Aton 77

Director of Saro University, Aton 77 is the elderly leader of a group of astronomers who are determined to leave a record of the night of darkness. A stern and stiff leader, Aton arranges the swap of information between the astronomers and the Cultists that leads to the discovery of the impending eclipse. It is Aton who expresses the moral to the story when he cries out at the end that they "didn't know that they couldn't know."

Beenay 25

Beenay, a "husky telephotographer," is the character who brings the reporter to the Observatory and catches the Cultist. He is also the character who comes up with some interesting theories about the universe. While he is right about the idea that the stars are actually other suns positioned too far away to have gravitational pull on their planet, he is wrong in thinking that there is not enough room in...