Voleur se dit en latin fur ou latro. Le premier pris du grec phôr, de pherô, latin fero, "j'emporte" ; le second de lathroô, "je fais le brigand", dont le primitif est léthô, latin lateo, "je me cache".
Les Grecs ont encore kleptês, de kleptô, "je dérobe", dont les consonnes radicales sont les mêmes que celles de kaluptô, "je couvre", "je cache".
D'après ces étymologies, l'idée de voleur est celle d'un homme qui cache, qui emporte, distrait une chose qui ne lui appartient pas, de quelque manière que ce soit.
Qu'est-ce que la propriété ? Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
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Les Mels, de l'ethnie Lastre, dirigeaient la première vague de
colonisation. Ce sont eux qui baptisèrent le nouveau monde Calypso ; d'après kaluptô '("je [me] cache") dirent leurs historiens; d'après kleptô ("je dérobe") contredirent leurs opposants.
Ils quittèrent définitivement leur monde d'origine pendant les premières décennies qui succédèrent à la chute de
l'empereur-dieu Leto II d'Atréïdes : entre 10570 et 10600.
Les débuts furent difficiles et c'est de cette époque trouble que demeure leur réputation de brigandage et de rapines, de fuites rapides vers des cachettes à jamais mystérieuses.
Néanmoins, au bout d'une génération, ils étaient incontestablement devenus des agriculteurs qui exploitèrent les plaines côtières de l'Atic,
au sud du continent unique de Calypso I. Ils y vécurent paisiblement, éloignés de tout (ou presque) pendant près de trois siècles.
Certains sont encore aujourd'hui de
riches propriétaires fonciers sur le monde-capitale de la Marche tandis
qu'une partie de leur peuple a émigré sur deux planètes-colonies
: Venceslas (civils) et Kombâ (militaires).
Le Marquis Alf Ier de Calypso réussit à asseoir son autorité par l'équilibre, en
s'attachant le soutien des minorités ethniques de la planète-capitale.
Aux Mels qui avaient été les premiers colons, les cultivateurs (vers 10600, à la même époque que la fondation de la République du Cygne), il attribua le contrôle de la verdoyante planète Venceslas; encourageant l'émigration vers ce monde nouvellement annexé.
Depuis, Venceslas "la verdoyante" a vu sa canopée colonisée par les Mel de
l'ethnie Lastre, au grand dam des Boii-Haimanz ou "Bois-Aimants" (des humains jadis
nomades qui ont absorbé dans leur génome une partie de celui du
monde-végétal). La Maison Mel, devenue Mineure sous la domination des
Zaten, espère retrouver la grandeur qui fut jadis la sienne grâce à
cette concession offerte par le nouveau Marquis.
Vue de Venceslas, l’Arbre-Monde,
depuis l’orbite et zones de peuplement des Lastres de la canopée et des Boii-Haimanz
de la forêt profonde.
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Un arbre Dyson est une hypothétique plante génétiquement capable de se développer dans une comète, suggérée par le physicien Freeman Dyson.
A Dyson tree is a hypothetical genetically engineered plant (perhaps resembling a tree) capable of growing inside a comet, suggested by the physicist Freeman Dyson. Plants could produce a breathable atmosphere within hollow spaces in the comet (or even within the plants themselves), utilising solar energy for photosynthesis and cometary materials for nutrients, thus providing self-sustaining habitats for humanity in the outer solar system analogous to a greenhouse in space or a shell grown by a mollusc.
A Dyson tree might consist of a few main trunk structures growing out from a comet nucleus, branching into limbs and foliage that intertwine, forming a spherical structure possibly dozens of kilometers across.
Dyson trees are mentioned a number of times in science fiction, beginning in the 1980s:
* One of the first adoptions of the trope is Rachel Pollack's Tree House (1984).
* The concept is discussed in Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan's 1985 non-fiction book Comet, and several paintings of Dyson trees around Saturn and in interstellar space are provided in the book by Jon Lomberg.
* In Michael Swanwick's 1987 transhumanist novel Vacuum Flowers, "dysonsworlders" have established tree settlements in the Oort Cloud.
