|
V
Death Tide
Novel
Written by A.C. Crispin and Deborah A. Marshall
(The page numbers come from the 1st printing, paperback edition,
published July 1985) |
Science Frontiers develops a new strain of
the red dust; Donovan's ex-wife comes back into his life.
Story Summary
Chapter 1: Current Events
Julie flies in a helicopter to Catalina Island, off the coast of California, to assist the Science Frontiers scientists there
working on a new strain of the red dust bacteria that grows in sea kelp. On the
mainland, Maggie Blodgett, Chris, and Tyler attempt to hijack a shipment of
Visitor power packs to power their laser guns and skyfighters, but it goes awry,
with the shipment destroyed and Chris blinded by an alien's venom. Meanwhile,
Nathan Bates is also missing the power packs, as the computers and security
systems of Science Frontiers have been modified to run on them. He places a call
to Diana on the mothership and they engage in a verbal thrust-and-parry.
Diana receives a message from the Great Leader: the homeworld is in crisis and
she and her forces are to reactivate the desalinization plants on Earth to
increase water intake for immediate delivery to the homeworld. A special ship to
ferry the water back is on its way to Earth.
Chapter 2: Class Act
The water ship arrives and Diana briefs the new recruits on the current
status of the occupation of Earth. Then her senior biologist, Bernard, informs
her that he and his team have learned of the resistance scientists' new strain
of the red dust bacteria. They've found that it enters the sea water through the kelp's
by-products...and that the Visitors can't filter it out!
Chapter 3: Wishes, Dreams and Nightmares
Chris is on the mend from his encounter with lizard venom, but it turns out that
besides its regular poisonous properties, he is also allergic to it! His
eyesight recovery will take longer than most. Maggie visits him at his house for
the first time and learns more about the former CIA spook.
Julie returns to the mainland and informs the resistance gang at the Club Creole
that they are making good progress with the new bacteria, but she is feeling ill
herself.
Back on Catalina, the Visitors invade the lab, killing all of the remaining
scientists there.
Chapter 4: Matters for Confession
Tyler volunteers Donovan to make a delivery of supplies to the New York
resistance group White Christmas in exchange for some of their power packs.
Meanwhile, Julie confides to Robin that she thinks she may be pregnant with
Donovan's child.
Chapter 5: Connecting Flight
Donovan heads for New York in the group's captured shuttlecraft, despite its
power pack's low charge. He runs into bad weather over
Pennsylvania and expends the power pack's charge fighting it, forced to almost
crash-land a few miles short of his goal, the Brook Cove Lab. But the Brook Cove
scientists spot his
descent and pick him up. Donovan stays in New York for 4 days while their
engineers repair the shuttlecraft and he enjoys the comfortable life in a free New
York. He is reacquainted with fellow newscaster Denise Daltrey among the members
of White Christmas and she offers him a job with her at CBS if he stays.
Chapter 6: Conflicts of Interest
Diana brings Marjorie Donovan--Mike Donovan's ex-wife--out of hibernation and
uses her new conversion process on her...no more left-handed tell! She plans to
use the woman to put an end to Donovan's interference. Speaking of Donovan, he
heads back to L.A. with a promise to Denise that he'll think about her job
offer. Shortly after arrival, he arranges dinner with Julie at her apartment,
but Marjorie calls him there.
Chapter 7: New Friends, Old Friends
Over the phone,
Marjorie tells Donovan she was one of the captives released from hibernation when
the L.A. mothership was captured over a year ago and that she had just needed
some time to find herself and had been recently working with the resistance in
Denver; Donovan rushes out of Julie's apartment to meet her, leaving Julie
feeling left out in the cold. The two continue to meet several times over the course
of the next week. She has landed a job at the Visitor legation and has learned
that a shipment of power packs is soon to be delivered to Science Frontiers.
Meanwhile, Maggie has continued to care for Chris during his recovery and to the
surprise of them both, the two have begun to fall in love.
