Sphere

“Beth was a serious weight-lifter and runner; the veins and muscles bulged at her neck and on her forearms, and her legs, beneath her shorts, were powerful. Her hair was cut short, hardly longer than a man’s.

“At the same time, she wore jewelry and makeup, and she moved in a seductive way. Her voice was soft, and her eyes were large and liquid, especially when she talked about the living things that she studied. At those times she became almost maternal. One of her colleagues at the University of Chicago had referred to her as ‘Mother Nature with muscles.’”

This description of Beth encompasses her struggle between sexism in the workplace and her natural femininity. Her experience in which a former professor took credit for her work colors how she views the behavior of men around her and her desire to fit in in a profession that is male dominated. Nevertheless, Beth is a sexual person who wants to be desirable to the same men who cause her to feel inadequate based on her gender. This description takes on added weight late in the novel when the sphere’s power causes Beth to become more attractive, and her insecurities lead her to attempt to both seduce and kill Norman.

“Fielding’s manner was open, cheerful, and pompous. At JPL, he had appeared on television whenever there was a spacecraft flyby, and thus enjoyed a certain celebrity; he had recently been remarried, to a television weather reporter in Los Angeles; they had a young son.

“Ted was a longstanding advocate for life on other worlds, and a supporter of SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which other scientists considered a waste of time and money.”

The text introduces Ted by focusing on his desire for recognition and his belief in unknown life forms. This sets a tone regarding Ted that supports his actions throughout the novel as he attempts to be the first to speak upon entering the spacecraft, the first to solve the mysterious computer code, and the first to open the sphere. Ted’s behavior creates tension in the novel as he enters into conflict with both Beth and Harry in his attempts to earn recognition. The mention of Ted’s new marriage and young son underscores his personality and the things important to him when Norman later finds a photograph of a Corvette among Ted’s things but doesn’t find any mementos of Ted’s wife and child.

“There were really only two kinds of child prodigies—mathematical and musical. Some psychologists argued there was only one kind, since music was so closely related to mathematics. While there were precocious children with other talents, such as writing, painting, and athletics, the only areas in which a child might truly perform at the level of an adult were in mathematics or music. Psychologically, such children were complex: often loners, isolated from their peers and even from their families by their gifts, for which they were both admired and resented. Socialization skills were often retarded, making group interactions uncomfortable. As a slum kid, Harry’s problems would have been, if anything, magnified. He had once told Norman that when he first learned about Fourier transforms, the other kids were learning to slam-dunk. So maybe Harry was feeling uncomfortable in the group now.”

As with Ted and Beth, the text introduces Harry through the lens of Norman’s experience as a psychologist and the insights that come with his training. He notes that Harry is socially inexperienced, and this could explain why Harry doesn’t get along with Ted as their investigation begins. However, as the plot develops, it becomes clear that Harry enjoys arguing with Ted over the nature of the spacecraft and sphere, the nature of Jerry, and the meaning of marine life that suddenly appears around the habitat. Through Jerry, Harry expresses sadness about Ted’s death. Although it’s obvious that Harry is highly intelligent, he does exhibit awkward social skills, though not stilted, as Norman expects.

“‘Because,’ Ted said, ‘the atmosphere of the Earth is deadly. You don’t realize it, but oxygen is a corrosive gas. It’s in the same chemical family as chlorine and fluorine, and hydrofluoric acid is the most corrosive acid known. The same quality of oxygen that makes a half-eaten apple turn brown, or makes iron rust, is incredibly destructive to the human body if exposed to too much of it. Oxygen under pressure is toxic—with a vengeance. So we cut down the amount of oxygen you breathe. You breathe twenty-one percent oxygen at the surface. Down here, you breathe two percent oxygen. But you won’t notice any difference—’”

The text reflects the author’s scientific education as it explains in simple terms the atmosphere in which Norman and the rest of the team will live while on the ocean floor. This explanation is important because as the plot develops, this atmosphere impacts things, including Beth’s attempts to conduct experiments on marine life forms, Rose’s ability to cook specific items, and the response to damage done to the habitat after the giant squid attacks. In addition, the atmosphere causes physical changes to Norman, such as quick-healing bruises. All these things are unfamiliar to the characters and cause stress that affects their mental health, creating a situation in which Norman becomes an unreliable narrator as the plot nears its climax.

