The Rainbow Cadenza: A Novel in Vistata Form

by J. Neil Schulman

  HOST: (A) A HOST MOTHER.

  HOST MOTHER: (A) A woman who bears a child not conceived from her own ova. Not to be confused with a surrogate mother, who is contracted to have her own ovum impregnated by a father, bears that child, and then relinquishes legal claim to a child of which she is the true mother. I got the usage from Heinlein.

  HOUSE OF COMMEN: (I) The Lower Manor of the bicameral legislature of the republican WORLD FEDERATION, seating commen elected one from each parish for a six-year term by vote of the commen in that parish. Jurisdiction includes appointment of ambassadors to the habitats, domestic relations between provinces, administration of the MONITORS and FEDERATION SPACE CORPS, and the passage of legislation along with the HOUSE OF GENTRY. Elects the PRIME MINISTER of the Federation, who--as Chairman of the Cabinet--is Head of Government. Name derives from the lower house in the British parliamentary system, the House of Commons. Form of address for a Member of the House of Commen is "Your Excellency," and abbreviation for a member is M.H.C.

  HOUSE OF GENTRY: (I) The Upper Manor of the bicameral legislature of the republican World Federation, seating one LADY elected to a PINK Seat by vote of the WOMEN of each PROVINCE as a senior senator from each province, and one GAYLORD elected to a LAVENDER Seat as a junior senator and provincial governor by vote of the ANDROMEN of each province. Gaylords and Ladies stand for election as running mates from each province, and are jointly elected--or defeated--for a six-year term. Form of address for an elected Lady is "Your Ladyship," while form of address for an elected Gaylord is "Your Gaylordship." The Ladies in the House of Gentry elect the FIRST LADY of the Federation, who is Head of State of the Federation, Chief Justice, and Commander-in-Chief of the Federation Peace Corps, and the Gaylords in the House of Gentry elect the PRESIDENT of the Federation, who is Chief Executive Officer. The Upper Manor provides the Judiciary of the Federation, by monopoly grants to private JUDICIARY FIRMS charged with administering the laws passed by the Federation legislature.

  HOVERCART: (I) A small hovercraft supporting a pushcart.

  HUDSON CORRIDOR: (I) The Hudson River Air Corridor, largely following the Hudson River, designated as a highway for SKYMOBILE traffic.

  HUDSON PARISH: (I) PARISH in the NORTH AMERICAN CONCORD comprising most of New York State, New Jersey, and New England.

  HUNTING: (N) SCANNING for a TOUCHABLE performed by a MARNIE.

  HUSBAND: (N) Not only a COMMAN mated to his wife, but also an ANDROMAN mated to his WARD.

  HV: (I) Slang for HOLOVISION in the habitats.

  ICARATE: (I) To drop to one's death out of the sky. From the legend of Icarus who--with his father Daedalus--escaped from Crete by flying away with wax wings, disregarded his father's advice to keep low lest his wings melt, and consequently plunged to his death. In the Federation, this is also a sexual perversion performed by MARNIEs on TOUCHABLEs: taking them for a "flying fuck" then dropping them to their deaths.

  ICICLE: (N) A recorded BRAINPRINT taken from a person now in CRYONIC SUSPENSION. Compare with DEADER and LIVE.

  ICK: (I) Children's slang for "to ICARATE," derived from the likely condition of the icarated corpse. Used as a rude suggestion of what one can do to oneself.

  IDENTITY TRANSPONDER: (I) A tiny radio transponder implanted near the spinal cord to read PRIMARY NEURAL MODULATION, its outgoing signal amplified with power provided by body heat, which when scanned returns a BRAINPRINT signal. See SCANNING.

  I LOVE LUCIFER: (I) A situation comedy on HOLOVISION involving the stupid antics of the humanoid aliens on the planet LUCIFER, before the residents clumsily blew it up creating what is now the asteroid belt.

  IMMUNITY: (N) Privilege granted by the government to avoid a cost previously imposed on everyone. Sophisticated government always hides its actions by first imposing an "equal" cost on everyone, then selectively granting immunities, thus creating a privileged ruling class. Those who make the rules always win the game. In the Federation, refers specifically to the immunity to rape granted to everyone but TOUCHABLEs and NONPERSONs.

  IMPRESSIONIST PERIOD: (N) The lasegraphic period following the SYMBOLIST period, created by Wolfgang Jaeger's use of COLORATURA in The Rainbow Vistata. Followed by Expressionist Period, created by Joan Darris when she incorporated ROGA DIALECTICs into The Helix Vistata.

  INHABITANT: (N) Resident of the habitats.

