Gateway (novel)
Encyclopedia
Gateway is a 1977
science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl
. Gateway won the 1978 Hugo Award
for Best Novel
, the 1978 Locus Award
for Best Novel
, the 1977 Nebula Award
for Best Novel
, and the 1978 John W. Campbell Award. It is the opening novel in the Heechee
saga. Several sequels followed, and the novel was adapted into a computer game
in 1992.
prior to its hardcover publication. A short concluding chapter, cut before publication, was later published in the August 1977 issue of Galaxy.
, a long-vanished alien race. The Heechee left behind nearly a thousand small starships. Many still work, but using them is an extremely dangerous gamble, since Heechee technology is mostly incomprehensible to humans. Occasional attempts at reverse engineering
to find out how they work have ended only in disaster. The controls for selecting a destination have been identified, but nobody knows where a particular setting will take the ship or how long the trip will last. Once in flight, no one who has changed the settings has ever been heard from again. Most settings take the ship to useless or lethal places. A few, however, lead to Heechee artifacts and habitable planets, making the passengers (and the Gateway Corporation, which administers the asteroid on behalf of a cartel of countries) wealthy.
The vessels come in three standard sizes, which can hold a maximum of one, three, or five people, crammed in with equipment and (hopefully) enough food to last the trip. Each ship includes a lander to visit a planet or other object if one is found.
Robinette Stetley Broadhead—known as Robin, Rob, Robbie, or Bob, depending on circumstances and his state of mind—is a young food shale miner on Earth who has won a lottery, giving him just enough money to purchase a one-way ticket to Gateway. Once there, he loses his nerve, putting off going on a mission as long as he can, but eventually he starts running out of money. Although terrified, he goes out on three trips. The first draws a blank. On the second, he makes a discovery through unauthorized experimentation, but this is balanced by the fact that he has to pay a hefty penalty for the ship he managed to incapacitate in the process.
On his third trip, the Gateway Corporation tries something different: sending two five-person ships, one slightly behind the other, to the same destination. Bob signs up in desperation, along with Gelle-Klara Moynlin, a woman he had gradually come to love on Gateway, and who was struggling with her own fears. When they reach the end of their journey, they find to their horror that they are in the gravitational grip of a black hole
, without enough power to break free.
One of the others comes up with a desperate escape plan—to cram all the people into one ship and eject the other toward the black hole, thus gaining enough velocity to escape. Working frantically to transfer unnecessary equipment to make room, Bob finds himself stuck alone in the wrong ship when time runs out, so he attempts to sacrifice himself and closes the hatch. However, his ship is the one thrown away, leaving the rest of the crew falling into the black hole.
He returns to Gateway and becomes wealthy when, as the sole "survivor", he receives the bonuses for the entire group. He feels enormous survivor guilt
for deserting his crewmates, especially Klara, so he seeks therapy from an Artificial Intelligence
Freudian therapist program which he names Sigfrid von Shrink. He finally comes to terms with his guilt despite the realization that, due to the gravitational time dilation
resulting from proximity to the black hole, time is passing much more slowly for his former crew mates and none of them have actually died yet, leaving him with the dread that Gelle-Klara believes he betrayed them to save himself.
The novel is divided between chapters of dialogue between Bob and Sigfrid and chapters covering the main action. Also embedded are various mission reports (usually with fatalities), technical bulletins, and other documents Broadhead might have read, adding to the verisimilitude of the narrative.
1977 in literature
The year 1977 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Adams begins writing for BBC radio.*V. S. Naipaul declines the offer of a CBE....
science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...
. Gateway won the 1978 Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
, the 1978 Locus Award
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
for Best Novel
Locus Award for Best Novel
Winners of the Locus Award for Best Novel, awarded by Locus magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year....
, the 1977 Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
for Best Novel
Nebula Award for Best Novel
Winners of the Nebula Award for Best Novel, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The stated year is that of publication; awards are given in the following year.- Winners and other nominees :...
