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Amazon
Category:
Science Fiction
Publisher: GreatUnpublished.com
ISBN-10: 1588980863
Type: Fiction
Pages: 183
Copyright: Jan 1 2000
Miranda, a teenager from the future where cities are enclosed in domes and there are no trees, journeys back in time to meet her great, great-grandmother Gabrielle who was a 20th century environmentalist. Together the two women reach across time and place to bring trees back to the future.
"Like a Tree Planted" is an environmental science fiction novel about Miranda, a teenager from future San Diego which is enclosed in a Dome because chemicals destroyed the natural world. The daughter of scientists, Miranda is Keeper of The Last Tree which is dying. She is also great-granddaughter of famous twentieth-century environmentalist Gabrielle Leigh who foresaw the trees' destruction. By means of The Archives, a futuristic multimedia library, Miranda studies Gabrielle's life. Each "visit" through The Portal becomes more real, and Miranda gradually materializes in twentieth-century Oregon to explore--with Gabrielle--the Pacific Northwest evergreen forests. As Miranda gets more involved in the past, she watches Gabrielle fall in love with a logger who gets caught in the battle between loggers and "greens." Back under the future Dome, Miranda's family and boyfriend try to keep her from being trapped in the past as local anti-nature opposition hunts them down. Miranda and Gabrielle struggle, between two places and times, to try and reintroduce trees to the future and lead people outside The Dome.
Excerpt
"So there you are."
I turn at the voice behind me, which Patrick and Gabrielle do not seem to hear. Michael stands near the motel sign, one white boot on the grass of Oregon and the other on the white Archives floor. Strange that I can see both worlds at the same time--so clear, yet so clearly divided.
"Sshh," I say, pointing to the kissing couple closing their door.
"You've got to come back now, Miranda. There's danger in the System."
"What kind of danger?" I demand, hands on my hips.
Michael frowns but does not walk toward me, afraid to remove his left boot from the Archives' floor. I notice he holds a Stunner in one hand.
"The added tapes are genuine," he tries to explain. I grin, knowing I was right about Gabrielle. "But we don't know who added them to Uniprint. We do know that someone--probably someone else--boobytrapped the System so that if you keep using the tapes, the System will fail--maybe even explode. Where will that leave you, Miranda? In pieces all over the Archives? You must come with me now. Now, Miranda! Every second is a danger."
"Will I be able to return to Gabrielle?" I ask, still hesitating.
"I don't know. Your father and I have to work on the System first. If we do, the tapes may be entirely destroyed."
"Then I'll take my chances here," I declare, turning away from Michael. "I must see the rest of the story. I must."
"No!" Michael yells. Before I can jump out of the way, he leaps at me, knocking me to the ground. We struggle.
"Sorry," he says as he points the Stunner at me and fires. A red glare envelopes me, and then I am lost in darkness.
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