Eye in the Sky characters

Appears from the start

An electronics engineer at a California missile-research installation. When the security office questions his wife's political associations, he is caught between the institution that employs him and his refusal to treat suspicion as proof. Practical and technically minded, he becomes the principal organizer after a laboratory accident leaves a group of visitors in an increasingly irrational world.

Appears from the start

Jack's wife, whose earlier contact with politically left-wing acquaintances has drawn the attention of his employer's security staff. She denies being a Communist or acting against the country. Her predicament forces Jack to decide how much authority he will grant an investigation built on association and conjecture.

Appears from the start

A Black physicist employed at the research site in a public-facing job far below his scientific training. He leads the visitors through the proton-beam facility and is caught in the accident with them. His knowledge, composure, and readiness to test the strange environment make him Jack's most dependable collaborator.

Appears from the start

An elderly, intensely devout visitor to the research installation. Silvester accepts a literal, personal model of divine rule and regards modern scientific claims with suspicion. He is among the people thrown from the observation platform when the proton-beam apparatus fails.

Appears from the start

A forceful visitor who wants the world made orderly, wholesome, and free of whatever she considers unpleasant. She accompanies her son David on the laboratory tour and survives the platform collapse with the rest of the group.

Appears from the start

Edith Pritchet's son and one of the visitors caught in the laboratory accident. Younger and less doctrinaire than his mother, he is nevertheless carried with her into the succession of altered realities confronting the group.

Appears from the start

A tense and fearful member of the tour group. Her distrust of other people and expectation of concealed threats become increasingly important as the survivors try to understand why the world around them no longer follows stable rules.

Appears from the start

A security officer connected with Jack's workplace and the inquiry into Marsha. At first he presents himself as a professional colleague carrying out a loyalty investigation. He is also caught in the proton-beam accident and must cooperate with the people he had been examining.