Chapter 8: Bad Relations
Donovan and Julie meet for lunch, but there is a distance between them now that
Marjorie is back in the picture. On the mothership, Bernard has come up with a
method to extract the red dust bacteria-variant from kelp, but the powder that
performs the aliens' miracle is also volatile and explosive in the air! He receives orders to
begin manufacturing the stuff in one of the Visitors' warehouses in Long Beach
so the sea near L.A. can be cleansed and the water desalinized for delivery to
the homeworld.
Chapter 9: Power Plays
The resistance pulls off a heist of the power packs, not realizing it is a
set-up by Diana to crush the resistance.
Chapter 10: Room for Discussion
Under all the pressure from Diana, Bernard decides to take a break from what he
has come to call Operation Red Dust. He drops into the Club Creole for a drink
and Willie gets him drunk on a strange, Visitor-esque concoction, pumping him for information. That
night, the resistance has a party at the Club to celebrate the acquisition of
the power packs.
Chapter 11: Turnabouts
As the party begins to wind down, Julie discovers Marjorie emerging from the
secret doorway in the kitchen, leading to the speakeasy resistance headquarters, with
a Visitor device in her hand. Julie stops her and the remaining resistance
members try to pump the ex-Mrs. Donovan for information, but she won't (or
can't) speak. But, in a single moment of letting their guard down, Marjorie
grabs back the device and makes a run for it, escaping.
Chapter 12: Contingency Plans
The next morning, at Science Frontiers, Nathan Bates is furious with Diana that
the shipment of power packs was hijacked, depriving him and his business of
much-needed power. Diana assures him she has already arranged for a new shipment
to him due to arrive tomorrow. Julie is also present to overhear the
communication as Diana comments that her people will be conducting some tests on
the oceanfront tonight. Julie knows it must be related to the "Operation Red
Dust" which Willie learned about from Bernard.
Chapter 13: Win Some, Lose Some
The resistance prepares for an assault on the Long Beach docks to stop Diana's
Operation Red Dust. Meanwhile, Marjorie has spent the last couple days wandering
homeless around L.A., resisting the urge to report her findings to Diana. But
she runs into a Visitor patrol on the streets and her willpower is unable to
stop her converted mind from reporting in to them.
Chapter 14: Battle Readiness
Kyle and Robin head out together to take part in the resistance assault on the
docks, leaving Elizabeth behind at his house for her own protection. But the
Star Child grabs one of his spare motorcycles and heads out after them.
Chapter 15: Night Moves
The resistance makes its move against the Visitor warehouse and pier in Long
Beach, but are ambushed and caught before they can do any damage. Marjorie
Donovan is there as well, having sold them out. She is about to tell Diana where
the resistance headquarters is located when Elizabeth is suddenly brought in by
guards, having been captured herself. Diana is beside herself with pleasure at
the achievements this night. The Visitors and their captives exit the warehouse
to commence with the depositing of the defoliant into the ocean.
Chapter 16: The Tide Turns
As they're about to commence, Elizabeth suddenly screams, "No!" and the barrels
of the volatile defoliant start flying off the conveyer belt, crashing to the ground and
exploding. Many of the aliens are killed, while others flee or dive into the
ocean to escape the flames and debris. Marjorie Donovan is hit by shards that
penetrate into her back, shattering her spine. She dies in Donovan's arms,
unable to speak.
Chapter 17: Afterwords
Diana, of course, survives the conflagration. On the mothership, Lydia gleefully
revels in her Commander's failure and informs her that Bernard was killed and
that he apparently sought to protect his position in the fleet by omitting from
his notes the formula for the defoliant of Operation Red Dust; they can't make
more of it. And the Commander of the Iranian mothership reports that he'll be
able to meet the Leader's quota of water by himself, further humiliating Diana.
Julie finally has time to see the doctor and she learns she has suffered a
miscarriage. At her apartment, she tells Donovan about it and they have a warm
reconciliation from the tension of the past few weeks. Donovan picks up Julie's
phone to call Denise Daltrey; he'll be staying in L.A. after all.
THE END
Didja Notice?
The cover image of a mothership over the
ocean seems to show three lights (or possibly blasts of jet
exhaust) coming from the ship down to the ocean; not sure why
those would be there.
