Picture a planet with six suns and no other way to light people's world. Every light they utilize, inside or out, comes from their suns. A few select scientist discovered there will be a total eclipse of all six suns and total darkness will ensue.
They're cognizant concerning the stars, though they're a bit shaky on what they may be. There are religious texts--thousands of years old-- explaining a well-known theory. The texts tell a tale of catastrophes that happened when the world turned to darkness at a previous time. People burned their cities to light their world and set themselves back to their own dark ages.
The primary component of the story presents dialog among a reporter and the scientist trying to record the event for future reference.
The dialog makes up 99% of the book, and the event of complete darkness occurs only on the last few pages. Asimov writes the amount of stars number 30,000 compared to the few thousand that inhabitants of Earth view during our nightly observations.
It's difficult to conceptualize the feelings except beauty from these pinpoints of lights, although to never observe a star and suddenly to be bombarded with thousands could jolt anyone's composure.
Even though the book feels especially long winded--the writing continues with Asimov's excellence and the story's interesting subject matter is definitely worth the reader's time.
