Foreigner Page 28
The computer’s voice was deep and smooth, reassuring with its quiet confidence and the hints of serenity and wisdom that legend said were the hallmarks of the original Afsan. “I’m afraid we won’t be able to stay for it,” said the voice. “It’ll take at least a hundred kilodays.” And then a little sound effect issued from the speaker, a clicking like teeth gently touching together. “But when it’s done, it will be a glorious sight—a beautiful reminder that, once upon a time, our home world did indeed exist.”
The ship tarried a few days more, taking measurements. Then, at last, with everyone strapped onto his or her cushioned dayslab, the engines were brought on-line. Liss felt something she hadn’t felt for a long time—the first faint sensation of her own weight—as the ship gently nudged out of orbit.
They had tried establishing colonies in this solar system, tried living under pressure domes on the third moon of Kevpel and on the rocky surface of Gefpel, tried living in orbital habitats. But none of those was a proper existence; they wouldn’t do forever.
And so now they were leaving, all of them, green and yellow, Quintaglios and what had once been called Others, looking for a suitable home, a world on which they could run and play and hunt in the open air.
It would be a long voyage, and Liss would be dead well before it was over. But someday the children of the children of the eggs she now carried within her would arrive at their new home.
Their new home.
And their old home.
The monitoring room at the top of the space elevator had shown them pictures of the thirty-one worlds that the ark-makers had seeded, as well as pictures of the original home world, the crucible on which life had originally arisen. An antenna running along the tower’s 13,000-kilopace height had picked up images continually broadcast by self-repairing probes left on those worlds by the ark-makers millennia ago.
Most of the Quintaglio generation ships had gone to new worlds discovered by orbital far-seers; a few had been dispatched to some of the worlds that had life already seeded on them; but this one ship, the last, had a very special mission.
It was going home.
Liss wondered whether the strange tailless bipeds, those long-lost cousins of the Quintaglios, would be glad to see them when they arrived back at their original world.
Time would tell.
The full-acceleration alarm sounded.
And the starship Dasheter surged ahead.
Appendix:
A Quintaglio Concordance
Dates given use the old pre-Larskian calendar, and are in kilodays after the hatching of the Eggs of Creation as told in the first sacred scroll.
Individuals are alphabetized under their common names (without praenomen syllables); full names, when known, are given in parentheses.
After each reference, the book in which the item was first presented is indicated: [1] for Far-Seer, [2] for Fossil Hunter, [3] for Foreigner.
adabaja: type of tree; since it is easy to waterproof, its wood is used in sailing ships and exterior scaffolding. [1]
Adkab: (7093- ) a male Quintaglio, the fifth of seven apprentices to Tak-Saleed. [1]
Afdool: a Quintaglio name meaning “meaty legbone.” [1]
Afsan (Sal-Afsan): (7096- ) a male Quintaglio, the seventh and final apprentice to Tak-Saleed; he became known as “The One.” He was hatched in Pack Carno, Arj’toolar province, the son of Pahs-Drawo. The name Afsan means “meaty thighbone.” Blinded by Det-Yenalb in 7110, he later became an advisor to Emperor Dy-Dybo. [1]
Afsanian revolution: the intellectual, political, and religious upheaval following the discovery by Sal-Afsan in 7110 that the Face of God is a planet. [1]
Afsan’s rock: a particular granite boulder (technical designation: Sun/Swift-Runner/4) at Rockscape favored by Sal-Afsan. [2]
Anakod: a male Quintaglio psychologist; once a promising student of Nav-Mokleb, now a professional rival. [3]
anchor: armless wingfinger-derived reptile indigenous to the south pole. [2]
Apripel: the eighth and outermost planet of the Quintaglio sun, a small, rocky world whose presence was first suggested to the Quintaglios by a system map seen in the observing room atop the Jijaki space elevator. [3]
Arbiter of the Sequence: the individual responsible for overseeing “the Sequence”—the official ordering of all information. Var-Osfik held this post during Sal-Afsan’s time in Capital City. [2]
Arj’toolar: a province in northwest Land, home of Sal-Afsan, known for orange-and-blue-striped shovelmouths and the contemplatives of its holy land. Provincial color: white. [1]
ark-makers: Quintaglio term for the Jijaki. [3]
arks: hydrogen ramjet starships used by the Jijaki to transport plants and animals from Earth to the thirty-one destination worlds; the final ark, the Ditikali-ot, crashed into the Quintaglio moon. [2]
armorback: ankylosaur; herbivorous armored dinosaur. [1]
artifact, alien: a Jijaki handheld computer found by Kee-Toroca at the Bookmark layer in 7126. [2]
