Happy Birthday Karen Haber

Meet James Ryton. His company has been awarded NASA contracts for the building of Moonbase. He's a hard-working executive who has spent his life building his business to secure his family's financial future. The difference between him and other humans is that he is a Mutant. And this causes him and his family no end of trouble.

When he was young, James listened to his fellow Mutants, and considered speaking out, and fighting for equal rights that would allow his fellow Mutants to become active members of American society. But violence and discrimination demolished to those dreams. So he invested his life in his Mutant clan, and expected his wife and children to do likewise.

Sadly, his son Michael, whom he has groomed as his successor, insists on seeing Kelly McLeod, the daughter of one of his subcontractors. She's a nice enough girl, but James worries how Michael's deepening relationship with a Normal will affect the clan. There's the Mutant heritage and culture to preserve, as well as important abilities such as telepathy and telekinesis, which he doesn't want to see diluted through such a mixed marriage. Also there's Jena to consider. She's a pretty Mutant girl, the daughter of a friend, who adores Michael. Years earlier, he and his wife negotiated with Jena's parents for their children to marry. Yet Michael insists on marrying outside the clan, to a Normal, diluting his descendants potential abilities and culture. This would separate him from the customs and practices that have held Mutant society together for hundreds of years.

No matter what James says, no matter how logically and passionately he argues, Michael, his successor, refuses to listen. And now, as James approaches fifty, the mental flares are afflicting him. Once the flares begin, they usher in headaches, loss of emotional control, and the ability to calmly reason. He has seen many brilliant Mutants, afflicted by the flares, reduced to little more than children, incapable of caring for themselves, and not knowing who or where they are. Worse, some become mental vegetables. He wonders how long he can continue to work, to preserve his family, his clan, and everything he holds dear.

His Mutant gifts gave him superhuman abilities compared to the Normals, but now he's paying the price for them. Soon he will discover more trouble brewing in his family than his firstborn's resistance to marrying within the clan. Impotence, incapacity, and loss lie in his future...

James Ryton and his son Michael are just two of the interesting characters you will meet in Karen Haber's novel The Mutant Season. It's the first in a four book series, based on a short story written by her husband Robert Silverberg. Today, Karen Haber's birthday, seems like the perfect time for you to treat yourself by checking out her Mutant novels. If you're like me, you'll soon find yourself engrossed by her Mutant and Normal characters, and her page-turning plot. Like a fine wine, my appreciation for this series has increased with time, so I've begun the year by giving myself a special treat. The Mutant Season may number two hundred and eighty-nine pages, but I gobbled them up like ice cream, and immediately headed off to my bookshelf for Mutant Prime, the next book in the series. Reason finally took hold, and urged me to slow down, not to speed through them all at once. To savor these novels, because they're just so wonderful, and when they're over, they're over, and it will take years for these terrific memories to fade, so I can discover them anew once more.

Happy Birthday Karen Haber, and thanks for writing your four Mutant novels. Now please, get back to your computer and write some more! Please please please!! 

(Or do I need to plant a subliminal suggestion in your brain that you'll find impossible to resist?)

Dragon Dave

J Michael Straczynski & Robert Silverberg: Lend a Helping Hand

Gray says:
Maybe I should start my own version of PsiCorps.
You know, to help my fellow Daleks.

In J. Michael Straczynski's TV series Babylon 5, Psi Corps monitors and controls everyone with telepathic abilities. Its members regard Psi Corps as their true mother and father, because of the mentors who educated and trained them in their youth. As a result, they were able to properly employ their powers build decent lives for themselves, and to also serve others. Unlike Talia, David Selig has no career or job satisfaction, and no friends or anyone to love. David Selig thus serves as an example to us all, of someone who had a tremendous talent, but failed to properly build upon it. But this is a common failing, and only makes him all the more human. Often, the reason we end up off-track and lost, is because we have great talents and abilities, and are seeking to utilize them to fulfill a great dream. 

The biographies of most truly great people testify that, at one point or another, they had to spend a few years in the wilderness, until they found themselves, and discovered a way to get back on course. So if you find yourself wandering and lost, remind yourself that there are no straight paths to success. Practice patience, and refuse to give up. 

