Carys
The novel is essentially a two-character story. Or, more precisely, the novel is essentially two—maybe three, actually—stories about two characters. Carys is a twentysomething shuttle pilot who falls in love with a guy named Max with whom she breaks up, but not before suffering a miscarriage after which they reunite. The reunion mostly takes place in space aboard a ship which is an experiment in isolation and romance, but things go horribly wrong.
Max
Things go horribly wrong to the point that Max and Carys wind up adrift in space with only ninety minutes worth of oxygen left. So, what better way to use that time than to reflect on what got them there and what might have been if things had gone otherwise. Max is also twentysomething and an astronaut who is not a pilot. He is definitely an essential part of the mission crew; originally tapped to be part of the cooking staff but promoted to a position studying research. And, of course, you know the rest. Except for the parts where Carys survives and Max dies and the vice versa part and then the real story of what actually happens as the oxygen finally runs out. Interesting trivia: Max’s personality profile has been identified as Choleric/Sanguine while Carys is Phlegmatic/Melancholic at a certain user-vote website devoted to such things.
Liu
In the backstory, Liu becomes friends with Max when assists her requests for help with culinary skills. She is initially introduced to readers as a “renowned Chinese dissident.” She modestly reveals a deep-seated talent for speaking epigrammatically which makes her pretty much the most interesting conversationalist in the story.
Osric
You know how the most memorable personality in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is a computer with a monotone vocal delivery? The author is going for something a bit similar here. While Carys and Max are unquestionably supposed to be a futuristic Juliet and Romeo of sorts, the Shakespeare play which actually hands heaviest over the text is Hamlet. You may not remember his name, but Osric is a character in that tragedy: he referees the duel between Hamlet and Laertes. In this book, Osric the computer the computer with a voice that operates all the functions of a spaceship called…the Laertes.