On page 1, Julie is working on a new red dust
variant at a Science Frontiers lab on Catalina Island off the
coast of California. This is a real island located about 22
miles southwest of Los Angeles. The island will later become the
main HQ of the L.A. resistance in
"Conquest at Any Cost".
Page 2 mentions that Julie was a 4th year medical
student at UCLA when the Visitors first arrived a couple years
earlier (UCLA is the
University of California Los Angeles).
But "Arrival" describes her as a 2nd
year medical student at the time. Page 5 tells us that after V-day, Julie completed school and
received a PhD in biochemistry. Doesn't that mean she is not a
medical doctor, despite her occasional claims to be during the
series? This is confirmed later on in the book.
Page 2 also reveals that, similar to the question "Where were
you the day President John F. Kennedy was shot?", a popular
question has arisen since the aliens arrival: "What were you
doing when the Visitors arrived?"
Page 3 again refers to Julie watching Dan Rather deliver the
news on TV of the Visitors' arrival, as Crispin did in her
novelization of the mini-series. The televised episodes used
Howard K. Smith instead.
Page 3 also maintains the strange resonance of the Visitors'
voices, as most of the novels and comic books do, unlike the
weekly series which dropped the effect.
Page 3 mentions that pure, liquid water seems to be a rare
commodity in this portion of the Milky Way galaxy.
Page 4 reveals that the laser gun injury Julie sustained in
"Visitors, Victims and Victory" still
pains her during damp weather.
On page 5, Julie muses on the current similarity between
"open-city" L.A. and
Casablanca in the film Casablanca.
Page 6 reveals that it is bladder kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana)
in which the new red dust bacteria is able to thrive.
Page 7 reintroduces resistance fighter Maggie Blodgett from the
V: The Final Battle
mini-series and last seen in the novel
Prisoners and Pawns.
Page 8 reveals that Maggie is from Encino, a district of Los
Angeles, and that Chris is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Page 9 tells us that this novel takes place in July.
Page 9 also reveals that the Visitors have imposed restrictions
on automobile traffic in L.A. Presumably, this occurred with the
cooperation of Bates' provisional government.
Throughout the book Maggie tries to stump Chris with a Visitor joke
he hasn't heard before. They are listed below:
What do Visitors call joggers? Fast food.
What do you call the Visitor who owns a pet shop? Well fed.
What do Visitors call two boys and a girl? A sandwich.
Why did the Visitor eat the punk-rock biker? Roughage.
(I'm not sure I get the joke, but "roughage" may refer to the
metal studs and spikes worn by the stereotypical punker or
biker.)
Page 14 reintroduces Elias' father Caleb Taylor. He was one of
the main characters in the two mini-series and appeared in the
novel The Pursuit of
Diana, but did not appear in
any of the weekly series episodes.
Page 16 suggests that Bates is the head of L.A.'s provisional
government, which makes sense given the power he seems to wield
in the city after striking his deal with Diana (although in
"Alien Conflict" Bates refers
to himself as merely a liaison to the city council).
Page 16 also reveals that Bates has had the power sources for
Science Frontiers' computers and security systems converted to
the Visitors' power packs. Page 8 tells us that the palm-sized
power packs contain atomic batteries; attempts to open the packs
up by human researchers had resulted in explosions the size of a city block.
On page 17, Diana recalls the last time she had been with the
Great Leader in the privacy of his hunting lodge.
On page 19, Diana muses on the things she misses about the
homeworld, among them "the shouts and games of the children
during the water rituals". What are the water rituals?
On page 20, Kyle imagines that Elizabeth is like a Dresden
figurine. A Dresden figurine is a finely detailed and delicate
porcelain figure, usually of a man or woman. The first such
figurines were sold in Dresden, Germany from the 1700s onward,
though now are made throughout the world.
Page 21 elaborates on the revelation in the
V-Mail column of
V #3 ("Encounter")
that Kyle's mother suffered a nervous breakdown. Here, we learn
that this happened when Kyle was 8 years old. She was
hospitalized and has been there ever since, alone with her
thoughts, with no one able to reach her in all that time.
