This is the second novel I’ve read recently about traveling to space in the near future to escape climate disaster here on Earth – the last one was a series of short stories with a more terrestrial bent generally. In this novel, there are again casual mentions of pandemics plural, and more – the things that we are always afraid of in the news cycle. Mass shootings, intense weather events that drive people away from their homes, and increasingly more seamless integration of technology into our lives. Climate scientists have been very candid that this will soon be the way of it for us – we are due, most likely within the next ten to twenty-ish years, to start experiencing more uncontrollable weather. Certainly we have shown (criminal) reluctance to do anything about social problems like mass shootings. And I can only imagine that we’re ever closer to adopting technology that is capable of capturing our memories through better integration with our senses.
In this novel, these events have ratcheted up to the point that our protagonists have been convinced to take part in an experiment that also feels all too real. The Son sisters, tech company scions, have produced cell phones that are essentially inserted in your ear and connected directly to your brainstem – the Sensus phone. Rachel Son’s voice is in almost everyone’s ear, reminding them to drink more water or take a break from studying. Katherine and Rachel Son have been a part of engineering a space station, Parallaxis, that is the titular house between the Earth and the moon – a ring that will eventually house billionaires eager to leave the mess of Earth behind them. However, creating something new in space isn’t easy, or straight forward. Even in space, our pasts remain with us.
Alex is a scientist, slightly neglectful of his family (wife Meg, teenage daughter Mary Agnes and uber-allergic son Shane). His lab was once able to create a form of algae capable of eliminating a good deal of carbon emissions – and it’s easy to imagine how that would be a stunning break through in our world. When he and Meg separate, because of his devotion to his job (while understandable, not great for connecting with and maintaining a family), he takes a job on Parallaxis. He is lured there with the idea that he will have access to a lab that isn’t vulnerable to fluctuating funding or other problems that plague scientists here on Earth – he’d both be able to create a stable, clean environment in space AND send that technology back to Earth. However, Alex isn’t 100% sure that he is able to replicate that result (like many tech companies, Sensus is interested in scooping up people who can work FAST, but not always interested in ensuring that their work is accurate).
When Alex arrives in space, he is part of a team that is not just arriving in space to do their assigned duty (such as, growing food or managing robotics or 3D printing or being a doctor). He and the others with him are actually tasked with building their labs, and the homes for the billionaires who will eventually call Parallaxis their homes. He must also decide how and if his family would join him (something he and his wife and pretty set against initially, but circumstances are always subject to change).
Sensus isn’t just in the business of sending folks up to a space station – the Son sisters are also interested in creating an algorithm that is able to perfectly predict human behavior, before the humans themselves even realize it. Tess is a computer scientist, raised in the post-Covid era, with an interest in helping to develop that algorithm. Of course, this means covertly studying authentic human behavior to teach the system (or Algo, as it is referred to) – and what better conditions for this than a group of people asked to interact together in the sterile environment of a remote space station.
These story lines intertwine, layering complicated family dynamics and teenage drama. There are secrets, but this isn’t necessarily a mystery novel. It’s not entirely without hope, but it does present a rather bleak look at where we’re heading. In that sense, it isn’t a GREAT pick for the new year – but perhaps there’s something important about facing the reality of the kind of world we’re building. While there’s a decent amount of plot, I’d say this book is more atmospheric and character focused. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.