Abstract
How do you give silence a voice? How can the inexpressible be expressed? When sign and symbol fail, what language is left with which to write and fill the empty spaces? Silence, like the dark, is often feared, and the silence in the dark of space is doubly feared. With preparations underway for a return to the Moon and crewed mission to Mars [considered by many as the first human steps toward deeper space exploration] how do the Twentieth Century science fiction writers Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert and H.P. Lovecraft prepare us for the silences we fear as we undertake the journey to destinations as yet unknown? Through the lens of these writers, this paper will examine the voice of silence that resonates in the dark space of the universe, and the quest of humankind to express the inexpressible.