Station Gehenna by Andrew Weiner

Published by Worldwide Library on November 1, 1988

Six people work at the terraforming station on Gehenna before the leisure officer exits the station without an atmosphere suit. He leaves behind a note that complains of his inability to tolerate his dreams. The Spooner Interplanetary Development Corporation sends Victor Lewin, a psychologist masquerading as a replacement leisure officer, to investigate station morale after the suicide. Lewin quickly learns that safety devices should have prevented an unprotected person from opening the airlock to Gehenna's atmosphere. There is no evidence that the devices failed. Was the leisure officer murdered? If so, who killed him and how was it done?

Trying to solve the mystery, Lewin begins to have dreams of his own. And when he takes his first trip outside the station, he thinks he sees a terrifying sight .... And then there's another death. Is a saboteur trying to destroy the terraforming project? Are the crew members sharing a delusion? Or is something out there?

Station Gehenna is a science fiction novel wrapped in a mystery and lightly flavored with a horror story. While all the elements of a traditional mystery are present -- any of several suspects might be the killer -- the story raises the possibility that something outside the station, some alien force, is responsible. Told in 48 relatively brief chapters, the plot-driven story moves along at a rapid pace. The resolution, while dependent on science fiction notions that are far from innovative, is logical and satisfying. This is quick, light reading, unexceptional but well crafted and fun.

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