Bandersnatch's Hands— A prosthetic set of mechanical arms and hands for a Bandersnatch. The controls must be surgically connected to the creature's nervous system, as they have no other way to work the controls. Garvey Limited manufactured these circa 2646. ["The Handicapped"]

"Bandersnatch" by Bonnie Dalzell Copyright © 1975

Bandersnatchi— (singular Bandersnatch; scientific name Frumious Bandersnatch) An artificially created, intelligent alien species, a survivor of the ancient Slaver Empire living on Jinx. [World of Ptavvs, "A Relic of the Empire", "The Handicapped"]

Shmoo, from Al Capp's Li'l Abner

Physiology: Twice the size of a Brontosaur, a Bandersnatch is a single-celled organism resembling a Shmoo; a smoothly rounded, egg-shaped body extending to a long neck which swells into its head. It has a flexible but jointless skeleton; the only breaks in its smooth, white skin are tufts of sensory bristles on its eyeless head, and the whale-sized mouth at the front of its rippling, snail-like belly foot, on which it can move very quickly.

Creation and evolution: The Bandersnatchi are a product of Tnuctipun biological engineering. They were created intelligent, delicious for the Thrintun to eat, and immune to their Power. They were also created immune to mutation, so have not evolved in the 1.5 billion years since the end of the Slaver Empire.

Behavior: Bandersnatchi feed on the gray food yeast in Jinx's lowlands, along the shore of the central ocean. Despite their very limited senses, they can communicate intelligently among themselves quite rapidly. An unconfirmed source states they communicate by ground vibrations [1].

Interspecies relations: Lacking hands and therefore having little tool-using ability, the Bandersnatchi species by circa 2646 had formed a treaty with Humans on Jinx to sell hunting rights. A license, which costs 1000 stars, permits one to hunt Bandersnatchi in an armored car, with strict limitations on weapons. A Bandersnatch is fully capable of running down and crushing an armored car; a hunter has about a 60/40 chance of success versus dying. The benefit to Bandersnatchi, aside from trading credit, is to help prevent overpopulation and to provide some excitement to their sensory-deprived existence. Some income is used to buy Bandersnatch's Hands. Bandersnatchi with these Hands also operate scientific instruments for the Institute of Knowledge in the lowlands, where the pressure is too great for unprotected Humans.

Editorial Note: Literary

Bank of We Made It— Beowulf Shaeffer's fee for his flyby survey of the neutron star BVS-1 was deposited in this bank in 2641. ["Neutron Star"]

bar— Larchmont Bellamy's bar on Gummidgy in 2647 was mobile; it took orders and served drinks. ["Grendel"]

Larchmont Bellamy Copyright © 1997 by The Icon Factory

Bellamy, Larchmont— Human male Flatlander, a friend of Gregory Pelton and an acquaintance of Beowulf Shaeffer. In 2647 his age was 300. Larch had an aura of power and a mimic's voice with deadpan delivery. His lean body had a lean angular face, and deepset eyes with a hunter's penetrating, questioning gaze. He hated aliens. [Spoiler alert: "Grendel"] He was the ringleader in the kidnapping of Lloobee, a famous Kdatlyno artist. See "Grendel" (story summary). ["Grendel"]

Belt— Sol System's main asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It is a source of valuable minerals, and is worked by asteroid miners, who created the Belter culture. Ceres is the capital. Settlement of the Belt began circa 2006 [2], and by 2046 Belter population pressure prompted the construction of Confinement Asteroid. In 2106 Belters were involved in an economic struggle with Earth for their independence, and by 2126 independence had been achieved. By 2371 it had a million citizens and owned nearly all Sol system. ["The Warriors", World of Ptavvs, The Patchwork Girl, "The Ethics of Madness"]

Belter— A citizen of an asteroid belt. Belter civilization arose in Sol system's main asteroid Belt, with an economy centered on asteroid mining. As time progressed, Belters colonized the Serpent Stream in the Alpha Centauri system, and perhaps asteroid belts elsewhere. Born and raised in low gravity, native Belters tend to be tall and thin. Belters created their own distinct culture, placing high value on independence, self-reliance, neatness, and care for one's self and machinery. Living and working in vacuo, carelessness or lack of maintenance can be deadly. Belters don't use gesture or make careless movements; in a small mining ship, one could easily hit the wrong control by mistake. They tend to be anarchic, scornful of authority, and intolerant of fools. Other cultural byways include the Belter strip haircut, elaborate paintings on their spacesuits, and calling Earth natives Flatlanders, with the implication they're a bit helpless. ["The Warriors", World of Ptavvs, The Patchwork Girl]

Editorial Note: Literary

Belter strip— The standard Belter haircut. All the hair is shaved off except an inch-wide strip from front to back, which is allowed to grow out. ["Flatlander"]

Beowulf— The first epic hero in English literature. Written in Old English and based on Norse myth, in Beowulf the hero fights and defeats two trolls, Grendel and Grendel's mother; and later a dragon. In 2647 Beowulf Shaeffer had to be told of this origin of his first name. ["Grendel"]

Beowulf Shaeffer— see Shaeffer, Beowulf

"Beta Lyrae" by Gianfranco Curioni Copyright © Collezioni-f.