  IRRADIATION SEALER: (A) The process was developed years ago by the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories. A device which hermetically seals food in plastic then irradiates it, killing all bacteria in the food: perfect food preservation, without chemical additives or refrigeration. Coming soon to your neighborhood, nuclear accidents notwithstanding.

  IRISHLAND: (I) A misnomer for Ireland--a land where the Northern Irate fight among themselves, giving the English stomach ulsters--in a time when territorial disputes leading to civil war are largely forgotten.

  ISLE OF ARTEMIS: (I) New name of St. Croix, Virgin Islands, in the Federation. See ALAMO CITY.

  ISLE OF PERSEPHONE: (I) New name of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, in the Federation, and the World Capital District. See ALAMO CITY.

  JOAN BAEZ, THE: (N) Thermonuclear torchship named for anarchist folk singer (1941 - ) once married to a draft resister named David Harris.

  JOYNETTE: (I) A manufactured cigarette mixing CANNABIS and tobacco. Combines "joystick," "joint" and "cigarette."

  JUDICIARY FIRM: (I) A nominally private corporation, administered by the HOUSE OF GENTRY, granted the business of trying cases based on laws passed by the Federation legislature. Though private, judges are "Officers of the Upper Manor," in the same way that attorneys in private practice are "Officers of the Court."

  JUPITER MOON, THE: (N) A thermonuclear torchship named after a song performed by the rock group, The Weirz.

  KAMA ROGA: (I) Literally "love roga."

  KEYBOARD: (N) A lasegraphic console.

  KIBBUTZ: (N) The FREE-SPACE HABITAT built by Jews who felt that God's promise was for living space, not turf surrounded by enemies.

  KINESIS: (N) Literally "movement," refers to psychokinesis in the game of VELLETROM.

  KING ELWIN: (N) First monarch of ST. CLIVE and First Cardinal of the MERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Name is taken from Elwin Ransom in C.S. Lewis's "Ransom" trilogy.

  LADY: 1. (A) Second aspect of GODDESS (used with"the") in the Wiccen trinity of MAIDEN, LADY, AND CRONE. 2. (N) A woman elected to the PINK Seat in the HOUSE OF GENTRY.

  LAKE KINGSTON: (N) Name in time of Helix Vista for Mirror Lake, Kingston, New York.

  LARIAT: (N) See SQUATBALL.

  LASEGRAPHER: (I) A composer and/or performer of LASEGRAPHY.

  LASEGRAPHIC: (I) Relating to LASEGRAPHY.

  LASEGRAPHY: (I) The visual music form produced by projecting abstract moving, colored LASER forms onto a screen. Incorporates both CLASSICAL LASEGRAPHY and ROGA. All lasegraphy commercially performed today is NASCENT PERIOD proto-roga. Not to be confused with "Lasography," a term used by Xerox for electrostatic photocopying.

  LASEMEISTER: (I) A master of LASEGRAPHY: teacher.

  LASER: (A) Acronym: Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Photons are excited by pumping, then drop a quantum energy level all at once, shooting out photons in spatial coherence: a quantum-mechanic light-orgasm. Among lasegraphers, laser is short for CHROMATIC LASER.

  LASERIUM®: (A) Literally, "House of the Laser." LASERIUM® or Laserium® is a registered trademark of Laser Images, Inc., for their laser concerts. The lower-case "laserium" in The Rainbow Cadenza, used as a generic term for any dome where lasegraphy is performed, is an extrapolation to a far-future time when the trademark has expired, and is not intended to deny or weaken the LASERIUM® trademark: it must not be used elsewhere.

  LAVENDER: (N) Official designation, in Federation color-code, signifying an ANDROMAN or andromen. Lavender is included in the clothing design of andromen to differentiate them from commen, and is the color of the seats held by GAYLORDs in the HOUSE OF GENTRY.

  LAVEN
DER DEPARTMENT: (I) That part of a department store providing clothing and accessories to ANDROMEN.

  LAVENDER SEAT: (I) A seat in the HOUSE OF GENTRY belonging to a GAYLORD.

  LAW DISCS: (I) Law texts on DISC.

  LAZAK: (I) A commercial name for "easy viewing" LASEGRAPHY played in stores, elevators, waiting rooms, and DICTERIA Hospitality Suites. Derives from Muzak.

  LCAA: (I) Lasegraphy Company of Ad Astra.

  LCAA 1600: (I) A commercial model of lasegraphic console.

  LCAA MARK 800B CHROMATIC LASER: (I) Joan's first laser instrument, with its deadly spectral WOLF in the infrared, later used by her as a weapon she thinks of as "The Sword of Goddess."

  LCAA MARK 1000 CHROMATIC LASER: (I) A later model of laser instrument, owned by Joan, without the"wolf" problem.

