The Zero-Day Souls Lexicon

ack?

Right? Tagged on to check you agree.“So, we’re all green, ack?”

all green

Fine, OK, everything’s good.

Bents!

Yikes!

broman

Bro, dude.

codehead

A software developer.

core dumpas in “how in the rippin’ core dump”

How on earth.

dreg

Crap. A bummer. The all-purpose swear.“Dreg, dreg, dreg! The work!”

dregbrain

An idiot. As an adjective, mindless.“Dregbrain content on the billboards no one notices, let alone reads.”

dregdamn

Goddamn.“Dregdamn, this was beyond awesome!”

for defs

For sure.

frizz, hyper

Cool! Great!

ghostname, immertag

An alias or online handle.“Your ghostname. Immertag.”

honest-to-core

Honest-to-God.

Holy Justice!also swear to Justice

Good God! Swear to God.“Swear to Justice, our best work!”

the living checksumas in “confused the living checksum out of him”

The living daylights.

lolslinger, lolster

A joker. Someone funny.“Funny. You’re funny. A lolslinger.”

mindrot

A rumored condition: a foggy, delusional brain from too much time in the Immersiverse.“Was he coming down with mindrot?”

off-grid

Crazy.“You’ll be driving me off-grid all day if you don’t.”

riprippin’, Rippity rip, son-of-a-rip

The other all-purpose swear. Ripville is where you tell someone to go.“I said, rip off, and keep ripping off all the way to Ripville!”

Shwang!

Boom! Nailed it.

sib

A sibling. Also a close friend.

slag

Garbage. Nonsense.“A talking head? Slag!”

slamhead

A drug addict.

sludgebrain, sludgehead

An idiot.“Those sludgebrains in the District, always messing stuff up.”

Sorz

Sorry.“Sorz, babe, just tired. Too much peopling.”

spoofingas in “you’re spoofing my hash”

Kidding me.“No way! You’re spoofing my hash!”

sprout

A youngster.

Zappers!also Zaps!

Wow! Yikes!

When the AI misbehaves

botbrain, glitchfreak

Insults for an AI.“That’s rich, coming from a botbrain.”

go reboot yourself

Get lost.

Gen-Sigma Tick

Tick

The slang of Gen-Sigma, the generation coming up after Gen-Pi. No PA has a language module for it.

dry-fluxed

Past it. Old.“Gen-Sigmers would call you dry-fluxed.”

• ’n marks something going on, or something that holds true. It isn’t a dropped g: hold’n, read’n, sit’n, turn’n. Work’n? means “Is it working?”
• va turns a sentence into an invitation or a check: Com’va (“Come on”), Ya nolagga, va? (“You’re a quick learner, huh?”).
• Short forms: ya (you), an’ (and), wi’me (with me), th’mornin’ (the morning).

bridepix

A bride. A wife.

burn

Colour.

cerambit

A ceramic blade. Every HardOp carries one.“No cerambit, no HardOp, ya read’n?”

com

A residential complex, and the clan that lives in it.“We run a tight com, ya read’n?”

Com’va

Come on, let’s go.

Eyes’n’Grips

The goggles-and-gloves kit for remote work. Off the com it’s called an OpKit.“Eyes’n’Grips, grab set, va.”

G’nigh

Good night.

green

Fine, OK, in order.

Hol’n liv’va

Hello. The reply is Hol’n.

hones’work

Honest work. Said at the end of a shift, or for any job well done.“Ya shiff done. Hones’work.”

hypa

Great. Cool.

imp

A man.

leaka

A button-sized pump stuck to the skin, releasing its dose slowly.

midbit

Lunch. The midday break.

nolagga

A quick learner. A lagga is a slow one.“Ya nolagga, va?” “That means a quick learner?” “Pinn’d.”

nop’n

Nothing.“I feel nop’n.”

pinn’d

Exactly.

pix, pixie

Babe. A young woman.

presh

Pressure, in the pipes.“Presh read green.”

scuz

Excuse me.

shiff

A shift.

sure as death

For sure.“We sure as death don’t need ConSat to tell us right from wrong.”

