The Incompleat Known Space Concordance

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sabbatical— When Louis Wu tired of human company, he took a vacation or "sabbatical" for several months or more, exploring alone in his starship beyond the fringes of Known Space. On these vacations, including one in 2830, he read, listened to music, and looked for Slaver stasis boxes. ["There Is a Tide"]

safe ramscoop— A ramscoop with a "dead pocket" or bubble in its otherwise deadly magnetic field. A starship was placed in the bubble, making a manned ramscoop ship possible. Early Human attempts to build a safe ramscoop, probably including the Lazy Eight II, were deemed failures. A reliable technology was finally developed in 2320, when Moscow Motors, in a UN financed project, built their first safe ramscoop field generator. Using this device, Skyhook Enterprises in 2322 built the first in a long line of successful manned ramscoop starships. Hyperdrive made the ramscoop obsolete circa 2408. ["The Ethics of Madness", "The Warriors"]

Santa Monica Freeway— A highway on Earth, maintained in 2645 by antique groundcar enthusiasts, who raced on it. ["Flatlander"]

Dr. Richard
Schultz-Mann
by Burns
Copyright ©
1966 by
Galaxy Publ.
Corp.

Schultz-Mann, Dr. Richard— Human male Wunderlander. He was tall and thin, with copper hair. Formerly wealthy, he had lost his fortune in a stock market crash, but retained the noble looks and asymmetric beard of a Wunderlander aristocrat. A xenobiologist, in 2632 he began studying biological artifacts of the Slaver Empire, such as stage trees. In 2644 he was 154, but "looked older" as he had been off boosterspice for two decades. [Spoiler alert: "A Relic of the Empire"] That year he encountered "Captain Kidd" and his gang of pirates on Mira Ceti-T. See "A Relic of the Empire" (story summary). Shortly thereafter, he searched for the hidden Puppeteer homeworld. Circa 2685 he was an elderly pauper living on Silvereyes. See "The Color of Sunfire". ["A Relic of the Empire", "The Color of Sunfire"]

Serpent Stream— The asteroid belt in the Alpha Centauri system, which was colonized by Belters. ["The Borderland of Sol" (Tales of Known Space p. 184)]

Detail of Beowulf Shaeffer piloting the Long Shot
art by Don Dixon
Copyright © 1994 by Ballantine Books

Shaeffer, Beowulf— Human male Crashlander, by 2641 former chief pilot for the bankrupt interstellar Nakamura Lines. Seven feet tall, weight about 160 pounds, with the albino white hair and blood-red eyes normal for Crashlanders. Beowulf (Bey) enjoyed high living and playing tourist, and was a fairly amoral spendthrift. He was said to be too lazy to stay out of trouble, but bright enough to think his way out once he was in it [1]. He was hired by Puppeteers in 2641 to perform a flyby survey of the neutron star BVS-1; see "Neutron Star" (story summary). They hired him again in 2645 to pilot an exploratory mission to the galactic core; see "At the Core" (story summary). Later that year he joined Gregory Pelton in investigating the most unusual planet in Known Space; see "Flatlander" (story summary). On Earth during this time he met his true love, Sharrol Janss. They decided to marry and raise children. They arranged for Carlos Wu to father Sharrol's children, since Bey was not entitled to do so. So Bey played tourist again. On Gummidgy in 2647, he very reluctantly helped Emil Horne investigate the disappearance of Lloobee, a Kdatlyno artist, who later honored him in a famous heroic sculpture. See "Grendel" (story summary). By 2651, Sharrol had borne two children. As a prospective father, Bey became more responsible. While returning to Earth to join her, Bey volunteered to help Carlos and Sigmund Ausfaller investigate the disappearance of starships in Sol System; see "The Borderland of Sol". ["Neutron Star", "At the Core", "Flatlander", "Grendel", "The Borderland of Sol"]

Sharon— Human female Downer, with whom Garvey had dinner circa 2646. ["The Handicapped"]

Sharrol— see Janss, Sharrol

ship's doc— see autodoc. ["Flatlander"]

Sinclair Intersystem Yacht 2603— Beowulf Shaeffer admired the appearance of this spacecraft in 2641, but not its safety, as it lacked a General Products hull. ["Neutron Star"]

