I’ve always been curious about Mars, our closest planetary neighbor. When I was growing up, I remember reading and
watching lots of stories set there. At
the time, given NASA’s successful moon missions, Mars seemed the next target
for exploration. In my recent study of
the Mercury missions, when America’s first seven astronauts were interviewed on
the topic, they also espoused this belief.
Some of them even hoped to participate in such missions. Sadly, humans have yet to travel there, but Science
Fiction writers have never stopped writing about Mars. Gregory Benford, Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg
Bear, Dan Simmons, Larry Niven, Philip K. Dick: the list could go on and
on. Let’s face it: until you’ve written
a Mars novel, you’re not a real SF writer.
Okay, maybe that’s overstating matters, but Mars remains
arguably the most popular setting for a SF novel not set on Earth. I was certainly pleased when John Vornholt
begins his novel Voices, the first tie-in to the popular 1990s TV series Babylon 5, on
the red planet. The two people we meet
there are telepaths, members of Psi Corps.
Despite his imminent meeting with Mr. Bester, the top Psi Cop (and
perhaps the most powerful person in Psi Corps), Harriman Gray’s thoughts keep returning
to Earth's most important space station, Babylon 5. On his recent visit there,
he met Commander Susan Ivanova, who, due to events in her past, has a strong
aversion to Psi Corps. Yet she intrigues
him, and Harriman can’t help wondering if, were he to return there, he might
not find some way to change her mind about Psi Corps, and hence give him a
chance.
Once Mr. Bester arrives, the two take a monorail to the
Royal Tharsis Lodge, where an important conference for telepaths will shortly
take place. Life is difficult on Mars,
and there are separatists who, like the early American colonists, argue that
Earth wields too much control over their lives.
But their political views are not on Harriman’s mind as he gazes out the
windows during their ride. Instead, he
muses: “The angry red planet didn’t look so angry when it was crisscrossed with
monorail tubes, prefabricated dwellings, and shielded domes. It looked like a giant gerbil habitat on a
dusty parking lot.” His thoughts return
to the present when the monorail screeches to a halt, and with his telepathic
abilities, he soon realizes that a bomb has just detonated in the Royal Tharsis
Lodge, and over twenty people have died.
After Mr. Bester secures the monorail, the top Psi Cop turns to Harriman
and remarks that perhaps Mars isn’t the best place to hold their conference
anymore. As Bester doesn’t want to hold
it on Earth, another possible venue leaps readily to Harriman’s mind. “How about Babylon 5?” he says.
Sadly, we never really get to know Harriman Gray
better. John Vornholt uses him to get
the action going, before whisking readers off to Babylon 5. Fans of the TV series, who know Susan
Ivanova’s past, will recognize that Harriman’s hopes are overly optimistic,
that she could never fully give herself to anyone from Psi Corps. Or at least, she couldn’t after the events of
Season Two have played out. But this is
a view formed through hindsight, as the novel was published in March 1995,
during the second season of the show, and the action takes place between
episodes #1 “Points of Departure” and #8 “A Race Through Dark Places.” While I loved Babylon 5, it never occurred to
me at the time to read the tie-in novels.
After all, the show was on every week, and series creator J. Michael
Straczynski had planned out the entire five-year run. (Amazingly, he ended up writing 92 out of the
series’ 110 episodes, in addition to serving as its executive producer). So I guess I figured that reading those
novels was unnecessary back then.
Today, Babylon 5 seems largely forgotten, but back in the
1990s, the Science Fiction community held a real fervor for the show. I was a part of it, just another viewer
captivated by the series’ spell. It’s
been a long time since those heady days when I looked forward to a new Babylon
5 episode each week, when I eagerly anticipated the revelations and
developments that each new show might bring.
Perhaps that explains why, like Harriman Gray in Voices, I find my
thoughts returning to Babylon 5, not just anxious to relive the known stories,
but also to experience some new adventures.
In any case, I’m grateful to John Vornholt for returning me
to the milieu of Babylon 5 for a brand new adventure. Even if his novel is twenty years old, it’s
new to me. Despite his having written over sixty-five novels, he’s also new to me.
I find this oversight on my part surprising, as it seems he’s also an author of note in the Science Fiction community. After all, he wrote a novel about Mars,
didn’t he?
Dragon Dave
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