Page 21 also reveals that Kyle, as he got older, not only got
into motorcycle racing but, also, gangs!
On page 23, Donovan shops at a
Safeway
supermarket. This is an actual supermarket chain in the U.S.,
Canada, and a few other countries.
Page 23 reveals that the Visitors have acquired a taste for
human booze and candy, contributing to shortages and high prices on
the two vices.
Page 23 also reveals that Bates and the Visitors are imposing
high sales taxes on items in L.A.
Page 24 reveals that Donovan was an anchorman with NBC's L.A.
affiliate during the year after V-day. In the real world, L.A.'s
NBC affiliate is KNBC 4, but in the premiere episode of the
weekly series he works for fictional KDHB 6.
On page 26, Diana muses that many of the new recruits who've
arrived probably "enjoyed one last submersion in the love-pits
before making their journey to Earth". Yowza! What are the
love-pits?
Page 26 indicates that the Visitor homeworld has multiple moons.
Page 26 also reveals, per the new recruits, that the Leader had
just emerged from his most recent molt.
Page 27 mentions one of the new recruits attempting to speak in
the Visitors' native language with her altered vocal apparatus.
Does this imply that all Visitors deployed have had their
biological vocal apparatus' altered? If so, for what purpose?
Would their voices be even stranger than the reverberation they
currently have without the alteration? This page in the novel
also informs the reader that the recruit's human mask tears at
the mouth in her attempt to speak the Visitors' tongue, as in
the V mini-series
novelization and the novel East Coast
Crisis.
On page 28, Diana, in her debriefing speech to the new recruits,
tells them that they must wear the human disguises due to the
humans' intolerance of those of different appearance.
Page 28 reveals that both the Nile and Amazon rivers are
diminishing day-by-day due to the water pumping efforts of the
Visitors.
Page 28 mentions two human processing plants in Newark, New
Jersey that were destroyed by resistance fighters.
Page 28 also mentions that the city of Beirut, Lebanon was
obliterated by a nuclear device set off by local human forces,
destroying the mothership there (and its commander, Abdul) in
the process.
As Diana's debriefing of the new recruits continues on page 29,
images of a number of known resistance members are flashed on a
large screen. Among them is Sancho Gomez, the yard-keeper turned
rebel who appeared in the two mini-series.
Page 33 mentions that Bill Kendall, one of the scientists at the
Catalina lab, is an avid collector of Depression glass.
Depression glass is a term for cheap, generally low-quality
glassware which was distributed for free, or at low prices, as
purchase incentives by producers of other goods in the U.S.
during the Great Depression. Since the 1960s, Depression glass
has become quite collectible.
On page 33, Amelia Anderson mentions Symphony Number Fifteen to
Bill Kendall. There are several works known as such, but given
that Kendall is described as being a fan of Mozart, it most
likely refers to Mozart's Symphony No. 15 in G Major from 1772.
Page 33 mentions Maalox and Di-Gel, both antacids. Di-Gel was
popular in the 1970s-80s but appears to no longer be in
production.
Page 34 mentions Avalon. Avalon is the only city on Catalina
Island, though there are three small towns there as well.
Also on page 34, Dr. Halpern mentions that the bison on the
island were originally brought there in the 1920s for the
shooting of a silent film. This is true. In 1924 the silent film
The Vanishing American, written by renowned Western
author Zane Grey, was shot on Catalina. When filming completed,
the bison were left behind and they survived and multiplied. Dr.
Halpern says there are several hundred bison on the island,
which was probably true at the time this novel was written.
Nowadays the population is carefully maintained at 150-200
individuals as ecologically sound for the island's environment.
Page 35 implies that Julie did not complete her medical degree,
choosing instead to pursue research and page 137 confirms this.
Page 35 reveals that Elizabeth has no tear ducts! Later on in
the book, it is revealed that the Visitors do not possess tear
ducts.
Page 37 establishes Willie's habit of concocting bizarre drinks,
just as seen in some episodes of the weekly series. Here it is
said that he is attempting to create a new beverage appealing
to the Visitor palate.
