This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Authors | Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom |
---|---|
Cover artist | Ron Miller |
Language | English |
Genre | Science fiction |
Publisher | Putnam |
Publication date | 1988 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (Hardcover & paperback) |
ISBN | 0-399-13224-4 |
OCLC | 16313372 |
813/.54 19 | |
LC Class | PS3558.E63 A9 1988 |
Preceded by | The Lazarus Effect |
The Ascension Factor (1988) is the fourth and final science fiction novel set in the Destination: Void universe by the American author Frank Herbert and poet Bill Ransom. It takes place about twenty five years after The Lazarus Effect . It completes the story of the humans descended from those left by the voidship Earthling on the planet Pandora approximately 480 years earlier.
Twenty-five years after the hibernation tanks were retrieved from orbit releasing multiple Earth organisms into Pandora's ecosystem, the sixth Raja Flattery clone, who went into hibernation when the voidship Earthling (from the earlier novel Destination: Void) was launched. Banking on the respect Pandorans bore for his training as a Chaplain/Psychiatrist he has established himself as a totalitarian dictator styling himself "the Director". He maintains some semblance of order through violent suppression of opposition and government control of food production and distribution, often withholding rations to suppress attempted popular revolts. He also controls mass media including fake news reports blaming rebel activity for mass murder of civilians and food destruction when murders are perpetrated by his own security forces and the food is not destroyed as it is safely in underground government storage silos. Towards the end of the book, the protagonists speculate that there is no organised resistance, merely individual people engaging in one off acts of disobedience, that serve to disrupt Flattery's control.
Current Control, which uses electrical stimulation to make navigable pathways through the sea kelp as well as literally controlling worldwide oceanic currents to prevent rogue waves that would otherwise result from Pandora's binary stars destroying land settlements, is located in an orbital space station. It is headed by Dwarf MacIntosh, one of the few humans from the hyb tanks to survive long after they opened and along with Flattery the only one still alive. MacIntosh chose his position to get away from Flattery.
Flattery has instigated a research and manufacture programme to result in the launch of a voidship so he can escape Pandora. To this end he ordered the assassination of Alyssa Marsh, a kelp researcher and one of the last three humans who survived the hyb tank opening and Flattery's former lover who rejected him. Flattery personally stripped Marsh's flesh and removed her brain for use as an Organic Mental Core (OMC). While the original voidship program used OMCs that the designers knew would go insane forcing the crew to develop an artificial intelligence in order to survive (this led to the creation of Ship in the earlier books), Flattery does not want to risk another AI and believes that by giving the OMC sensory inputs and the ability to speak it will not go mad. Unbeknownst to Flattery and the child, Marsh was impregnated by him and gave birth to a child, Yuri Brood. Brood is a captain in the security forces. As part of his propaganda, Flattery orders a holovision news reporter, Beatriz Tatoosh, to accompany the OMC as it sent into orbit. To ensure compliance, Flattery orders the murder of Beatriz's crew who are replaced by a security team led by Brood.
Ben Ozette, another journalist, has been allowed to do a series of articles on Crista Galli. Crista arrived mysteriously from out of the kelp as an approximately 20-year-old woman. Flattery fears the kelp, which one of his predecessors nearly eradicated from Pandora, and thus Crista who has been affected by kelp in unknown ways. He keeps her heavily sedated and has her injected with a series of "medicines" that are actually a chemical that will develop into a fatal neurotoxin killing anyone who touches her if the injections stop. This is both propaganda against the kelp which he claims is dangerous and a mechanism designed to have her returned to his care if she escapes or is abducted. Ben uses his access to free Crista.
While fleeing in a hydrofoil, the boat's door is opened and the scent of Crista reaches a giant stand of blue kelp. Unlike other kelp that has been returning to sentience and creating colour light displays which is then bombed by the humans on Flattery's standing order to prevent it becoming intelligent, this stand of wild kelp has refrained from giving indication of its awakening, instead growing to huge size on the periphery of controlled kelp. This kelp likens its awareness to a brain damaged human, knowing that it should have greater capacity than it does but having holes it its awareness. On detecting the familiar scent, the kelp configures itself to force the hydrofoil into itself, the oceans being so densely filled with kelp that pathways (created by Current Control) are the only way to navigate. On the way, Ben's holograph technician is lost overboard presumed killed by the kelp. Withdrawn from her fake medicine, Ben is nearly killed by contacting Crista's poison exuding body. Contact with Crista's bare skin also gives Ben an altered state of shared consciousness wherein he gains access to information known to the kelp and to Crista and to all creatures the kelp has contacted.
