The Invisible Enemy

In their novel, If the Stars are Gods, Dr. Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund cover five defining events of their central protagonist’s life.  These are followed by four epilogues, which extend his story and relate how he impacted those around him.  At times, the authors’ focus appears to waiver.  Viewed in its entirety however, the novel masterfully portrays a man who, through the significant phases of his life, sought to explore the universe, not because such a search would bring him power, wealth, or fame, but because he yearned to be in communion with all forms of life. 

Benford and Eklund let their intent gradually emerge as events impact their characters’ lives.  In the first scene of the original hardcover edition, the authors introduce us to Major Paul Smith, who is piloting a craft in orbit over Mars.  During a routine check-in, his signal with Colonel Kastor, the head of the landing party, abruptly cuts off.  Before they left Earth, Mars had seemed so full of promise, but Smith finds himself fighting a growing despair, which this interrupted signal only feeds.  He realizes how vulnerable he is, should some mortal tragedy strike the survey team.  For it takes more than one person to pilot the ship back to Earth.

In subsequent scenes of Section One, we learn the reason for the interrupted communication: a quake strikes without warning, flipping one vehicle, killing a member of Kastor’s survey team, and destroying much of their supplies.  Later, after Colonel Kastor dies in an accident, we view events from the perspective of Loretta Morgan, who believes that Fate has frowned upon their mission.  Gripped by fear and despair, she reaches out to Bradley Reynolds, who initially mistakes her affection for love.  One evening, with the winds of a Martian storm shrieking outside their environment tent, she can no longer tolerate the doom she believes awaits her.  After making love with him, she sneaks outside.  By the time Bradley realizes that she has left the tent, and that both environment remain inside, it is too late.

From reading autobiographies of the Apollo astronauts, and watching movies and TV shows based upon their lives, it’s safe to say that not all of them were the best of friends.  Unlike their trips to the moon however, a mission to Mars would take much longer.  Imagine being crammed into a space ship for eight months with people you dislike and don’t get along with.  Once you arrive, a dangerous survey mission demands that you interact with these people that much more closely.  But your time with them doesn’t end with your last experiment on the surface.  For another eight months, you must interact and work with them, smell their body odors, breathe in their expelled air, and touch the controls and surfaces they’ve touched. 

At some point, despair attacks everyone.  Sadly, most of us have known someone who, like Loretta Morgan, eventually succumbed to its debilitating power.  As I journey through my life, I periodically find myself in a seemingly endless tunnel.  The way ahead always seems pitch black, but I’ve learned that if I simply keep walking, eventually I will reach the tunnel’s end. 

As Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund make clear in their novel, astronauts will face problems caused by their remoteness from Earth, as well as from the inevitable fallibility of the machinery that sustains their lives.  Thankfully, few will experience events as dire as those faced by the crew of Apollo 13.  But all of them, particularly those assigned to long missions, will be threatened by the invisible enemy of despair.  Knowing this, I find myself respecting them--and their achievements--all the more.