Howard
Families member who disputed the conclusions of the experiment to end the
Masquerade.
She proposed a Coventry-like
sanctuary for the Families. She became one of Zaccur Barstow's lieutenants on
the New
Frontiers.
Ira Barstow
Howard
Families member who sent a submarine from the underwater Families' Seat to
rescue Lazarus
Long and Mary
Sperling when they dove into the lake to evade arrest.
Zaccur (Zack) Barstow
Chief trustee for the Howard
Foundation. He reported on the circumstances and locations of members
after the Covenant
was suspended to allow their arrest. He negotiated with Slayton
Ford to take the New
Frontiersand all the Families into exile in another star system.
Genetically defective Howard
Families child. He was telepathically sensitive, but had to be given a
stimulant just to be aware of his surroundings. He broadcast Mary
Sperling's warning to the Families when the Covenant
was suspended.
[mentioned in passing] One of the Howard
Families. (The name may have died out, since no individual members are
mentioned in Methuselah's Children or Time Enough for Love.)
[mentioned in passing] Government work project aimed at
youths, mostly for those whose jobs were made obsolete or who were juvenile
delinquents or unemployable.
Council
Governing body under the Covenant.
The Council decided to use "full expediency" to wrest the "secret of
immortality" from the Howard
Families, even to the extent of violating the Covenant.
Covenant
The equivalent of a constitution, instituted by the United States after
the overthrow of the Prophet.
Its underlying principle is to prevent interference with individual freedom
while providing restraints against actions that would harm others. Even acts
specifically prohibited would not be prosecuted if only the person committing
the act was harmed. The Covenant protects against individuals passing judgment
on others and acting on those judgments (obviously a reaction to the tyranny
of the Interregnum).
It rejects the concept of "justice" and is based instead on observable effects
of actions. The only responses to violation of the Covenant are either
"reorientation" (psychological treatment to retrain antisocial tendencies) or
banishment to Coventry.
No "punishment" is permitted; the government is no more allowed to pass
judgment and impose harm than are individuals. In Methuselah's
Children, the government's lust to obtain the "secret of immortality" led
to the suspension of the Covenant's guarantees of individual freedom in order
to confine the Howard
Families until the secret was obtained from them.
Exile imposed on those who act to harm others, to a "reservation" where
the Covenant
is not observed. Coventry is surrounded by a heavily guarded force shield to
prevent the exiles from leaving without permission. The concept behind this
treatment is that the government has no right to "punish" its members, but an
individual who is unwilling to abide by society's agreements may be ejected
from the society. Exiles may re-enter the Covenant if they are willing to
submit to psychological reorientation. Most of those entering Coventry
expected a complete anarchy, but at least three separate governments had
developed inside: New
America, nominally a democracy but run as a political machine and
dictatorship; Free
State, a totalitarian state; and The
Angels, the remnants of the Prophet's
theocratic reign.
Crazy Years
Period during the World Wars (1969 in particular is mentioned).
It is implied in a passing mention by Zaccur
Barstow that it was rendered uninhabitable by atomic warfare.
Families' Seat
Underwater refuge and meeting place for the Howard
Families, located in Lake Michigan near Chicago.
family
Serial monogamy is common among the Howard
Families because of the sheer length of their lives and the desire to
produce offspring with different partners for genetic reasons.
Musical composition was played during the mass meeting to decide whether
the Howard
Families should return to Earth (probably as a ploy to create homesickness
and influence the vote in favor of returning).
Howard
Families member arrested after the suspension of the Covenant.
He bit out his tongue rather than submit to hypnotic questioning.
Justin Foote
Speaker for the Trustees of the Howard
Foundation. He explained at a Howard
Families meeting the reasons for keeping the Foundation a secret, and then
for experimenting with changing the policy. Once aboard the New
Frontiers, he declared the board of trustees dissolved because the
relationship between the Families and society had been severed. He became one
of Zaccur
Barstow's lieutenants aboard ship. When they returned to Earth, he
insisted on his right to reclaim the property he'd abandoned in the forced
emigration.
