMMAN, and--by extension--all stupidity.

  EARTH STREET: (I) A street in a fashionable section of NEWER YORK, in a location where--before the RAIN OF TERROR destroyed it--Greenwich Village used to be.

  EFFETE: (A) Sickly, decadent. A term of praise in the Federation.

  ENTROPIC: (N) In lasegraphic usage, the descending color-scale: literally means "turning into the circle." Compare to EXTROPIC.

  EQUALIZATION-OF-SEX-OPPORTUNITY LAW: (I) A law in the post-BRUSHFIRE WAR period, requiring women to include a minimum number of "sexually deprived" males as their sexual partners. A follow- up to the MINIMUM-SEX LAW.

  ERIKA BLAIR: (I) A woman whose parents named her after Eric Blair (1903-1950), an ancestral kinsman of hers who wrote under the penname George Orwell.

  EVELINE: (I) Brand name for a drug taken by a woman that counters the effects of ADAMINE, sterilizing androsperm and reacti
vating gynosperm, ensuring that any ovum fertilized will produce a girl.

  EXTRATERRESTRIALITY: (N) A legal term in the Federation: extraterritoriality with regard to the habitats.

  EXTROPIC: (I) The ascending color-scale in lasegraphic usage, literally means "turning out of the circle." Also, by extension, neg-entropic in thermodynamics. (After I wrote The Rainbow Cadenza, this term was adopted by the Extropian movement. -- JNS, 1996) Compare to ENTROPIC.

  FAKE OR FALSE TRANSPONDER: (I) An IDENTITY TRANSPONDER which transmits a recorded BRAINPRINT, thus covering up the actual brainprint of the wearer.

  FALSE BRAINPRINT: (I) A BRAINPRINT reading that does not correspond to the actual brainprint of the person from which it's been read.

  FAMILY CIRCLE: (N) A family coven, in a WICCEN family. Also the accepted usage of an extended, as opposed to nuclear, family.

  FEDERATION: (N) The WORLD FEDERATION.

  FEDERATION BUREAU OF IMMUNITY: (I) A bureau of the Federation charged with recording and keeping categorized BRAINPRINTs, equivalent to the fingerprint files kept in the United States by the FBI, an organization whose initials it shares.

  FEDERATION PEACE CORPS: (I) The WORLD FEDERATION PEACE CORPS.

  FEDERATION SPACE CORPS, THE WORLD: (I) The only military of the WORLD FEDERATION, since the individual PROVINCEs of the Federation are expected to provide the land and sea forces. Since the Colonial War, its function is largely to maintain a space perimeter between Earth and the habitats. It also provides security to VIRGINIA STATION and other space platforms in Earth orbit. Compare with MONITORS.

  FERROFOAM: (I) Originally a brand-name for foamed steel--an actual product experimentally produced by NASA--it later became a generic term.

  FIRE GEMS: (I) Crystals found in the asteroid belt with odd electromagnetic properties, found also to modulate, amplify, and transmit psychic impulses. Not known whether they are natural crystals or synthetic artifacts--see LUCIFER--they are nonetheless used in the best CHROMATIC LASERs and, later, in DIRECT-EMOTING CONSOLEs.

  FIRST CORPORAL: (I) See CORPORAL.

  FIRST LADY: (N) A LADY elected by vote of the Ladies in the HOUSE OF GENTRY, the First Lady is Head of State in the World Federation, Commander-in-Chief of the Peace Corps, and Chief Justice of the World Federation. Compare with PRESIDENT and PRIME MINISTER.

  FLYING BELT: (A) A turbine jet worn as a backpack allowing individual flight. Bell Laboratories experimented with them in the 1960's, but fuel limits only allowed several minutes aloft. See also GENERAL ELECTRIC JOOB FLYING BELT.

  F.M.: (A) Frequency Modulation. In lasegraphy refers to the scanning frequency of the mirrors in a CHROMATIC LASER, which determines the shape of a laser image. Usage from LASERIUM®.