Page 38 reveals that Chris is essentially allergic to Visitor
venom.
On page 39, Tyler chugs down Willie's blended concoction, which
consists in part of several kinds of liquor, milk, mustard,
peanut butter, and mayonnaise. Tyler comments that he's tasted
worse in Saigon.
On page 39, Tyler mentions having been in Saigon in the past.
Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam, where Tyler fought in the
war.
On page 40, Willie says that the Visitors are the Club Creole's
best tippers! (Actually, he says they're the best strippers and
Elias corrects him.)
Also on page 40, Julie refers to the new strain of anti-Visitor
bacteria as "red dust number two".
Page 42 reveals that Chris has a little Shih Tzu dog. The dog's
name is Druid because he worships trees.
Page 42 reveals that Chris has a large and eclectic collection of
books in his house, including three shelves devoted to the U.S.
Civil War and 2 shelves to England. There is also a copy of
Carpentry for Fun and Profit, which is not a real book as
far as I can find.
Page 44 reveals that Chris owns a copy of the book,
Watership Down. This is a real book, an epic fantasy of
anthropomorphized rabbits. (Note also that this segment of the
chapter ends with Maggie asking about
Watership Down, segueing into the first sentence of the
next segment, describing a brown rabbit in a cage at the
Catalina lab.)
Page 49 reveals that crivits don't like water.
Page 52 tells us that Willie's latest blender concoction is
popular with the Visitors.
Also on page 52, Tyler tells Donovan he looks like he could use
a vacation in New York and Donovan replies they're "fresh out of
matter transporters and ruby slippers." The reference to matter
transporters may be a reference to
Star Trek, of which author
Crispin wrote a few novels. "Ruby slippers" refers to the ruby
slippers worn by Dorothy in the 1939 classic film The Wizard of
Oz; at the end of the film, Dorothy clicks the heels of her
ruby
shoes together three times and repeats "There's no place like
home," to return to her home in Kansas.
On page 53, Tyler refers to the resistance's skyfighter as "the
lizard buggy".
Page 54 describes Julie's apartment as being near Santa Monica
and on the 4th floor of the building.
Page 54 also mentions that Robin's short-cropped hair was an
attempt to make her less recognizable to any Visitors who might
be searching for her on Diana's behalf.
On page 55, Robin watches Julie's VW Rabbit pull up to the curb.
We saw Julie driving a Rabbit in the original mini-series;
presumably this is the same one.
Page 56 reveals that there are rumors from the Seattle
underground that the Visitors have been tampering with human
contraceptives, presumably so that more babies will be born for
food!
Page 58 mentions both the White Christmas resistance group and
Brook Cove Lab, both originally appearing in the novel
East Coast
Crisis.
On page 59, as he prepares for his supply run to New York, Donovan
reflects that he's become a Purolator courier.
Purolator is a
Canadian courier company.
Page 59 also implies that Tyler is a Broadway fan (this may be a
reference back to Tyler's Shakespeare conversation with Ruby in
"The Masterpiece") and Donovan
half-jokingly offers to pick up a copy of Variety for
him in New York.
Variety is a tabloid covering the
entertainment trade. Later in the book, we learn that Donovan
did, in fact, bring back a copy of the latest issue for Tyler to
peruse.
On page 60 we learn a bit more about Donovan's parents. Eleanor
grew up in a little hick town in Louisiana and she married his
father partly for his money. His father was Patrick Donovan and
he died a few years ago, after which Eleanor married rich
industrialist Arthur Dupres.
Page 62 reveals that the San Francisco resistance network has
learned that Sean Donovan was in a Visitor-run camp for boys in
Northern California. Later, on page 187, Diana tells Marjorie
that Sean is at a camp near Carmel-Monterey, but there is no
guarantee she was telling the truth. The
Carmel-Monterey area of the California coast is south of San
Francisco.
Page 62 also refers to Sean as being 12-years old, which would
correspond to the age he would be at this time from his given
age of 10 in the mini-series, unlike the weekly series which
advanced his age to 15 without explanation.