Federation
Administrator who oversaw the search for the Howard
Families. He agreed to help the Families escape on the New
Frontiers. He was voted out of office just before the emigration, joining
the Families in exile. He was proposed as administrator of the New Frontiers
because of his superior political experience, and accepted after a carefully
orchestrated rumor campaign to build sympathy for him (probably arrange by Lazarus
Long). He suffered severe psychosis after meeting the Jockaira's
masters, recovering only after a period in cold sleep but not resuming his
duties as administrator.
(Also mentioned in passing in Time Enough for Love.)
Company from which Lazarus
Long considered buying a transport ship to get the Howard
Families to the New
Frontiers, but decided against the ship because he couldn't pilot it
alone. (The "four planets" are probably Earth, Venus, Mars, and
Earth's moon.)
Four Planets Passenger Service
Company from which Lazarus
Long considered buying a transport ship to get the Howard
Families to the New
Frontiers, but decided against the ship because he couldn't pilot it
alone. (The "four planets" are probably Earth, Venus, Mars, and
Earth's moon.)
Howard
Families member who advocated using force to deal with their short-lived
opponents; he made a distinction between homo vivens [members of the
Howard Families] and homo moriturus [everyone else].
Charles Hardy
[mentioned in passing] Member of the Howard
Families, father of Edmund Hardy.
Edmund Hardy
Howard
Families member who loaned clothes to Lazarus
Long after his dive into Lake Michigan to escape pursuing proctors.
He was Lazarus' great-great grandson, and a member of the Foote
family.
He is mentioned in passing as the man who launched the first Moon rocket.
A reservation was set up for the Howard
Families just east of Harriman Memorial Park.
He lived 1825–1873. He became wealthy during the Reconstruction (after the
Civil War) and mandated in his will that his money be used to "lengthen human
life". The administrators of the trust attempted to satisfy this mandate by
offering inducements to offspring of long-lived people to interbreed, assuming
that their long lifespans may be hereditary.
(Also mentioned in Time Enough for Love and To Sail
Beyond the Sunset)
Howard Families
Descendants of the original participants in the Howard
Foundation's longevity breeding "experiments", all of them extraordinarily
long-lived. They became a closely intertwined clan representing all races,
united by both blood ties and business relationships. When their extraordinary
longevity became public knowledge, they fled Earth to avoid persecution,
returning only after medical means of prolonging life made the "secret"
available to everyone. They established a colony on Secundus
during the Diaspora.
(Also in Time Enough for Love, To Sail Beyond the
Sunset)
Howard Foundation
Trust formed to provide financial rewards for members of the Howard
Families who interbred. It eventually branched out into research for methods
of rejuvenation
and prevention of aging, and also administered the legal and economic affairs
of the Howard Families. Forewarned by Lazarus
Long about the 1929 stock market crash, it moved its assets to Swiss bank
accounts, and restructured its operations as a Canadian corporation to avoid
U.S. restrictions on owning gold.
(Also in Time Enough for Love, To Sail Beyond the
Sunset)
Huxley Field
Spaceport near Chicago from which Slayton
Ford lifted off to rendezvous with the New
Frontiers. (Possibly named after General Huxley of "If This Goes On-")
Theocratic and totalitarian government that prevailed in the United States
around the end of the 20th century, until overthrown by the Cabal. It
was founded by the demagogue Nehemiah
Scudder and perpetuated by successors who were more self-serving
politicians than religious fanatics, but who used religion to keep the
populace under control.
(Also mentioned in "If This Goes On—" and Time Enough for
Love)
Jimmie-the-Horse (no other name)
[mentioned in passing] Telepathic Howard
Families member living in Montreal. The warning about the suspension of
the Covenant
was relayed through him.
Jockaira
Inhabitants of an Earthlike planet orbiting star ZD9817.