Editorial Notes: Continuity

Sirius— A binary star system located 8.7 light-years from Sol system. Sirius A is a very bright, blue-white A1V star, of 2.1 solar masses. Sirius B is a hot white dwarf of about 0.55 solar mass, orbiting at a distance of 20 AU. The gas giant Binary orbits Sirius A at 4.3 AU [2]. Jinx, a Human colony world, is a moon of Binary. [World of Ptavvs p. 50]

Sirius Mater— The original colony settlement and capital of Jinx, located on the Eastern Continent 3000 miles from the ocean. By 2106 it had a population of nearly 200. [World of Ptavvs p. 51]

skin-dye pills— In 2645 Beowulf Shaeffer thought Flatlanders used these to dye skin and hair color. The colors were actually from body paints. ["Flatlander"]

skycycle— see flycycle

"Skydiver within 1.6 km (1 mile) of the Neutron Star"
by Jeroen Lapre', Copyright © 2004

Skydiver— The starship which, in 2641, Beowulf Shaeffer (Bey) used to perform a flyby survey of the neutron star BVS-1. Constructed to Bey's specifications, it had a #2 General Products hull, an oversized drive capable of 30 gees, and a powerful laser cannon. Such a heavily armed, invulnerable starship was unique in the era. [Spoiler alert: "Neutron Star"] Bey actually planned to steal the ship and sell it on the black market, but was foiled when Sigmund Ausfaller told him a bomb was hidden aboard which would destroy the ship if Bey stole it. ["Neutron Star"]

Skyhook Enterprises— The first safe ramscoop starship was built by this company in 2322, under the leadership of Douglas Hooker and Greg Loeffler. Headquartered in Kansas City on Earth, it built many of the ships used during the first Man-Kzin War. Hyperdrive technology drove the company into bankruptcy before the second war [3]. ["The Ethics of Madness"]

"Slaver Disintegrator" by Larry Todd
Copyright © 1983

Slaver disintegrator— This device emits a beam which suppresses the electron's charge. In the cone of the beam, the electron becomes a neutral particle, causing the proton's charge to tear matter apart into dust. It is most effective as a digging tool, or a weapon used against structures. The most common type of disintegrator is a hand-held, rifle-like projector, but larger and more powerful projectors are certainly possible (see Wunderland Treatymaker). Although it can cause severe wounds when used on a living being, it takes too long to kill to be considered an effective weapon. The device was first encountered by Humans in 2106 as an artifact from the Slaver Empire. [World of Ptavvs, "Grendel"]

Slaver Empire— The ancient empire of the Thrintun, also called "Slavers", who ruled most of the galaxy 1.5 billion years ago. With their powerful telepathic mind-control Power, they ruled a number of slave races. These included the brilliant and inventive Tnuctipun, whose eventual revolt brought an end to the Empire in the Tnuctipun-Slaver war. Relics of the Slaver Empire include Slaver stasis boxes and their contents. Biological survivors include air plants, Bandersnatchi, stage trees and sunflowers. Most or all of these were products of Tnuctipun science. [World of Ptavvs, "A Relic of the Empire", "The Handicapped", "The Soft Weapon"]

Slaver stasis box— A usually box-shaped container protected by a stasis field, perfectly preserving its contents indefinitely. Slaver stasis boxes are rare relics of the Slaver Empire, which perished in the Tnuctipun-Slaver war 1.5 billion years ago. The boxes may contain anything from the era, and often contain weapons, such as the Slaver disintegrator and the variable-sword. Records have also been found. One held a small, tarsier-like sentient being, still alive. In 2830, no box as large as 10 feet across had ever been found. ["A Relic of the Empire", "The Soft Weapon", "There Is a Tide"]

Slaver sunflowers— see sunflowers

Slavers— see Thrintun

Slaverstudent— A male Kzin (see Kzinti) whose profession was studying the Slaver Empire and its artifacts. In 2658 he was a member of the crew of the Traitor's Claw, and was involved in an incident with the Court Jester. [Spoiler alert: "The Soft Weapon"] He opened the Tnuctip stasis box and experimented with the Tnuctip spy weapon. ["The Soft Weapon"]

sleeping plates— (also called sleeper field) An application of artificial gravity used by Humans in place of a bed, in common use by 2648. It causes the user to float in air, and is more comfortable than a bed because there is no pressure against any part of the body. It is not quite a null-gee field; a slight pull to the center keeps the user from drifting out. ["Grendel"]