  LEASE, THE: (N) In AD ASTRA, the explicit social contract--which all inhabitants or visitors must sign, have a guardian sign for them, or leave--by which one agrees to answer for all liabilities which impose costs or damages on the life, liberty, and property rights of all others. This avoids Hobbes' "war of everyone against everyone" that Rousseau argued the social contract of government was supposed to prevent, without the necessity of imposing government on any individual without that individual's consent. Statist thesis: without a social contract, there would be chaos. Anarchist antithesis: imposing a contract on a person without that person's consent is self-contradictory, since the concept of "contract" requires free, individual consent. Synthesis: the Lease: contractual consent is unanimously achieved, individually, from all persons before they are allowed to make further contractual arrangements to live in a place, whether that contract is to buy, lease, or rent property, or to purchase food, or to buy air. You don't want to sign? "Your right, sir or madam: but we are not willing to take the risk of allowing you on our property unless you sign the Lease or find a guardian to sign for you." Other of the habitats have similar contractual arrangements, including ST. CLIVE, which--though a constitutional monarchy--uses a similar document for all matters not involving pomp and circumstance. The idea of the Lease is derived from the General Submission to Arbitration contract explained in my novel Alongside Night, and "proprietary commmunity" theories that say if it works in a condominium or shopping center, it would work everywhere else.

  LEGOS, LIMITED: (I) JUDICIARY FIRM granted monopoly by the HOUSE OF GENTRY of all matters involving TOUCHABLEs and/or MARNIEs.

  LEITMOTIF: (N) In LASEGRAPHY, literally--as opposed to figuratively in German opera--a "leading theme in motion."

  LENIN: (N) FREE-SPACE HABITATs built by the Soviet Union, but INHABITANTS decided the state had "withered away" after secession in the Colonial War, and declared themselves anarcho-communists. (Okay, I thought the Soviet Union would collapse later than it did. But I knew it would collapse sooner or later. Sue me. -- JNS, 1996)

  LENINITES: (N) Residents of LENIN, still very Russian.

  LESBIAN: (A) In the Federation a female who, for religious reasons, refuses to engage in sex with men. The only sects granted conscientious objector status to UNIVERSAL SERVICE.

  LEWIS, C. S.: (A) Clive Staples Lewis. See SAINT CLIVE.

  LEX SCRIPTA, LEX TERRAE: (N) Latin, literally "The Written Law, the Law of the Land." As motto of LEGOS, LIMITED., it means "The Written Law, the Law of Earth."

  LIBERTARIANS: (A) The Libertarian Party in the Federation. Originally a party that fought for and won a common, hard money for Earth, and absolute free trade between Federation provinces, later a party indistinguishable from its opponent CHAUVINIST Party.

  LIEUTENANT MATRON: (I) A rank in the Peace Corps, designated by the insigne of the Palladium Dove, which commands a DICTERIAT.

  LIGHT PENMANSHIP: (I) The study of writing with a light-emitting pen on a computer monitor.

  LISSAJOU: (A) Any of solid shapes produced by crossing an X-axis with a Y-axis. In SCANNING, LASEGRAPHIC, the basic image.

  LIVE: (N) A recorded BRAINPRINT taken from a person still animate. Compare with ICICLE and DEADER.

  LOCAL 47: (A) Los Angeles Local of the American Federation of Musicians, later the Los Angeles local of the World Confederation of Lasegraphers.

  LOWER MANOR: (N) The lower house in the Federation's bicameral legislature, the HOUSE OF COMMEN.

  LUCIFER: (A) The theoretical missing "fifth" planet between Mars and Jupiter predicted by Bode's Law, where the asteroid belt now orbits. The name Lucifer was used for this theoretical planet by Robert A. Heinlein in Space Cadet, where he also suggested the idea that nuclear weaponry blew up the planet.

  LUMIA: (A) A LASER image produced by passing the laser beam through an interfering medium to produce a gossamerlike projection: an interference pattern. One of the three fundamental types of laser image, along with Raw Scans and Diffraction Patterns. See DIFFRACTIONS and SCANNING, LASEGRAPHIC.

  MAIDEN: (A) First aspect of the WICCEN trinity-- GODDESS in her youngest form. See below.

  MAIDEN, LADY, AND CRONE: (A) The WICCEN trinity of GODDESS in her Three Aspects--young girl, woman in full flower, and aged dame. Also a slang exclamation in the Federation equivalent to "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!"

  MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR: (A) Used as an anti-Vietnam War slogan by 1960's hippies who didn't expect to be taken literally, later used as the motto of the Federation Peace Corps, which did.

