The Heechee Series by Frederik Pohl
The Heechee Series is a science fiction collection that revolves around humanity's discovery of Heechee artifacts and the subsequent interactions with the enigmatic Heechee race and their adversaries, the Assassins. The story begins with the exploration of an asteroid rich in Heechee spacecraft, leading to the establishment of the Gateway corporation, which trains prospectors to seek valuable artifacts. The protagonist, Robinette Broadhead, embarks on perilous voyages through the galaxy, facing the dangers of black holes and the loss of loved ones while uncovering significant technological advancements.
Throughout the series, Broadhead's journey reveals the complexities of Heechee society and their mysterious disappearance, primarily driven by their fear of the Assassins, a race believed to threaten organic life in the universe. As the narrative unfolds, Broadhead grapples with themes of loss, memory, and the nature of existence, particularly when he is ultimately stored as a form of machine intelligence. The series presents a blend of adventure and philosophical inquiry, culminating in a resolution where humans and Heechee must confront their fears and adapt to a universe where new forms of consciousness can thrive. Engaging with the Heechee Series offers a thought-provoking exploration of life, technology, and the mysteries of the cosmos.
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The Heechee Series
First published:Gateway (1977), Beyond the Blue Event Horizon (1980), Heechee Rendezvous (1984), The Annals of the Heechee (1987), and The Gateway Trip (1990)
Type of work: Novels and stories
Type of plot: Science fiction—future history
Time of work: The twenty-first and twenty-second centuries
Locale: Throughout the solar system and the galaxy
The Plot
These novels tell the story of human discovery of Heechee artifacts, eventual encounters with the mysterious Heechee, and subsequent encounters with a hostile race called the Assassins. When humans first explore the solar system, they discover an asteroid filled with tunnels that contain abandoned Heechee spacecraft, providing a gateway to the galaxy. Soon, the Gateway corporation trains prospectors in what little is known about the Heechee ships, then encourages them to ship out to random destinations in search of Heechee artifacts.
Because some of these artifacts provide valuable technological or scientific breakthroughs, the potential payoff to these missions is enormous. Many prospectors die on their missions and others do not return, but a lucky few discover Heechee artifacts or observe stellar phenomena and are richly rewarded.
In Gateway, Robinette Broadhead wins a lottery from the food mines on Earth and uses the money for a one-way ticket to Gateway. His first trips out are unsuccessful, and he watches many ships return with dead or dying crews. On his third trip, a black hole traps his ship and its companion. He escapes but leaves his lover, Gelle-Klara Moynlin, trapped in the event horizon. He returns to reap a fabulous science bonus.
In Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, some of the mysteries of the Heechee are resolved. Broadhead is now rich and happily married, but he still longs to see Klara. The plot centers on his recovery of two large Heechee artifacts, including a “food factory” that converts the basic elements of comets into food. These artifacts were inhabited by a feral boy named Wan, who had been born to a pregnant prospector who had landed there. Wan periodically had slept in a “dream couch” that allowed for two-way telepathic communications, and his dreams had wreaked havoc on the citizens of Earth who had been their unwilling recipients.
When Broadhead finally reaches the artifacts, he learns that the Heechee had observed Earth for some time using a dream couch and that they had captured some australopithecines and kept them on one of the artifacts. He also discovers that some of the prospectors who had never returned had in fact taken one-way trips to Heechee artifacts, from which their ships would not leave. The personalities and memories of some of these now-dead prospectors had been stored imperfectly in machine intelligence, a process that the Heechee practiced with their dead as well.
In Heechee Rendezvous, Wan inadvertently rescues Klara from the black hole while searching for his father, then heads for a huge collection of black holes outside the galaxy. Broadhead dies while chasing Klara and Wan, and he is stored as machine intelligence. The Heechee determine Wans path and intervene, capturing his ship. This book answers the question of why the Heechee disappeared: They had fled into a black hole because they feared a mysterious race known as the Assassins, who they believed had systematically destroyed all organic intelligence that they encountered. The Heechee believed that the Assassins systematically were adding mass to the universe in order to speed its eventual collapse. The Heechee feared that the Assassins sought to alter the initial conditions immediately after the Big Bang to make the emergence of organic life less likely and the conditions more favorable for life based on energy. With humans flitting around the galaxy broadcasting signals of life without fear, the Heechee decide to venture out and join the humans in watching for signs that “the Foe” is returning.
In The Annals of the Heechee, the Heechee and Broadhead encounter the Assassins, who turn out to be less fierce than the Heechee feared. Humanity and Heechee are saved when the Foe discovers that some humans are storing themselves voluntarily as electronic intelligence before their bodies wear out, because the quality of life is better in the computer than outside it. This encourages the Assassins to allow humans and Heechee to continue to evolve while the Foe continues to add mass to the universe. The collection of vignettes, The Gateway Trip, tells the tale of various explorers and prospectors who are mentioned briefly in the novels and ties them together with a brief recounting of the major events of the novels.