, and the 1978 John W. Campbell Award. It is the opening novel in the Heechee
Heechee
The Heechee are a fictional alien race from the science fiction works of Frederik Pohl. The Heechee are portrayed as an exceedingly advanced star-travelling race that explored Earth's solar system millennia ago and then disappeared without a trace before humankind began space exploration.The...
saga. Several sequels followed, and the novel was adapted into a computer game
Gateway (computer game)
Gateway and Gateway II , are interactive fiction games released by Legend Entertainment, and written by Glen Dahlgren and Mike Verdu. They are based on Frederik Pohl's Heechee universe....
in 1992.
Publishing history
Gateway was serialized in GalaxyGalaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
prior to its hardcover publication. A short concluding chapter, cut before publication, was later published in the August 1977 issue of Galaxy.
Plot summary
Gateway is a hollow asteroid (or perhaps the dead heart of a comet) constructed by the HeecheeHeechee
The Heechee are a fictional alien race from the science fiction works of Frederik Pohl. The Heechee are portrayed as an exceedingly advanced star-travelling race that explored Earth's solar system millennia ago and then disappeared without a trace before humankind began space exploration.The...
, a long-vanished alien race. The Heechee left behind nearly a thousand small starships. Many still work, but using them is an extremely dangerous gamble, since Heechee technology is mostly incomprehensible to humans. Occasional attempts at reverse engineering
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
to find out how they work have ended only in disaster. The controls for selecting a destination have been identified, but nobody knows where a particular setting will take the ship or how long the trip will last. Once in flight, no one who has changed the settings has ever been heard from again. Most settings take the ship to useless or lethal places. A few, however, lead to Heechee artifacts and habitable planets, making the passengers (and the Gateway Corporation, which administers the asteroid on behalf of a cartel of countries) wealthy.
The vessels come in three standard sizes, which can hold a maximum of one, three, or five people, crammed in with equipment and (hopefully) enough food to last the trip. Each ship includes a lander to visit a planet or other object if one is found.
Robinette Stetley Broadhead—known as Robin, Rob, Robbie, or Bob, depending on circumstances and his state of mind—is a young food shale miner on Earth who has won a lottery, giving him just enough money to purchase a one-way ticket to Gateway. Once there, he loses his nerve, putting off going on a mission as long as he can, but eventually he starts running out of money. Although terrified, he goes out on three trips. The first draws a blank. On the second, he makes a discovery through unauthorized experimentation, but this is balanced by the fact that he has to pay a hefty penalty for the ship he managed to incapacitate in the process.
On his third trip, the Gateway Corporation tries something different: sending two five-person ships, one slightly behind the other, to the same destination. Bob signs up in desperation, along with Gelle-Klara Moynlin, a woman he had gradually come to love on Gateway, and who was struggling with her own fears. When they reach the end of their journey, they find to their horror that they are in the gravitational grip of a black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
, without enough power to break free.
One of the others comes up with a desperate escape plan—to cram all the people into one ship and eject the other toward the black hole, thus gaining enough velocity to escape. Working frantically to transfer unnecessary equipment to make room, Bob finds himself stuck alone in the wrong ship when time runs out, so he attempts to sacrifice himself and closes the hatch. However, his ship is the one thrown away, leaving the rest of the crew falling into the black hole.
He returns to Gateway and becomes wealthy when, as the sole "survivor", he receives the bonuses for the entire group. He feels enormous survivor guilt
Survivor guilt
Survivor, survivor's, or survivors guilt or syndrome is a mental condition that occurs when a person perceives themselves to have done wrong by surviving a traumatic event when others did not...
for deserting his crewmates, especially Klara, so he seeks therapy from an Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
Freudian therapist program which he names Sigfrid von Shrink. He finally comes to terms with his guilt despite the realization that, due to the gravitational time dilation
Gravitational time dilation
Gravitational time dilation is the effect of time passing at different rates in regions of different gravitational potential; the lower the gravitational potential, the more slowly time passes...
resulting from proximity to the black hole, time is passing much more slowly for his former crew mates and none of them have actually died yet, leaving him with the dread that Gelle-Klara believes he betrayed them to save himself.
The novel is divided between chapters of dialogue between Bob and Sigfrid and chapters covering the main action. Also embedded are various mission reports (usually with fatalities), technical bulletins, and other documents Broadhead might have read, adding to the verisimilitude of the narrative.
External links
- Audio review and discussion of Gateway at The Science Fiction Book Review Podcast
- Gateway at Worlds Without End