A Look at: The Last Astronaut by David Wellington

I have been an avid fan of Science Fiction since before my tween years; only I didn't know that it was called Science Fiction; too young, I guess. But, of course, I was also a fan of horror stories, so imagine the eruption of endorphins I experienced when I read my first story that married both these genera; yeah, that's right, puerile bliss. Imagine when you are a kid and buy a box of Cracker Jack. You open the box to reveal that sweet, sweet caramel popcorn and peanuts, and if that isn't already enough, Sailor Jack and Bingo reward you with a prize. A PRIZE!!!! No less. I understand that most people are saying to themselves: "The prizes in Cracker Jack are sub-par!" Not when I was a kid; they were treasures beyond dreams! That's how I still feel about a good Sci-fi/horror story. I love the edge of your seat suspense, the mind-numbing fear of the unknown, especially when encountered in the infinite expanse of space. Add to that the restriction imposed by the impossible odds of hostile survival conditions where you need to supply food, water, and air: talk about stacked decks (no pun intended). Ah, human frailty knows no bounds. So, join me while we stare into the mouth of the worm, while we try to come to grips with concepts that defy the norms and encounters that defy the imagination and force us to accept the unacceptable.

The Last Astronaut (TLA) is a tale that embraces these two elements and delivers a story that doesn't disappoint. Wellington weaves a narrative that begins innocently (enough) but quickly spirals into a study of human-alien first contact armed with conflicting results. In addition, Wellington creates a mirky atmosphere based on psychological fears; mind-altering conditions, fears are only made worse by manias that border psychotic. The reader finds it hard to adjust to alien surroundings with no referential points, creating tension; the physical struggle and the physics are abnormal. The yarn, woven into a fabric of inter-disciplinary conflict, stems from within and outside parameters of the order. Risks become the order of the day. The element of risk is unavoidable, and without it, the story would lie flat and prosaic. Wellington adds to our discomfort by setting his creation in a world within restricted space (area, not Universal space), a unique and compelling contrivance of a ship whose assembly and function are biological. An organic, biomechanical entity, hurling through space carrying a malevolent cargo represented by: self.

David Wellington

Sally Jasens' opinion of herself of late is less than stellar; in fact, Sally leads a reclusive life replaying an aspect of her marginalization defined by failure. Her existence, mired in the past, causes Sally to course through a labyrinthine of self-doubt, self-examination, and unhappiness. Self-deprecation and augmented guilt are attractive to her; oddly, hating herself gives her life meaning. But, like the monk kneeling on course hewed cobblestones, her penance is meaningless without anguish. Beneath the hair shirt, there lies a heart committed to the single act of dismissing the reproachful, paranoic self-evasive prison she has built one culpable brick at a time. However, self-flagellation is not with a whip in hand; her choice as the scourge of penance is her conscious. No barb or lash can inflict unrelenting bloodless torture as the mind can. No scars to act as a roadmap to the one time, her one deliberate action resulted in the undisputed truth that her life as a leader of astronauts ended with the mismanagement of one singular life. The cascade of events, like a row of tilted dominoes, unavoidably seared into her mind forever. As a leading Nasa astronaut, mission commander of the ship Orion 6, on route to Mars for scientific exploration and retrieval of specimens, possibly the first woman to walk upon the surface of Mars, is one Sally Jansen. Her mettle has earned her her mission command. But, as with all leadership roles, often hard choices need to be made, the result can sometimes be tragic. Being forced to make such a call, Sally becomes the architect that ends her career and sounds the death knoll to the Nasa Space Programme. What Sally needs in her life is undisputable redemption. Fortunately, salvation comes in the form of Sunny Stevens, Ph.D., For over a year, Sunny has been tracking 2I, an object passing through the solar system and is in the process of spontaneously decelerating, meaning it was slowing down under its own power. The entity was not a rock simply careening through the solar system: it was a spaceship.