Oh, and amid your wanderings, show pity to others. People like David Selig in Robert Silverberg's novel Dying Inside, may be totally confused about what path they should have followed in the first place, and what destination they should have chosen for themselves. If you can, give them a helping hand now and then. After all, we all get a little lost sometimes. 

Yes, even during the holidays.

Dragon Dave

Robert Silverberg on Ruthless Ambition

Gray Dalek says:
Come on, David.
Show me your ruthless streak.

In Robert Silverberg's novel Dying Inside, David Selig feels isolated and alone. Purposeless, he drifts along, in the hopes of eventually finding a real career. Even more, he dreams of finding someone who truly loves him. 

It wasn't always this way. There were times that he felt like he had firmly grasped hold of friendship and love. While working as a researcher for a professional writer, he met Toni, a junior editor at the author's publishing house. David looked into Toni's mind, learned that she was attracted to him, and employed all his charm. The mad passion of their seven week love affair only makes their breakup all the more devastating. He gave her his heart and soul...and she left him. 

And then there was Tom, a man David regards as the "the least neurotic person he ever knew." Tom is a pure predator. He doesn't simply latch onto people's minds for the simple pleasure of riding along, but raids their minds, and uses what he learns for his advantage. He uses the information he gleans from businessmen to make inspired investments in the stock market. He lives comfortably on the proceeds of his investments, enjoying a string of one-night stands with beautiful women, without a thought of contributing to the world or bringing joy to others. For a time, Tom functions as David's friend, and when David insists upon working, Tom scans the minds of those in Wall Street and finds David a job. But David's mind isn't built around numbers and investments; he cares about Franz Kafka, Aldous Huxley, Fyodor Doskeyevski, and all the other great writers whose stories have become a part of his life. Really, he should have decided to become an educator during his university years. He would have been a wonderful college professor.

If David had been a ruthless predator, willing to use and then discard others, he could have made his life into anything he wished. But because he is completely selfless, he ends up being a servant and tool of others. His example suggests that, while it is fine to love and serve others, a small measure of ambition and ruthlessness is sadly necessary to make your way in the world.

Dragon Dave

Robert Silverberg on Getting Your Life Back On Course

Eton College has formed and shaped
some of England's greatest leaders. 

What do you do when you realize that you've gotten off-track? Your first inclination is obvious: just get back onto your desired course, right? But what if every effort you make to steer yourself back toward the road leads you down a false path, and you end up back in the wilderness again? How can it be that you've gotten so lost, when the way ahead seemed so clear?

For David Selig, in Robert Silverberg's novel Dying Inside, life seems to have veered wildly off-course. Because he was able to read other peoples' minds, he knew what those around him were feeling and thinking. He could anticipate their reactions, and structure his interactions with them accordingly. Yet he ends up friendless, and earning his living by ghostwriting term papers for students at his old university. You can bet he didn't plan on that happening!

People may not know that he can read minds, but the way he interacts with them usually puts them on edge, at least in the long term. He's had friendships, lovers, and jobs, but none of them lasted. Perhaps it would have been better had he announced to the world that he could read minds: at least then he would have been a celebrity, perhaps a prized talent utilized by the government. But he always feared the other possibility more, that people would revile him for his gift, and that he would end up an experimental lab rat. It's difficult to fault his logic, as his sister Judith, the one person he tells--or at least, the single nontelepath he tells--ends up hating him as a result. So, while he can immerse himself in the lives of everyone around him, he only ends up feeling more alone.

If only he had spent more time developing other abilities, instead of merely exploiting the gift he was born with. 

Dragon Dave

Robert Silverberg on the Cost of Telepathy

Gray Dalek says:
I like Robert Silverberg stories,
but please, no more talk of dying.

In his novel Dying Inside, Robert Silverberg suggests that no gift comes without cost. During David Selig's teen years, he finds it difficult to enter into relationships with others. He falls in love with the most beautiful girl at high school, but she dismisses him as a geek. Well, why should be bother to overcome his teenage awkwardness, and work to build a relationship with another, when none of his fellow students can hope to achieve the perfection of the girl he adores? Isn't it easier, perhaps even better, to visit the mind of his perfect goddess, and experience everything she thinks and feels during her intimate interludes with the young men she allows into her life?

As David Selig matures, he uses his mind-reading ability to read attractive women, to anticipate their moods and desires, and he says and does the right thing to gain entrance to their bedrooms. Sometimes these romances amount to no more than a casual fling, while other times they persist past their initial entanglement. Yet none of them last, as neither David nor the women he hooks up with find a foundation capable of securing lasting satisfaction with the other.