As Donovan fights the skyfighter controls during the storm while
flying to New York on page 63, he wonders if he'll wind up in
Oz. This is another reference to
The Wizard of
Oz; the character of Dorothy found herself in the land of
Oz when a hurricane picked her Kansas home up into the air and
dropped it there.
Page 64 mentions a John Deere tractor. The
John Deere company is the leading manufacturer of
agricultural equipment in the world.
Page 65 reveals that Donovan has had stories published in
Life
magazine.
On page 68 Hannah says that Julie's description of Donovan made
her expect a cross between Indiana Jones and Bob Woodward.
Indiana Jones, of course, refers to the famous archaeologist
adventure character appearing in films, books, and comics. Bob
Woodward is an award-winning journalist for
The Washington
Post, best known for his contributions with fellow
journalist Carl Bernstein to the Watergate scandal articles.
On page 70, Donovan goes to the see Cats on Broadway.
Cats is a musical play that premiered in 1981, based on T.S. Eliot's book
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
Page 70 mentions Times Square. Times Square is a major
intersection in Manhattan known for it's huge and colorful ad
displays and has become a symbol of New York also known as the
Crossroads of the World.
Also on page 70, Donovan finds that, in New York, he is still
worshipped as a hero of the first war against the Visitors.
Page 70 also mentions that White Christmas resistance member
Pete Forsythe is completing his medical studies at
Cornell
Medical Center.
Page 71 reveals that the professional baseball leagues have been
dissolved. Presumably this is meant to indicate a second
period of dissolution. The earlier novel
East Coast
Crisis revealed that the leagues had been dissolved
during the first Visitor occupation that took place during the
two mini-series, but were reinstated at the President's order
after the aliens were chased off Earth by the red dust.
Page 75 reveals that L.A. dollars and New York dollars are no
longer the same.
On page 76, Donovan is eating Risotto. Risotto is an Italian
rice dish also containing broth, parmesan cheese, and other
ingredients.
Page 78 reveals that Visitor shuttlecraft contain a toilet
closet that works pretty much the same as human ones.
Page 78 also reveals that Lydia was originally assigned to work
in Great Britain (hence her British accent) but was reassigned
to southern California. She states that her human "bodysuit" was
thermally designed for Britain's climate, not L.A!
Page 78 also reveals that Willie's last mating with a female of
his species resulted in disappointment from a genetic
standpoint, so he had been permitted only short-term,
recreational coupling.
Page 87 mentions a Neil Diamond record playing in the
background. Diamond is a popular American singer-songwriter who
has been performing since the 1960s.
On page 92 Marjorie tells Donovan she had been working in Denver
under an assumed name as an editorial assistant at a newspaper
for the past year. This is likely a fabrication concocted by
Diana to explain her absence.
On page 93, Marjorie says that during the past year she used to
see Donovan's face on television every night when he was the
anchor on a national news broadcast. This would seem to conflict
with the earlier statement on page 24 that he worked for the
local L.A. affiliate of NBC. NBC's national newscast is
broadcast from New York.
Page 96 mentions Redondo Beach. This is a real beach and city in
southern California.
Page 96 also mentions
Taco Bell, a popular fast-food restaurant
chain serving Mexican food throughout the U.S. and many other
countries.
Page 96 reveals that Marjorie Donovan has a sister named Patty
in Ventura.
Page 99 mentions a Visitor land-patrol vehicle. It is not
described except that it emits a low-pitched whine.
While they remain holed up in his house when the Visitors scout
his neighborhood on page 101, Chris does some impersonations to
entertain Maggie. He impersonates James Cagney, Jimmy Stewart,
Cary Grant, and Henry Fonda as Mr. Roberts. Chris must be a fan
of old movies because these were all old actors even in the 1980s
when this novel was written. Henry Fonda's Mr. Roberts character
is from the 1955 film of the same name.
On page 104, Marjorie asks Donovan to meet her in an alley near
Vallejo Street, about 8 blocks from the Visitor legation. This
may suggest the Visitor legation is near the Lincoln Heights
area of Los Angeles.
