The Rainbow Cadenza: A Novel in Vistata Form
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RAPER: (N) Rapist. Not only literally, but as an insult equivalent to "fucker."
RAPIER: (N) A polite euphemism for RAPE, equivalent to "heck" or "darn."
RAPING: (N) A vulgar intensifier, equivalent to "fucking."
RAW SCAN: (A) One of the three basic types of LASER image, along with LUMIA and DIFFRACTIONS. See SCANNING, LASEGRAPHIC.
REANIMATE, REANIMATION: (I) To revive from CRYONIC SUSPENSION. See DEANIMATE.
RED: (N) Official designation, in the Federation color-code, signifying a TOUCHABLE. Touchables are required to wear a red CLOAK at all times when in public. Since they are not permitted to own property, and would be raped every night if they stayed at a known permanent residence, they are virtually always in public, and for all-intents-and-purposes required to be CLOAKED.
RED HUNT: (I) A long-running HOLOVISION drama, involving members of the MARNIEs.
RENAISSANCE, THE: (N) The period in human history that has produced the greatest number of advances in the arts, technology, and science: now. In the Federation, the Renaissance is usually dated from the beginning of large-scale commercial television broadcasting at the end of World War II.
RIFF: (A) From usage in jazz and rock music, a chance for a performer to improvise a section of a composition. A CADENZA in ROGA.
RISING SUN: (N) A FREE-SPACE HABITAT built by the Japanese.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN, THE: (N) A thermonuclear torchship named for the retired naval officer (1907 - 1988) who first described and named the torchship: a nuclear-powered, constant-boost spaceship.
ROBOTICS REVOLUTION: (A) The post-industrial period when high-level artificial intelligence became practical for home and office use, liberating humanity from most of its dull, repetitive work. In argument, Burke Filcher attributes the healthy Earth economy on Federation policies; Joan attributes it to the robotics revolution.
ROGA: (I) LASEGRAPHY performed with, or to, music, it is to CLASSICAL LASEGRAPHY as jazz or rock is to classical music. It is associated with BOHemian culture and MOCHA HOUSEs, its aficionados speak their own slang, and its leading lights are as popular as rock superstars today. The origins of the term are lost in obscurity, but it is thought that the term derives from "rogue" lasegraphy--rogue because it departs from the classical lasegraphic tradition of performance in silence. Other theories are that it is a corruption of "raga"--Hindu classical music with which roga shares some philosophy in common (the term "raga" literally translates as "color")--or of "ragtime," or of "reggae," or possibly even from "rock," itself. Some even theorize that the term derives somehow from Rogation Day, a Roman Catholic day of prayer--who am I to argue?
ROGA PLAYER: (I) A performer of ROGA.
ROLAND CHURCH: (I) A composer and performer of ROGA who is a superstar in the time of Joan Darris. Born in the UHURU habitats, with a given name in Swahili, he emigrated to the ST. CLIVE habitats, where he became interested in roga. His name is derived from an early- RENAISSANCE jazz performer named Roland Kirk whom he admired and, whose last name--in German--means "church."
ROPE: (A) LARIAT. See SQUATBALL.
RUBY THE RED-NOSED REINDEER: (I) A WICCEN rewording of the famous YULEtide song, with a female reindeer as protagonist this time.
SAINT CLIVE: (A) Future name of C(live) S(taples) Lewis (1898 - 1963) Oxford Don, poet, rationalist apologist for "mere" Christianity, radio lecturer, essayist, and bestselling author of nonfiction, science fiction, fantasy, and mythopoeic literature, member of the Inklings along with J.R.R. Tolkien, canonized by the First Cardinal of the MERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH the day before the christening of the space habitat named for him, and later that day declared the Kingdom of ST. CLIVE. In correct usage, Saint Clive (spelled out) refers to the man, and St. Clive (abbreviated) refers to the place.
SAMHAIN DAY: (A) WICCEN thanksgiving, a legal holiday in the Federation.
SATELLITE ANCHOR: (I) A news anchor on a broadcast to Earth relayed from a communications satellite.