While David lives in the hope of meeting the right woman, he channels his love of reading into a university degree in literature, and assists academics and students with their studies. But the happiness and stability that others attain elude him. As he ages and matures, he yearns to build something meaningful and lasting with his life. Worryingly, he cannot read minds as ably as he did in his youth. He has trouble picking up on others thoughts and emotions, and retaining his hold on their minds once he's made contact. This ability to read minds is what makes him special, and the ability he's prized above all, yet it seems to be slipping away from him. What will he do if it goes away entirely? How will he carry on without his strongest personal asset? Can he even survive without this ability? Or like Talia Winters, will he become someone else entirely?

Sometimes we find that the abilities we seek to master, and the goals we strive to achieve, provide less satisfaction than we had imagined. Most of us would imagine that David Selig's ability to read other peoples' minds should have made him a god among men. Instead it diminishes his life, and distances himself from others. So maybe it wouldn't be so great to know what everyone was thinking all the time.

Dragon Dave

Robert Silverberg on the Pleasure of Vicarious Experiences

Can you guess what this bird is thinking?

In his novel Dying Inside, Robert Silverberg offers us a different vision of how psychic abilities might affect our lives. His protagonist, David Selig, grows up knowing exactly what his parents think of him, and uses this ability to get his own way with them. Well, not quite. Because he seems so quiet and insular, they send him to a psychiatrist, a Freudian who places great import in dreams and fixations. In order to make the man happy, David tells the man what he expects. Yet the psychiatrist surprises him by advising his parents that their son needs more socialization. He should have a sibling.

His parents try for many years, and when biology seems forever fixed against them, they reach out to society and adopt a baby girl. As David has always enjoyed their full attention, he resents her presence, and ignores her as best she can. But unlike their parents, as his sister matures, she begins to suspects the reason he's so adept at reading her moods and anticipating her actions. When she finally accuses him of being able to read her mind, he's so shocked he does the one thing he's never done before: he admits that he can peer into other peoples' minds. She pushes him away, compares what he has done to her with rape, and tells him that she will hate him forever.

As a child and teen, David loved nothing more than to find his own quiet space. He lays down, closes his eyes, and reaches out mentally, and "listens" for new and interesting minds. When he finds one, he latches hold of it, and rides it for a time, thinking the person's thoughts, and feeling his or her emotions. Unlike reading, his second-favorite pastime, this is no vicarious experience. He really is accompanying them in their lives, and gaining an enhanced understanding his world. His ability is not limited to his fellow Humans. He can tap into the mind of an animals, and see or smell the world with the species' enhanced visual or olfactory senses. He can sink into the consciousness of a bird or insect, and feel the sheer exhilaration of flight.

Regardless of whether or not I could read other people's minds, it'd be cool to experience flight from a bird's perspective. Don't you agree?

Dragon Dave

J. Michael Straczynski on Reading People's Minds Part 2

Gray Dalek says:
Give Mr. Garibaldi a chance, Talia.
He likes you.

In J. Michael Straczynski's TV series Babylon 5, we meet a beautiful blonde telepath, Talia Winters, when she reaches the space station. She uses her abilities to oversee business transactions, question criminals, and help others. Her PsiCorps training allows her to selectively shut out all the voices of nearby "normals," nontelepaths who can't help but broadcast their thoughts and emotions. Had she not learned this crucial ability, the constant assault of these radiated thoughts and feelings would have driven her mad. Even with her training, she finds it difficult to enter into any sort of relationship with a nontelepath. Even loving another telepath is problematic and worrying. So she clings to the memory of a psychic she had loved long ago, knowing how the toll of entering into a romantic relationship with another psychic--lowering all her mental defenses, and experiencing all her partner's feelings and emotions--requires a higher than she is willing to pay.

Then an agent from PsiCorps visited Babylon 5, and used his psychic abilities to rip aside all of Talia's defenses. Suddenly Talia Winters hates all the friends she's made on the space station, and despises all nontelepaths. She had always been someone else, it seemed: researchers in PsiCorps had implanted an imaginary consciousness in her mind. The Talia they knew had only been a veneer, an actor playing the role of the ultimate spy, someone who utterly believed her new identity and did not suspect that a darker personality hid behind her, watching and waiting for the right time to cast aside this mental mask and regain mastery of their body.

