bloodshits: A slangy, less polite name for the bloody flux, a rather unpleasant form of severe gastroenteritis.

di-clad: Coated in diamondoid or diamondoid-family materials.

electron plumbing: the thermionic valve equivalent of integrated circuits, intended for use in high-power and EMP-resistant applications.

“Empress’s word”: An implication of conspiracy or secrecy that must be maintained at all costs. The implication (referring back to Valentia I Amanyr), is that to break the Empress’s word is to condemn yourself to death.

glowful: An informal term meaning “good”, “pleasant”, etc. Has a greater overtone of specifically “pleasant”, or “emotionally/hedonically appealing” than shiny, which compare.

hedge-parking: In autonomous vehicle design, the practice of securing arrival time by overbooking a number of physical parking spaces based on the users’ urgency, preferences of timing, location, flexibility, and willingness to pay, then offloading the unused spaces (if possible) on the parking spot market at the last minute.

matter-shop: Slang; a neighborhood autofac/JITPOS center, especially one with JITINV capabilities.

orbital level: For the purposes of space traffic control, the space from immediately above the atmospheric height (rounded off) to geosynchronous orbit is divided into so-called orbital levels, altitude bands 10 miles apart, numbered from the bottom up.

perfect moron: The theoretical worst computer possible; one which performs one bit-transformation using the entire mass of the universe over its entire lifespan.

space scurvy: Nutritional deficiencies or toxicities caused by consuming food sourced from worlds and/or habitats incompletely compatible or incompatible with one’s own nutritional requirements and/or limitations. See biocode.

sparkhead: A direct brain-stimulation addict, especially a wire-point addict.

weak superintelligence: A superintelligence which is merely lower intelligence run at vastly higher clock speeds, without qualitative cognitive advantage.