What would a novel be without its characters? "Closed Universe" is no different. Vidkun Anders: the brilliant, eccentric, militaristic, individualistic, very nearly unstoppable astrogeologist who essentially rules the distant corner of our solar system with ruthless cunning and unrivaled genius from his elaborately constructed and outfitted research station called "Discovery Outpost I" on Triton, Neptune's largest moon. Sabrina Carlisle: the stunningly beautiful, passionately liberal, intensely ambitious wife of Anders who is indeed a genius in her own right when it comes to science, business, political activism, and just about everything else...and yet she is unappreciated by her ever-distracted and egotistical husband, misunderstood by her admirers and enemies alike, driving her to drink and drugs and the brink of all-out heartbreak and insanity as she languishes two billion miles away from Earth. Keaton Tempus: "The Explorer," the cynical and battle-hardened space adventurer and lawman and investigator who flies from one planet, one moon, one asteroid to another, carrying out his orders from the International Space Commission with immeasurable courage and inventiveness but also very often questionable force and methods. He has now arrived on Triton to warn Anders, Carlisle, and their researchers that they must leave the moon immediately because of its worsening volcanic activity. Tempus knows going in that it's very likely Anders will not listen. Even so Tempus, just as stubborn, just as willful, does his duty anyway. A duel to the death commences. "Closed Universe" involves an epic battle of wits and wills, and asks profound questions about those very things like fame, power, scientific (particularly space-related) knowledge, and love that we can either wield for good or which we can misuse and abuse to the point of our own destruction, and that of those around us. Will Anders listen to reason? Will Tempus allow Anders to go his own way should he refuse to leave? Will Carlisle be able to leave behind her painful past and start her life anew on another planet? "Closed Universe" is both space opera and hard science fiction at its best, but it is also a universally applicable statement on human nature and how, without absolute truth and agape love being balanced at that nature's core, human actions-even with the best of intentions-will only lead to misery and death. Much like Neptune's moon Triton that, by way of heat and chaos, begins to tear itself apart in outer space in the course of this unique and thought-provoking story.