Superhero movie fans are already looking forward to the release of "Captain America 3: Civil War" in 2016. Comic book fans have often wondered how Tony Stark could side with the government and order all mutants and those with superhuman powers to register with the government. J. Michael Straczynski, who has long written for Marvel Comics, is under no illusions about the dangers of blindly trusting others to right by its citizens. He knows the dangers of blindly trusting others. But then, he constantly had to fight the networks to keep his show on the air. If only he could have read the network executives' minds. Then he would have better known how to appease their desires, and Babylon 5 sequel series and spinoffs might still be on TV.

Oh, and if you've got latent psychic abilities, don't tell me about them. After all, I already know your secrets. 

Oops.

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries
Talia Winters' Plight

J. Michael Straczynski on Reading People's Minds Part 1

Gray Dalek says:
Listen. I'm projecting my thoughts to you.
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me now?

Scientists and Science Fiction writers have often speculated on the capabilities of the human mind. They've wondered if abilities like telepathy lay dormant in the brain, just waiting to be unlocked. Wouldn't it be great, they asked, if you knew what people were going to say before they said it? Wouldn't that be a useful skill? 

Most of the time we don't say what we're really thinking. Sometimes, we're just being kind and thoughtful, and repress our reactions because we don't want to hurt our friends. Then again, sometimes "friends" lie to us, and sometimes we don't learn the truth until years later. Wouldn't it be great if you could read other people's minds?

In his TV series Babylon 5, creator J. Michael Straczynski foresees a future in lots of people demonstrate psychic ability. Eventually this number grows so large that Earth's government passes laws to regulate individuals with psychic or telepathic abilities. Anyone identified with such abilities must enlist in a governmental agency called Psi Corps, be properly trained, and agree to abide by a strict code of conduct. These laws protect the privacy of nontelepaths, and prevents those with psychic abilities from preying on "normal" people. But they also help those with psychic or telepathic abilities to perform useful roles in society, and live a somewhat normal existence.

So if you're hearing voices, and you're not sure where they're coming from, you might very well be a telepath. But don't rush down to your government office and join PsiCorps. At least, not until you read tomorrow's post.

Dragon Dave

Related Dragon Cache entries
John Vornholt's Mars Novel

Luc Besson on Superhuman Abilities

What superpowers
would you like to possess?

Recently, my wife and I went out to see "Lucy." This movie was written, directed and produced by Luc Besson, a powerhouse of French cinema. In his story, Lucy is a young woman who is kidnapped by drug traffickers in Taiwan. They surgically implant a pouch of an experimental drug into her abdomen, and threaten to kill her family unless she delivers it to their organization overseas. But before she gets on a plane, the pouch breaks, and the drug flows into her system.

This drug, based on a chemical secreted by women during pregnancy, finds in Lucy the perfect host. Her tissues and organs absorb the drug, but the most important effect takes place in her brain. She begins to perceive things that most of us could only hope to see and understand. She can look at her roommate, and tell that she is suffering an undiagnosed health malady, for example. More importantly, the drug transforms her mental powers so that she can absorb information at an astounding rate, and manipulate what she sees. She can peer into people's minds, and put them to sleep. She can control a gunman's muscles, so that he doesn't shoot her. She can get into a car, and judge other drivers' patterns to analyze the quickest way across the packed streets of Paris during rush hour. She can read others' thoughts and see their memories. She can move and alter inanimate objects. She can perceive information streaming through the air, sent by electronic devices like cell phones, and listen in on them. 

In short, she has become a god. 

As we all know, no gift comes without a price. In Lucy's case, her body is operating far beyond a sustainable level, and she recognizes that she only has a day or so of life left. So she makes it her goal to pass on all that she has learned to scientists, in the hope that they can utilize that knowledge to enhance mankind's understanding of how the Human body and brain function, and perhaps increase our capabilities in a sustainable manner. She pours all her energies into building a computer that can compile that information, and delivering it to scientists in the time remaining to her, all the while eluding the drug lords intent on ending her life.