Voice

The speaker for a com, which can be thousands strong. The Voice is the one who talks to outsiders, in Standard.“I’m their Voice, is why I speak your lingo. Someone has to.”

wearset

A wardrobe. An outfit.

ya read’n?

Understood? Got it?

Yepp’n

Yes.“Yepp’n. Will take mighty lotta work.”

score, score band

Everyone’s social score, and the band it puts you in. Your band decides what you can buy, which ads find you, and which jobs you can hold.

RequiredReq, plural Requireds

A job society actually needs filled. The top of the ladder.

Optionals

Jobs a mostly automated economy doesn’t strictly need. People take them for the score and the extra crædits.

High Optional

Optional office and service work. HardOps call the people who do it Softies.

Low Optional

Optional manual work.

LowOps, HardOps

Manual workers in Low Optional jobs. LowOps is the official word. They call themselves HardOps.

Basics

People who live on UBI alone and don’t work.

UBI

Universal Basic Income. Everyone gets it.

discro

Your discretionary balance: UBI plus whatever you earn.

cræditscræd for short

The money.

Gov

The Government.

the District

The local administration.

ConSat

The Ministry of Consumer Satisfaction, officially MCS.

PubSafe

Public Safety, and its drones and droids on every street.

the Directorate

The Emergency Response Directorate, which steps in when disaster strikes.

NorAm

The United States of North America: the former USA, Canada, and most of Mexico.

advertainment

Ads dressed up as entertainment.

artisalmon

Artificial salmon. The best your crædits can buy.

biomech

A lifelike mechanical doll, such as a companion or a SynthePet.

BizSpace

A virtual office, with a matching kit at home.

boncon

The bone-conduction earpiece everyone wears. It’s how people call, pay, and hear their PA.

caf

Coffee.

chromashifting

Changing colour, the way buildings and clothes do.

DiagnoSleeve

A sleeve you push your arm into for a quick medical check.

digimakeup

Digital make-up.

dronebulance

An ambulance drone.

emoticator

A small widget worn on the ear that shows its wearer’s mood in colour.“The emoticator widget on her ear flared dark purple.”

exoskel

An exoskeleton.

fabber

A fabricator that prints objects from raw materials.

facerec, voicerec

Face and voice recognition, on cameras and microphones everywhere. Gaitrec and skeletalrec too.

Fastrans

The rapid-transit trains, running on MagLev.

GenPhys

A general physician’s clinic.

iEyes

A high-end brand of smart contact lenses.

Immersiversethe ’verse

The immersive virtual world. Said to cause mindrot.

ImmersiRig

The helmet, suit, and gloves you wear into the Immersiverse.

ImmersiStrike

The big multiplayer arena game, with national champions and realitainment fame.

Legends of the Yesterversethe Legends, the Yesterverse

An old MMORPG in the Immersiverse, long past its peak.

mediawall

A wall-sized screen. Every home has one.

milbull

A soldier picked for physique, then augmented.“Healthy as a milbull.”

mopbot

A cleaning robot.

PA

Your personal assistant AI. It runs your day, and it talks to everyone else’s.“Her PA says, ‘Not interested.’”

Pedia

The encyclopedia everyone looks things up in.

prepper

The kitchen appliance that makes your meals.

printacrete

3D-printed concrete.

Purr

A legal synthetic high, taken through a puffer or a leaka.

realitainment

Reality shows.

romantasy

Romance-fantasy shows. The Far Eastern kind is a genre of its own.

Roxi

The cab service.

SkyLink

Satellite coverage, where the local network runs out.

SynthePet

An AI pet.

syntheglass

Synthetic glass that doesn’t break.

tranq

A tranquilizer.

uniwheel

A one-wheeled droid, used by law enforcement among others.

UP address

Like an IP address, for every connected device, boncons included. It’s how people reach each other.

verameat

Fake meat, for every day.

whisperer

A hacker, of any trade.

bonjacker

Roots boncons to spoof the data in them.

ghost shepherd

Builds, trains, and runs illicit AIs.

jacker

Breaks code and encryption.“Code is for jackers. They break things to see how they work.” One-Off

permadactyl

A semi-permanent set of fake fingerprints.

GrayNet

The network where whisperers trade and talk.