Dark Universe

Dark Universe (1961) is a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel by Daniel Galouye. Following a nuclear holocaust, survivors retreat into underground bunkers. Generations later, they live in total darkness in underground caves. As young Jared grows up, he begins to question his people’s established belief system. He sets out on a perilous quest, battling everything from superstition to soubats, to discover Light. In Dark Universe, Galouye explores the tension between religion and science: the conflict between the blind acceptance of faith and the active pursuit of knowledge. Some readers have likened Dark Universe to a science-fictional version of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” Dark Universe was nominated for a Hugo award in 1961. In 2007, Galouye posthumously received the Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award which highlights a genre writer whose work is worthy of being “rediscovered” by today’s readers.

Jared Fenton is “twenty-seven pregnancy periods of age.” Although bearded and strong, Jared is still a Pre-Survivor, not yet an adult Survivor. Unlike most of his people in his Lower Level, Jared wears the front of his hair short because he likes to keep his eyes open, even though there is nothing to see in the pitch-black caverns. The Survivors have long forgotten everything about their history, and do not have words to describe sight and visual images. They navigate through the caves by echolocation, using the sound waves caused by their clickstones to “see.” They have a keen sense of smell and can identify one another by scent.

The Survivors sustain themselves by growing manna plants, which are nurtured by underground hot springs; hunting salamanders, crawfish, and soubats; and raising sheep. In addition to Jared’s Lower Level clan, there is also an Upper Level clan. While the two groups are not overly friendly with each other, they stand united against the Zivvers, who raid their holdings and take their sheep. Zivvers do not use clickstones to get around, instead, they are able to see in the infrared spectrum. The Survivors think the Zivvers are possessed by the Twin Devils, Cobalt and Strontium.



Since the Survivors have no visual ideas of Light and Darkness, the concepts become religious. They believe that the Light Almighty banished humankind from Paradise during a conflict with the demon, Radiation, and his two lieutenants, Cobalt and Strontium. Humans went to live in the Original World below ground. There was some Light long ago, in the Original World. After time, people lost the knowledge of how to make Light and went deeper into the cave passages. Since Jared was small, he has been on a personal mission to find Light. Jared decides that he needs to understand Darkness in order to understand Light. Jared’s friend, Owen, scoffs at him, saying that you don’t hunt Darkness, you “commit” Darkness. In the Survivors’ vocabulary, Light is God, Darkness is Sin, and Radiation is Hell, or Evil. These words even become day-to-day curses, like “All Radiation broke loose!” and “For Light’s sake!”

Jared wonders, heretically, what if “Light isn’t God, but something else?” Out hunting soubats—giant 300-pound, tusked, mutated cave bats—Jared and Owen violate the law and cross the Barrier, going back to the Original World. There, they hear a foul-smelling human-like creature approaching, something “unbelievably evil because it was different.” Owen thinks it must be Strontium himself, coming for them. The two are knocked unconscious but manage to escape. When the friends return to the Lower Level World, Jared goes to the Administration Grotto to tell his father about the monster they saw.

Jared’s father, Evan Fenton, is the Prime Survivor. He and a group of Elders lead the Survivors. The Prime Survivor tells Jared it is time for his Unification. He has pledged Jared to Della, the niece of Noris Anselm, “the Wheel,” the leader of the Upper Level People. The Prime Survivor hopes to improve relations between the two clans. Jared knows Unification will interfere with his quest for Light. He objects, but the Prime Survivor stands firm. Jared is punished for crossing the Barrier.



People begin to go missing from both the Lower and Upper Level Worlds. Owen vanishes while hunting mushrooms. Jared travels to the Upper Level to meet Della and her family. He finds Della has a “pleasing echo composite” but is sharp-tongued. Della does not want Unification either until she thinks, mistakenly, that Jared is a Zivver masquerading as a Survivor, like her. Led by their leader Mogan, the Zivvers attack the Upper Level, incorrectly believing the Survivors are responsible for the growing disappearances of their people.

The Prime Survivor hands over his leadership to Jared, then is abducted by monsters. Jared’s illegitimate brother, Romel Fenton-Spur, is jealous and convinces people that Jared is responsible for the monster attacks because he crossed the Barrier: Jared is consorting with monsters and poisoned by Radiation. Meanwhile, the Upper Level Survivors are convinced Jared is a Zivver. Jared and Della escape to the Zivver world, but monsters catch Della. Mogan rescues Jared but is later captured.

Pursued by monsters, Jared emerges from the caverns and encounters Hydrogen himself—the sun. He is captured by the “monsters,” humans named Thorndyke and Caseman, members of the Survival Complex Seven rescue team. Thorndyke explains that Jared and the other Survivors are descended from those who once lived in bunker Eleven, which lost power, forcing them to move deeper into the caves. Now, Thorndyke is rounding up Survivors and helping them transition back to living on the planet’s surface. They are aided by Leah, a psychic whom Jared dreamed about. Jared believes the men are trying to trick him. Jared escapes but thinks despairingly that he cannot return to the caves after having seen Light. Owen and Della help convince Jared that the men do not mean him harm. Jared takes Della’s hand, saying they will stay together in the new world and see what happens.