Heirs of Earth (44 page)
Authors: Sean Williams,Shane Dix
APPENDIX 1
The Adjusted Planck Standard International Unit
After several notable mission failures in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the United Near-Earth Stellar Survey Program (UNESSPRO) developed a single system of measurement to prevent conflict between data or software from nations contributing to joint space projects. The following charts summarize the results, as adopted by UNESSPRO in 2050, using Planck units and other physical constants as starting points.
1 new ampere = 2.972 old ampere
APPENDIX 2
Dramatis Personae
Human
Peter Alander
(
Geoffrey Marcy
)
Peter Alander
(
Michel Mayor
)
Peter Alander
(
Fred Rasio
)
Peter Alander
(
Frank Tipler
)
Francis Axford (996)
Francis Axford (1041)
Francis Axford (1313)
Francis Axford (1699)
Lucia Benck
(
Andre Linde
)
Ali Genovese
(
Freeman Dyson
)
Caryl Hatzis (Sol)
Caryl Hatzis
(
Roger Angel
)
Caryl Hatzis
(
Debra Fischer
)
Caryl Hatzis
(
Martin Heath
)
Caryl Hatzis
(
Michio Kaku
)
Caryl Hatzis
(
S. V. Krasnikov
)
Caryl Hatzis
(
Tess Nelson
)
Vince Mohler
(
James J. Funaro
)
Owen Norsworthy
(
Freeman Dyson
)
Kingsley Oborn
(
Marcus Chown
)
Kingsley Oborn
(
Alice Quillen
)
Cleo Samson
(
Marcus Chown
)
Cleo Samson
(
Frank Drake
)
Donald Schievenin (
Frank Drake
)
Rob Singh (
Marcus Chown
)
Rob Singh (
Frank Drake
)
Jayme Sivio (
Freeman Dyson
)
Yuhl/Goel
Ueh/Ellil
(Conjugator)
Vrrel/Epan
Alien Races
A|kak|a/riil
The Asteroid
The “governors”
The “black ladybugs”
The Nexus
The Praxis
Pllix
The Spinners
The Starfish
APPENDIX 3
Mission Register
APPENDIX 4
Timetable
AFTERWORD
Our thanks go to many of the usual names. We hope they’re
not getting blasé about this, because our indebtedness to them only increases, and this is the only way to repay them. (Sorry, guys.)
Hála vminek
the wonderful Ginjer Buchanan for giving us space when we needed it.
Tank
to Richard Curtis, Stephanie Smith, and Shelly Shapiro for possessing between them all of the holy virtues.
Grazie,
Ralph Buttigieg at Infinitas and Justin Ackroyd of Slow Glass for rock-solid support on the front line.
Asante
to Erik Max Francis, Winchell Chung, and Claus Bornich for reasons spelled out in previous Afterwords.
Oatlho,
Marcus Chown (the real one, author of
The Universe Next Door
) for compiling so many wonderful ideas in such a slim volume. And a rousing cheer of “
Obrigado!
” for Nydia Dix, Vanessa Hobbs, Rob Hood, Kim Selling, and numerous other family members and friends who have inspired and put up with us for the last year.
It seems unlikely to an extreme that, given such support, we could possibly make any mistakes. But we do, and we ask that those named above not be held guilty by association.
Merci.