  FOREST HILLS VIVARIUM: (I) A VIVARIUM in Forest Hills, a township of New and NEWER YORK.

  FORTISSIMIST: (I) An instrumentalist who plays a FORTISSIMO.

  FORTISSIMO: (N) From Italian, literally "very loud" in music, refers to a turbine pipe organ used to accompany ROGA: it is always very loud. In the high range this is a tenor fortissimo-- about equivalent to a six-stringed guitar--and, in the low range, a bass fortissimo--with a range from subsonic lows to the highs of a bass guitar. The name derives from usage of piano, originally pianoforte: soft-loud.

  FREE-SPACE HABITAT: (A) Term used and described by Gerard K. O'Neill (see O'NEILL) in his book The High Frontier for a manufactured habitat in space orbit at a LaGrange point. The cylindrical habitats in The Rainbow Cadenza are based on O'Neill's Island III design. Also called an "O'Neill Colony."

  FRIAR: (N) In ROGA slang, brother.

  FUCK: (A) In Federation usage, this means only to engage in sexual intercourse, and the usage is standard rather than vulgar. All the vulgar usages have been replaced with terms referring to rape and clone-rape. I got the idea for this change of usage from Ira Levin's novel, This Perfect Day, where the term fuck likewise has been replaced in vulgar usage by the word "fight."

  FUGUE: (A) Akin to the fugue form in classical music, a composition in LASEGRAPHY which states a theme in a tonic color, then repeats it contrapuntally a fifth color above, and so forth. Vera Delaney's Fugue in Blue is in the third EXTROPIC key.

  FULL MATRON: (I) A rank in the Peace Corps--insigne the "N.D. CIRCLE OF PEACE"--which commands a CLEAVAGE of 10 DICTERIA.

  FULL POWER: (N) The standard power output of a CHROMATIC LASER in performance at the PYRADOME: 1.72 watts. Compare ABSOLUTE POWER.

  GAYLORD: (N) An ANDROMAN elected to a LAVENDER Seat as a junior senator in the HOUSE OF GENTRY by vote of the andromen in a Federation PROVINCE. The term is for six years. In addition to sitting in the House of Gentry, which convenes for only two months out of the year, a Gaylord is also Governor of his province, an office equivalent--in the NORTH AMERICAN CONCORD--to the old office of President of the United States. Term derives from a given name of landed gentry in the American South, from later slang term referring to gentrified "gay" homosexuals, and from the upper house of the British parliamentary system being the House of Lords.

  GENERAL ELECTRIC JOOB FLYING BELT: (I) A FLYING BELT, on file with the jet-engine division of General Electric, practical when tokamak nuclear fusion becomes portable and safe.

  GHETTO: (N) 1. The VAGINATOWN ghetto. 2. Any temporary gathering place of TOUCHABLEs.

  GLOWING: (N) DAYGLOWING.

  GOD: (A) Supreme Diety, often thought of as male, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, often called the Lord. In Christianity also sometimes the First Person of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Also a mild exclamation used in the habitats.

  GODDESS: (A) Supreme Diety, female, in the WICCEN tradition, often called the LADY. Also the Wiccen Trinity of MAIDEN, LADY, AND CRONE. Also a mild exclamation used in the Federation.

  GOVERNOR: (A) A male tender of children, equivalent to governess. In common usage the term has supplanted the political meaning of provincial governor, who is usually referred to as the GAYLORD.

  GRAM: (N) In the Federation, synonym for AURAGRAM, one gram of gold, and a unit of money.

  GUBERNATORIAL: (A) Referring to a governor and his duties.

  GYNE: (I) An act of GYNUFLECTION: salute.

  GYNUFLECT: (I) To perform a GYNUFLECTION.

