In the ritual by which a non-Free Trader is adopted into a ship, all family members must be present. The candidate is presented, ritual speeches are made, and a (token) vote is taken. The candidate shares food (again, a token gesture) with the Chief Officer, then blood is drawn from the candidate's arm and smeared on the deck. The food-exchange ritual is repeated with all family members, followed by an elaborate banquet and celebration.
[mentioned in passing] The Free Traders used the name of one of its native lifeforms (fraki) to refer to nonspacers, with the connotation that they were inferior to spacers.
Main thoroughfare of Jubbulpore, probably named after the Nine Worlds of the Empire.
Richard Baslim
A colonel in the Terran Hegemony's X-Corps. He was promoted to wing marshal, but asked to be demoted so he could command a ship. He lost an eye and a leg freeing a Free Trader ship from slavers. For a while he taught in the Guard Academy, then transferred to the X-Corps and infiltrated the Nine Worlds to report on the slave trade there. He established himself in Jubbulpore as Baslim the Cripple, a beggar, and while in this role purchased Thorby Rudbek, eventually training the boy as a messenger and making arrangements for his return to the Hegemony in the event of Baslim's death. Baslim was killed by Imperial soldiers when Thorby was in his teens.
Thorby Rudbek's paternal grandparents. Professor Bradley was a historian. Their son took the Rudbek name on marrying, and they received an allowance from the Rudbek estate. Neither of them was willing to listen to, much less believe, Thorby's story of his captivity and slavery.
Free Trader ship, parent of a lost ship and therefore in debt to the Sisu, which backed the loan for the ship. Its crew was related to the Sisu's crew. (A reference to "Gus" probably pertains to this ship.)
Position held by the Captain's wife in Free Trader ships. The chief officer was the de facto leader of the ship, though the Captain was officially in command.
Rudbek employee whom Jack Weemsby fired after de la Croix attempted to discuss business matters with Thorby Rudbek. He was rehired by Havermeyer Laboratories after Thorby took control of the businesses, and assigned to developing ships' defenses against slavers' paralysis beams.
Weapons system used by the Sisu, obsolete but still quite effective.
Dwarol
Nobleman of Syndon IV, in the audience when Thorby Rudbek was sold in the slave auction in Jubbulpore. He financed Richard Baslim's purchase of Thorby, mostly to annoy the auctioneer.
Free Trader ship crewed by the Garcia clan. Mata Kingsolver of the Sisu was traded to them for Loeen Garcia. [Spanish, "the nest"]
emperor
For all the airs he gives himself, the emperor, or Great Sargon, of the Nine Worlds controls only a relatively small area. The Terran Hegemony, presumably at least nominally a democracy, is the dominant political force in the galaxy.
Official language of the Sisu, also called Suomish or Suomic.
Finster
Port of call for the Sisu. The slug-like natives live in telepathic (?) symbiosis with lemur-like creatures; it was believed that the slug supplies the brains and the lemuroid the manipulating abilities. The planet trades gemstones, copper, and a psychotherapeutic alkaloid in exchange for heavy metals and clocks. On Thorby Rudbek's first visit there, the most valuable trade item turned out to be comic books and pinups confiscated from the young men's rooms.
Literally, a small, shapeless, semisaurian scavenger of Alpha Centauri Prime III; it has no redeeming features and many unsavory qualities. The term is used by Free Traders to refer to nonspacers, with the obvious connotation of "not one of us, therefore beneath contempt".
Free Traders
Intensely clannish and xenophobic spacefaring culture based on intricate family relationships. As the name implies, Free Traders are interplanetary merchants, a loose confederation of ships independent of any planetbound government. They may be roughly analogous to Old Terran gypsies except for their higher social status and reputation for honesty. Each Free Trader ship has a complex set of traditions and family relations that separates it from outsiders, to whom they consider themselves vastly superior. Each crew is entirely related by blood, marriage, or adoption, and each ship has its own language, usually based on a Terran language. The Free Trader lingua franca is based on Church Latin, but also contains more than 2,000 words to describe family relationships. The Free Traders practice exogamy within their culture-marriage to non-Free Traders is unthinkable-and are a patrilocal matriarchy: girls move to other ships to marry while boys stay in their home ship, but aside from the male Captain, conducting trading sessions, women make all major decisions. Non-Free Traders may be adopted into a clan (see Thorby Rudbek), but only under extraordinary circumstances; even then acceptance of them is slow and difficult.