"Lucy" reminded me of other stories as I watched it. Lucy's increased telepathic abilities reminded me of Robert Silverberg's novel Dying Inside, in which a man is born with the ability to read other people's minds, but he pays a heavy price for this extraordinary ability. It reminded me of Roger Zelazny's novels Changling and Madwand, in which a magician perceives links between people and their surroundings, and manipulate them by pulling on these invisible strands of reality that connect them with the rest of their world. It reminded me of Altered States, a novel and film written by Paddy Chayefski, in which a man experiments with sensory deprivation inside a water tank, and the drugs he uses allow him to perceive the whole of Human history and existence. Needless to say, the movie underscored Luc Besson's tremendous talent, and made me want to see more of his movies. Perhaps not all seventy-six of them, but a few. 

Maybe I'll start by watching an old favorite, and the only other one of his I've seen thus far. You might have seen it too. It was a wonderful Sci-fi Space Opera called "The Fifth Element." You know: "Boom. Bada Boom. Big Bada Boom." Luc Besson met his future wife on that one, his beautiful star Milla Jovovich. Well, at least one of his wives...

It could be great to possess superpowers like telepathy and telekinesis. But if I had a choice, my desired superpower would have to be the mental focus to complete the tasks I start, in a reasonable amount of time, without constantly getting distracted, and then getting down on myself for not sticking to my targets and goals. What? That's not a superhuman ability, you say? Then why do I find it such a difficult skill to master?

Dragon Dave

Christopher H Bidmead on How Numbers Define Reality

An early "Digital Computer," built by the Burroughs Corporation
to track rocket and missiles' radar and trajectories
in the United States.

In "Logopolis," a Doctor Who story written by Christopher H Bidmead, the Doctor's concern for his aging TARDIS takes him to the planet Logopolis. This planet is populated by mathematicians who live like monks, and the numbers they manipulate hold real power. No computer could process their equations, as the numbers they compute create a physical reality. So the Doctor and his companion Adric give the mathematical monks the measurements they recorded, which attempt to describe the time machine in all thirty-seven dimensions. (Remember, the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than on the outside). Then the monks retire to their alcoves, and each chants his portion of the computations, a type of math the monks of Logopolis call Block Transfer Computation. 

Through their efforts, the Doctor hopes he can restore his TARDIS to operational proficiency. Instead, he discovers that the sluggish performance of his TARDIS is due to the machinations of his archenemy the Master. The Doctor also learns that the universe has long passed the point of breaking down, and only the mathematicians' ongoing efforts have prevented everything--all matter, everywhere--from dissolving. When the Master's schemes to destroy the Doctor, and harness the efforts of the Logopolitans go awry, entropy sweeps through the universe, wiping out planets and solar systems. Entropy even overtakes Logopolis, erasing the monks from existence. So it's up to the Doctor to find a way of stopping the Master, and preventing the complete destruction of the universe.

On the DVD commentary, Christopher H Bidmead explained that the inspiration for how the mathematicians on Logopolis worked out their equations came from Slide Rule, an autobiography by Nevil Shute, in which he recounted the method of three-dimensional stress calculations involved in mid-twentieth century airship design. The conversation about the story's overall theme of entropy then evolved (or devolved?) into a discussion about fellow actors' hair falling out, and I learned that Anthony Ainley, who always sported a full head of hair as the Master, was in fact wearing a wig. Christopher H Bidmead is also losing his hair, so he's entropy in that aspect of his life. But Tom Baker contributed the best story of all, about an actor who was so concerned that others didn't notice he wore a toupee, that every time he went to the bathroom, he sprinkled salt on his shoulders, then emerged complaining about the inadequacy of his anti-dandruff shampoo. "Oh, who will deliver me from this terrible dandruff?"

Mostly though, the two stories reminded me of how terribly important numbers are to us, and how much they define our lives. The automated systems that allow planes to arrive and depart safely, and transfer money all over the world. The software code that runs our computers, tablets, and cellphones, which we couldn't do without in the modern world. The hours of the day that we mark out, that we plan our activities around. They're just numbers, arranged in a circle on the face of our watches, with a dial that spins around, yet they place us under so much pressure and stress. The dates on the calendar, and the passing of the years, and how we fear getting older. How we reassess our lives every 365 days, as well as when we begin a new decade of our lives. 

And then there are the rises and falls in temperature, marked out in Fahrenheit and Celsius degrees. "Oh, the mid-80s aren't hot," my friends who live and work more inland tell me, where they regularly experience triple digit temperatures. "I guess you're right," I respond, my body bathed in sweat.