They were 7-8 feet tall, with large limpid eyes but loose toothless mouths and
bifurcated upper lips. Although roughly humanoid in appearance, they were very
different socially and mentally. They contacted the Howard
Families telepathically and welcomed them to their planet, even providing
a city for them. Jockairan food was suitable for humans, and the Jockaira were
intensely eager to fill human needs; but many human concepts, such as privacy,
baffled them. The humans usually shortened their name to "Jocks". They turned
out to be "domestic animals" under the control of unseen higher beings, who
removed the humans from their planet ("flying" them back into the ship) when
Slayton
Ford became psychotic after contact with them and they decided humans
could not be domesticated. (A reference to "Jockaria" is obviously a
typographical error.)
Member of the Howard
Families. He was nominated for chairman of the emergency meeting after the
suspension of the Covenant,
but withdrew in favor of Lazarus
Long.
Young, widowed Howard
Families member, mother of a new baby when the New
Frontiers left Earth. She spoiled her son dreadfully during the voyage,
and followed him back to the New Frontiers when the Families decided to return
to Earth, even though she had not wanted to go.
Psychographic method of interpreting hypnotic interrogation. In the
interrogation of Arthur
Sperling, the interpretation was influenced by the interrogators' wishful
thinking.
One of the "masters" of the Jockaira,
after whom Kreel Sarloo [see next entry] was named.
Kreel Sarloo
Individual who acted as liaison between the Howard
Families and the Jockaira.
He held a position among his own people that translated as "father", "priest",
or "leader" of the tribe.
As described in "Misfit", he was the son of followers of the Prophet
who refused to abandon their "faith" after the Interregnum's
overthrow. He only accepted the Covenant
after his father's death. Born in backwoods Tennessee, he joined the Cosmic
Construction Corps, where he learned he was a mathematical genius in spite
of his limited schooling. Later in life Andy Libby discovered he was a member
of the Howard
Families, and became known as "Slipstick Libby". He designed a star drive
for use in the New
Frontiers and later modified it for even faster travel. He was nominated
Captain of the New Frontiers, but refused because he lacked the desire to
command.
Howard
Families' name for the natives of the planet to which the Jockaira
sent them, orbiting star PK3722.
Completely telepathic, they had no spoken language and therefore no name for
themselves. They also had no sense of individuality, and were shocked by the
humans' "separateness". Experts at manipulating genetic structure, they
"improved" a baby, and this led to the decision to leave the planet and return
to Earth. Some, however, chose to stay even if it meant being absorbed into
the Little People's group mind. Mary
Sperling, in particular, chose this as a way of achieving "immortality".
Oldest surviving member of the Howard
Families. He was born Woodrow
Wilson Smith, but preferred to use the name he adopted during the Interregnum.
Although considered an atavism by some other Howard Family members, he was
respected for his seniority and his obvious survival skills, and was the
moving force behind obtaining the New
Frontiers. He was also influential in persuading the Families to return to
Earth, though he himself chose, once there, to return to exploring space.
Policy of the Howard
Families to simulate the death of members once they reached an unusual age
and to provide them with a new identity. It was vital during the Interregnum,
but increasingly annoying in a more civilized society because of the high cost
of dishonesty and continual uprooting (not to mention the difficulty of
establishing identities given modern record-keeping). When a small group of
Howard volunteers tried ending the Masquerade, however, they found that people
with shorter life-spans envied and resented the long-lived enough to persecute
them.
Vacation satellite in Earth orbit; Slayton
Ford claimed it was his destination when he fled to the New
Frontiers.
Moonbeam
Luna
City shuttle on which two Howard
Families members were apprehended after being subdued with sleeping gas.
"Mrs. 'Awkins"
Tissue of chicken heart kept alive since the early 20th century, first by
the Rockefeller Institute and then by researchers of the Howard
Foundation. It was used in longevity research. Taken along on the New
Frontiers, it eventually reached a size of 50 or 60 pounds.
Nelson (no first name)
[mentioned in passing] Scientist who researched
"symbiotics".
Starship that was built in Earth-Luna orbit,
taken by the Howard
Families for their exile. Designed for a colony of 20,000, it had cold
sleep compartments added by the Families to accommodate their population of
100,000.
