Space Case

Over the course of Space Case, part of Dash’s character arc involves learning about government and politics. As an adolescent in the world’s first moon colony, Dash has a front-and-center view of a large political landscape about the ethics of space travel, yet because Dash is 12, he is still sorting out the many interests that govern his life. Though Roddy is plugged in to the virtual reality much of the time, it is Roddy who helps Dash see the complexity of the politics surrounding their time on the moon. Roddy’s analysis of NASA’s need to maintain a positive image back on Earth helps Dash begin looking at the people around him more critically, assessing what their aims might be.

Shortly after, Dash’s observations about the view from Nina’s office expands on Dash’s understanding of the Influences That Lead to Corruption by drawing on the symbol of space dust and the motif of visibility. Windows on the moon base are rare. Dash observes that Nina’s window faces south, the same direction his window would face—if he had one. Nina serves as the primary figurehead of the government on Moon Base Alpha. Nina, literally and figuratively, because of her position of power, can therefore see more than other residents on the base. Through Nina’s window, instead of the typical human-created equipment, “there was nothing but moon […] dust close to the base was tracked up, but beyond that I [Dash] could see parts of the lunar surface still in their pristine, prehuman condition” (64). This view brings together Roddy’s astute but short-sighted cynicism with Dash’s own creative capacity to see potential. Near the base, the dust is covered in ugly human tracks, suggesting the messy corruption surrounding NASA’s efforts to cover up the murder, among the many other problems on the moon base. The way the dust is “tracked up” also somewhat foreshadows that Nina is about to lie to Dash. But beyond, Dash can see so much more, suggesting humanity’s opportunity to grow and do better.

Perhaps even more so in these chapters than in the previous section of chapters, Dash’s development in relation to this theme is also supported by Gibbs’s use of the handbook excerpts to illustrate the sterilized image of the moon that NASA wants Dash to portray and the people on Earth to believe in. Much as Dash starts to perceive Nina with increasingly cautious skepticism, especially once he realizes that she has lied to him, the novel prompts readers to start developing a skeptical view of the ruling powers who control the moon base. This skepticism, in turn, feeds into the theme of Subverting Authority When Necessary.

The hints of sinister subplots extend beyond NASA’s political aims. As is hinted by the lengthy list of residents at the start of the novel, there are many people to be suspicious of on Moon Base Alpha. Dash begins identifying suspects almost immediately: He worries about Nina’s intensity and, then, her lies. Additionally, Dash observes Dr. Marquez’s ineffective attempts at psychological analysis and wonders about Dr. Marquez’s seemingly excessive interest in Dash’s family. Dash’s work to identify patterns and notice particular incongruous moments in a person’s behavior is what helps him begin to investigate Dr. Holtz’s death. Yet it is also Dash’s analytical eye that begins getting him in trouble with adults, which only heightens the feeling that there is an unpleasant series of events happening in the shadows of Moon Base Alpha. The more interactions Dash has with the other residents, the more apparent it is that there will be multiple suspects in Dr. Holtz’s death.

One of the important ways that Gibbs portrays a possible future is his inclusion of an intense Virtual Reality, VR or “veeyar” (59), that allows many people in the future to almost completely dissociate from reality. Science fiction novels often predict ways that technology will morph into more drastic forms over time, and Space Case includes this kind of predictive fiction both in the portrayal of VR as well as the inclusion of the ComLinks, screens that are intensely involved computers that are in almost every room on the base. The virtual reality set up mimics existing alternate reality set ups that exist in the 21st century: A user plugs in, develops their avatar, and can interact with a malleable environment in a number of ways, including talking to other users across space. In Dash’s future, veeyars are people who are constantly plugged in and almost never live in the real world. This kind of computer-based disconnection has been predicted by people in the current day, and Gibbs’s portrayal includes many of the real tensions caused by the existence of virtual reality.

Roddy is the primary veeyar user on the base, and Gibbs uses Roddy as an example of one way that VR could affect people. Dash describes how Roddy’s life is almost unaltered by living on the moon, since “he spends as much time as possible jacked in” (50) to the virtual reality. In veeyar, Roddy lives as a modified version of himself with big muscles and a stereotypically attractive appearance. Roddy plays violent video games and talks to girls he doesn’t know back on Earth using the ComLinks. The depth of Roddy’s involvement in veeyar means that it can be hard for Roddy to even interact in the real world; Dash describes how the “readjustment” (59) after coming out of virtual reality is commonly known as “the letdown” (59). All these factors also play into the motif of visibility. Roddy’s stiff avatar face obscures any subtlety in his real expression, making it difficult for Dash to understand how Roddy really feels, and Roddy himself struggles to see—in a figurative sense—anything beyond his own cynicism.