Sally's remission ironically comes from the same institution she inadvertently helped decommission: Nasa. Nasa needs to investigate this interloper from parts unknown; it needs to know its intentions, if any, and whether its approach is collegial or hostile. However, Nasa has become an artifact, a relic. "Congress has been nickel and diming Nasa for decades" to the point that they no longer have any astronauts. Her old administrator (Roy McAllister) has convinced Congress of the urgency in sending an American crewed mission to "meet this thing face to face," and the assignment is to be led by none other than Sally Jansen. Roy McAllister defends his choice: "Sally Jansen knew that ship better than anyone alive. She'd piloted it halfway to Mars and back. I trust my staff, my scientists, and my engineers, but I need her eyes on this. A lot of people pushed back against involving her, but I was certain: this couldn't work without her. I still believe that, after everthing that happened." The crew's roster will include Sally Jansen (crew mission leader), Windsor Hawkins, Major USFF, Thirtieth Operations Wing ( hand-picked by the Pentagon), Parminder Roa, MD, Ph.D. (doctorates in medicine and astrobiology), and Sunny Stevens, Ph.D.(impetus of the mission). So, sequestered, equipment once moth-balled will be reserviced, and the spacecraft to make the trip is sealed away in non-reactive helium twenty-one years ago, now christened Orion 7. There is no time to redesign and build a new spacecraft and train new astronauts. However, the same private-sector space agency Sunny Stevens has defected from has dispatched a similar mission: KSpace Wanderer. After all, "This could be the biggest event in history. Human history." And, who doesn't want to go down in the annals of history remembered for their significant contribution to the Human Race! Posterity knows no shame: two agencies vying for the coveted brass ring. Is this a formula that can lead to co-operation or an augury that spells doom?

The Brain
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

The race is on; however, the KSpace team is the first to enter the alien outpost. The honour of first contact goes to a private company, not America, UN, or Nasa. Unfortunately, communication with KSpace is stretchy at best during first contact, with no responding transmission when Jansen requests to help them. Solution: go after the ambitious yet misdirected KSpace group. And so, Jansen and her group enter what can only be described as an otherworldly cosmic depiction of Dante's Hell. It is a surrealistic application of events that challenge their senses and test loyalties. Here in this leviathan, the Nasa team has their first causality. I could not help but make an association (of some sort) with the Alien franchise. As in with the franchise, things go south quickly. The novel's pace undergoes an acceleration; the cascade of events occurs in an arena of horror. Wellington supplies us with enough glimpses of what is unnatural between splayed fingers; he coats our surroundings in a sightless blackness that gives way to the imagination "triggered by the brain's disfigured perception of what would or could happen when in a dark environment" The mind begins to fill in the blanks: the horror has already started.

Wellington is well versed in the elements of fear and knows how to use them. He understands the human psyche, tapping into fears such as Athchiphobia (failure), Phagophobia (being eaten), Basiphobia (falling), Xenophobia (unknown), Claustrophobia ( confined places), and Nyctophobia (the dark), he doesn't need to address them by their scientific names; he doesn't have to; we are all familiar with their status as the fundamentals of fear, distress, and discomfort. When experiencing phobias, they often occur rapidly. The afflicted will go to great lengths to avoid this feeling of anxiety, often at one's peril since the avoidance is greater than the phobic threat. Fear, for example, the contagion of fear, can happen both automatically and unconsciously; this phobia can explain the mass panic observed in situations of large public gatherings. Once introduced into a large crowd, fear becomes the catalyst of terror. The fear cascades among each individual, ultimately leading to panic and, in some cases, tragedies. We witness this first hand as the Nasa crew encounters the phobias of fear and darkness. "This damned place. It got in your head, the darkness, the strangeness." Confined areas, steep slopes, the fear of falling, the unknown, and the fear of being eaten cater to their despairs; this spreads and wears among the small coterie with catastrophic results. At one point, Jansen expresses horror the only way she can; she pushes her hands into her face suppressing a scream. A scream would indicate a step away from sanity, extenuating the horror. Instead, she touches her face, only to root herself in some semblance of reality. This coping mechanism allows her a momentary reprieve, a calming breath to regroup her thoughts and emotions. The crew experiences yet another subtle ominous sensation; they begin to question unnatural mind-altering beliefs skewing their personalities, quirks that were absent before entering this gruesome microcosmos—unarguably adding to their grotesque, implausible shifting perception of certainty. There are also moments when laughter in the face of dire situations helps stabilize the tenuous crew's grasp on fading light and reality.