SATELLITE CHESS: (I) An updated version of chess-by-mail, played by relaying moves in real time through a communications satellite.
SCANNER: (N) A small electronic device used for scanning brainprints, often worn on the wrist: wristscanner.
SCANNING: (N) Used by a MARNIE in TOUCHABLE hunting, and by the MONITORS in police work. It involves directional narrowcasting of a weak radio pulse on the universal frequency to which the receiving crystal of all IDENTITY TRANSPONDERs is tuned. The transponder is triggered by the pulse to read the PRIMARY NEURAL MODULATION of the person in which it's implanted, and to broadcast it an instant later on the universal frequency to which all SCANNERs are tuned. The scanner registers the direction of the incoming signal and records the just-received BRAINPRINT in a permanent memory. (The scanner's recorder is the part that's illegally adapted for use in PICKPOCKET TRANSPONDERS.) The scanner then telephones the just-received brainprint, via satellite, to the FEDERATION BUREAU OF IMMUNITY, which records the number of the scanner phoning in and the time-and-place of the status request, records the brainprint for which status is being requested, and matches the received brainprint to the registration in its computer files. Once matched, the Bureau returns to the scanner one of three answers: Citizen in Good Standing, Wanted by the Authorities--arrest if possible (this is the response for "no brainprint on file," or "double-reading") or TOUCHABLE. A Touchable who is scanned but--because he or she has no implanted transponder--does not show up at all by the long- distance scanning used in hunting can temporarily avoid detection; but automatic scanning is done periodically in public places such as SKYPORTs, and a person identified as not transponding a signal is--legally--a NONPERSON. To minimize the rare accidents caused by transponder failure, it is habitual in the Federation to scan one's own transponder before leaving home, and a person discovering transponder failure may call the Monitors for safe escort to the nearest office of the Federation Bureau of Immunity for correction of the problem. As well, if a Monitor scan discovers a citizen--otherwise in good standing-- with no transponder signal, that person will be assumed innocent and likewise escorted to the FBI office for correction of the problem. However, if a Marnie should--by chance--scan someone close up and receive no transponded signal, this is a bounty indeed: the person being scanned has no legal existence whatever and--under the letter of Federation law, is legal game for anything including slavery for life, murder, or icaration.
SCANNING, LASEGRAPHIC: (A) Derived from LASERIUM®. One of the three basic types of LASER image, along with LUMIA and DIFFRACTIONs. In LASEGRAPHY, the creation of solid-looking "written" laser images--RAW SCANS--by bouncing a pinpoint laser beam off a mirror which vibrates at high speed, "scanning" the beam toward a screen in a two-dimensional path. By controlling the frequency of the vibrations, the shape of the image can be changed. It is the ability to create discrete imagery through scanning that makes lasegraphy possible, since it is only through duplication of imagery--simultaneously and sequentially--that leitmotifs may be created and visual "chords" played. See also LUMIA and DIFFRACTIONS.
SCAT: (A) From the Greek word for excrement, scata, and from slang usage in the gay community today, where it refers to scatological sexual acts identified, in the gay-bar handkerchief color code, by wearing a brown handkerchief. In the Federation, scat has completely replaced the word "shit," and has the same vulgar usages and connotations. Since the scenes involving this practice are among the most controversial in the novel (at least one publisher declined reprint rights because of them), let me point out that writers ranging from Sigmund Freud to Desmond Morris to Robert Anton Wilson have pointed out the role of scatological "territory marking" and humiliation in the psychology of power, and it was for the emotional charge that excrement has in the human unconscious that I portrayed this practice in a work of literature intended for grown-ups.
SCATHEAD: (I) Shithead. Stupid.
SCHOLASTIC NOTATION: (I) Written lasegraphic notation, which standardizes the symbol system referring to laser-generated imagery as it is to ap
pear in a dome, without reference to how that imagery is achieved. The precondition for lasegraphic performers to perform works composed by other lasegraphers with whom they haven't studied. Name derives both from its meaning as "formalist," and as an adjective referring to the proper surname of the first lasecologist (comb. laser + musicologist) to suggest that such notation was one of the preconditions for lasegraphy to develop: yours truly.