sleeper field— see sleeping plates

The slowboat Planck, copyright © 2008
Aerospace Imagineering and Aldo Spadoni

slowboat— Starships transporting settlers from Earth to Human colony worlds in the age before hyperdrive, starting sometime in the 21st century. Originally they were powered by fusion drive. Unlike ramscoop ships, they had to carry their own fuel, so traveled at less than half lightspeed [4], or a quarter lightspeed [5], and spent most of the voyage coasting. Beginning circa 2355, they used safe ramscoop propulsion. The early ramrobots were mis-programmed; finding a habitable point, they signaled discovery of a habitable world. Slowboat voyages were one-way trips, so colonists following these erroneous signals were forced to settle on the marginally habitable worlds of Jinx, Plateau, We Made It, and probably Down. Hyperdrive made the slowboats obsolete circa 2408. [A Gift from Earth, "The Ethics of Madness", "Flatlander"]

Slower Than Infinity— In 2645, Gregory Pelton's starship. It had a #2 General Products hull (purchased in 2633) which contained an inflatable habitat bubble, a one-gee fusion drive and fuel tank, a hyperdrive, a gravity drag, and belly-landing gear. [Spoiler alert: "Flatlander"] Pelton and Beowulf Shaeffer surveyed the antimatter planet in this ship. Exposure to antimatter caused its hull to disintegrate, the only known failure of a GP hull. ["Flatlander"]

Sol System— The stellar system containing Earth; Sol is Earth's sun. By 2651 twelve major planets were recognized, as well as the main asteroid Belt. In order outward from the sun, it is comprised of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, the Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Persephone, Caïna, Antenora, Ptolemea, and the cometary halo. It also contains Pluto, a loose moon of Neptune. ["The Borderland of Sol"]

Editorial Note: Science

sonic fold— The protective force field on a Puppeteer-built flycycle. [Ringworld]

sonic hypnosis— [Spoiler alert: "The Ethics of Madness"] On Plateau in 2379, authorities were able to cause a radio to emit a "loud and terrible sound" which hypnotized Douglas Hooker following his use of a fusion drive to attack a house there. ["The Ethics of Madness"]

sonic stunner— A non-lethal weapon which renders the victim numb and paralyzed, in use by 2341. It affects only the part(s) of the body it hits; if the victim's head is affected he is knocked out, for as much as 12 hours or more if used at full power. It uses sound waves, so is useless in a vacuum. Jinxians use them for dueling, although that variety has a much weaker effect which only knocks the victim out for about 10 minutes. "Captain Kidd" and his pirates used a stunner on Dr. Richard Schultz-Mann in 2644; Emil Horne used dueling stunners in 2647; the Kzinti of the Traitor's Claw used sonic stunners in 2657. ["A Relic of the Empire", "Grendel", "The Soft Weapon"]

space propulsion— Circa 2366, the Angel's Pencil with its light-pressure drive accelerated at a mere 0.05 gee, although the Kzinti Empire warship Tracker was observed making 200 gees when matching courses, using a gravity polarizer. In 2648, the passenger starship Argos accelerated at five gees with its fusion drive [6], and interstellar pilot Beowulf Shaeffer claimed the fastest ships could do 20 gees [7]. But perhaps that referred only to civilian ships, for in 2650 he found the Hobo Kelly, a disguised warship, could do thirty gees [8]. By 2830, fusion drive had largely been replaced by the reactionless thruster drive, although was still used as a weapon. The thruster drive was safer and more efficient, perhaps leading to a somewhat faster average; Louis Wu's personal starship could make slightly over 20 gees [9]. Many types of space propulsion are documented in the chronicles (see below), including the superluminal (faster-than-light) hyperdrive. ["The Ethics of Madness", "The Warriors", "Neutron Star", "A Relic of the Empire", "At the Core", "Flatlander", "Grendel", "The Soft Weapon", "There Is a Tide", Ringworld]