Colonel in the Free
United States Army, head of the Cabal's Psych
and Propaganda Bureau. He was given a field promotion to General. He was a
principal author of the Covenant.
Novak Tower, the location of the Administrator's offices, is probably named
after him.
[mentioned in passing] Edmund
Hardy's grandfather.
Witwell Oscarsen
Scientist who publicly denounced the Howard
Families for "withholding" the "secret" of immortality.
Hugo Pinero
Referred to by Mary
Sperling as "Pinero the Charlatan", but Lazarus
Long insisted he could do just what he claimed; he also said that he tried
the service himself but Pinero refused to give him an answer and refunded his
money.
Leader of the theocracy that controlled the United States during the Interregnum.
The First Prophet was demagogue Nehemiah
Scudder; his successors were also known as the Prophet Incarnate.
Because of their intensive inbreeding to preserve the longevity strain,
the Howard
Families suffered an unusually high incidence of physical and mental birth
defects. Approximately five percent of these defectives were telepathically
sensitive.
Period of reorganization following the Second
American Revolution. Many Howard
Families members held key posts as members of the Cabal. They
took advantage of the chaotic conditions to adjust "public" ages.
The method discovered on Earth during the Howard
Families' exile retarded rather than reversing the aging process; it
consisted largely of replacing the entire blood tissue.
Government representative brought to the New
Frontiers to negotiate with the Howard
Families after their return from exile. He was a former employee of Slayton
Ford's government.
The Sacred Cow
Humor and gossip sheet that circulated in the Slayton
Ford administration offices. It was devoted to ribbing the bosses,
especially Ford. Miles
Rodney's knowledge of it was taken as proof that his claim to advanced age
and the common use of rejuvenation was true.
Nurse in charge of the Howard
Families' genetically defective members.
Marion Schmidt
Infant born to Howard
Families members on the Planet of the Little
People, transformed by the Little People to be "more efficient". She
lacked external sense organs, had hooves in place of feet, and had more than
the normal number of fingers, with "extra" hands for micromanipulation.
Oliver Schmidt
Howard
Families member who favored leaving PK3722 to
return to Earth. He was a former resident of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Howard
Families psychometrician who reported on the results of testing the effect
of ending the Masquerade.
He had recommended that members participating in the test be hypnotically
protected against revealing Family secrets, but was only partly successful in
achieving this. He was one of Zaccur
Barstow's lieutenants in the New
Frontiers. He treated Slayton
Ford after Ford's disastrous encounter with the Jockaira
"gods."
Howard
Families member arrested and questioned after the suspension of the Covenant.
He was related to the Foote
family.
Mary Sperling
A senior member of the Howard
Families who escaped from proctors
with Lazarus
Long after the suspension of the Covenant.
One of Zaccur
Barstow's lieutenants aboard the New
Frontiers, she also volunteered to help with longevity research. She
developed a morbid fear of death that she resolved by "joining" the Little
People, surrendering her individuality to them but achieving a sort of
immortality in their group mind and memories.
Government official who wanted to marry Mary
Sperling. He revealed to her the government's plan to force the Howard
Families to give up their "secret" of immortality. He succeeded Slayton
Ford as Federation
Administrator.
In most of Heinlein's stories, the planet is hot and swampy but habitable
by humans. Natives are variously described as sentient "dragons" and as small,
humanoid amphibians with a matriarchal culture, the females being considerably
more intelligent than the males. Lazarus Long lived there for a time during
the Interregnum.
Miles
Rodney's section chief in Slayton
Ford's administration; Rodney's knowledge about him supported his claim to
advanced age. His underlings called him "the Walrus".
Howard
Families telepath, afflicted by a number of genetic defects including low
intelligence. He was contacted by the Jockaira
while the New
Frontiers orbited their planet.
Ira Weatheral
Member of the Howard
Foundation and spokesman for the Johnson family.
The star that was the New
Frontiers' destination. Its planetary system was surprisingly like Sol's,
with terrestrial planets nearer the sun and Jovian planets farther out.
The Heinlein
Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, science
fiction author Robert Anson Heinlein, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."