On board the Orbiter, McIntosh notices the overt actions of the kelp and states that the wild kelp is large enough that it could overwhelm Current Control if it wished. He, Beatriz, and the Orbiter's crew combat Flattery's security forces even to the point where the security forces threaten to destroy the Marsh OMC.
Flattery's master assassin, Spider Nevi, and his chief of Security, Zentz, manage to track Ben and Crista when they make landfall in a region outside Flattery's control. This region is home to Zavatans, members of a pacifistic religion, including Queets Twisp (a fisherman from the previous book) who have organised a vast food production network as well as a vast number of refugees. Their food is produced undercover or underground, using the same biotechnology the Islanders used to feed their living island ships. They deliberately expose small and meagre crops to deceive Flattery's aerial reconnaissance. About to be killed, Crista and Ben are instead hidden from the sight of Flattery's agents by some sort of hologram that vastly exceeds human technology levels. Crista and Ben learn that the technician Rico is alive and that the kelp has in a very short amount of learned from him about holography and extended it. The kelp is even able to add some sort of physical component that resists lasers and is able to add tactile element. The presence of kelp fibres in the computer systems of the Orbiter allows the kelp to extend this effect into the Orbiter so that people on Pandora and the Orbiter can touch.
Despite widespread uprisings seeking revenge on Flattery, the kelp declares that Flattery is not to be killed. Instead he is encapsulated by the kelp and kept alive to be a prisoner of his own selfishness. Through the same shared consciousness this is witnessed by the world's whole human population.
Through the shared Avata consciousness Tweegs learns that Ben and Crista are destined to improve life on Pandora. Brood is to earn redemption by, having learned of his parentage through the altered consciousness, tending to his mother as the OMC onboard the Voidship Nietzsche as she dictates to him a manual of proper human behaviour. MacIntosh and Beatriz are to take themselves, other humans and the symbiotic shared consciousness Avata to a new planet far away from Pandora whose days are numbered.
Destination: Void is a science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, the first of four novels in the Pandora Sequence series. It first appeared in Galaxy Magazine—illustrated by John Giunta—in August 1965, under the title "Do I Wake or Dream?", but was published in book form as Destination: Void the following year. A revised edition, edited and updated by the author, was released in 1978. The book stands alone but the story is continued - and embellished with more details of the Moonbase project and the history of the clones - in Herbert's other novels The Jesus Incident, The Lazarus Effect and The Ascension Factor, co-authored by Bill Ransom.
The Lazarus Effect (1983) is the third science fiction novel set in the Destination: Void universe by the American author Frank Herbert and poet Bill Ransom. It takes place some time after the events in The Jesus Incident (1979).
The Jesus Incident (1979) is the second science fiction novel set in the Destination: Void universe by the American author Frank Herbert and poet Bill Ransom. It is a sequel to Destination: Void (1965), and has two sequels: The Lazarus Effect (1983) and The Ascension Factor (1988).
Saturniidae, members of which are commonly named the saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and giant silk moths.
The Brood are a fictional race of insectoid, parasitic, extraterrestrial beings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, especially Uncanny X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum, they first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #155.
X-Men: The End is a 2004-2006 trilogy of miniseries published by Marvel Comics, detailing the last days of the X-Men and their adventures in an alternative future. The series, which was part of Marvel's The End line of books, was written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Sean Chen, with cover art by Greg Land and Gene Ha.
Jikuu Senshi Spielban is a Japanese tokusatsu television series, part of the Metal Hero Series franchise created by Toei Co. Ltd. and aired from April 7, 1986 to March 9, 1987. Spielban's footage was used for Saban’s live-action series, VR Troopers.
Sky Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours. She made her first screen appearance during the episode broadcast on 1 February 1989. The character was originally played by Miranda Fryer until 1991. When Sky was reintroduced on 13 August 2003, Stephanie McIntosh took over the role. She departed on 3 August 2007. McIntosh reprised her role as part of the show's 30th anniversary celebrations on 20 March 2015. She returned for a longer stint as part of the 35th anniversary on 13 March 2020, and made an unannounced cameo appearance in the final episode on 28 July 2022, though her appearance was only broadcast in the Australian cut of the episode. McIntosh reprised the role again on 3 July 2024 before departing again on 4 July 2024.