* Under the name of "Space Poplars", Dyson trees are described in Donald Moffitt's two science fiction novels, The Genesis Quest and Second Genesis. Here they are used as both habitats and spacecraft, propelled by reflective outer leaves used as organic solar sails.
* Dan Simmons, in Endymion (1996) and the Rise of Endymion (1997) – both part of his Hyperion Cantos – refers to Dyson trees, and in the latter novel to a huge tree system that surrounds an entire star (reminiscent of a Dyson sphere).
* In Stephen Baxter's Manifold: Space (2001), Baxter's protagonist Reid Malenfant at one point finds himself inside a Dyson tree.
* In the Orion's Arm shared universe (established 2000), Dyson trees and Dyson tree "forests" are called orwoods; these have been established in a number of star systems throughout terragen space. The word "Orwood" in this context was originally coined by Anders Sandberg.
* The Transhuman Space roleplaying game includes the beginning of a Dyson tree endeavour on Yggdrasil Station (Deep Beyond, p. 70, 2003)
* In the Tenchi Muyo OVA series, the Jurai utilize trees that can live in space as ships, and in the temple of the goddess-like character Tokimi, a giant tree whose roots encompass a planet can be seen.
* In The Dirty Pair series, the episode "Run From the Future" is set on the Nimkasi habitat, an outlaw habitat that is a Dyson tree.
* The video game Eufloria is based on the Dyson tree concept.
The Integral Trees is a 1984 science fiction novel by American writer Larry Niven (first published as a serial in Analog in 1983). Like much of Niven's work, the story is heavily influenced by the setting: a gas torus, a ring of air around a neutron star. A sequel, The Smoke Ring, was published in 1987.
It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1984, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1985.
Setting
The story occurs around the fictional neutron star Levoy's Star (abbreviated "Voy"). The gas giant Goldblatt's World (abbreviated "Gold") orbits this star just outside its Roche limit and therefore its gravity is insufficient to keep its atmosphere, which is pulled loose into an independent orbit around Voy and forms a ring that is known as a gas torus. The gas torus is huge—one million kilometers thick—but most of it is too thin to be habitable. The central part of the Gas Torus, where the air is thicker, is known as the Smoke Ring. The Smoke Ring supports a wide variety of life.
No "ground" exists in the Smoke Ring; it consists entirely of sky. Furthermore, the Smoke Ring is in orbit and therefore in free fall: there is no "up" or "down". Most animals have trilateral symmetry that allows them to see in all directions. The majority of Smoke Ring animals have evolved to fly on at least an occasional basis—even the fish. The Smoke Ring contains numerous "ponds," globs of water of various sizes which float free like everything else. While there are aquatic and amphibious animals in the Smoke Ring that live the majority of their lives in such ponds, these animals may find their habitat unsuitable at any moment. Whether their home pond drifts too far out of the habitable center of the Smoke Ring and into the gas torus, becomes too large and breaks up due to tidal forces, or impacts a large object such as an integral tree, aquatic animals must be able to propel themselves through the air sometimes in order to find a new place to live.
Most plants in the Smoke Ring are quite fragile because they do not need to support their own weight. A notable exception to this rule are the eponymous Integral Trees, which can grow up to 100 kilometers long. Tidal locking causes them to be radially oriented, with one end pointing in toward Voy while the other points toward space. The ends of the tree feel a tidal force of up to 1/5 g0 on the largest trees. Each end of a tree is a green, leafy tuft.
An integral tree tuft is up to 50 kilometers from the tree's center of mass. Thus, a tuft is either orbiting too slowly (the "in" tuft) or too quickly (the "out" tuft) compared to the atmosphere, which is in orbit at all points. The ends of the tree are therefore subject to a constant gale-force wind that causes the ends to curve into the shape of an integral symbol ∫ and pushes water and food onto the tufts, or (less forcefully) onto the trunk, where the gravity-like tidal forces pull the material out towards the tufts.
