“Minley Traveler, you are denied landing permission at Qechra Down, technical eval. Maintain standard orbit, eight of twelve. Do you desire re-routing to Qechra Orbital? Qechra Local, over.” “Ah, Qechra Local, clarify technical eval? Minley Traveler, over.” “Minley Traveler, we have low confidence in your structural fitness for re-entry. Qechra
Cosmopolitan Council: The Presidium, and indeed the Conclave of Galactic Polities as a whole. On a more local level, the Imperial Senate, and indeed its analogs in other polyspecific societies.
The following, as is the preceding one and will be the other seven entries in the series, are extracts from the Word of the Flame, the record of the seeress Merriéle’s visions that is also the primary text of the Church of the Flame, the mainstream eldraeic religion. More
Cosmic Chess Game: Some say that this is what the assorted stable seed AIs are playing with the entirety of known space and its civilizations. Others say that that’s just incurably paranoid. The former respond that that’s exactly what they’d expect the pawns of the incomprehensibly ultratech
We met for the first time on Qechra, the world of forges. One morning at sunrise, standing on the Bridge of Chalcedony crossing the endless outpouring of Qechra’s ocean into one of its cooling gorges – where the spray of the falling water meets the steam boiling up from the
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Extensively (albeit not completely) averted in the Empire, inasmuch as in its genuinely free market, without (a) an extensive regulatory state to buy and then use for yourself or against the competition, (b) legislators and other politicians who feel comfortable immunizing you from consequences, or (c) a
Cool Starship: Basically, see Cool Chair, only slightly less prevalent due to starships being more expensive. And, in fairness, most starships are functional things. But there are a lot of custom jobs floating around there. But of particular note, probably, are the Celerissima-class yachts, the smallest and least practical lighthuggers
happy board: A term used in starships to describe a system status board indicating all systems operating correctly. While status lights use the same blue-crimson or blue-amber-crimson encoding as other bistate or tristate indicators, studies have shown that most sophonts respond quickly and accurately to emotional inputs, and process these
The flat robot hummed unheard as it ran along the rails of the sub-highway service plenum, gliding smoothly to a stop at the location of the damaged slab. The plenum was clear; no need to move fragments out of the way before doing the replacement. Clunk. The pneumatic prop-ram extruded
Colonists wanted to settle on Tilain (Innia Rise). Currently unimproved T-class world, carbon dioxide atmosphere, mean surface temperature 270K. Partial ecopoesis in progress to mixed D-protein-lipid-D-carbohydrate ecology. Independent/non-politan colonial corporation; not a freesoil world. Prospective colonists or colony groups expected to purchase a minimum of one share in the
Cool People Rebel Against Authority: Played straight and inverted. The former because, yes, being who they are and therefore ideologically predisposed that way, tyrants and slavers and democracies and other forms of unjustified authority make great villains in Imperial adventure series. The latter because, being such a freewheeling culture with
Cool Gate: The stargates, giant miles-wide holes in space through which can be seen the distorted stars at the other end of the wormhole, embedded in a pair of arms wrapped around it containing a whole pile of support machinery, a power reactor, and a little bit of space traffic