Future Imperfect Cyclopedia

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a-Grav

Short for "artificial gravity". An offshoot of Reactionless Engine technology. A-grav transmitters and receptors are installed in the ceilings and floors of most spacecraft and small habitats. When active these produce a stream of "gravitons" that simulate a G force. This was an important breakthrough in space travel as it avoided a number of illnesses and syndromes related to low G (such as bone deteriation). Until the advent of a-grav, space flight was either of short duration or involved more mechanical means of simulating gravity.

Asimov, Isaac

Popular Science Fiction writer of the later half of the 20th century. Invented the "three laws of robotics", which were later used as the basis of intelligent machine regulation.

A.U.S.

Australasian Union of States. Political union composed of old pre-collapse nations of: Australia; New Zealand; Papua New Guneau; Samoa; Tonga; Narau; and (temporarily) Fiji. Popularly pronounced "Oz".

A.U.S.S.I.E.

A.U.S. Space Investigative Executive. Formed by the AUS shortly after the discovery of sub-V travel. Its charter specifies that the prime purpose of AUSSIE is the exploration, development and protection of AUS' Prime Area of Intergalactic Influence and Authority (the official term for the "Southern Cross").

Bloomberg Protocol

Despite intensive research, Bloogle rules of action and diplomacy are still mostly a mystery, with several known "rules of engagement" contradicting one another.

The Collapse

Period of the mid 21st century where due to cultural and economic shifts, the old systems of economics and government were radically replaced by other systems. The shift was mostly due to major occurrences of famine, disease, and economic depression.

D.O.V.E.

Acronym for Drone Observation Vehicle, Expendable. A remote drone ship equipped with sub-V drive. Such ships were used to do preliminary explorations, and to send messages over interstellar distances, until sub-V transmedia was developed.

Discovery Bonus

AUSSIE captains were entitled to a extra credit payment, based on the nature and importance of what their crew discovered. It was up to the captain how they shared this credit (if at all) with their crew members. Such bonuses could also be forfeit under certain circumstances, or by AUSSIE executive decision.

Infonet

The multi connected descendent of the Internet, circa 23rd century.

M.I.T.

Mainline Institute of Technology. An "infonet only" university available to Earth Citizens for free. Not to be confused with pre-collapse Michigan Institute of Technology.

Nor Am

Popular name for the North American Confederation. This consists of the old states of the United States, Canada, Mexico and Panama. Other old states on the North American continent are either client states of Nor-Am, the European Union, or of the South American Union.

Med-tech

The equivalent of a 20th century General Practitioner.

'New Hope' Disaster

When sub-V was first being developed, the experimental ship 'New Hope' was destroyed when it came out of 'sub-V' too close to the target star, and materialised inside a planetary body. Standard practice thereafter was to drop out of 'sub-V' about 4,000 million km from the target star.

Olympus Mons University

So-called because its original comms transmitter was based on Olympus Mons, this is the first trans-terrestrial higher educational establishment, and caters to long distance students not only in the Solar System, but also in others systems as well. The main campus is actually located within Phobos but this is mostly administrative in nature.

ORSRAG

Believed to be a cultural / religious / political body that governed the Bloogle Instrumentality.

Otaku University

Established after the collapse on New Nippon. Otaku students pride themselves on their technological zeal and prowess. There is an "unofficial feud between Otaku, and MIT.

Over-the-terminal

Can be ordered via the Infonet, instead of face-to-face, or over-the-counter.

Reactionless Engine

Pre sub-V engines operated by creating thrust in one direction, and being propelled by a counter-thrust in the opposite direction. While this method is still used for small short-range craft, it requires a mass of fuel to work. Reactionless engines operate by manipulating directly Vector Bosoms. How this is done is a well kept trade secret, though details are expected to be "made public" by 2200, when the extended patent of the process (held by "Vectors Inc.) expires.
Reactionless engines do however generate an enormous amount of heat, and this must be dissipated away or risk a melt-down (as happened with the "Excelsior Disaster" of 2075).

Reconsitution Class Ship

This class was named in the spirit of reclamation and recovery that followed the creation of the Australasian Union of States in 2101.

Most vessels of this class were powered by a Mk IV V-Master engine for sub-V, and an Imaginerics(tm) Vector Buster for local cruising. A vessel like the "Sad Heart" may have a regular crew of a dozen, with passenger facilities for 20-30, though often both crew and passengers travelled in "hibernation" due to the extended travel times prior to the first "major upgrade" of sub-V Travel.

As both are "reactionless engines", excess heat must be dissipated, requiring heat sinks. Later models were fitted with smaller heat sinks which did not extend outside the line of the craft.

Ships of this class seldom featured a regular armament, and were primarily commercial or exploratory vessels. Military support ships were the exception, however most weaponry used was personnel (meant for boarding), rather than s ship-to-ship, or ship-to-surface.

The "Re-Constitution" class was first commissioned by A.U.S.S.I.E. in 2140, and built by the Icelandic Space Dock Corp.

Called "the floating office" it was intended to be a purely deep space craft. Most built varied from the initial design in significant ways. Regular service vessels were coloured grey, and diplomatic were red/pink, and military (support only) were black with grey trim, which often made visual sightings difficult.

The "Sad Heart" was one of a number of ships commissioned to initiate terraforming on uninhabited worlds under the authority of AUSSIE, popularly known as the "Southern Cross", despite the fact the none of the worlds with "south", nor did they form a "cross".

sub-V

A theorised continuum at one "level" below normal space ( V ). Universal constants are different in sub-V with the result that the speed of light ( c ) is much higher at that level. Interstellar travel is made possible by temporarily entering the sub-V level, moving at a "slow" speed at that level and then exiting back to V. No life is known to exist at sub-V, and travel within it was only possible after the development of "enveloping" technologies.

supra-V

A theorised continuum at one "level" above normal space. Whereas in sub-V the value for c is much higher, it would be much lower in supra-V. Little research has been done on supra-V as there appears to be no practacle use for such.

Terraforming

The process of changing a planet's environment through physical, biological and other means.

Terran

Another name for Humans.

Theta Colony Massacre

The settlers of Theta Colony were all killed by robot farm machinery, which had were regulated by a local network. Investigation later determined that a) The robots been disrupted by a local Intranet virus; b) the younger son of one of the settlers had released the virus as a "joke", intending to release the "counter-virus" before anyone was hurt; and c) the young hacker was the first one killed, and such action was not taken.

Zero Team

A first contact team that specialises in analysing, and initiating the terraforming of a planet. It was also common for ships to also carry "Primary" and "Secondary" (and sometimes "Tertiary") teams, and each had a specialised function, but also acted as back-up for other teams.

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