Calcutta Base— The spaceport from which Beowulf Shaeffer and Gregory Pelton left Earth in the Slower Than Infinity in 2645. ["Flatlander"]

Cannonball Express— [Spoiler alert: "Flatlander"] Gregory Pelton's original suggested name for what turned out to be the antimatter planet. ["Flatlander"]

capital punishment— see organ banks

Captain— A Kzin, commander of the Tracker which, circa 2366, made first contact with Humans when it attacked the Angel's Pencil. ["The Warriors"]

Aircar Copyright © 1998 by The Icon Factory

car— In Known Space the term car generally refers to aircar, or flying car. An archaic wheeled ground vehicle is referred to as a groundcar. On Plateau, by 2325 ducted fans were used for lift. By 2647, and possibly as early as circa 2450, cars in Human Space used lift units to fly. Presumably lift is provided by antigravity, although this is undocumented. [A Gift from Earth, "Grendel"]

Cecil the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent— see Time for Beany

Ceres— The largest asteroid in Sol System, and capital of the Belt civilization.

Editorial Note: Science

Cetaceans— A group of mammals native to Earth's oceans. Several species have been recognized as sentient and granted civil rights by the UN, most notably Dolphins. [World of Ptavvs]

Chuft-Captain— A Kzin, commander of the "outlaw" scout vessel Traitor's Claw. [Spoiler alert: "The Soft Weapon"] In 2657 he and his crew captured the Court Jester and the Tnuctipun spy weapon. See "The Soft Weapon" (story summary) ["The Soft Weapon"]

Chunquen— A species in which both sexes were intelligent, which prior to circa 2366 the Kzinti Empire had conquered and apparently exterminated. ["The Warriors"]

Smoking a cigarette with his toes art by John Schoenherr copyright © 1974 by Condé Nast Publications

cigarettes— The following cigarettes and similar "smokes" are documented:

(a) Douglas Hooker's father was killed when cigarette ashes spilled into his eyes while piloting a Belter ship. ["The Ethics of Madness"]

(b) Aboard the Angel's Pencil, circa 2366, Steve Weaver and Ann Harrison smoked what Ann called "smog sticks". ["The Warriors"]

(c) Beowulf Shaffer smoked Fortunados in 2641. ["Neutron Star"]

(d) A Puppeteer, General Products' regional president on We Made It in 2641, held a stick giving off green incense-smelling smoke. ["Neutron Star"]

(e) "Tabac sticks" were among the things Grogs could only buy through Garvey Limited circa 2646. ["The Handicapped"]

(f) Beowulf Shaeffer, a limber Crashlander, liked to smoke using his toes, and in 2647 enjoyed the shocked reaction of Flatlanders. ["Grendel"]

circle sea— Gummidgy's biggest ocean, covering a third of the planet. Its circular shape is said to be the result of a large asteroid impact. ["Grendel"]

art by Ames (re-lettered for legibility) copyright © 1974 by Condé Nast Publications

Confinement Asteroid— A large asteroid in the Belt was hollowed out and rotated for spin-induced gravity to provide a place for pregnant Belters to safely bring babies to term. Note "confinement" is here a euphemism for pregnancy. The project was completed in 2071. [World of Ptavvs]

contracts— In 2645, verbal contracts in Human Space were legally binding when recorded. ["At the Core"]

The following contracts or potential contracts are documented:

(a) Outsiders traded information on the location of a lost slowboat, the Lazy Eight II, apparently prior to 2641. Beowulf Shaeffer (Bey) conducted the negotiation. ["Flatlander"]

(b) The Institute of Knowledge contracted with General Products (GP) to survey the neutron star BVS-1, circa 2640-41. GP provided a GP hull for the survey in exchange for all the data collected. ["Neutron Star"]

(c) An executive of GP contracted with (and blackmailed) Bey in 2641 to perform a flyby survey of the same neutron star. ["Neutron Star"]

(d) Bey blackmailed the same GP executive in 2641 with his supposition that the hidden Puppeteer homeworld had no moon, and formalized this with a contract. ["Neutron Star", "At the Core"]

(e) In 2644 Dr. Richard Schultz-Mann hoped to form a blackmail contract 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"]

(f) Another executive of GP contracted with Bey in 2645 to pilot a survey mission to the galactic core. ["At the Core"]

