The Nine Billion Names of God

Senator Steelman is arguably the most thoroughly developed character in this collection. He is an ambitious man who puts his career before his health and family. He sacrifices emotional intimacy with his loved ones in favor of political prowess. His goal is to become President of the United States, and he is on track to achieve this when he learns he has heart disease and will die shortly. This news shocks him into personal growth. Suddenly he spends all of his free time with his grandchildren, wraps up loose ends with his career, makes amends with old enemies, and rekindles his relationship with his estranged wife. When he is given the chance to live through treatment, however, he turns it down—in part because he doesn’t want to give Harkness the satisfaction, but also because he feels it would be immoral to take a life-saving treatment that he doesn’t deserve. He regrets fighting the funding for an American space research lab that would have allowed countless Americans to survive the same heart disease. He dies peacefully in the company of his family, sitting on the same porch that George Washington sat on generations earlier. The senator’s hubris brought him to an unnecessarily early death. Only in the process of dying does he develop the moral compass he would have needed to fill the role of the presidency.

Unlike his colleagues, Bertrond is extremely patient and kind to Yaan. He wants to develop trust and a genuine relationship with him, rather than simply observe him and leave. Through his speeches to Yaan, readers learn that Bertrond is full of regret. He and his people have made mistakes which led to the destruction of their home planets. He sees Yaan as a younger, perfect version of humanity. He desperately wants to help Yaan evolve and avoid making the same mistakes. He wishes he could stay behind with Yaan but is forced to return home to face the crises awaiting them.

A Jesuit priest and astronaut, this character muses on the philosophical divide between science and religion. He begins as a devout believer in the idea of a singular God, the father of Jesus Christ, as the sole creator of the universe. Yet as his career in science takes him further from Earth and provides him with previously unheard of knowledge, he loses his faith. He cannot understand how God as he knows Him would be so cruel as to destroy a peaceful and advanced civilization just to announce the birth of Jesus Christ on Earth. His journey to the decimated sun and surrounding planets brings him closer in line with his scientific colleagues and their belief that the Universe operates at random.

Bill Cross is an angry, petty man who is at a low point in his life. His career is plummeting, and he has just lost his girlfriend. When an alien voice tries to deliver him a warning about the end of the world telepathically, he assumes it is a hallucination brought on by excessive alcohol consumption. He is so morose that he thinks the end of the world is exactly what Earth needs. Instead of seeing this as an opportunity to be the hero that saves the world—and his career—he dismisses the voice and continues to complain and drink. His character is a humorous reminder for the reader of how wrapped up in themselves humans can become—to the point of oblivion.