“They now saw that the blurred knobs were actually three colored buttons: yellow, red, and blue. The buttons were each an inch in diameter and had knurled or machined edges. The symbols above the buttons resolved sharply into a series of neatly stenciled labels.

“From left to right the labels read: ‘Emergency Ready,’ ‘Emergency Lock,’ and ‘Emergency Open.’

“In English.

“There was a moment of stunned silence. And then, very softly, Harry Adams began to laugh.”

The theory that the spacecraft is alien is proven wrong as soon as the team sees the buttons just inside the door that the Navy divers have uncovered. Playing with the theme of Human Perception Coupled with Fear of the Unknown, the text introduces conflict, presenting the possibility of confronting an alien life form only to take it away the moment the team enters the spacecraft for the first time. However, notes of mystery remain as the team grapples with what this evidence means. Harry is the only one who was never convinced that the spacecraft was of alien origin, and his reaction reveals that he already suspected the spacecraft was of human origin and potentially a product of time travel. Despite Harry’s reaction, fear of the unknown remains in play because the team doesn’t know what else they’ll find as they enter the spacecraft for the first time.

“‘In any case, it’s one mystery solved,’ Harry said, looking at the dummy. ‘Obviously this craft was built to be a manned ship, but it was sent out unmanned.’

“‘Why?’

“‘Probably the intended voyage was too dangerous. They sent an unmanned vessel first, before they sent a manned vessel.’”

The text continues to explore the theme of human perception coupled with fear of the unknown as the characters enter the spacecraft. The team quickly deduces that the craft was built and meant to be flown by humans, but unknown factors cloud their understanding of its design and purpose. Consequently, the team uses their knowledge of science and limited human perception to hypothesize, coming to some conclusions that future discoveries later support.

“‘It’s not a donut. It’s a black hole. What you are seeing is the recording made as this spacecraft went through a black hole and entered into another—Is someone calling?’ Harry turned, cocked his head. They fell silent, but heard nothing.

“‘What do you mean, another universe—’”

In the spacecraft’s computer system, Harry finds proof of its mission. In an earlier chapter, Ted and Harry proposed theories of a black hole, but Harry now discovers proof that the spacecraft came into contact with a black hole, supporting the idea that it used the black hole to travel in time. This discovery offers a realistic explanation for the spacecraft’s existence and takes away an element of the unknown, decreasing the tension of the unknown in the plot while increasing the tension between the characters: Ted initially introduced the idea of a black hole, but Harry found the evidence, heightening the competition between them to be the first to solve the questions surrounding this discovery.

“On the far side, they discovered a series of deep, convoluted grooves, cut in an intricate pattern into the surface of the sphere. The pattern was arresting, though Norman could not immediately say why. The pattern wasn’t geometric. And it wasn’t amorphous or organic, either. It was hard to say what it was. Norman had never seen anything like it, and as he continued to look at it he felt increasingly certain this was a pattern never found on Earth. Never created by any man. Never conceived by a human imagination.

“Ted and Barnes were right. He felt sure of it.

“This sphere was something alien.”

The discovery of the sphere quickly follows Harry establishing a strong theory about the purpose of the spacecraft’s mission. In one moment, the text reduces the tension of the unknown and then ratchets it back up with the discovery of the sphere. This pacing adds to the plot’s suspense. It also continues to explore the theme of human perception coupled with fear of the unknown because of Norman’s reaction to the carving on the outside of the sphere. Although the team has established that spacecraft is of human origin, Norman and the others immediately jump to the conclusion that the sphere is alien because they don’t recognize the markings. Later, however, they adjust their thinking to allow for the possibility that humans created the sphere for unknown purposes.