SCINTILLATOR: (N) No longer a misnomer for a Geiger Counter, but a device for reducing objects to scintilla: a nuclear incinerator.
SCREEN, THE: (N) A HOLOSCREEN. Also, used metaphorically to mean any writing surface: slate.
SECOND CORPORAL: (I) See CORPORAL.
SELF-OWNERSHIP: (A) The fundamental human right, from which all other rights derive. If one does not own oneself--thus being free to determine one's own actions, maintain self-control, and be responsible for one's actions--then one is not free, morally responsible, or fully human. If one does not own oneself, then one must be owned by another, and the usual claimant is the State. If one does not own oneself, then one has no right preventing one from being exploited as an involuntary servant to another person or group--whether that person or group wishes to make you give them part of your earnings (taxes), or your labor (community service), or your body (the Federation Peace Corps) or your life (the military draft).
SERVICE, THE: (N) In the Federation, refers to the Peace Corps.
SEX SELECTION: (A) The process by which the sex of a child can be selected before conception. Currently this requires clinical intervention before conception, but a pharmaceutical way to achieve this is undoubtedly in the offing (see ADAMINE and EVELINE). When this happens, there is the potential for political manipulation of the gender-ratio for a host of reasons, such as the seven-to-one ratio of males to females caused by military competition in the BRUSHFIRE WAR, and later made permanent by a female ruling class in the Federation to whom the trade of freedom for power was seductive.
SHOTS: (N) In the Federation, when used without further qualifier, means birth-control shots. If a male today asks a female with whom he wishes to engage in sex whether she's had her shots, it's likely not only that he will never engage in sex with her but also that she will inflict immediate physical damage upon him. In the Federation the question is merely a sensible precaution against unwanted pregnancy.
SINSEMILLA: (N) Agricultural area of northern PACIFICA (now California), named for its chief harvest: seedless marijuana.
SISTER: (N) ROGA slang for a female FRIAR.
SKY BELT, SKYBELTER: (A) FLYING BELT, and a user thereof.
SKY MARSHAL: (N) A MONITOR who uses a SKY BELT, a glamorous job equivalent to motorcycle cop.
SKYMOBILE: (N) Sky-automobile. A highly-maneuverable, high speed, characteristically Short-Take-Off-and-Landing jet flying craft that requires neither extended fixed wings nor extended rotors, but instead lifts itself by the pressure-differential created by its wing shape and control surfaces, impelled by the ample thrust produced by its thermonuclear-powered jet turbines. When taxiing, a skymobile deflects its thrust downward to create ground-surface effects like a hovercraft, and at full power can be a Vertical-Take-Off-and-Landing aircraft, though this is somewhat clumsy for it. In the Federation, skymobiles are about as expensive (in terms of percentage of income needed to buy and maintain one) as an automobile is now, and are just as common.
SKYPORT: (A) A airport serving suborbital and orbital shuttles.
SLINKY: (A) A trademarked coiled toy available today.
SLOPPY SECONDS: (A) Vulgar usage today, standard usage in the Federation: a woman available to a subsequent partner after a male has ejaculated into her.
SMOKE: (N) In the Federation, toke.
SMOKING SECTION: (N) A section designated for compulsory smoking. See NONSMOKING SECTION. Then think about how we customarily use language affects our approach to political issues.
SNAREMAN: (I) See SQUATBALL.
SNOW WHITE TALKING MIRROR: (I) A toy mirror programmed for replacing a reflected image with the image of Snow White when one asks "Who's the fairest in the land?" and arguing the point at length with the questioner.
SOAP OPERA: (N) Marathon stageplays adapted from early- RENAISSANCE television scripts, and considered high, classical drama suitable for an evening of highbrow entertainment.
SOLERI SKYPORT: (I) Skyport named for RENAISSANCE architect and habitat designer, Paolo Soleri.
SOLSTICE: (N) When used without being preceded by MIDSUMMER, refers to the Yule--winter--Solstice. See YULE SOLSTICE.
SOLSTICE TREE: (I) A tree decorated for display at the YULE SOLSTICE: in practice, identical to a Christmas tree.