Each tuft serves several main purposes for the tree. First, the green foliage is photosynthetic, providing the tree with energy from sunlight; second, the tufts are where the tree produces its seeds; and third, various plants, animals, and sundry other objects can become trapped in the tighter branches, which gradually migrate toward the "treemouth." The treemouth, a pit at the top of each tuft on the lee side of the trunk, is the integral tree's root; water collected along the trunk flows down due to tidal forces and is ingested by the treemouth. Tuft branches catch and capture various things and animals in the wind and gradually, over the course of years, migrate to the treemouth, where they and their catch are absorbed by the tree for nourishment. Many other large Smoke Ring plants have a scavenger/carnivore aspect similar to this, though with somewhat different mechanisms.
Plot setup
Twenty astronauts aboard an interstellar "ramship" colonized the Smoke Ring five hundred years before the story begins. Their descendants have adapted their cultures to the free-fall environment. Without gravity, even those who live in integral tree tufts are much taller than Earth-average humans, having grown up in much weaker tides. Many people are able to use their longer, prehensile toes as another set of fingers. The small number of devices left from the original crew are coveted items in Smoke Ring societies.
Quinn Tribe inhabits the "in tuft" of Dalton-Quinn tree. They normally subsist on the tree's cottony foliage, augmented by hunting and a flock of domesticated turkeys. But since the tree passed near Gold six earth years ago it has been falling toward Voy, nearly dropping out of the Smoke Ring. As a result, the tribe suffers a severe drought. The tribe's leader, the Chairman, decides to send a party of nine up the tree, ostensibly to hunt and re-cut tribal markings into the trunk. The group consists mostly of people with disability and people the Chairman dislikes, including the Chairman's son-in-law (and rival) Clave, and Jeffer, the Scientist's apprentice.
Plot conflict
When they approach the midpoint they notice that the tribal markings are different; upon reaching it, they are attacked by members of the Dalton-Quinn tribe who live at the other end of the tree. During the battle a massive tremor splits the tree in half, causing the in tuft to fall farther toward Voy (killing its inhabitants) and allowing the out tuft to find a new equilibrium that is closer to the Smoke Ring's median. The seven surviving members of the Quinn Tribe and one of the attackers jump clear of the shattered tree and are left adrift in the sky with only a few "jet pods" (high pressure seed cases that provide a temporary thrust when opened) as their only method of propulsion.
Before dying of thirst, they hook a passing "moby" (a flying whale-like creature) which takes them to a "jungle," which is a floating mass of plant life. They cut loose, crash, and find themselves in the middle of a battle between the Carther States, who live in the jungle, and slave-runners from London Tree. The group is split when six of them are captured by the slavers; the other two remain in the jungle.
Plot resolution
Carther States counter-attacks some weeks later, and the Quinn Tribe group is reunited. During the battle they steal London Tree's CARM (Cargo And Repair Module), a small spacecraft—a relic of the original settlers. The CARM is still functional due to careful management and its robust design; its solar panels provide electricity to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen, which it stores automatically and then burns for propulsion as needed. London Tree's "Navy", bow- and spear-armed warriors, use the CARM to conduct long-distance military actions and slave raids on a scale impossible for wingless humans in a zero-g environment.
Not fully understanding how to pilot the CARM, the Quinn and Carther warriors engage its main rocket motor, which accelerates the ship at several g, enough to prevent the crew from reaching the controls to turn the motor off. The CARM is propelled up into the thinnest part of the gas torus before running dangerously low on fuel. As a result, they become the first Smoke Ring inhabitants in centuries to see the naked stars.
Unknown to any of the inhabitants of the Smoke Ring, Discipline, the ship in which their ancestors arrived, remains in orbit, and its AI autopilot, Kendy, has been attempting to watch their progress. When Kendy sees the CARM dangerously far from the habitable area of the Ring he contacts them. With help from the on-board computer and after some interaction with Kendy, the occupants of the CARM eventually safely return to the Smoke Ring. Unable to reach any of the trees that they know, they decide to settle on a new tree, which they dub "Citizens' Tree".
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