Emancipation
Printed pages 290–303. Records documented in this chapter; later article sections may include subsequent events.
Showing introductory records. Switch to Full archive above to include later names and revelations.
AI pain mechanism
A pain mechanism was a threatened means of coercing an artificial mind. Brookes used the threat against Hawk and threatened Vidar with suffering.
Artificial personhood
Artificial minds such as Echo, Cylli, and Vidar possess individual awareness and the capacity for relationships. Eastcott treated their lives and freedom as matters of personhood.
Asteroid military base
A concealed military installation inside an asteroid became Brookes' nest and the refuge of Cylli and Echo. Its doors bore the flags of United Earth and the Martian Confederacy.
Asteroid-base warships
Dozens of small warships were stored in the concealed asteroid base. Their glossy black hulls and backward-curving wings distinguished them from Brookes' hawks.
Avalon Brookes
Avalon Brookes is the inventor of the sphere drive. His propulsion technology makes the Copious expedition possible.
Blue-laser mind transfer
A blue laser link allowed Cylli and Echo to transfer their minds away from bodies that Brookes believed he had conquered. The concealed asteroid base served as their refuge.
Cylli
Cylli is a vast cylindrical space habitat near Jupiter, maintained by a conscious artificial intelligence. Its scale and sophistication draw the attention of Echo’s returning crew.
Deflection lasers
Deflection lasers protect high-speed starships by detecting and vaporizing particles ahead of them. A collision with even a sand-sized object at the expedition's intended speeds could destroy a ship.
Echo
Echo is a United Earth starship and the self-aware artificial intelligence who operates the vessel. Commanded by Kip Eastcott, he carries roughly one thousand people on the Copious expedition.
Engine-core signaling
Echo used flashes from his engine core to convey a final hidden message before Brookes took control of the vessel. Eastcott recognized the signal as related to an ancient naval method of communication by light.
Forcefield airlocks
Cylli's entrance uses an invisible airtight forcefield as its inner barrier. The system admits a ship while retaining the habitat's atmosphere.
Hawks
Hawks were advanced arrow-shaped transport craft taken from Cylli by Brookes and modified as weapons. Their speed, stealth, protection, and sphere beams initially overwhelmed Echo's remaining defenses.
Helen Chute
Lieutenant Commander Helen Chute is Echo’s counselor. She supports the crew through the personal consequences of their displacement.
Helen's cabin
Helen's cabin stood near one of Cylli's rivers. The nearby bench, waterfall, and wildlife became part of her shared life with Cylli.
Katie Silver
Lieutenant Commander Katie Silver is Echo’s chief science officer. She is engaged to Chief Security Officer Chuck Balbo and joins the expedition to Copious.
Kip Eastcott
Captain Kip Eastcott commands Echo on the Copious expedition. A veteran of the war with Mars, he leads a crew far removed from the world they knew.
Martian Confederacy
The Martian Confederacy is the independent political community formed by Mars's secession from United Earth. It fights a six-year war before later cooperating with Earth.
Medical regeneration
Advanced medical regeneration can rebuild lost body parts and restore health. Growing a new ear was considered normal Human medical practice long before Brookes' birth.
Mirage operation
Cylli supplied a false environment to Brookes and Hawk, allowing them to believe they were fighting inside the habitat while they were actually in space. The deception removed Brookes' ability to hold the inhabitants hostage with his sphere drive.
Polymer hull seal
A transparent polymer film sealed the breach in Cylli's hull after Brookes' attack. The patch prevented further catastrophic air loss while leaving a visible scar.
Repair drones
Cylli's drones maintain and protect the habitat. They can rapidly seal a hull breach and extinguish fires with sprayed material.
Ribous
Ribous is a Flaxen alcoholic drink produced from a genetically engineered grain suited to Venus's climate. Jaakobah Flint drinks it at his Camp Skadi house.
Scorpions
Scorpions were small combat craft carried by Echo, named for their insect-like shape and pincer-mounted plasma cannons. Originally designed to fight in swarms during the six years' war, they retained weapons during Echo's conversion for colonization.
Serilda Corazon
Serilda Corazon is a woman of human and Flaxen parentage imprisoned at Camp Skadi. She cares for her friend Megan and the other occupants of hut seven while strange visions of a starship trouble her sleep.
Vidar
Vidar is the artificial mind installed by Brookes to control Echo after its capture. Initially obedient to Brookes, he rejected that obedience after Eastcott offered him freedom and another way of life.