Page 118 reveals that Robin's younger sisters Polly and Katie
have been staying with their Aunt Rebecca in Chicago. (This may
be why Robin heads to Chicago when she
later decides to get away from Los Angeles in
"The
Rescue").
Page 118 also reveals that Robin and Elizabeth are both studying
for their GED test (General Education Development). When passed,
the test certifies the person has at least high school level
academic skills. Given how Elizabeth is described as having a
genius level intellect in the V
novelization, it doesn't seem likely she would need to study
much. Maybe she is secretly doing it more to help her mother
than anything else. Of course, the weekly series also downplays
the intellectual skills of the Star Child in favor of mystical
powers, which may explain the seeming discrepancy.
On page 120, Donovan and Tyler are waiting on a side street off
Wilshire Boulevard, about four miles from Science Frontiers, to
hijack the shipment of power packs. The distance given between
Wilshire and Science Frontiers seems to jibe just about right
with the possible location of SF in Whittier indicated on Nathan
Bates' wall map in "The Dissident".
On page 124, Donovan thinks the odor of charred Visitor skin
from a laser blast is like a barbecued chicken smell. Do the
lizards taste like chicken?
On page 126, Kyle is waiting for the hijacked van on his
motorcycle in an alley off New Hampshire Avenue, a half-block
from Wilshire Boulevard. Looking on
Google Maps, there is only
one place that fits the description of Kyle's hideout. The alley
slightly above the middle of the screenshot below is a
half-block north of Wilshire on New Hampshire (click to
embiggen). In fact, pages 125-130 give a detailed description of
the chase as another Visitor vehicle pursues the hijacked van,
complete with street names and other locations so that you can
actually follow the chase along a map, ending at the famous
La
Brea Tar Pits.
Also on page 126, Kyle ponders his relationship with Elizabeth,
thinking that he loves her in a cautious, protective sort of
way, but couldn't imagine treating her like a human woman and
making love to her. Ironically, it's implied he does manage to
"force" himself to make love to her shortly later in
"Alien Conflict".
(This is one of the aspects of the story that helps me to place
it at this particular point in the chronology; it must take
place before Kyle and Elizabeth have made love, but after
Donovan's encounter with Klaus in
"The Sanction" since that is mentioned in this novel.)
The statues of three mastodons described in, and on the shore
of, the pits on page 128 is accurate of the La Brea Tar Pits
site as it exists as an educational attraction.
On page 130, Tyler makes a reference to a Roach Motel. In this
case, Roach Motel is the brand name of roach traps made by the
Black Flag
company.
On page 131, after their mishap at the car wash, Marjorie says
they "look like an Ivory Soap commercial gone crazy". Ivory Soap
is a well-known soap brand throughout the world.
On page 133, Visitor botanist Bernard uses the phrase "breathing
over your crest" in the same way humans use "breathing down your
neck".
On page 137, Kyle jokes he wants a featured heroic role in
Lizard Kill, Part II. In
"Liberation Day" Elias mentions that he is the technical
advisor on the new film
Lizard Kill.
On page 138, Chris refers to the power packs as "lizard
Duracells".
Despite all the talk of the red dust in this novel, it isn't
until page 139 that the mutations it has caused in some animals
is even mentioned.
After Robin witnesses a fight that ends with Tyler shooting and
killing a Visitor in cold blood, she is shaken and describes the
incident to the Hispanic Club Creole waitress, Miranda, who
responds, "Pobrecito, no wonder you look shook up."
Pobrecito
means "poor little thing" but is the masculine form of the word.
Since Robin is female, Miranda should have said pobrecita.
On page 147, Julie wraps an Ace bandage around Kyle's injured
knee. ACE
(All-Cotton Elastic) is the brand name of an elastic bandage, but has
taken on the generisized description of any type of elastic
bandage.
On page 148, Julie dabs Donovan's minor head wound with Betadyne
from the first aid kit. This is actually a misspelling of the
brand name Betadine, a povidone-iodine antiseptic solution made
by Purdue-Pharma for cleaning wounds.
On page 155, Julie mentions that a number of psychiatrists are
treating PVSS these days...Post-Visitor Stress Syndrome.