  GYNUFLECTION: (I) A gesture of courtesy, combining the curtsey and genuflection, used in the Peace Corps as a salute. Combines "genuflect" with the root"gyno-" meaning female.

  HABITAT: (A) FREE-SPACE HABITAT.

  HALF-SISTER: (N) A sister with whom one has one of two parents in common. This may not be categorically useful since--if one's entire genetic code is derived from one parent--a half-sister may have as much in common with one genetically as a full-sister would normally.

  HALL OF PRESERVATION: (I) A ceremonial area in a VIVARIUM allowing family and friends spiritual communion with their cryonically preserved loved ones.

  HARD LIQUOR: (A) Distilled liquor in its pure form, prohibited from being served or sold retail in the Federation. Liquor may only be legally served or sold in the Federation in a cocktail. Beer and wine are legal for service and retail sale.

  HAREM: (N) In the Peace Corps, the smallest unit, 1/5th of a SORORITY, comprising 9 women and commanded by a Second Corporal.

  HARLEM LAKE: (I) A lake in NEWER YORK, where the old Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem was before a meteor in the RAIN OF TERROR destroyed it and created a giant crater, later filled in with water to create a lake.

  HAWKS: (N) Robot flying belts used by a MARNIE in SCANNING for TOUCHABLEs.

  HELL'S BASEMENT: (I) The place where all damned, inanimate objects end up, when cursed to Hell.

  HER LADYSHIP: (N) Form of address for a LADY in the HOUSE OF GENTRY.

  HIS EXCELLENCY: (N) Form of address of a Member of the HOUSE OF COMMEN.

  HIS GAYLORDSHIP: (I) Form of address for a GAYLORD in the HOUSE OF GENTRY.

  HOLODRAMA: (I) A dramatic play in motion holograms: movie.

  HOLOGRAM: (A) A photographic plate produced by holography.
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  HOLOGRAPHIC: (A) Relating to holography, the process of aiming a split laser beam--half a reference beam and the other half an incident beam bounced off an object--at a photographic plate, to produce a true three-dimensional photograph of that object. Holographic plates have the property of distributing the recorded visual information in diffracted microcosms of the entire image, so that if a holographic plate is cut in half, the entire image remains (though with less information density) and the same is true if each half is halved again, and so forth until the information density is too thin to overcome background noise. Current theories of the human brain suggest that holographic distribution of information is one of the ways the brain stores information, as well as specific information stored in a particular brain location. As well, it has been suggested by physicist David Bohm that the entire universe as we know it might store information holographically, suggesting that the universe might be a single conscious entity (God or Goddess) or at the very least a "holographic" record of the entire universe accessible by the human brain--thus explaining precognition and clairvoyance. Contemplating holography, I came up with the same theory about the universe before I'd heard of Bohm's formulation, which suggests that his theory of distributed information might be true.

  HOLOSCREEN: (I) A HOLOVISION screen, generally used for holovision reception, as a simulator of LASER projection, and for the visual component of telephone usage.

  HOLOVISION: (A) HOLOGRAPHIC 3-D television.

  HOLY, THE: (I) Slang in the Federation for HOLOVISION, equivalent to HV in the habitats, used for its irreverence to Judeo- Christianity. The irreverence backfires when Hill Bromley gets the last word in his trial broadcast.

  HOLY GUIDE: (I) A listing of HOLOVISION programs available for recording that day.

  HOLY NETWORKS: (I) HOLOVISION producers who share programming among themselves.

  HOOP DOGS: (I) A frankfurter shaped into a toroid circle--like a doughnut--and served in the Federation on a bagel. It's popular in the Federation because it replaces the phallic hot dog with a female symbol more acceptable to a WICCEN culture. I came up with the idea of a toroid frank before I wrote Rainbow Cadenza, reasoning it would be served on an English muffin, and sauerkraut could be dumped into the hole. When I told the idea to a friend, Samuel Edward Konkin III, he christened it the Hoop Dog.