When the Sleepers Woke by Arthur Leo Zagat
Arthur Leo Zagat's "When the Sleepers Woke" opens as helicopter pilot Allan Dane joins the American defense fleet massed over New York against an "Eastern" enemy fleet in a world war fought with green and orange ray beams. General Huntington announces that American rocket ships have destroyed Tokyo, Addis Ababa, Odessa, Peiping, and Cape Town, but London, Paris, and Berlin have fallen, San Francisco is under attack, and contact with New Orleans is lost. The main enemy fleet engages New York's defense cones while giant enemy rocket-bombers loop through the stratosphere to bomb the fleet from above, annihilating squadron after squadron with a blue-flash weapon. Allan's flight is wiped out; he parachutes down, seeing New York shrouded in yellow gas released by circling black ships. Near the summit of Sugar Loaf Mountain he sees a man pointing, is struck by a heat beam, and blacks out. Globally, Eastern gas fleets exterminate the Western Americas, Europe, and Australasia, but Western attack fleets have already gassed Asia and Africa; returning fleets, finding no home left, clash in mid-Pacific and annihilate each other, save one fleeing black ship. Allan wakes twenty years later inside a nullite-sealed cave beneath Sugar Loaf, among seven survivors—scientists Anthony and Helen and companions—who had prepared the refuge, used suspended-animation injections, and rotated watches. Anthony explains the plan: revived couples will "repeopling the Earth." A fourth couple, parents of a girl, never arrived. Allan, having no family obligation, volunteers to scout outside first. He flies over a vegetation-reclaimed, lifeless New York and lands atop a building matching the missing couple's address. Hearing a scream, he descends and fights off a giant Negro named Ra-Jamba attacking a young woman, Naomi—daughter of the missing couple, born and raised in their sealed room, now orphaned per her parents' farewell letter (they sacrificed their food ration so she could survive alone until rescue). An Eastern soldier, Jung Sin, holds Allan at gunpoint, revealing his ship's crew mutinied after the war, fled north, survived on ice, and has been searching the dead cities in a mad, desire-driven "manhunt," and that Jung Sin alone still has a working ray-gun. Allan disarms and kills him, flees with Naomi, and destroys the pursuing black plane in a deliberate midair collision, crash-landing safely. Naomi, having read her parents' letter, bonds with Allan overnight in a moldering apartment. While Allan searches lower floors for canned food, Eastern survivors recapture Naomi. Allan tracks them to a transportation substation, finds Naomi held as the stake in a gambling game (Li-Fan) among Jung Sin's degenerated band amid Ra-Jamba and others, and stealthily rigs a fuel-hose trap along a ledge outside the window. He frees Naomi, ignites the gasoline stream to incinerate the Easterners (killing Jung Sin in the blaze after his ray-gun runs dry), nearly falls from the ledge, and is saved by Naomi. They escape by helicopter as dawn breaks over the ruined city, with Allan reflecting on "a new day, and a new world for their children," and Naomi answering, "For their children and ours, Allan."
By Arthur Leo Zagat · First published 1910 · Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Thriller · 13,455 words
First lines
[Sidenote: Only two small groups of people -- enemies -- survive the vast desolation of the Final War.]
"Prepare for battle!" The command crackled in Allan Dane's helmet. "Enemy approaching from southeast! Squadron commanders execute plan two!" Allan settled back in the seat of his one-man helicopter, his broad frame rendered even bulkier by the leather suit that incased it. He was tensed, but quiescent. Action would be first joined sixty miles away, and his own squadron was in reserve.
What this Textopian page supports
When the Sleepers Woke is listed on Textopian as a novel by Arthur Leo Zagat, dated 1910 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Novel
- Author: Arthur Leo Zagat
- Date: 1910 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Science Fiction, Adventure, Thriller, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
- Length: 13,455 words
- Structure: 1 section, 206 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for When the Sleepers Woke by Arthur Leo Zagat
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Science Fiction — The book involves a future environment, advanced technology, time travel, and modifies the laws of nature - all of which are common characteristics of science fiction.
- Adventure — The protagonist undergoes a journey with multiple challenges requiring physical effort and courage, typical of adventure genre.
- Thriller — Narrative elements include suspense, tension and excitement, which are generally associated with the thriller genre.
- Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction — The story involves a dystopic future after a major catastrophe, which falls into the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction genre.
Tags
Dystopian · Science Fiction · Futuristic · Apocalyptic · Post-apocalyptic · Nuclear War · Survival · Resistance · Revolution · Utopia · Social Commentary · Political Allegory