Harry walked forward to the sphere, pressed his ear against the metal, and rapped it with his knuckles. He touched the grooves, his hands disappearing in the deep indentations. The sphere was so highly polished Norman could see Harry’s face, distorted, in the curve of the metal. ‘Yes. As I suspected. These cabalistic markings, as you call them, are not decorative at all. They have another purpose entirely, to conceal a small break in the surface of the sphere. Thus they represent a door.’ Harry stepped back.

“‘What is the sphere?’

“‘I’ll tell you what I think,’ Harry said. ‘I think this sphere is a hollow container, I think there’s something inside, and I think it scares the hell out of me.’”

Harry’s assessment of the sphere’s markings introduces two things. One is the idea that the sphere has a door hiding a hollow space into which someone could enter. This idea becomes a focus within the plot as the team ponders the sphere’s purpose and wonders how to open it. The team’s attempts to determine the sphere’s purpose limits their knowledge, again exploring the theme of human perception coupled with fear of the unknown. The other is the way that the team immediately accepts Harry’s hypothesis, which shows how dependent they’ve become on his intelligence and perceptions.

“‘You see,’ Norman said, ‘at first I thought the Anthropomorphic Problem—the fact that we can only conceive of extraterrestrial life as basically human—I thought it was a failure of imagination. Man is man, all he knows is man, and all he can think of is what he knows. Yet, as you can see, that’s not true. We can think of plenty of other things. But we don’t. So there must be another reason why we only conceive of extraterrestrials as humans. And I think the answer is that we are, in reality, terribly frail animals. And we don’t like to be reminded of how frail we are—how delicate the balances are inside our own bodies, how short our stay on Earth, and how easily it is ended. So we imagine other life forms as being like us, so we don’t have to think of the real threat—the terrifying threat—they may represent without ever intending to.’”

Drawing on his expertise as a psychologist, Norman explains to the team why they need to think outside the box regarding aliens. Norman points out that humans want to believe that aliens are just like them but the truth is that they likely aren’t, and that possibility is crucial. It helps build the theme of human perception coupled with fear of the unknown since the team can imagine alien life forms only in comparison to their own existence and must move beyond their limited perception to consider the possibility that what they might encounter if the sphere opens won’t be something they can fully comprehend or kill.

“Outside they saw what looked like a wriggling silver snake. Then Norman realized it was the cable that linked them to the surface, sliding back and forth across the porthole as it coiled in great loops on the bottom.”

The theme of Isolation and Survival becomes a source of tension as the team discovers that the surface ships have left, effectively abandoning them on the ocean floor for as long as a week. Although the team was assured that they could survive for an extended period in DH-8, losing communication with the surface and an increased sense of isolation creates a situation in which the characters are more completely on their own than they were before. For this to happen within hours of discovering a sphere of unknown origins increases the sense of danger inherent in living on the ocean floor for numerous days.

“‘They’re lying to us,’ she said.

“‘Who is?’

“‘Barnes. The Navy. Everybody. This is a setup, Norman.’”

Beth’s accusation against Barnes and the Navy begins to explore the theme of Deception and Manipulation. While Harry implied earlier in the novel that Barnes wasn’t telling them the truth about the spacecraft, this is the first time anyone has accused Barnes of outright lying. Beth’s accusation is based on the idea that he lied about agreeing to return to the surface during the storm and on her suspicion that he wants to use the spacecraft’s technology as a weapon for the military. His motives are implicit, and Beth appears correct, but her insecurities and distrust of men color her sense that Barnes lied to them about everything, and these elements of her character increase as the novel progresses and become an issue when she’s exposed to the sphere’s power.

“Talk to the others, Norman. Get them to leave. It’s…dangerous to stay here.”

After Harry leaves the sphere and returns to DH-8, he warns Norman several times to get everyone back to the surface. Harry’s warning foreshadows danger that Harry is unable to explain. His confusion and inability to explain himself during the first hours after leaving the sphere adds to the plot’s suspense and continues the theme of human perception coupled with fear of the unknown because it creates more questions than it answers.