Oumuamua

Within this Dalian ship-scape, the crew entertains vistas completely unexplainable. What awaits them is beyond human comprehension—a distortion of what the human mind can grasp without lapsing into madness. Challenged is their sense of reality; what appears familiar behaves in direct contrast to the contrary and does not fit into the pre-tailored notion of what the crew regarded as alien. There is a lesson to be learned: differences are as vast as the universe and can come in all sorts of combinations and permutations that are infinite. Respecting the differences is the first level of coping and understanding. Even if one has trained their mind for a shock, no amount of preparedness can substitute for the real thing when confronted. Alieness may come from a dark, foreign place where human knowledge may be lost entirely, unable to digest what is presented when confronted. Pareidolia becomes the order of the day, desperate to put meaning into a world devoid of any source of reference. Wellington continues to disorient us within this community of sightless, blind, lightless underworld. A sunless abyss, a black purgatory, focusing on the limbic, primordial brain. We associate light with goodness, trust, and comfort; without it, we begin to question our senses. So important is light; it makes its debut in Genesis: "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and the darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. ( I have included this quote merely as a source to illustrate the potent importance of light, not to insight (no pun intended) a discussion of religious belief, tenet, or dogma.)

While the Nasa crew is in the alien ship, they confront physical representations from an alternate world. As a result, they can not help but induce meaningful terms that fit their realm of understanding. So how does the mind accept what the eyes see as something so foreign, so different that all logic is challenged; does it only makes sense if reason replaces these observed images into known references? The comparisons make sense; in some, once established, the mind can deal with the next obstacle. But, what's this, somethings encountered resemble the familiar. It stands to reason that some duplication will occur even in an infinite universe. Somethings will be formed by " uninfluential coincidences,": i.e., non-referential alien nature chosen by mutations that happen to be something quickly referenced as similar: Convergent Evolution; things change quickly in 2I: evolution in motion. Convergent Evolution serves a specific purpose; it just happens to be coincidental in appearance, but its function may be entirely unrelated to what its appearance may suggest. An excellent example of this in the novel occurred when the astronauts were confronted with what appeared to be human-like hands. However, they function as life-sustaining conduits.

The commercial enterprise (KSpace) enters first and undergoes devastating ravages to both psyche and physiology. As mentioned above, one member, Foster, has been assimilated into the alien through the hand tendrils. The connection appears to be from one nervous system (human) to another (alien), some machination of malevolent design. The object is referred to she/her by Foster. Foster has foregone his humanness for want of a short-sighted ambassador to a creation whose ultimate goal is to "feed her children." Wellington's choice for Foster's surname is a brilliant touch of creativity. We all know what foster parents are, so it is suggested that this human be a foster parent to this alien entity. She doesn't think in words or images but rather communicates by instinct, where she responds to the id's urges. Jansen's crew thinks of her like an animal devoid of conscious thought, and they concede that you can't reason with an animal.

Sierpinski pyramids
Attribution: Ricktu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Some reviewers have accused Wellington of underdeveloping his character Windsor Hawkins. I'm afraid I have to disagree. The entire novel showcases Sally Jansen; she needs no further development than what she already harbours. Sunny Stevens, unfortunately, is a short-lived study; we know he is the impetus of the project, and we are aware of some of his aspirations. Sadly, once eliminated, we need precious little more character development. Parminder Rao is fully developed. The reader gets plenty of insight into her career, dreams, and family background. As the story progresses, she's adding to her development, giving us glimpses into her heroism and iron will. Ah, but here's the rub, very little is known about Hawkins. Why? It's not like Wellington cannot do so; he's shown us he can with his other characters! It's a literary ploy to shock and awe, to catch us unaware, to dislike him just a little more as the characters around him continue to grow, but he doesn't. Revealing less about him makes him a more threatening, shady, dangerous element. It forces us to question his agenda.