aug-ta-rot: Quintaglio term for “demon,” literally meaning one who can tell lies in the light of day. This term was applied to the followers of the original five hunters who refused to accept Larsk’s view of the world; the borders of the Tapestries of the Prophet show aug-ta-rot beings. [1]
Avenue of Traders: one of Capital City’s widest thoroughfares. [2]
Baban (Ho-Baban): a Lubalite songwriter, best known for “The Ballad of the Ten,” which tells the story of Lubal’s original Pack. [1]
Babnol (Wab-Babnol): (7110- ) a female Quintaglio from Pack Vando in Arj’toolar province who joined the Geological Survey of Land in 7126. She retained her birthing horn into adulthood. [2]
banded swift: a species of wingfinger with white fur and pale orange stripes. [3]
Bay of Three Forests: a small bay in Jam’toolar at the westernmost tip of Land; the Dasheter landed here after its first circumnavigation of the world. [1]
beat (or heartbeat): the shortest standard unit of time, equal to about 0.42 Earth seconds; this unit was eventually standardized by the Arbiter of the Sequence at 1/100,000 of a Quintaglio day. [1]
Belbar: one of the five original hunters, symbolized by the color blue. [1]
Belbar, Cape of: a storm-ravaged cape in Edz’toolar whose tip is the southernmost point in mainland Land. [1]
Belbar, Song of: a song about one of the original five hunters; one of its verses says, “If beasts confront you, slay them. If the elements conspire against you, overcome. And if God should call you to heaven before you return, then heaven will be the richer for it, and those you leave behind will honor you and mourn your passing.” [3]
Belkom, Plaza of: a public square in Capital City. [2]
Big One, The: second of the Face of God’s fourteen moons, orange in color. [1]
Biltog (Mar-Biltog): the Dasheter’s longest serving mate; a short-tempered male frequently stationed in the lookout bucket, given to telling endless stories about the old days. [1]
birds: extinct flying creatures, known only from fossils and specimens found aboard the crashed Jijaki ark. [2]
birthing horn: located on the upper surface of the muzzle, this fluted cone is the only one of the facial horns normally associated with tyrannosaurs that Quintaglios still develop. A birthing horn is usually lost about thirty days after hatching. [1]
blackdeath: tyrannosaur; the largest carnivorous dinosaur. [2]
blackpowder: explosive, used for clearing rocks. [2]
Bleen (Det-Bleen): the Dasheter’s bombastic male priest. [1]
bloodpriest: halpataars, a special priest, always male, who devours seven out of every eight hatchlings in each clutch; sometimes referred to as “a disciple of Mekt,” the first bloodpriest. [1]
Bogkash (Del-Bogkash): male who succeeded Det-Yenalb as Master of the Faith; fired by Dy-Dybo in 7128. [2]
Boodskar: a volcanic island, westernmost member of the archipelago to the west of Land. [1]
Bookmark lay
er: in a coastal cliff face on the eastern shore of southern Fra’toolar province, nine-tenths of the way up to the top of the cliff, this chalk seam marks the oldest fossils ever found, and was taken by some to indicate the point of divine creation. [2]
Book of Rites: a standard Lubalite religious text, banned by Larsk. [1]
Brampto: a Pack in Arj’toolar; Bor-Vanbelk, inventor of the small-seer, comes from there. [3]
Bripel: the sixth planet of the Quintaglio sun; a ringed gas giant with sixteen moons. [1]
Cadool (Pal-Cadool): A lanky, illiterate male butcher at the imperial palace who becomes Sal-Afsan’s personal assistant. A Lubalite. Cadool means “hunter of runningbeasts,” but Wab-Novato calls him “Cadly,” meaning “long of leg.” [1]
Cafeed: apprentice bloodpriest under Mek-Lastoon in Pack Tablo in Edz’toolar. [2]
calthat’ch: Quintaglio word for “fraud.” [1]
Capital City: the city built on the site of Larsk’s landfall after returning from discovering the Face of God. The largest and most populous city in all of Land. [1]
Capital province: the easternmost province in Land. Population: 7,000. Provincial color: red. The Emperor is ex officio governor of this province. [1]
Carno: Sal-Afsan’s home Pack, in Arj’toolar province; Carno roams along the northern shore of the Kreeb River. At the time Afsan left, its governor was Len-Haktood. [1]
Carpel: the innermost planet of the Quintaglio sun, a small and rocky world with no moons. [1]
Cartark (Bon-Cartark): a member of Pack Tablo in Edz’toolar. [2]
cartouche: personal identifying mark; an oval shape containing symbols or glyphs. [1]
ca-tart: Quintaglio word for “toys.” [1]
Catekt (Tol-Catekt): a past leader of the imperial hunt, [1]
census bureau: official repository of records, located in Capital City. [3]
centiday: a unit of time equal to one one-hundredth of a Quintaglio day; about seven minutes. [2]
centipace: a unit of linear measure equal to one one-hundredth of a pace; about one centimeter. [2]
central square: a large open area in Capital City where Larsk had made many speeches. Afsan was blinded there, and the battle between the Lubalites and the palace loyal took place there in 7110. The arches of Dasan and the First Emperor were located there, as was Pador’s famous marble statute of Larsk, but all were destroyed in the great landquake of 7110.