Best of all are the ratings systems we ascribe to works of art and fiction. Stories interact with us all in completely different ways. Yet we attempt to give them an objective reality by assigning numbers to an intellectual, emotional, and spiritual journey. "Oh, that's only a two-and-a-half star movie, it can't be worth watching," we reason. Or: "Oh, that's a five-star book: I'm sure to enjoy that one!" Numbers, glorious, wonderful numbers.

Dragon Dave

Talia Winters’ Plight

Often, we wish that we possessed superior abilities, without realizing that every gift comes with a price.  Take, for example, the fictional ability of telepathy.  Sure, it could sometimes work to your advantage to know what others are thinking.  But imagine never being able to turn this ability off.  How many people could you draw close to, if you were constantly assaulted by their every dark thought or negative reaction?  Imagine hearing all the things they would never say about you, but cannot help thinking?  Imagine also how they would feel about you, if they knew they could hide nothing from you, if their every thought, reaction, and plan was laid bare in your presence.  Suddenly, it sounds as though the costs of possessing telepathy might outweigh the benefits, doesn’t it?

In the TV series Babylon 5, anyone with telepathic ability is given a choice: they must either take drugs to suppress this ability, or join Psi Corps.  Any drug can induce side effects, sometimes drastic ones, and such was the case with Commander Susan Ivanova’s mother, which is why a relationship between Ivanova and Harriman Gray would prove difficult, if not impossible.  But joining Psi Corps is no treat either, because then you become part of their system, and lose the independence and freedom of choice that most of us value.  Yet Talia Winters seems to have made this system work for her.  In the first two seasons, she’s Babylon 5’s resident commercial telepath, and even though her Psi rating is average, she’s gained unique experience by constantly peering into alien minds on behalf of her clients.  But all her hard work, and her special place on the space station, are ripped away from her in the novel Voices, by John Vornholt.  When a bomb explodes during the Psi Corps conference on Babylon 5, the evidence paints her as the chief suspect.  Suddenly, most normal people demand her arrest, and her fellow telepaths, outraged by her seeming betrayal, want her condemned to death without a trial.  So she finds herself a fugitive, fleeing the space station on her own, and hoping to find evidence to clear her name before the authorities or the Psi Cops can catch her.

Unlike his predecessor Commander Jeffrey Sinclair, in the pilot movie “The Gathering,” Captain John Sheridan doesn’t lock down the space station after the explosion that kills several members of Psi Corps. So Security Chief Michael Garibaldi must return to Earth, alongside Harriman Gray, as the two men try to discover the person responsible for the bombing.  In Garibaldi’s case, he’s got something of a crush on Talia, so he’s got added incentive to clear her name.  But Gray also has something to prove.  He wants to impress Susan Ivanova, to make her look past his Psi Corps badge, and see that he might be someone worthy of her affections.

"The Gathering," can be found on
the five disc Babylon 5 Movie Collection

Talia’s flight will take her across the American Southwest, where she’ll meet a group of outsiders called the Bilagaani, who have forsaken the modern world to celebrate a culture that died out hundreds of years previously. Garibaldi and Gray’s investigations will take them to twenty-third century Boston and Washington D.C.  Eventually, all three, along with the top Psi Cop Mr. Bester, will make their way to Mars, for a showdown with the party responsible for the bombings on Babylon 5 and at the Royal Tharsis Lodge on Mars.  (Remember, I said it was a Mars novel).

By the end of the story, Talia realizes that she had taken her place on Babylon 5 for granted.  Now she longs to return there, “to see the aliens, who were less judgmental and prejudiced than her own species.  Among aliens you could be whoever you were, she realized, but among humans you had to be whoever they wanted you to be.  And no one was what they seemed.”

In many ways, it can be a good thing to break down the walls that separate us. But perhaps it's an equally good thing to preserve our uniqueness, and not to know too much about each other.  For, as John Vornholt writes, we are all aliens to each other.  Maybe that’s a good thing. 

Note: While I've given you a rough outline of the story, I've tried to avoid sharing any real spoilers.  If you're a fan of Babylon 5, I think you'll enjoy returning to that milieu in Vornholt's novel, even if most of the action takes place not on the space station, but on Earth and Mars.

Dragon Dave