Wellington replaces proper descriptions with character hints along the way. We know Hawkins is military, and military types play holding their cards very close to the chest. Hawkins complies with his briefing concerning the military's stand in all this. He eventually assumes the command of Orion 7(creating sympathy for Jansen). He smuggled a weapon aboard when it was expressly forbidden. Finally, the atmosphere within the alien vessel is ripe for psychological madness; all of them are aware that some form of psychological distortion is at work within the confines of this strange world. What ensues is unpredictable insanity whereby Hawkins, with his little-known character development, acts as the catalyst to fast-track pandemonium. I'm convinced that Wellington implemented this as a strategy to supply Hawkins with the motive of intent. Wellington's deliberate omission of Hawkins's personal information makes him questionable, sly, and malicious. Wellington doesn't abandon his reader but skillfully directs you by omission. He develops his character by not creating one in the traditional literary sense. Pretty sharp in my books! It works, doesn't it?!

Stylistically, Wellington offers the reader a unique method of imparting critical or detailed information. Removed and not part of the prose; it involves italicized script. This method elevates the reader to a much more intimate level. Wellington also uses this style to develop his characters and more difficult junctures points throughout the novel. When reading asides, these favours the reader with what appears to be inside information. I thought this technique helped carry the prose along without pedantic, laborious or distracting interference. Omitting this technique would have meant much more detailed explanations and wordier dialogues; naturally, the novel would have been much longer and the richness of brevity lost.

Fractal
Source: The Amazing World of Fractals

Those who follow my blog know that I love to ferret out Easter eggs, tongue-in-cheek moments and what I consider "author's indulgences." Little gems are hidden throughout to captivate and entertain, skillfully placed to keep us on our toes! Often enough, historical references, pop cultures of the day, political quips, literary works, famous people and their quotes or quirks become fodder for these treasures. The following are just a few I found that I thought would be fun to share. Clearly, KSpace's private sector founder Kyung Leonard is a direct fictional comparison to SpaceX's founder Elon Musk and their associated wealth and suave technological contribution to the world at large, as well as being in the public eye as pop culture icons. Likewise, Coleridge's literary poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner is quoted as a slight at Sally Jansen. A poem whose concern revolves around a sailor who lost his crew. A Chewbacca toy touches upon George Lucas's creation: Star Wars. A state-of-the-art futuristic neutrino gun is available for implementation; however, it's a low-tech snub-nose revolver that Hawkins smuggles onto Orion 7. Tribute is paid to Science Fiction authors Asimov, Clarke, and Leckie; the irony is that TLA was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Wellington grazes over Fractals and Sierpinski pyramids, fascinating mathematical, scientific principles the reader should investigate; much too involved to do them justice within the body of this forum. And finally, the overwhelming similarities between Oumuamua and Arthur C, Clarke's novel, Rendezvous with Rama.

The Last Astronaut, a story replete with reclamation and redemption; initiated by a hydrazine accident, leads the heroine (Sally Jansen) into a challenging world of self-discovery and self-sacrifice. Torrents of horror prey on primordial fears; dreads and disassociations creep into Greek and Romanesque mythology vistas. Large servings of the macabre refuse to be digestion into reality- a mission that appears to be in the throes of diminishing returns where hope approaches the event horizon. Yet, there is a resolve even with the odds stacked against the crew. Hawkins is finally determined to be insane, Roa becomes a survivor, and Sally, a hero. The world is saved at her expense, while 2I's dissemination is eminent.

TLA. What's not to like about this alien, Kafkaesque, guide free trek into an offensive, repellent nightmare? Wellington takes us there; he unsettles us; he forces an unsanitized look into a domain where darkness rules your psychological precepts of ordinary. Untethered stress and harshness are the only constants available. The novel delivers an epic adventures story with many twists and turns. Two powerful plots eventually converge into one fast-paced, unexpected conclusion. TLA (though it didn't win) was a dynamic short-listed choice for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

"Keep it up, keep it up, twelve more minutes and then you can have a hot dog." 

~ Flight Surgeon Blaine Wilson

"Sometimes you don't get to choose the battles in your life. Sometimes you take what's handed to you."

~ Roy McAllister 

David Wellington's Website

You may purchase the book here.

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