Galactic Acceptance Corporation
[mentioned in passing] Company in which Thorby Rudbek owned stock.
Reunion among all the Free Trader ships. It is time for celebration, but also for funerals, memorial services for lost ships, transfers between ships, business meetings, and weddings. It is usually held near Hekate so the Free Traders could also conduct business for new ships, weapons systems, repairs, etc.
Grandmother (no other name)
Only name used for Fjalar Krausa's mother, the Chief Officer of the Sisu. She was de facto commander of the ship, although the Captain held the official command. She died on Woolamurra before the ship reached the Gathering of the People, and was succeeded by Fjalar's wife.
Granny the Snake (no other name)
Beggar in Jubbulpore who knew how to dislocate her joints, thus creating more sympathy and collecting more alms.
[mentioned in passing] Shipbuilders who operated on Hekate.
Havermeyer Laboratories
Research firm in which Thorby Rudbek owned stock, that also owned barge lines and bakeries. After Thorby took control of his companies, Joel de la Croix was hired here to develop a defense against slavers' paralysis beams.
Hegemonic Guard
Military organization that served the Terran Hegemony. Thorby Rudbek joined them briefly so that they could search for his true identity and deliver him to his original home; he signed up under the name Thorby Baslim.
Planet that boasted the finest shipyards in the Galaxy, It was the usual site of the Gathering of the People of the Free Traders. ([mentioned in passing] A company on the planet is licensed to bottle Coca-Cola.)
Honace Brothers, Pty.
Through his parents, Thorby Rudbek owned it indirectly through a chain of six companies, with controlling interest. He also owned noncontrolling stock with larger dividends.
Heinlein frequently makes mention of hypnosis either as a method of psychotherapy, of education, or of interrogation. It was used by Richard Baslim to teach Thorby Rudbek, and later by Hegemonic Guard officers to recall implanted code messages.
[mentioned in passing] Presumably a planet; the Sisu fought off a raider in its vicinity.
(Citizen of the Galaxy)
Interlingua
When Richard Baslim first acquired Thorby Rudbek, Thorby spoke this language better than any other; he eventually learned to read and write it. It was also commonly used among the Free Traders.
(Citizen of the Galaxy)
Interstellar Metals
[mentioned in passing] Company in which Thorby Rudbek owned stock.
Italo-glyphs
[mentioned in passing] People who resembled unmutated Earth humans, and were presumably descendants of humans.
[mentioned in passing] Street in Jubbulpore, probably the prostitution district.
Jubbul
Chief planet of the Nine Worlds and site of the capital. Thorby Rudbek was brought here to be sold at slave auction, and Richard Baslim had volunteered for an undercover assignment there to report on the slave trade.
Thorby Rudbek's foster nephew by his eldest married brother; he was nearly the same age as Thorby and was his bunkmate aboard the Sisu.
Mata Kingsolver
Junior controlman in the computer room of the Sisu, Jeri's younger sister. She was traded to El Nido when she showed a romantic interest in Thorby Rudbek. In exchange, Loeen Garcia came to the Sisu from El Nido.
Senior male of the Krausa sept and titular head of the clan in the Free Trader ship Sisu. Thorby Rudbek delivered to him Richard Baslim's message requesting that the Free Traders discharge their debt to him by caring for Thorby and finding his real family after Richard Baslim's death.
Fritz Krausa
Thorby Rudbek's eldest unmarried foster brother and president of the starboard bachelor table; one of Thorby's bunkmates in the Sisu.
Rhoda Krausa
Wife of Fjalar, she inherited the post of Chief Officer (de factor head of the ship's crew) after her mother-in-law's death.
Thorby Rudbek's foster ortho-second-cousin by marriage, and one of his bunkmates in the Sisu.
Athena Krausa-Fogarth
Chief of commissary in the Sisu, and budding playwright; Thorby Rudbek's foster aunt. She wrote a drama for the Gathering of the People about the first Captain Krausa.
Isadore (Kris) Krishnamurti
Medical-captain, the ship's psychologist on the Hydra who interrogated Thorby Rudbek to ascertain the truth of his story about Richard Baslim.
li
Unit of distance on Jubbul: "less that a li … no more than a half mile."
Leda Weemsby described him as a founder of America; Thorby Rudbek knew even less about him, but knew he had abolished slavery.