SORORITY: (N) In Peace Corps, 1/5th TROOP, comprising 45 women segmented into five HAREMs.
SOUTH AMERICAN UNION: (I) A PROVINCE of the Federation, comprising all of the continent of South America and related islands.
SOUTH, THE: (N) In Concord political jargon, Mexico.
SPECTRAL: (A) Relating to the spectrum of light as seen in air. Consequently, both rainbows and ghosts are spectral.
SQUATBALL: (I) A popular contact sport--deriving elements from sumo, golf, miniature golf, baseball, rodeos, American football, basketball, soccer, chess, and hockey--played by two teams in opposition. Professional and College Squatball is Tackle Squatball, and Little League Squatball is Touch Squatball. Scoring is accomplished by placing the squatball (a flattened spheroid bladder stuffed with foam rubber) into a hole on a squatball course. A game is played on a boobytrapped turf course of eighteen holes (though in squatball the hole is about the size of a basket in basketball), for which each team is given a chance at offense, the team playing offense given five chances to score, called "downs." The team playing defense, of course, tries to stop them. The defensive goalie at each hole is the Netman, who uses nets reminiscent of fishing nets to entangle the offensive players to prevent them from scoring. The Netman is most often opposed by the offensive team's Snareman, who uses a lariat to rope the Netman and allow an offensive player to score or pass to another player. Other players include the Center Quarterback (one position) who provides offensive strategy, Endbacks, and the Hunchback--a player charged with carrying an offensive player over sand and water traps: the squatball is not allowed to touch ground or get wet. The team with the score closest to eighteen at the end of a game wins. In the event of a tie, the game is stalemated and not scored. The name of the game derives from the sumo squat in which opposing teams start each down. Professional Squatball is divided into two leagues--the Transmeridian League and the Federation League--and consists of thirty-eight teams per league, who work their way up to their League Cup and then face off in the yearly World Series. It's the most popular sport in the Federation, and players are worldwide celebrities who often become holovision stars as well. At least they do the majority of beer and deodorant commercials. Squatball courses exist in the habitats, but the sport just hasn't caught on there.
STATUTORY RAPE: (A) See RAPE, LEGAL DEFINITION OF IN THE FEDERATION.
ST. CLIVE: (I) Cluster of FREE-SPACE HABITATs, built in the asteroid belt after the passage of the Federation Universal Service Act, as a refuge for Christians wishing to raise daughters in equal number to sons and without having to worry about their being drafted into the Peace Corps. Population is one-quarter billion--the largest population center of any of the habitats. St. Clive is also the only constitutional monarchy in the habitats, with a heriditary Royal Family, however--in practice--the Constitution of St. Clive is little different than the AD ASTRAn LEASE, giving the Monarch largely ceremonial duties, and declaring the Monarch to be Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and First Cardinal of the MERE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Succession of the Crown is to the first born of either gender, starting with KING ELWIN. His reigning Queen is Lucy, but she is only the Acting Monarch in the event that the King is incapacitated or DEANIMATEd. See also SAINT CLIVE, QUEEN LUCY.
SUNDALE: (N) One of the valleys in NOVA PAULUS. A lot of sun- worshippe
rs there. See SUNNY GLEN and VALLE DE SOL.
SUNNY GLEN: (N) One of the valleys in NOVA PAULUS. They really do have a lot of sun-worshippers there. See SUNDALE and VALLE DE SOL.
SUPREME MATRIARCH, THE: (I) Five-cross MATRIARCH, top rank in the Federation Peace Corps. The Minister of Peace is, under the ARTICLES OF FEDERATION, a higher office than the Supreme Matriarch, and theoretically the Supreme Matriarch could be inferior to a Minister of Peace, but in practice the offices are combined, making the Supreme Matriarch a CABINET minister and second only to the FIRST LADY in command of the Federation Peace Corps.
SURROGATE: (N) SURROGATE BODY.
SURROGATE BODY: (I) A specially grown body, essentially brainless after a CEREBRAL ABORTION, grown as the new home for a genetically identical, cryonically preserved brain after a brain transplant. See also CRYONIC SUSPENSION.