Randtown
Names: RandtownRandtown district
First appears in Book 1: Pandora's Star, chapter 16 (FIFTEEN)
Appearances
What you know
Book 1: Pandora's Star
- Ch 16Randtown is an Elan tourist town beneath the Dau'sing Mountains, known for extreme sports and tourism as its biggest industry.
- Ch 16Randtown sits on Lake Trine'ba's northern shore; its main income is tourism, especially skiing, snowboarding and diving, with about five thousand permanent residents.
- Ch 22Randtown is a simple, clean, green community on the southern continent; its Foundation charter excludes nuclear power.
- Ch 22Randtown is blockading the highway against the navy's convoy building a defense station on a nearby mountain; the blockade has hurt local business and stranded tourists.
- Ch 23Randtown is a district around Trine'ba lake that took a stand against the navy's detector station and fears economic effects from propaganda.
- Ch 25Randtown has suffered media backlash over its blockade; a wormhole detector station was forcibly installed in the Regent mountains, and tourist bookings are dropping.
- Ch 25Randtown was devastated by the blast's pressure waves: every window shattered, panels torn off buildings, and many residents badly wounded by glass and flying metal.
- Ch 25Randtown's residents panic and flee by bus toward the Highmarsh after Prime ships splash down on the Trine'ba.
Book 2: Judas Unchained
- Ch 5Randtown has been largely destroyed and replaced by alien structures protected by a force field, with a wormhole gateway near the quayside.
- Ch 5Randtown has been occupied by Primes; humans surviving nearby have committed small acts of sabotage against Prime machinery and motiles.
- Ch 7Randtown is the site of a large, unexplained Prime installation, puzzling the squad, who see strong emissions from it.
- Ch 7Randtown has been overrun by the Primes and is protected by a force field; a huge refinery station and many facilities now occupy it.
- Ch 7Of eighteen humans who stayed behind at Randtown, only four survive; attempts to infiltrate via sewers and aquarium failed.
- Ch 7The navy destroys Randtown with a tactical nuclear bomb, and the force field fails to contain the explosion.
- Ch 7A fusion bomb inside the Randtown force field destroyed the entire installation.
- Ch 15Randtown's refugees were evacuated by the SI through a wormhole, ruining Ozzie's expensive private housing project.
Connections
- containsMark Vernon
- created bySimon Randfounded it
- inElan
- containsAbles Motors
- includesUlon Valley
- led bySimon Randleads the rear guard
- containsGeneral Hospital
- inLake Trine'baRandtown lies on the Trine'ba lake shore
- related toBlackwater Craghighway runs from Randtown to Blackwater Crag
- part ofIntersolar Commonwealth
Key moments
- Book 1 · Ch 16Mark fixes the espresso machine
Mark Vernon repairs the café's espresso machine, is given breakfast by Mandy, then walks through Randtown.
- Book 1 · Ch 16The Second Chance returns
The Second Chance returns to Anshun reporting that the barrier around Dyson Alpha vanished and that the aliens seem hostile. Mark follows the news in Randtown.
- Book 1 · Ch 16Two crew left behind
CST reveals Bose and Verbeke were abandoned. Kime justifies leaving them to bring back vital information, while Burnelli criticizes him and calls for another ship.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Carys drives to Randtown
Carys travels by train and plane to Elan's southern continent, then races her MG up the Randtown highway after bypassing the speed regulator.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Mellanie learns of Myo's interview and the Cox charity
After hours of Dudley's rambling, Mellanie gets him to reveal Myo's interview and the Cox Educational charity, then asks the SI about it and finds suspicious funding.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Carys offers Mark PR help
Carys visits the Vernons' vineyard and tells Mark he needs PR help after the media backlash; a bright flash and Sandy's squeals interrupt them.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Mark's family heads for Randtown
After the blast damages their home, the family packs the repaired pickup and sets out toward Randtown to find neighbours and news, armed.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Aftermath in Randtown
Mark's group enters Randtown, finds the streets full of glass and blood, and carries a wounded man to the General Hospital, where Simon and Mellanie are present.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Evacuation order and Prime landing
Simon announces an urgent convoy to the Highmarsh after Mellanie warns the aliens are coming; Prime ships then descend through the clouds over the Trine'ba, and her feed cuts out.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Rear-guard fight at Randtown
Simon Rand's guerrillas fire on landing Prime troops; the aliens retaliate, destroying many buildings and causing panic among the defenders.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Mellanie halts the aliens
Mellanie walks into the street and, with the SI's help, freezes the Prime troops and grounds their flyers, telling the humans to take their weapons and retreat to the convoy.
- Book 1 · Ch 25Mellanie stops the Prime soldiers at Randtown
Mellanie and the SI disrupt the Primes' communications, freezing the soldiers, so Mark's group can take weapons. The SI confronts MorningLightMountain, which vows destruction. Mellanie escapes through a wormhole as flyers fire.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Dudley Bose hijacks a motile
Dudley copied his mind into a motile by linking nerve stalks, escaping MorningLightMountain's control, and now walks through Randtown.
- Book 2 · Ch 5Dudley reaches Randtown
After months among the Primes, Dudley travels to Randtown, watches the poisoned water pumped into the Trine'ba, and hopes to meet the human saboteurs.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Squad splits to scout
After arguing over Cat's reliability, Morton and Rob scout east of Randtown while Cat, Parker and the Doc go toward Blackwater Crag, avoiding engagement.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Reconnaissance of Randtown
Morton and Rob scout the Prime-occupied town, seeing huge numbers of aliens, a lake bioforming station, and force field generators under construction.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Meeting in the cave and new plan
In the survivors' cave, Cat's Claws treats David and feeds the group. They plan to evacuate them and, following the Cat's idea, plant a nuke at the future force field boundary.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Alien found in ruined house
Morton and the Cat scout a garden to place the nuke. Sneekbots find an unarmored alien alone in a house, linked by cable to a human handheld array.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Bose surrenders
An alien in the ruined house contacts Morton's team electronically, surrenders and identifies itself as Dudley Bose in a Prime motile body, offering information against MorningLightMountain.
- Book 2 · Ch 7Guerrilla sabotage campaign
Armored humans sabotaged bridges, factories, fusion generators and farms, and detonated fusion bombs at Randtown, Olivenza, Sligo, Whalton, Nattavaara and Anshun, forcing constant rebuilding.