Marine ecosystems are the largest of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and exist in waters that have a high salt content. These systems contrast with freshwater ecosystems, which have a lower salt content. Marine waters cover more than 70% of the surface of the Earth and account for more than 97% of Earth's water supply and 90% of habitable space on Earth. Seawater has an average salinity of 35 parts per thousand of water. Actual salinity varies among different marine ecosystems. Marine ecosystems can be divided into many zones depending upon water depth and shoreline features. The oceanic zone is the vast open part of the ocean where animals such as whales, sharks, and tuna live. The benthic zone consists of substrates below water where many invertebrates live. The intertidal zone is the area between high and low tides. Other near-shore (neritic) zones can include mudflats, seagrass meadows, mangroves, rocky intertidal systems, salt marshes, coral reefs, lagoons. In the deep water, hydrothermal vents may occur where chemosynthetic sulfur bacteria form the base of the food web.
The Acanti are a race of fictional whale-like, extraterrestrial beings appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They have appeared in Uncanny X-Men within the Marvel Comics universe. They were created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum. Many of them were enslaved by the Brood empire.
Between the Strokes of Night (1985) is a science fiction novel by English-American writer Charles Sheffield. It first appeared in the March to June 1985 issues of Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact before being published by Baen Books in July 1985. The story is divided into two vastly separated periods: the near future of 2010, and the far future of 29,000 AD. Owing to the unique technological mechanisms of the novel, the same cast of characters appears in both parts, though it is not a time travel story.
O Beijo do Vampiro is a Brazilian telenovela that was produced and aired by Rede Globo from August 26, 2002 to May 3, 2003, totaling 215 chapters, substituting Desejos de Mulher and preceding Kubanacan.
In the 2009 science-fiction film Avatar, director James Cameron conceived a fictional universe in which humans seek to mine unobtanium on the fictional habitable moon Pandora. The Earth-like moon is inhabited by a sapient indigenous humanoid species called the Na'vi, as well as varied fauna and flora. Resources Development Administration scientists, administrators, recruits, support, and security personnel travel to Pandora in the 22nd century to discover this beautiful, lush world, which is inhabited by many lifeforms including the human-like Na'vi. The clan with which the humans have contact in the film lives "in a giant tree that sits on a vast store of a mineral called unobtainium, which humans want as an energy supply."
Jake Sully, or Tsyeyk te Suli in the Naʼvi language, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American epic science fiction film franchise Avatar, created by James Cameron. Portrayed by Sam Worthington in Avatar (2009) and its sequels, including Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) and the currently untitled upcoming Avatar 3, Avatar 4, and Avatar 5.
"The Bringers of Wonder, Part Two" is the 19th episode of the second series of Space: 1999. The screenplay was written by Terence Feely; the director was Tom Clegg. The final shooting script is dated 23 June 1976. Live-action filming took place Wednesday 25 August 1976 through Tuesday 28 September 1976. A day of second-unit filming was completed on Tuesday 30 November 1976. This was the series' only two-part episode.
Star Appeal (星星相吸惜) is a 2004 Chinese gay-themed science fiction film, by Chinese film director Cui Zi'en. The film was recorded on video rather than film, using a series of long, static shots. The main characters are E.T. and his Chinese friend, Xiao Bo, and the film reveals the full-frontal nudity of both characters.
The Dark Forest is a 2008 science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. It is the sequel to the Hugo Award-winning novel The Three-Body Problem in the trilogy titled Remembrance of Earth's Past, but Chinese readers generally refer to the series by the title of the first novel. The English version, translated by Joel Martinsen, was published in 2015. The novel is about the dark forest hypothesis, a possible solution to the Fermi paradox, though similar theories have been described as early as 1983.
Death's End is a science fiction novel by the Chinese writer Liu Cixin. It is the third novel in the trilogy titled Remembrance of Earth's Past, following the Hugo Award-winning novel The Three-Body Problem and its sequel, The Dark Forest. The original Chinese version was published in 2010. Ken Liu translated the English edition in 2016. It was a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel and winner of the 2017 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
Alien: Out of the Shadows is a 2014 novel written by Tim Lebbon and published by Titan Books. Set between Alien and Aliens, the book chronicles Ellen Ripley's involvement in a Xenomorph outbreak on the planet LV-178 and the mining vessel in orbit above it. The survivors' attempts to escape the creatures are further complicated by Ash, whose A.I. consciousness has survived inside Narcissus, the shuttle that brought Ripley to them.
Parasites appear frequently in biology-inspired fiction from ancient times onwards, with a flowering in the nineteenth century. These include intentionally disgusting alien monsters in science fiction films, often with analogues in nature. Authors and scriptwriters have, to some extent, exploited parasite biology: lifestyles including parasitoid, behaviour-altering parasite, brood parasite, parasitic castrator, and many forms of vampire are found in books and films. Some fictional parasites, like Count Dracula and Alien's Xenomorphs, have become well known in their own right.