See You in the Cosmos

1. pacifist (noun): 

a person who is opposed to war or to violence of any kind

“I told him I’m not going to hurt him, I’m a pacifist, and I guess he believed me because when I picked him up he didn’t even fight me or try to run.” (Chapter 1, Page 4)

2. brash (adjective):

hasty, rash, impetuous

“I said, I've been saving the money for my rocket but I can use some of it to buy Carl Sagan's food because he's not that big of a dog, and besides, you should come back to Rockview sometime and meet him in person—I mean, in dog—before you make any brash decisions.” (Chapter 1, Page 6)

3. aeronautics (noun):

the science or art of flight

“Acronyms are words made using the first letter of other words, like how NASA is National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” (Chapter 2, Page 8)

4. namaste (interjection):

a common Hindu respectful expression on meeting or parting, used by the speaker usually while holding the palms together vertically in front of the bosom; from Sanskrit, “I bow to you”

“When we passed his seat he smiled at me and I bowed and I said Namaste, which is how you’re supposed to greet martial arts masters.” (Chapter 5, Page 24)

5. goatee (noun):

a man’s beard trimmed to a point or tuft on his chin

“He’s more regular height too, and he has light brown hair and a goatee except it’s not that thick yet so it’s just a kidtee—” (Chapter 9, Page 42) 

6. vegan (adjective):

referring to a vegetarian who eliminates all animal products from the diet

“I would've gotten you a burger too but I wasn't sure if you were vegan like Zed.” (Chapter 9, Page 43)

7. payload (noun):

cargo of a rocket for delivery at a destination

“I have to put something in the payload!” (Chapter 13, Page 67)

8. mote (noun):

a small particle or speck

“[…] I wish I had something beautiful and poetic to say like my hero would about how we’re all hurtling through the vastness of space on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam and stuff like that but I don’t, so I guess, um, just let me know if you get these recordings!” (Chapter 13, Page 67)

9. koans (plural noun):

a paradoxical question to a student for which an answer is demanded, the stress of meditation on the question often being illuminating

“Oh—that’s one of his Zen koans.’” (Chapter 18, Page 91)

10. guru (noun):

an intellectual or spiritual guide or leader

“And then he went to India to find some guru but he never found the guy, and when he got back he gave away most of his money to charity.” (Chapter 18, Page 93)

11. entrepreneurial (adjective):

skilled at managing any enterprise, especially a business

“Steve, you're always coming up with ways to make money or BMWs. You're very entrepreneurial.” (Chapter 18, Page 93)

12. palate (noun):

the sense of taste

“He said I didn’t like it as much because my palate isn’t refined enough, and I told him, No, I didn’t like it because I just didn’t like it.” (Chapter 23, Page 116)

13. telepathically (adverb):

in a way that uses communication between minds by a method other than sensory perception

“And Zed said, We can always use an extra pair of eyes, and he kept staring at Steve, it was almost like he was trying to communicate with Steve telepathically.” (Chapter 23, Page 118)

14. kombucha (noun):

a fermented beverage made by adding a live culture of yeast and bacteria to sweetened tea

“When I looked closely I could see tiny green dots floating in the water like the chia seed kombucha drinks Benji’s mom has in their refrigerator.” (Chapter 27, Page 155)

15. touché (interjection):

an expression that acknowledges a telling remark or rejoinder

“I said, Look what happened when we tried to handle it in person with your mom, and Terra said touché.” (Chapter 28, Page 165)

16. simulated (participial adjective):

imitated; feigned

“[…] and afterwards Lander gave a speech to the students and announced the next Civet Prize which is to design the spacecraft that can best survive a simulated landing on Mars.” (Chapter 30, Page 178)

17. inelegant (adjective):

lacking in refinement, gracefulness, or good taste

“He said they’re kind of like Blu-Rays except they’re big and clunky and use magnetic tape instead of a disc, and the tapes would always get jammed because of all the moving parts and whole thing was really inelegant.” (Chapter 34, Page 202)

18. binary (noun):

computer language written in binary code (programmed or encoded using only the digits 0 and 1)

“For the Golden Record my hero converted pictures into binary, which is ones and zeros, so maybe I can come up with a way to convert smells to binary because I don't think that technology exists yet.” (Chapter 36, Page 218)

19. astronomy (noun):

the science that deals with the material universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere

“I saw this article about how people are getting excited about astronomy and rocketry again because of CivSpace.” (Chapter 10, Page 238)

20. schizophrenia (noun):

a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations

“Schizophrenia is when you hear voices that only you can hear and sometimes the voices tell you to do things, and you can’t tell the difference between real and not real.” (Chapter 42, Page 245)

21. adamant (adjective):

unyielding in attitude or opinion

“And Ronnie is adamant about him not going outside because of everything that’s happening with CPS or DHS or whatever they call Child Protective Services here.” (Chapter 45, Page 261)

22. annulled (past tense verb):

made null or void; canceled, invalidated

“Her mom said they did get married but it got annulled right away.” (Chapter 46, Page 274)

23. reeked (past tense verb):

smelled strongly or unpleasantly

“She reeked of some kind of strawberry perfume—to this day I can’t stand that smell.’” (Chapter 46, Page 275)

24. replica (noun):

an exact copy or reproduction

“Lander said that he has an exact replica of the Voyager Golden Record in his office and he read about my Golden iPod in the forum post and listed to some of my recordings […]” (Chapter 47, Page 283)