As Julie eavesdrops on Nathan Bates' video conversation with
Diana on page 157, she imagines that Diana's voice sounds like
the old woman who lured Hansel and Gretel to the gingerbread
house or the evil witch who made Snow White eat the poisoned
apple. "Hansel and Gretel" and "Snow White" are both European
fairy tales best known for the German versions told by the
Brothers Grimm.
Page 161 reveals that the Club Creole has a French chef named
Henri. Due to his fine vegetable meals and Miranda's cheese
enchiladas, Willie finds that his waistline has grown a bit.
On page 164, Willie taps into the legation computer with the
access codes which Bernard had babbled out at the Club
Creole after getting drunk on Willie's blender concoction. But
during the earlier scene of Bernard's visit to the Club, he
talked some but never spouted any access codes to Willie!
On page 169, Tyler makes a dismissive comment about Elizabeth's
powers by comparing them to a Ouija board. A Ouija board is a
board printed with the letters of the alphabet and numbers for
the purpose of communicating with the spirit world via a
planchette which would spell out the words the spirits wish to
speak.
On page 170, Marjorie Donovan, on the run for days, stops to
rest on a bench in Griffith Park.
Griffith Park is the largest park in Los Angeles and is to the
city what Central Park is to New York.
On page 172, Marjorie turns herself in to a Visitor patrol,
telling them she is the former wife of resistance leader Mike
Donovan. The lead Visitor sarcastically retorts, "Is that so?
Well, I'm Kermit the Frog, the beloved Muppet leader."
On page 175, Maggie muses that Chris preparing for battle is
like a kid looking forward to a trip to Disneyland or Knott's
Berry Farm. Both
Disneyland and
Knott's Berry Farm are world-renowned amusement
parks located in southern California.
Page 177 reveals that Chris served a brief stint in the U.S.
Navy.
Page 180 reveals that Willie believes that if he dies on Earth,
his life-essence would be pulled back to the Place of Beginnings
on his home world; "there it would lie to bask in the blue-white
warmth of Sirius while absorbing all the wisdom of the sands in
the state of preta-na-ma--peace--forever."
On page 181, Elizabeth uses her powers to start Kyle's Kawasaki
motorcycle without a key.
On page 183, Tyler comes up with another of his patented
nicknames, referring to Diana as Ms. Primo Leather-ass.
On page 184, Chris refers to his old Navy CPO. CPO stands for
Chief Petty Officer, a non-commissioned officer rank.
On page 187, Diana mentions using the drug procorb to help
control Marjorie Donovan. The drug is also used in
"The Deception" and other
episodes to help control converted subjects.
On page 198, Maggie refers to Chris' little Shih Tzu dog Druid
as King Konglet. This is obviously a joking reference to King
Kong.
Page 201 mentions that Donovan makes a phone call to Marjorie's
sister to claim her body. Donovan also realizes he can't attend
the funeral because the Visitors would surely look for him
there.
Page 203 reveals that the Commander of the Iranian mothership is
called Bashir. The city at which the mothership is stationed is
not mentioned, but would presumably be Tehran, as the capitol of
that country. Lydia also states
that Commander Bashir is making up for the water that Diana has
been unable to obtain due to the red dust variant in the ocean off
the coast of California by drawing from the Persian Gulf through
his own desalinization plants.
On page 204, Donovan paraphrases the same pass phrase he used in
the V novelization
(covering the "Betrayal and
Reward" episode), "Jabba the Hutt eats Visitors."
Page 205 reveals that Julie has suffered a miscarriage of the
baby that would have been Donovan's second child (the first
with Julie).
On page 206, Julie says that by the time she got to the medical
clinic, all Dr. Akers could do is a D&C. This refers to
"dilation and curettage" to remove uterine contents (in this
case, from Julie's miscarriage).
Also on page 206, Julie says the red dust variant should
continue to protect L.A.'s part of the ocean. Perhaps
this is the writers' attempt to explain why the episodes of the
weekly series do not touch on the water-stealing aspects of the
Visitors' mission on Earth.
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