Gateway

by Frederick Pohl

Fredrick Pohl is a prolific writer of hard science fiction, and a darned good one. Gateway may just be his best novel, ever. It won both the Hugo (1977) and the Nebula (1978) awards for Best Novel and continues to be the definitive alien contact novel of its type to date. While definitely not the best alien contact story ever written, it is - pointedly - the first to look at contact from a decidedly human perspective. Many, many authors owe more than a tip of the hat to Mr. Pohl and this novel specifically; Jack McDevitt, William Gibson, Greg Bear, and on and on.

   Gateway is an asteroid in orbit around the sun, outside the elliptical of Earth's orbit. It also happens to be a spaceport, of sorts, for what appears to be a long dead civilization. They left behind their spaceport and several superluminal spaceships that pretty much run themselves. You push a button and the ship goes where it was programmed to go. Once there, you push the same button and it comes back. The trouble with that is several fold; nobody knows how long it will take to get there, in the time between when it used to fly for the original builders and now has the destination changed to the point where its dangerous or even deadly? Will the ship just run out of fuel and leave the passengers stranded? Nobody knows until they push the button. And pushing that button can result in untold wealth if the passengers discover technology that can be exploited. Wealth beyond the wildest dreams of avarice await the crew that brings back information and/or technologies that sell. But to get it, you must come home.

Gateway is an unabashed look at human society and economics and how they affect humanity. Its not always pretty, and sometimes its downright brutal. But, it is uniquely human. Gateway is a great read for what it shows of humanity and its interactions with each other, and with the institutions we create. Read this one. You'll be glad you did.