Author, Mitchell A. Duncan has created a most tantalizing, sci-fi
and psychological fiction with Deeper
Into the Void. With his pen, he launches The Reconciliation, a freighter spacecraft, carrying a highly
specialized crew and me to the foot
of Olympus Mons - the largest
mountain range on the red planet, Mars. Landing
safely, Captain Cardiff and her team set about their mission. There are two main objectives for the crew: Test
sustainable life conditions to ensure humanity‘s future and find out what
happened to the first team who vanished from there some time ago. On the surface, the mission appears successful
as an ecosystem is attempted, as soil and rock samples are taken, as the pond
is tested and plant life is growing. Positive
reports are sent back to earth, but the answers as to why the first crew went missing do not surface immediately. In fact, with each passing day, the new team begins
to experience bazaar happenings and each one, secretly worries, wondering if
they might be losing their grip on reality. This believable mystery, Deeper Into the Void, has enough drama and suspense to come in at
four-stars.
Earth’s resources have become scarce and it cannot survive
more than two decades. Industry and
government defense depends on finding a new frontier with needed space for
large buildings, new materials for production, and strong capabilities for the industry
expansion with lowered cost. Badlands
Defense Corporation has spent billions on cutting edge technology and travel to
Mars after the Prometheus Group built a power station called the Dome. With the Dome in place, Badland’s scientific
teams have traveled there to test living conditions to prepare for the eventual
civilization of the red planet.
Captain Cardiff and the second team have arrived at the
Dome. There seems to be no explanation
for the missing first team. They simply vanished, but their experiments
continue to thrive, so this team picks up where they left off; collecting
precious stones, taking water samples and releasing bees to pollinate fruit
trees. Progress logs are kept by each person. They report their findings to earth, as
objectively as possible. They leave out what
they cannot yet explain. They do not
confide their insecurities to each other, instead proceeding as professionally
as they can, to do the work they came there to do. The ever-prepared Captain Cardiff finds
herself unable to prepare for an enemy she cannot see, hear, or touch, except
as a nightmare; the psychologist begins to question her own sanity while
attempting to evaluate the mental stability of her teammates. The wise one, eventually, wonders if he can
convince the others what he has discerned about the sinister experiences they
have all had, but cannot explain what is happening. In the end, will he be able to convince them
of a dark, malevolent, reality that exist among them, or will he be dismissed
as just another scientist gone mad?
Deeper Into the Void
is written in present tense. This gave
me a first-person view and experience of the mystery, as it unfolded. This kept my senses peeked for each
developing scene and adventure. Also, the
author’s background in psychology allowed for psychological depth,
unanticipated in popular science fiction. As a result, I felt personally acquainted with
each of the crew members as they pioneered the possibilities for life on Mars. I was left anxious to go even Deeper Into the Void and hoping Mitchell A. Duncan was already working on a
sequel to his, suspenseful and mind-bending creation.