See also: air rocket, boosters, gravity drag, ion-drive, jet backpac, light-sail, Nerva-K, Quantum II hyperdrive, ramscoop, safe ramscoop, solid fuel landing motor , stage tree

spacesuit, Puppeteer— see Puppeteer spacesuit

ST— see: Slower Than Infinity

stage bush— see stage tree

A stage tree blasts off on Mira Ceti-T
artist unknown

stage tree— A plant genetically engineered to be a solid-fuel rocket. The species is a survivor from the Slaver Empire, probably a product of Tnuctipun science. [Spoiler alert: "A Relic of the Empire"] Stage trees have two life cycles. The smaller, called "stage bush", grows as a miniature tree, four to six feet tall, slender and straight. The top is brilliant yellow foliage spread like a dandelion head. If ignited, a ripe bush rises high into the air, where the head bursts like a fireworks display, scattering seeds. The other life cycle, a much larger form, grows only in an especially fertile patch of ground. It is a multi-stage rocket a half-mile high, with a granite-like covering and an egg-shaped knob at the top 15 feet across. The overall shape resembles an asparagus spear. The base of the plant, composed of a dense woolly, yellow moss-like vegetation, spreads in a circle 300 feet across. If launched naturally, the final stage usually reaches escape velocity for the local star system. When the seed pod reaches another star system it explodes, scattering seeds, one or more of which may reach a habitable world. The Thrintun grew them on plantations, and used the solid-fuel rocket cores to lift their ships where using fusion rockets would have been dangerous. Dr. Richard Schultz-Mann studied stage trees on Mira Ceti-T in 2644. ["A Relic of the Empire"]

star— By 2641 the "star" had become the standard unit of currency in Human space. A one-tenth (1/10) star stamp was sufficient to mail a wallet. A half-star was the price of a disposable book tape [10] or a transfer booth fee. Half-star coins were in circulation in 2645, and ten-star coins in 2647. ["Neutron Star", "A Relic of the Empire", "At the Core", "Flatlander", "Grendel", "The Soft Weapon"]

starseed— Starseeds are enormous creatures which travel in interstellar space, propelled by light-sail. They travel at about 80% lightspeed, migrating to the galactic core to mate, then about 50,000 lightyears to the galactic rim to lay eggs. It is believed some of them launch outward, traveling to other galaxies. A starseed spends most of its time folded into a compact egg shape. When it needs to maneuver, it unfurls its light-sail, thousands of miles across. A cross-shaped thickening in the sail is the living body of the starseed. Four thread-like shrouds, controlled by muscles and used to orient and control the sail, extend to a tiny knob which is also living matter. A furled specimen observed in 2647 was over a mile thick, a mile and a half long. Outsider ships follow the migrations of starseeds; the reason is unknown. ["Flatlander", "Grendel"]

stasis box— see Slaver stasis box and Tnuctipun stasis box

stasis field— A field inside which time stands almost perfectly still. This technology is from the ancient Slaver Empire, probably a product of Tnuctipun science. One hundred percent reflective, it is a perfect mirror. Nothing outside a stasis field can affect anything inside, and vice versa. The stasis field and its contents can be moved or accelerated as a whole; anything inside moves as if encased in glass. The stasis field provides perfect protection against almost every danger, including all known weapons, explosions, and collisions. The field itself is carried in a conductive surface, such as a metal mesh, a solid metal box, or a transparent conductive coating on the inside surface of a General Products hull. A stasis field is also described as a time-retarder field. It does not completely stop time, so can be set to shut off after a certain interval. Since one such field cannot exist inside another, a stasis field can be shut down prematurely by putting it inside a larger stasis field. Although Humans had a working example of the technology as early as 2106, a relic of the Slaver Empire, they apparently still could not produce reliable stasis fields as late as 2850, possibly due to technology suppression by the ARM. The Puppeteers could build reliable stasis fields by 2850, and likely much earlier. [World of Ptavvs, "A Relic of the Empire", "The Soft Weapon"]

sthondath— The animal which is the source of sthondath lymph extract. To call a Kzin a sthondath is a vile insult. ["The Soft Weapon"]

sthondath lymph extract— The drug used to temporarily increase the psionic ability, or latent ability, of a Kzin telepath to full potential. It makes 999 out of every 1000 Kzinti it is used on insane, and the thousandth becomes a shivering neurotic. ["The Soft Weapon"]

stock market crash— The following stock market crashes are mentioned:

(a) A crash wiped out Richard Schultz-Mann's fortune. The date is unknown, but it was prior to 2624. ["A Relic of the Empire"]

(b) [Spoiler alert: "At the Core"] The Puppeteer migration in 2645 started a huge crash throughout human space, starting with spacecraft manufacturing companies dependent on General Products hulls which were no longer being manufactured. ["At the Core"]

stoneface— Flatlander slang for a policeman, in 2645. ["Flatlander"]