“None of it makes sense. First of all, in areas where fish haven’t encountered human beings before, they tend to ignore humans unless they are hunted. The Navy divers didn’t hunt the fish. Second, if the divers stirred up the bottom, that’d actually release nutrients and attract more animals. Third, many species of animals are attracted to electrical currents. So, if anything, the shrimps and other animals should’ve been drawn here earlier by the electricity. Not now, with the power off.”

Beth’s assessment of the marine life that appears after Harry leaves the sphere highlights the oddity of the life forms suddenly appearing after Beth and the others noted the absence of marine life. Norman has expressed unease with these animals, so Beth’s assessment and their unusual appearance and behavior adds to a sense of uneasiness. Beth’s assessment also foreshadows Norman’s discovering the true nature of the animals and how it relates to the sphere.

“Norman thought, He said he is happy. Another expression of emotion, and this time it didn’t seem to come from a book. The statement appeared direct and genuine. Did that mean that the alien had emotions? Or was he just pretending to have them, to be playful or to make them comfortable?”

Norman’s training as a psychologist offers insight into the team members’ behaviors, and this expands into observations of the behavior of the entity Jerry when they begin communicating with it. Norman’s attention to detail, noting the comments that suggest Jerry feels human emotion, appears to defy Norman’s anthropomorphic theory, suggesting that Jerry isn’t what he appears. It also foreshadows Norman’s eventual analysis that leads to his understanding of Jerry as a product of Harry’s subconscious.

“They listened. More scraping. A moment of silence, followed by the gurgle of water, very loud, very close.

“‘Jesus,’ Barnes whispered. ‘He’s right outside.’

“A dull thump against the side of the habitat.

“The screen flashed on.

“I AM HERE.”

The text immediately connects the giant squid attack to Jerry when Jerry communicates over the computer at the same instant that the attack begins. While Norman and the others don’t immediately make this connection, the text foreshadows Jerry’s role in the attack through this message. Additionally, this moment increases the plot’s tension and suspense because the characters don’t yet know what’s attacking them and whether they can take control by finding a way to stop it.

“But this room did look different. For instance, he didn’t remember the door to the galley being to the left, as it was now. He remembered it as being in the center of the wall separating the galley from the bunks.”

Norman begins to notice that things around him are taking on a new look. The reason for this isn’t initially revealed, thus suggesting that Norman might be experiencing mental health difficulties after the stress of losing multiple team members in mere hours. This calls Norman’s reliability as a narrator into question. In addition, it foreshadows the true explanation for these changes in perception: the fact that Beth went into the sphere and is manipulating the appearance of their surroundings using the power that the sphere gave her to do so.

“Just like a kid, Norman thought. Just exactly like a kid. Telling the kid you can’t do what he wants, you can’t play the way he wants to play, and he refuses to accept it.

“‘We do not have the power, Jerry, to bring them back.’

“I WISH YOU TO BRING THE OTHER ENTITITES BACK NOW.”

While speaking to Jerry, Norman begins to recognize things about his personality that lead Norman to question Jerry’s origins. This is the beginning of Norman’s journey to understanding Jerry’s true nature and his connection to Harry. Norman’s thoughts on Jerry go back to his initial evaluation of Harry’s past and its impact on his personality, touching on Norman’s opinion that Harry had an isolated childhood that stunted his social abilities. Jerry’s behavior is like that of a child who plays unfairly and doesn’t understand why his playmates no longer want to play, just the kind of child Harry might have been. Making this connection is the first step in Norman’s realizing the nature of Harry’s connection to Jerry.

“‘It’s not so strange,’ he said. ‘Just think: if you were a sculptor, first you would get an idea, and then you would carve it in stone or wood, to make it real. The idea comes first, then the execution follows, with some added effort to create a reality that reflects your prior thoughts. That’s the way the world works for us. We imagine something, and then we try to make it happen. Sometimes the way we make it happen is unconscious—like the guy who just happens to go home unexpectedly at lunchtime and catches his wife in bed with another man. He doesn’t consciously plan it. It just sort of happens by itself.’”