Ch’mar volcanoes: a range of active volcanoes to the west of Capital City. [1]
Chu’toolar: a large province in north-central Land, known for its glassworks and resort beaches. Provincial color: light green. [1]
coiled mollusk: ammonoid; a chambered, shelled cephalopod. [1]
Colboom: (7112- ) a male member of Capital Pack, creche-mate of Bos-Karshirl. [3]
creche: communal nursery. [1]
creche, imperial: the nursery for members of The Family. Eggshells of past Emperors are on display there. [1]
creche master/mother: terms used for Quintaglios who work in the communal nurseries. [1]
creche-mates: individual surviving members of each clutch of eggs laid in the same hatching period. Quintaglios are closer to their creche-mates than to anyone else, hence the saying “creche-mates are as one.” [1]
Crucible: the planet Sol III (Earth), the only known world in the universe on which life arose naturally. [2]
culling: the sacrament performed by bloodpriests, swallowing seven of every eight hatchlings. [1]
Dabo (Gar-Dabo): an ancient female maritime explorer. [1]
dagamant: territorial bloodlust. [1]
Dagtool: apprentice to imperial bloodpriest Mek-Maliden. [2]
Daldar: a creche-mate of Wab-Novato. [3]
Dancer: one of the Face of God’s fourteen moons. [2]
Dancing the Night Away: an astronomy book about the moons by Tak-Saleed. [1]
Dandor: a creche-mate of Sal-Afsan. [3]
Dargo: one of the five original male mates; the first healer. The sixth tenth of the kiloday is named after him. [2]
Dasan: an ancient land surveyor, famed for her ability to resolve territorial disputes without bloodshed; author of the Hahat Golarda. There was an arch in her honor in the central square of Capital City. [1]
Dasheter: large sailing ship captained by Var-Keenir, co-opted to the Geological Survey of Land. [1]
dat-kar-mas: a ceremonial dagger made from obsidian, normally used for cutting hide from an anointed kill to make copies of the sacred scrolls; one was used by Det-Yenalb to blind Sal-Afsan. [1]
Davpel: the third planet of the Quintaglio sun, a small and rocky world with two moons. [1]
day: the time it takes for the Quintaglio world to complete one orbit around the Face of God; eleven hours and forty-three minutes of Earth time. Days are subdivided into ten parts, called “daytenths,” the first of which begins at dawn. [1]
dayslab: a hard platform of wood or stone mounted at an angle on a heavy pedestal, it supports the torso and legs while the user lies on his or her chest. [1]
Dedprod: (7098-7128) the female apprentice governor from Kev’toolar. [2]
dekaday: ten Quintaglio days, or about five Earth days. [1]
delbarn: a philosophic discipline related to the organization of knowledge; one of Nov-Dynax’s professions. [2]
Delplas (Bar-Delplas): (7096- ) a female member of the Geological Survey of Land; she wears a distinctive blue and orange sash. [2]
Derrilo, Pack: one of three Packs in Fra’toolar that periodically occupy stone buildings near the edge of the cliff exposing the Bookmark layer. [2]
Detoon: “Detoon the Righteous,” the first priest, one of the five original mates, mated to Mekt. [1]
dewlap: Quintaglio secondary sexual characteristic. Males have a sack of skin on the front of the throat which inflates and shows red during sexual arousal; both sexes of Others have dewlaps. [1]
dispatch: euphemism used for the culling of the bloodpriests. [1]
Ditikali-ot: the final Jijaki ark, which crashed into Land. [2]
diver: ubiquitous indigenous fauna of the south pole, a swimming, fish-eating reptile based on the wingfinger body plan; dissecting one gives Kee-Toroca his first clue about evolution. [2]
Doblan (Pos-Doblan): a female Quintaglio, the keeper of the maritime rookery north of Capital City, where homing wingfingers are raised. [3]