Beta Lyrae— A binary star, with a glowing red gas filament mating the binaries in fusion fire at their bulging equators. Their gravitational dance pulls the fiery stream into a blazing maypole spiral. By 2505 the sight had become a famed interstellar tourist attraction. It has one named planet, Cue Ball. ["The Soft Weapon"]

Editorial Note: Science/Continuity

Bhang, Sue— Human female Flatlander, circa 2366 a crew member on the Angel's Pencil. ["The Warriors"]

Big Mira— The larger star of Mira, a binary pair. It is orbited by the planet Mira Ceti-T. ["A Relic of the Empire"]

Binary— (Also called Primary) A banded orange jovian planet orbiting Sirius A at 4.3 AU. Jinx, a Human colony world, is a moon orbiting this planet. Binary is more massive than Jupiter, but smaller and more dense, with a degenerate matter core. [4] [World of Ptavvs p. 50]

blackmail— Puppeteers use blackmail as a standard, accepted business practice. The following instances of blackmail or intent to blackmail are documented:

(a) An executive of General Products (GP) threatened Beowulf Shaeffer (Bey) with debtor's prison in 2641 to force him to perform a flyby survey of neutron star BVS-1. ["Neutron Star"]

(b) Shortly thereafter, Bey blackmailed the same GP executive with his supposition that the hidden Puppeteer homeworld had no moon. ["Neutron Star", "At the Core"]

(c) Dr. Richard Schultz-Mann hoped to form a blackmail contract in 2644 with the Puppeteers over the location of their hidden homeworld. This would have involved him voluntarily undergoing selective memory erasure. ["A Relic of the Empire", "The Color of Sunfire"]

blind-spot— see hyperspace blind-spot

Bloody Marriage— An alcoholic drink served on the Argos in 2647. ["Grendel"]

Blue Fire 2728— Freeze-distilled wine served in Cziller's House of Irish Coffee circa 2646. ["The Handicapped"]

Editorial Note: Continuity

body paints— The fashion for Humans on Earth in 2645 was to paint skin, dye hair, and color eyes any and every color or colors, including stripes and plaids. ["Flatlander"]

boosters— In 2322 booster rockets used extremely compressed helium to boost a spacecraft from Earth into orbit. See also air rocket. ["The Ethics of Madness"]

boosterspice— Human longevity drug, genetically engineered from ragweed, created in a Jinx biological laboratory and first marketed circa 2325 [5]. It greatly retards but does not completely stop the aging process. It can reverse some of the effects of aging, but not all [6]. By 2882, boosterspice had kept some hale and sapient for 500 years, sometimes more [7]. See also life expectancy. ["A Relic of the Empire", "Grendel", Ringworld, The Ringworld Throne: Prologue, Ringworld's Children ch. 15]

Brennan, Jack— Human male Belter who in 2125 made first contact with Phssthpok. [Spoiler alert: Protector] He later became a protector. [Protector]

Brennan-monster— [Spoiler alert: Protector] Jack Brennan's name for himself after his transformation in 2125 into a super-intelligent protector. [Protector]

bridge&mdash A card game whose players included Beowulf Shaeffer and Sharrol Janss, in Gregory Pelton's mansion on Earth in 2645. ["Flatlander"]

Bussard ramjet— see ramscoop

"Neutron Star" by Rick Sternbach Copyright © 1977 by Del Rey Books

BVS-1&mdash The first known old, cold neutron star. It was discovered in 2639 by the Institute of Knowledge on Jinx. It has an estimated mass of 1.3 solar masses and a rotation period of two minutes 27 seconds. Its estimated composition is 11 miles of neutronium covered by about half a mile of degenerate matter covered by 12 feet of ordinary matter. ["Neutron Star", "Ghost"]

Editorial Notes: Science, Continuity

Footnotes

[2] "A century ago, when the Belt was first being settled..." (World of Ptavvs p. 69)

[4] Most of this information is from the Ringworld Roleplaying Game— Explorer Book p. 39

[5] "...boosterspice... had been introduced... about two hundred years after an alien ramship reached Sol system" (Ringworld's Children ch. 15, pp. 190). This refers to events in the first half of Protector, in 2125. Therefore, about 200 years after 2125.

[6] Richard Schultz-Mann was off boosterspice for two decades. When he resumed treatments, the gray patches in his hair disappeared, but the twinges in his back remained ("A Relic of the Empire", Neutron Star p. 44).

[7] The Ringworld Throne: Prologue, p. 16