Norman explains the power that the sphere has given Harry, expressing in simple terms the how Harry unconsciously manifests his fears and causes the chaos that has led to the deaths of most of the team. This explanation threads together all the connections that Norman has already made between Harry and the manifestation of the giant squid, the other marine life, Jerry, and the mysterious Navy crewman. Additionally, this explanation gives Beth and Norman a way to control their situation in order to limit the danger to their lives, thereby offering a spark of hope as the plot moves toward its climax.

“You’re in a panic, he thought. And it has nothing to do with sunlamps and architectural drawings. It doesn’t even have to do with sex. You’re in a panic because Beth is the only one left besides you, and Beth isn’t acting like herself.”

From the beginning, Norman has asserted that the stress of isolation and being in a dangerous situation could cause members of the team investigating the spacecraft to experience a break with reality. Norman’s continued opinion that the habitat has changed architecturally, and that Beth looks more beautiful than before are potentially signs of a stress-induced mental crisis, calling the reliability of Norman’s narration into question as he struggles to determine whether he’s remembering things correctly or his perception is somehow skewed. In addition, Norman sees changes in perception while Harry is asleep, meaning that if this isn’t a mental crisis but a manifestation of the sphere’s influence, his theory that Harry is the only one impacted by the sphere’s power is wrong.

“And now at last he could see something swirling the muddy sediment behind her, in the darkness beyond the lights. It was like a tornado, a swirling cloud of muddy sediment. He couldn’t see what was inside the cloud, but he sensed the power within it.

“‘Close—Nor—’

“Beth stumbled, fell. The swirling cloud moved toward her.

“I WILL KILL YOU NOW.”

Just like when the giant squid attacked, the computer screen flashes a message that Norman assumes is from Jerry, but in this instance the message differs dramatically from Jerry’s usual message of “I am coming.” This time, the message (like the swirling sediment behind Beth) has a sinister feel. While the intention is the same, the feeling differs, changing the tone of the situation and adding suspense. The difference stems from Beth’s attitude toward men. Norman is the one reading the message, so the implication is that it’s directed toward him, and it follows in Beth’s behavior toward him later, when she attempts to kill him, assuming that he’s out to hurt her, an assumption that she makes about most men because of her poor treatment by her peers.

“He didn’t think he was a menace to the expedition. It didn’t feel true to him. But how often in his life had he confronted patients who refused to acknowledge what was happening in their lives? Even trivial examples—a man, another professor at the university, who was terrified of elevators but who steadfastly insisted he always took the stairs because it was good exercise. The man would climb fifteen-story buildings; he would decline appointments in taller buildings; he arranged his entire life to accommodate a problem he would not admit he had. The problem remained concealed from him until he finally had a heart attack. Or the woman who was exhausted from years of caring for her disturbed daughter; she gave her daughter a bottle of sleeping pills because she said the girl needed a rest; the girl committed suicide. Or the novice sailor who carefully packed his family off on a sailing excursion to Catalina in a gale, nearly killing them all.”

The text not only creates an unreliable narrator but makes Norman aware that he might be unreliable by forcing him to consider the possibility that his perception is skewed. Norman again uses his training as a psychologist to reflect on the situation from a logical perspective and examine the possibility that he truly might be unintentionally manifesting the latest danger facing the habitat. His doubt not only adds tension to the plot, but it makes his character more relatable, more believable, and more well-rounded.

“This is the gift of your species and this is the danger, because you do not choose to control your imaginings. You imagine wonderful things and you imagine terrible things, and you take no responsibility for the choice. You say you have inside you both the power of good and the power of evil, the angel and the devil, but in truth you have just one thing inside you—the ability to imagine.”

While inside the sphere, Norman has a conversation with an entity that is manifesting his subconscious. This entity explains the power of imagination and how it separates humans from other species. It’s a product of imagination that both Harry and Beth manifested after entering the sphere, but it was a product of their subconscious minds, and therefore they weren’t fully aware of the nature of the manifestations. Norman, however, is more in touch with his subconscious, which allows him to understand the power better and to use it consciously, leading to the novel’s climax, when Norman suggests a way to protect the world from the sphere’s power.