  MANHATTAN BOULEVARD: (I) New main boulevard of Manhattan, dividing the city from the Battery to the Bronx, after Manhattan was razed by the RAIN OF TERROR in the WAR OF COLONIAL SECESSION.

  MARNIE: (N) A member of the Marnies, the semi-official organization--combining aspects of the Chamber of Commerce, the United States Marines, the Hitler Youth, the Hell's Angels, the Civil Air Patrol, and the Boy Scouts--licensed by the Federation to hunt TOUCHABLEs, and to rape them when they catch them (see RAPE, LEGAL DEFINITION OF IN THE FEDERATION). Marnies wear leathers reminiscent of motorcycle gangs, crash helmets, official medallions with their hunting license, and hunt by SCANNING while wearing FLYING BELTS. Hunting is legal only at night, except in official ghettos prohibited by law (see VAGINATOWN), and hunting is forbidden on legal holidays. COMMEN, ANDROMEN, and WOMEN veterans may all join the Marnies. A Marnie had better be damn sure the person he or she rapes is Touchable: a mistake will not be forgiven, and the Marnie--if convicted--would become a Touchable, also. Other offenses which could result in fine or suspension of hunting privileges: daylight hunting, exposing children to observation of sexual violence, murder of a Touchable who has not resisted, or icarating a Touchable (see ICARATE) causing damage to a citizen's life or private property. Marnies are tried by LEGOS, LIMITED, and final appeal of all cases is to the FIRST LADY. Name either derives from Alfred Hitchcock movie Marnie about woman obsessed by color RED, or from anagram of "Marine."

  MARSUPIAL CLUB: (I) Private club in the penthouse of the LEGOS, LIMITED, courthouse frequented by judiciary and legal personnel. The name implies that Legos, Ltd., is a kangaroo court, an "in" joke that proves that no one is worried about this idea being taken seriously.

  MASSIVE: (N) In ROGA slang, equivalent to current heavy or heavy- duty.

  MATRIARCH: (N) In the Peace Corps, ranks equivalent to General in the military. Matriarchs command DIVISIONs (insigne is one Venus Cross), CORPORATIONs (insigne is two Venus Crosses), and CONGLOMERATEs (insigne is three Venus Crosses). The SUPREME MATRIARCH, equivalent to a Five-star General, is the administrative commander of the Peace Corps.

  MATRON: (N) In the Peace Corps, a rank equivalent to Major or Colonel in the military.

  MAY EVE: (A) The last evening of April, before BELTANE. A WICCEN holiday and a legal holiday in the Federation.

  MEDALLION: (N) A MARNIE's license, worn while hunting.

  MEDIA TEMPLE: (A) IVAN DRYER's term for a multimedia palace.

  MERE CHRISTIAN: (A) Term popularized by C.S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, which promotes the idea that with Christianity under seige by atheism and agnosticism, Christians had better focus on the "merely" Christian doctrines co
mmon to all, rather than fighting among themselves in doctrinal disputes. Later used to refer to a member of the MERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

  MERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: (I) An umbrella organization of the loosely-affiliated remnants of the Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and several dozen other Protestant and Catholic sects, who--disgusted with Earth when the Federation passed the sexual draft law--built the ST. CLIVE habitats and emigrated there en masse. The head of the Church is the First Cardinal, also heriditary Monarch of St. Clive, who is considered to wear "the Shoes of the Fisherman" by the Catholics in the Church, but whose authority is not binding on the affiliated Protestant churches. To avoid doctrinal disputes ranging back hundreds of years, each of the affiliate churches is free to maintain its own ceremonial, doctrinal, and organizational customs. In both doctrinal and secular matters, the Church is completely laissez-faire: the reigning King of St. Clive is rather High Church in his ceremonial ideas, but this isn't binding on anyone but the immediate Court. As to Saints, theoretically the First Cardinal is empowered to name them, but the only person canonized since the formation of the Church is Clive Staples Lewis.

  MERLINO CHROMATIC LASER: (I) A hand-made CHROMATIC LASER instrument produced by members of the Merlino family, master craftspersons in the IMPRESSIONIST PERIOD. Wolfgang Jaeger plays one.

  METRONOME: (N) Ticker: lasegraphic slang for heart.

  M.H.C.: (I) Member, HOUSE OF COMMEN. A COMMAN elected by vote of the commen in a PARISH to a six-year term as a representative in the Lower Manor of the Federation legislature. Form of address is "Your Excellency."

  MICHAEL COLLINS, THE: (N) A thermonuclear torchship named for Michael Collins (1930 - ), the third man in the Apollo 11 moon mission--the one who didn't get to set his feet on the moon.