The Biocide Conspiracy: Return of the International Space Station (2011) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

• Geronimo Jones (aka Mo): An ordinary 16 year old teenager who was led astray and is now paying the price.
• Elizabeth Godson (aka Beth): Named after Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's most beautiful heroine, Beth is so ashamed of her appearance she has shut herself off from the world. The unhappy teenager never intends to leave her isolated outback home.
• Douglas Mcleod (aka Doug): A powerful landowner and son of a general, there has to be some reason why such an easy going, friendly character is ostrasized by the community.
• Luke: Luke, a bad boy who has made good is Doug's right-hand man. He manages Freedom, more or less single handedly.
• Wilhelm Cornelius Hogg (aka Willie): Chief Geologist with Seek Exploration, the big-fisted South African Camp Boss is the kind of guy you want in your corner
• Daniel Corrigan (dec.): Fun loving and sports mad, Danny, Mo's best mate was killed in a high speed car chase.
• Turk: An employee of Seek Exploration
• Frederick Holden (dec.): Former Head of NASA's Mission Control.
• Emma: Add a description of this character.
• Mr Hammarsten: A wise old schoolmaster nicknamed Hammer and Tongs.

Quotes edit see section history

• “The clouds are slow to disperse and linger suspended over the target for days. There shouldn't be many survivors when the troops finally move in.”

  extract- from the diary of Frederick Holden

• “Resisting the seductive but deadly temptation, Mo looked around. The smoke seemed lighter at head level. It swirled around him in misty lethal whorls; a flimsy veil obsuring, but not completely hiding his sanctuary. At first he thought he'd driven over a cliff but this was more like standing in a quarry or the bottom of an open-cut mine; though it was strange that Doug hadn't pointed it out, when they'd flown over the property. He peered up through the murk. The truck must have dropped about nine or ten metres and it wasn't going anyplace. Mo patted the old work horse's nonnet and looked for the easiest place to climb out. Up ahead he could see a tangled roll of wire, half sunk in the sand. Mo guessed this pit must be where Doug dumped his junk. It figured. He had to have somewhere to get rid of rubbish; there were no garbo trucks in the outback. He moved closer but was forced back. The blackened ball of metal was giving off enough heat to melt Antarctica.”

  Fleeing from a bushfire Mo discovers wreckage from the International Space Station

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Python: The sheep station- cum -boot camp owned by Douglas McLeod is on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. The homestead is run down but it is homey, a place where no one is going to object if you put your feet on the couch coffee or leave a ring on the coffee table.
• Katoomba: Home of the Godson family and picture-perfect: Katoomba, Aboriginal for 'falling water', is a tropical oasis in harsh and arid landscape.
• Skull Creek Cave: Another of Katoomba's secrets; Skull Creek Cave once home to a massacred Aboriginal tribe is now infested by bats. Much of the action in 'The Biocide Conspiracy' takes place within the cave.
• Freedom: Another station owned by Douglas McLeod: on Freedom no human hand has cared sufficiently to build a home from home-made bricks or plant a garden in the savage sand. The homestead is nothing more than a prefabricated hut trucked in on the back of a semi, a moble home, the type that is relocatable and can be trucked to another location when it has outlasted its current function.
• Seek Exploration's base camp: A mobile camp: home to a seismic exploration crew searching for oil in the Great Sandy Desert.
• Cottesloe: Before he was sent to a bootcamp in the outback, Mo lived in Cottesloe an expensive seaside suburb of Perth, capital of the state of Western Australia,
• Pilbara: The Pilbara region in Western Australia has some of the world's most ancient natural landscapes.

Organizations edit see section history

• The Diary of Frederick Holden: Frederick Holden was the Head of Mission Control. He was killed together with the rest of the retrieval team. Extracts from a diary he kept that detail the development of Agent H are published poshumously, at the beginning of each chapter.
• The Young Offenders Mentoring Program: The brain child of former magistrate, Elspeth McLeod, the Young Offenders Mentoring Program removes young offenders from the city and places them in challenging situations under the guidance of mentors. Her son, Doug McLeod has been a mentor for many years but from time to time the boys have blotted their copy books and as result the scheme is resented by the local community.
• Seek Exploration: An exploration company Seek provides seismic services in some of the most inhospitable locations in the world.
• CONVENTION ON THE PROHIBITION OF THE DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION AND STOCKPILING OF BACTERIOLOGICAL (BIOLOGICAL) AND TOXIN WEAPONS AND ON THEIR DESTRUCTION: Signed at Washington, London, and Moscow April 10,1972 . Ratification advised by U.S. Senate December 16, 1974. Ratified by U.S. President January 22, 1975. Proclaimed by U.S. President March 26, 1975.

First Sentence edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Afrikaner: South Africans of European descent whose native language is Afrikaans. They are descendants of the Boers
• Agent H: A genetically modified strain of the Botulinum bacterium neurotoxin, serotype H
• Biocide: A biocide is a chemical substance or microorganism which can deter, render harmless, or exert a controlling effect on any harmful organism by chemical or biological means.
• Biological agent: A biological agent — also called bio-agent or biological threat agent — is a bacterium, virus, prion, or fungus that can be used as a biological weapon.
• Biological Weapons: Biological weapons are toxic materials derived from pathogenic organisms for the purpose of killing or incapacitating a host.
• Botulinum toxin: A lethal naturally occurring substance.
• Dewar: A Dewar flask is a vessel designed to provide very good thermal insulation.
• Donga: Portable accommodation used in remote mining camps
• Kubla Khan: 1. Kublai Khan (1215-1294) was a Mongolian leader who made an impact on China, not only through conquest, but also by ruling successfully'2. Poem by Samual Taylor Coleridge
• Minus 80 freezer: A freezer used on the International Space Station to store samples with a range of −80°C, −26°C, and +4°C.
• Ultralite: A type of aircraft similar to a hang glider with the addition of a small engine. Flexible wings are braced by wires, and steered by shifting the pilot's weight under the wings.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Ann Massey (Author) - 2 books: The Biocide Conspiracy and The White Amah

First Edition edit see section history

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Science Fiction
• Books › Teens › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Ann Massey

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