Infinity's Shore

Midden — a vast undersea crevasse, or subduction zone, formed by plate tectonics, that runs alongside the Slope. Dross generated by inhabitant races — from skeletal remains to hulls of sooner spacecraft — should eventually be dumped here, where natural forces will carry it below Jijo’s crust for melting.

Midura — a unit of time. Approximately seventy-one minutes.

Morgran — a transfer point where Streaker was first attacked by warships of the fanatic religious clans.

Mule spiders — a life-form engineered to destroy buildings and technological artifacts on worlds declared fallow.

Mulching ceremony — reduction of dead bodies, returning flesh to the Jijoan ecosystem. Often involves consumption of flesh by specialized traeki rings. Nondegradable leftovers are treated as dross and sent to the Midden.

Neo-chimp, neo-chimpanzee — uplifted chimpanzees; humanity’s first clients. Fully uplifted neo-chimps can speak; the “unfinished” variety that accompanied humans to Jijo are mute.

Neo-dolphin — uplifted dolphins; clients of humanity.

Nihanic — another pre-contact human language, derived from a hybrid of Japanese and Han Chinese.

Noor — bright, dexterous, but mischievous otterlike creatures. Noor cannot be tamed, but the patient and good-natured hoon are able to employ some noor beasts on their ships. Noor are considered pests by the other sooner races.

Oailie — third-stage uplift consorts and “step-patrons” of the Jophur, and fanatical members of the Obeyer Alliance. As expert gene crafters, the Oailie reworked traeki biology and psychology by the addition of master rings, transforming them into Jophur.

Oakka — a planet containing the regional headquarters of the Institute of Navigation, where Streaker barely escaped entrapment and betrayal.

Parrot ticks — a peculiar Buyur-engineered insect that can memorize and recite short phrases. The first humans on Jijo doubted their sanity when they kept “hearing voices.”

Passen — Jijo’s smallest moon.

Path of Redemption — goal of orthodox religious factions of Jijo, who believe the sooner races should devolve to presapience. Only thus can they escape punishment for colonizing a fallow world, offering a second chance at uplift. Glavers have already trod the Path.

Patron — a Galactic race that has uplifted at least one animal species to full sapience.

Phuvnthus — six-legged wood-eating vermin on Jijo.

Pidura — six-to-the-seventh-power duras, or approximately four days.

Polkjhy—Jophur battleship that landed on Jijo in search of the Streaker.

Poria Outpost — the Danik headquarters, where a small human population serves Rothen lords.

Primal Delphin — semilanguage used by natural, nonuplifted dolphins on Earth.

Progenitors — legendary first spacefaring race, who began the cycle of uplift two billion years ago.

Rewq — quasi-fungal symbionts that help the Six Races “read” each other’s emotions and body language.

Rift — a branch of the Midden located at the southern end of the Slope.

Rimmers — a mountain range marking the eastern boundary of the Slope.

Sacred Scrolls — texts of enigmatic origin, the only written matter on Jijo between the departure of the Buyur and human introduction of paper books. The scrolls taught the g’Kek and later colonists about the need for concealment, planetary care, and “redemption.”

Sept — a race or sapient clan of Jijo, e.g., the g’Kek, glavers, hoons, urs, traeki, qheuen, and humans.

Sooners — outlaws who attempt to colonize worlds designated fallow by the Galactic Institute of Migration. On Jijo, the term means those who try to make new illegal settlements, beyond the confines of the Slope.

Spectral Flow — a forbidding desert region in the southcentral area of the Slope, thought to be uninhabitable. Covered with sheets of luridly colored, psi-active volcanic stone and outcrops of photoactive crystal.

Streaker — a neo-dolphin-crewed Terran starship. The Streaker’s discoveries led to unprecedented pursuit by dozens of Galactic factions, each seeking advantage by possessing the dolphins’ secrets.

Stress atavism — a condition found among newly uplifted species, when individuals lose their higher cognitive functions under stress.

Tabernacle—the sneakship that brought human sooners to Jijo more than 200 years ago.

Tarek Town — the largest town on the Slope, where the Roney and Bibur merge. Headquarters of the Explosers Guild.

Terragens Council — ruling body of humanity’s interstellar government, in charge of matters affecting relations between Earthclan and Galactic society.

Toporgic — a pseudo-material substrate made of organically folded time.

Torgen — one of Jijo’s moons.

Transfer point — an area of weak space-time that allows faster than light travel for vessels entering in precise ways.

Uplift — the process of turning a presapient animal species into a fully sapient race capable of joining Galactic society. Performed by patron race.

Urchachka — the urrish homeworld.

Urchachkin — urrish clan that gave refuge to human females and horses in the Spectral Flow.