Infinite Worlds Glossary

alternate: Any timeline except the original Earth. Also
“alternate world.”
anchor: An echo that does not experience a quantum
shift when “history is changed.”
banestorm: A natural phenomenon that moves matter
between worlds.
Centrum: A rival civilization with the ability to travel
between worlds. A “Centran” is a native or agent of
Centrum.
conveyor: A self-propelled device for traveling between
alternate worlds.
Coventry: An alternate world maintained by the
Infinity Patrol as a prison for those – both
Homeliners and outtimers – who Know Too Much.
echo: An alternate world which is – or appears to be
– identical to ours, but at an earlier point in its
history.
Eraser: A memory-affecting drug used by I-Cops and
others to keep the secret of parachronic travel.
hell parallel: An alternate world which has suffered a
natural or manmade disaster that rendered it
unliveable. More loosely, any really bad world.
homeboy: Anybody from one’s world of origin.
Homeline: The original Earth.
I-Cop: An agent of the Infinity Patrol’s Intervention
Service.
Infinity Patrol: The paramilitary arm of Infinity
Unlimited.
Infinity Unlimited: A private organization that con-
trols parachronic technology as a monopoly and
governs access to alternate timelines.
Interworld: The Centran equivalent to the Infinity
Patrol.
Infinite worlds, infinite wealth.
his original project. Over the next few
years, he refined his theories, contact-
ed 23 more universes, and personally
visited six alternate Earths. He also
secretly gathered a number of trusted
aides, the nucleus of the group that
would become Infinity Unlimited. And
he founded White Star Trading, an
interworld trading corporation, to
finance further experiments.
nexus portal: A “natural” path between alternate
worlds.
outtime: Any world except the original Homeline.
outtimer: Anyone from an alternate world.
parachronics: The study of alternate worlds. More
specifically, the study of why alternate worlds exist,
and how travel between them is possible.
parachronozoid: A creature with a natural world-
jumping ability, especially one that leaves a tunnel
or portal behind (those that don’t are rather hard to
spot!).
parallel: An alternate world that differs from ours only
in that its history has been different (some are very
different). A “close parallel” is different as the result
of one identifiable historical change.
projector: A device that can send a conveyor across
quanta.
quantum: An “energy level” in 8-dimensional space
that contains many alternate timelines. Quantum
levels are often abbreviated; e.g., Q7 for Quantum 7.
reality quake: A parachronic upheaval that buries
some or all of an alternate’s history beneath a new
one.
The Secret: The fact that technological cross-world
travel is possible. Outtimers are not supposed to
learn this, unless recruited by Infinity or Interworld.
timeline: Another term for an alternate world.
weird parallel: An alternate world that has many sim-
ilarities to our own, but also has differences which
make these similarities seem unbelievable (such as
a world where intelligent reptiles speak English).
zero point: The term for a location that has been
“zeroed” – properly calibrated – for a safe conveyor
jump between two specific dimensions.
In February 1998, Van Zandt made
headlines by publishing his results –
and by formally incorporating Infinity
Unlimited, with subsidiaries including
White Star Trading, Parachronic
Laboratories, and Infinity Develop-
ment. Furthermore, Van Zandt offered
to license his designs to any govern-
ment or corporation interested in
crosstime travel.
Naturally, governments were out-
raged. The U.S. Congress immediately
moved to nationalize and classify all
parachronic technology. The Japan-
ese, European, Chinese, and Russian
governments all called for its interna-
tionalization and suppression.
The next day, Van Zandt addressed
a closed session of the U.N. Security
Council. No one knows what he said,
but the world powers accepted his
proposal . . . within certain limits.
Infinity Unlimited was organized
as a corporation whose formal part-
ners were the permanent members of
the U.N. Security Council. Van Zandt
retained the position of first CEO, but
Security Council-appointed bureau-
crats also sat on its board. Infinity
Unlimited’s charter was rewritten to
keep control of the basic technology
firmly in its hands.
Van Zandt won a key victory –
almost unnoticed at the time – when
he resolved a budget dispute by sug-
gesting that Infinity Unlimited would
be largely self-funding: after an initial
infusion of funds, it would be “forced”
to rely on profits from licensing
parachronic technology. Many politi-
cians were pleased that Infinity would
not drain resources from the United
Nations’ limited funds, and believed
this would serve as a cap on the orga-
nization’s power. Few in the United
Nations or the world appreciated,
then, the true potential of the
parachronic secret:
Infinite worlds, infinite wealth.
Infinity also received its own secu-
rity organization, which Van Zandt
insisted on calling the “Infinity
Patrol.” Initially small, and limited to
protecting Infinity’s exploration teams
and installations, its role and power
would expand dramatically over time.
It took time for the economic and
political ramifications to sink in, but
the revelation that the Earth existed
within a potentially infinite series of
alternate worlds shook the founda-
tions of human belief. Science, reli-
gion, even the nature of identity was
called into question. But some people
adapted quickly (others still haven’t),
and many saw opportunities.
Soon, groups of intrepid explorers
were probing the dimensions, led by
the vanguard of Infinity Unlimited’s
Penetration
Service:
elite
“time