(g) In 2645 the Outsiders sold Gregory Pelton information on the location of the most unusual planet in Known Space. ["Flatlander"]

(h) During the same encounter, the Outsiders towed Pelton's starship towards the location in exchange for Bey's account of his discovery of the core explosion. ["Flatlander"]

(j) In 2647 the kidnappers of Lloobee demanded a contract guaranteeing anonymity and freedom from prosecution. ["Grendel"]

(k) In 2657 Nessus gave the Outsiders a promise for payment of 14 million stars for the Tnuctip stasis box ["The Soft Weapon"]

core explosion [Spoiler alert: "At the Core"] The stars in the core of our Milky Way galaxy are so closely spaced that one supernova set off a chain reaction of supernovae. Beowulf Shaeffer discovered this in 2645, while piloting the Long Shot on a survey mission to the galactic core. The core had finished exploding about nine or ten thousand years before, creating a wave of radiation so lethal it would kill off any known form of life on every planet it reached. It was predicted this wave would reach Known Space about 20,000 years later. Knowledge of the core explosion prompted the Puppeteer migration. ["At the Core", "Flatlander", Ringworld ch. 3]

core, galactic— see galactic core

Court Jester Copyright © 1998 by The Icon Factory

Court Jester— A passenger starship which in 2657 was owned by Jason Papandreou, and operated by him with his wife, Anne-Marie. With a dozen staterooms, it could hold 30 crew and passengers. Its shape was a thick, round-edged, flat-bottomed disk. [Spoiler alert: "The Soft Weapon"] It was involved in the incident of the Tnuctip spy weapon and the Kzinti of the Traitor's Claw. See "The Soft Weapon" (story summary). ["The Soft Weapon"]

Covenants of Shasht— The treaty negotiated between Humans and the Kzinti Empire in 2505, at the end of the Fourth (and last) Man-Kzin War. Its provisions included restricting the Kzinti to police weapons only, and although the worlds of their former slave species the Kdatlyno and the Pierin were freed, the Kzinti were allowed to keep some Jotaki and Pierin as legal slaves. The Covenants were still being enforced in 2657. ["Fly-By-Night"]

Cramer, Don— Human male Flatlander, in 2645 a business agent for Gregory Pelton. ["Flatlander"]

crash field— A force field designed to hold someone immobile inside a vehicle in case of a crash, in use by 2647. It is triggered by excessive pressure on the pilot's crash webbing, whose strands are thin as coarse thread and not much stronger. It was used by pilots of spacecraft, and in cars as an improvement over seat belts. ["Grendel", "The Soft Weapon"]

crash web— see crash field

Crashlander— A Human native to We Made It. By 2641, most were albinos due to lack of exposure to sunlight. Other evolutionary changes include motile ears, and toes nearly as dexterous as fingers. Beowulf Shaeffer and Anne-Marie Papandreou were Crashlanders. ["Flatlander", "The Soft Weapon"]

Crashlanding City— The first Human settlement on We Made It, founded prior to 2100. ["Flatlander"]

Crashlanding Port— A spaceport on We Made It. As a child, Beowulf Shaeffer watched starships land there. ["Flatlander"]

crime & punishment— see ARM; Ausfaller, Sigmund; debtor's prison; organ banks

criminals— see "Kidd, Captain"; [Spoiler alert: "Grendel"] Bellamy, Larchmont

Cue Ball— An uninhabited, frozen, Luna-sized planet orbiting Beta Lyrae. Apparently the name was inspired by the look of its featureless surface of snow and ice. It has a faint hydrogen atmosphere. [Spoiler alert: "Flatlander"] In 2657 it was the setting of a violent encounter between the crews of the Court Jester and the Traitor's Claw. ["Flatlander", "The Soft Weapon"]

Editorial Note: Continuity

CY Aquarii— The sun of Gummidgy. A hot, pulsating variable star which emits a burst of light every 89 minutes. Some asteroids orbit closer than its single planet. ["Grendel"]

Editorial Note: Science/Continuity

Cziller's House of Irish Coffee— A bar in Downtown on Down. The booths inside were built to levitate using artificial gravity, but this proved too dangerous and by circa 2647 they were grounded. ["The Handicapped"]