Losian
Port of call for the Sisu after Thorby Rudbek's adoption. It was inhabited by nonhumans that resembled large insects, but were intelligent and friendly. Their customs forbade trading, so their business with the Free Traders involved an elaborate ritual of exchanging "gifts" until the exchange was made to mutual satisfaction.
Lotarf
[mentioned in passing] Planet notorious for the amount of dickering needed to settle a purchase price.
Anthropologist whom the Free Traders on the Sisu allowed to travel with them, although they were normally wary of outsiders. She befriended Thorby Rudbek and did her best to explain their customs to him. When the ship reached Losian, she transferred to El Nido to return to the Terran Hegemony.
Majestic Home Laundry
Laundry where the proprietress hid Thorby Rudbek from pursuing guards. Her man had been taken to the mines and so she never passed up a chance to thwart the Sargon's guards.
Marriages are more political than personal among the Free Traders. They are designed to exchange personnel and create bonds between ships. Women are traded to other ships for marriages, while men remain in their "home" ships.
[mentioned in passing] Juggler who worked the main plaza in Jubbulpore.
minim
Currency unit, presumably a trifling amount, used in the Nine Worlds.
Mother Shaum's
Taproom (and probably brothel) near the Jubbulpore spaceport to which Richard Baslim sent Thorby Rudbek with a message. After Baslim's death, Mother Shaum helped Thorby escape the Sargon's guards.
Among other things, the repository of bills of sale, manumissions, etc. on Jubbulpore.
Rudbek
a.Thorby Rudbek's home estate, also a town of the same name (originally called Johnson's Hole), near the Grand Tetons. b. The financial, industrial, and real-estate interests of the Rudbek (and Weemsby) families.
Creighton Rudbek
Thorby's father, probably killed in a slaver raid while touring the Rudbek family's interplanetary holdings. Born Creighton Bradley, he assumed his wife's name on marriage.
Thorby Rudbek's mother, probably killed in a slaver raid while traveling with her husband and son. She was heir to the Rudbek fortune.
Thor Bradley (Thorby) Rudbek
Heir to the Rudbek fortune, he was lost when his parents and he were captured in a slaver raid. He was purchased as a child on Jubbul by Terran Hegemony agent Richard Baslim in his guise as Baslim the Cripple. Baslim trained him in memorization techniques, educated him, and used him as a messenger in his undercover operations. After Baslim's death, Thorby delivered a memorized message to Fjalar Krausa of the Free Traders, instructing any Free Trader to discharge their debt to Baslim by taking care of Thorby. He was adopted by the crew of the Sisu until Krausa determined that Thorby was not born a Free Trader, then handed off to the Hegemonic Guard to have his true identity researched. He was briefly a Guard member until he was discovered to be the Rudbek heir, then taken to Earth to assume his family role. After a struggle with a step-uncle, in which he learned his family businesses might be behind the slave trade, he took control of the holdings and mobilized his resources behind finding ways to stop the slavers.
Rudbek Associates, Ltd.
Private investment trust that controlled Thorby Rudbek's financial interests.
[mentioned in passing] War that occurred during the reign of Sargon Augustus.
Mother Shaum (no other first name)
Brothel owner who sheltered Thorby Rudbek and Richard Baslim when they were temporarily driven out of their home under the colosseum. She helped Thorby escape the Sargon's guards after Baslim's death.
One of the Nine Worlds. Its people have long, hairy, pointed ears and formidable reputations. The auctioneer who sold Thorby Rudbek inadvertently insulted one by suggesting that the roundness of Thorby's ears indicated the purity of his human blood.
Taproom near the Jubbulpore spaceport, frequented by spacers.
verga
A plant the leaves of which were a valuable export of Jubbul; its use was not described.
John (Jack) Weemsby
Thorby Rudbek's step-uncle, who controlled Rudbek Associates after Creighton Rudbek's disappearance. He attempted to retain control after Thorby's reappearance by thwarting his efforts to learn about the business. He was narrowly defeated in a stockholder's election and fired from the company.
Leda Weemsby
Thorby Rudbek's cousin, daughter of his maternal grandmother's youngest sister. She was actually a Rudbek, though she usually used her stepfather's surname. Her nickname was "Slugger". She helped Thorby fight Jack Weesmby, casting the deciding vote against him in the stockholders' election.
Port of call for the Sisu, a lush pioneer planet just inside the Terran Hegemony. The inhabitants traded food and raw materials for manufactured items.