Dolgar: ancient philosopher, the founder of psychology. Among his observations was that “the intelligent person must abhor violence.” [1]
Donat (Pal-Donat): Pack Carno’s bloodpriest. [1] Doognar: a spring-fed lake in Arj’toolar province. [1]
Dordool (Tar-Dordool): leader of Pack Carno. [1]
downrock: sedimentary rock. [2]
Drawo (Pahs-Drawo): ( -7110) Sal-Afsan’s father, a Lubalite gored to death by Det-Yenalb’s hornface. [1]
Drawtood: (7110-7128) a male Quintaglio, one of Sal-Afsan’s children, a dockworker in Capital City. He committed suicide. [1]
Dybo (Dy-Dybo): (7098- ) as Dybo, crown prince under Empress Len-Lends; after her death, Emperor Dy-Dybo. Hatched in Capital City. The son of the daughter of the daughter of the son of the daughter of the son of Larsk, the prophet. [1]
Dynax (Nov-Dynax): (7110- ) a female Quintaglio healer, one of Sal-Afsan’s children. She lived for a time in Chu’toolar. [1]
Edklark (Det-Edklark): A male Quintaglio priest, appointed Master of the Faith in 7128, succeeding Det-Bogkash. [3]
Edz’toolar: the most isolated province, with a rocky, storm-swept coastline. Located in south-central Land. Provincial color: brown. Governed by Len-Ganloor until 7126; governed by Dy-Rodlox from 7126 to 7128. [1]
Egg of God: an egg from which God herself supposedly came; never referenced by the sacred scrolls, but proposed by Spooltar in his famous discourse on theology. [3]
Eggs of Creation: according to the first sacred scroll, the eight eggs laid by God from which all things in the universe, except the Quintaglios themselves, came
. [2]
Empress/Emperor: the head of Quintaglio state, always a direct descendant of the Prophet Larsk. Referred to as “Your Luminance.” [1]
Emteem: (7098-7128) male apprentice governor from Jam’toolar. [2]
even-day: an even-numbered day within a kiloday. [1]
even-night: the night of an even-numbered day; sometimes called “liar’s night,” since most Quintaglios are awake then but it’s too dark to see their muzzles. [1]
exodus project: the effort, led by Wab-Novato, to get the Quintaglio people off their doomed world. Symbolized by a sash consisting of a lower green strip and an upper black one. [2]
Face of God: Galat-jaroob, the fifth planet of the Quintaglio sun, a gas giant world with fourteen moons, the innermost of which is the Quintaglio world. Diameter: 60,000 kilopaces (similar to Saturn’s). Mass: 236 times that of the Quintaglio world (intermediate between Jupiter and Saturn). [1]
Falpom (Irb-Falpom): (7060-7126) the palace land surveyor who had an office near Tak-Saleed’s. She was Kee-Toroca’s teaching master and, from 7111 until her death, first leader of the Geological Survey of Land. [1]
Family, The: The Royal Family, the direct descendants of the Prophet Larsk. [1]
fangjaw: a type of carnosaur that evolved after the transplantation from the Crucible, a quadruped with two giant teeth growing up from the lower jaw. [1]
far-seer: telescope, invented by Wab-Novato of Pack Gelbo in 7105. [1]
Fastok: a port south of Capital City. [3]
Fetarb: a butcher at the imperial palace. [2]
Fifty Packs: “The Fifty Packs” is a general expression, referring to all the Quintaglio people. Each of the original five hunters had a Pack of ten members, and each of those ten members founded a Pack, for a total of fifty. However, many subgroups were subsequently formed, and there are now far more than Fifty Packs. [1]
first ancestor: an oblique reference to Lubal, thought to be first-formed of the original five hunters. [1]
First Edict of Lubal: “A Quintaglio kills with tooth and claw; only such killing makes us strong and pure.” [3]
First Emperor: term sometimes used for Larsk; the Arch of the First Emperor stands in the central square of Capital City. [1]