 | |
| Author | Laurence James |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Deathlands series |
| Genre | Science fiction Post-apocalyptic novel |
| Publisher | Harlequin Enterprises Ltd (USA) |
Publication date | September 1991 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 349 pp |
| ISBN | 0-373-62513-8 (first edition) |
| OCLC | 24306097 |
| Preceded by | Latitude Zero |
| Followed by | Dark Carnival |
Seedling is the thirteenth book in the series of Deathlands . It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
A particularly rough MAT-TRANS jump takes Ryan Cawdor and his friends to a clean, almost immaculate arrival chamber. A cautious exploration of the nearby control room shows it to be similarly clean, free of dust or any form of decay. It is only when Doc Tanner discovers a cup of recently brewed, sweetened coffee that the companions realize the room may have been recently used. Instead of the usual blast doors, the room's exit appears to be some form of airlock; nearby readouts indicate the outside air pressure is very low. Ryan cautiously opens the exterior door in the hopes that the equipment is simply malfunctioning, only to pass out from a sudden drop in oxygen levels. J. B. Dix pulls him to safety before he succumbs, and shuts the airlock door. The demonstrated lack of atmosphere, combined with a lifeless desert view through the airlock portal and mention of "NASA-SEC" on warnings above it, lead all the companions to the same unstated conclusion: they are on another world. Seeing something through the portal that alarms him, Ryan orders his friends into the MAT-TRANS chamber to make another jump. When pressed for what prompted the reaction Ryan can only say he saw something gigantic and alive underneath the desert sand.
The next jump takes them to a partially damaged arrival chamber. Upon examination the redoubt seems ireminiscent of a hidden redoubt the companions previously visited. Numerous earthshifts have blocked of much of this deep-buried redoubt, including the upper reaches of the staircase leading out of it. With no other choice the companions make use of an ancient elevator to reach the exit. Some ten feet from the top it stops functioning as the cables lifting it begin to fray. The companions narrowly escape through the elevator's maintenance hatch, and hang from the snapped cable strands as the elevator drops hundreds of feet to the bottom of the shaft. J. B. blows the door atop the shaft with plas-ex, allowing everyone to swing to safety.
The elevator shaft opens to a destroyed Victorian house in a similarly destroyed city. Ryan guesses it might be the ruins of New York, which is confirmed when the group encounters an armed teen named Dred. Dred explains (at gunpoint) that he is the king of the "turf" the companions are in, which they acknowledge. A truce is established, and Dred takes the group with him to one of his hideouts in the basement of a ruined house. They are later joined by Retha, Dred's "slut". Soon after a small group of mutants - scalies - attack, but are fended off and killed.
Dean Cawdor (introduced)
An airlock is a device which permits the passage of people and objects between a pressure vessel and its surroundings while minimizing the change of pressure in the vessel and loss of air from it. The lock consists of a small chamber with two airtight doors in series which do not open simultaneously.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, also known as Tower of Terror, is an accelerated drop tower dark ride located at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Tokyo DisneySea, Walt Disney Studios Park, and formerly located at Disney California Adventure. The attraction is inspired by Rod Serling's anthology television series, The Twilight Zone, and takes place in the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel in Hollywood, California. The Tokyo version, which features an original storyline not related to The Twilight Zone, takes place in the fictional Hotel Hightower. All three versions place riders in a seemingly ordinary hotel elevator, and present the riders with a fictional backstory in which people have mysteriously disappeared from the elevator under the influence of some supernatural element many years previously.
Roof and tunnel hacking is the unauthorized exploration of roof and utility tunnel spaces. The term carries a strong collegiate connotation, stemming from its use at MIT, where the practice has a long history. It is a form of urban exploration. Some participants use it as a means of carrying out collegiate pranks, by hanging banners from high places or, in one notable example from MIT, placing a life-size model police car on top of a university building. Others are interested in exploring inaccessible and seldom-seen places; that such exploration is unauthorized is often part of the thrill. Roofers, in particular, may be interested in the skyline views from the highest points on a campus. On August 1, 2016, Red Bull TV launched the documentary series URBEX – Enter At Your Own Risk, that also chronicles roof and tunnel hacking.
Deathlands is a series of novels published by Gold Eagle Publishing. The first novel Pilgrimage to Hell was first published in 1986. This series of novels was first written by Christopher Lowder, under the pen name Jack Adrian. Mr. Lowder became ill after developing the plot and writing most of the book. Laurence James, under the pen name James Axler then finished the story.
Pilgrimage to Hell is the first book in the Deathlands Saga of novels. Written by Christopher Lowder under his pen name Jack Adrian and published on May 1, 1986, it follows the adventures of Ryan Cawdor, Krysty Wroth and J.B. Dix, and delves into how they met.
BBC Sound Effects No. 26: Sci-Fi Sound Effects is a 1981 compilation of sound effects and atmospheres created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. It was the second in the BBC Sound Effects series to be credited to the Workshop. It featured sounds from popular television series Doctor Who and Blake's 7, as well as effects for the first series of the radio versions of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and James Follett's Earthsearch. In 1991 it was re-released on CD as Essential Science Fiction Sound Effects Vol. 1. Reissued on CD with its original title and cover as part of AudioGo's "Vintage Beeb" line 4 April 2013.
Red Equinox is the ninth book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Latitude Zero is a science fiction novel by Laurence James, written under the house name James Axler. It is the twelfth book in the series of Deathlands.
Dark Carnival is the fourteenth book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Chill Factor is the fifteenth book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Moon Fate is the sixteenth book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Fury's Pilgrims is the seventeenth book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Shockscape is the eighteenth book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Deep Empire is the nineteenth book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Cold Asylum is the twentieth book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Twilight Children is the twenty-first book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
Rider, Reaper is the twenty-second book in the series of Deathlands. It was written by Laurence James under the house name James Axler.
An elevator or lift is a type of vertical transportation machine that moves people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. Elevators are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems such as a hoist, although some pump hydraulic fluid to raise a cylindrical piston like a jack.
The Brown Building is a ten-story building that is part of the campus of New York University (NYU), which owns it. It is located at 23–29 Washington Place, between Greene Street and Washington Square East in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, and is best known as the location of the March 25, 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which killed 146 people.
The Pfaffenthal Panoramic Elevator is a public elevator in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg which connects the city quarters of Ville Haute, the historical city centre, with Pfaffenthal, in the Alzette River valley below. It offers its passengers panoramic views of the Alzette River valley. The Pfaffenthal elevator, together with the Grund public elevator, and the Pfaffenthal-Kirchberg funicular, form Luxembourg City's three cable transport modes connecting its elevated city with city quarters located in the Alzette and Petrusse river valleys.