STORIES ABOUT THE HEECHEE “The Gate” (1977) “Beyond the Blue Event Horizon” (1980) “A Date with the Heechee” (1984) “Annals of the Heechee” (1987) “The Path to the Gate” (1990) When the first colonists arrived on Venus (this is described in the story “Traders on Venus,” included in the book “The Path to the Gate”), they discovered that the surface of the planet was riddled with tunnels. It was the work of some ancient aliens from outer space, who were called the Heechee. Apart from a few mysterious objects, the tunnels were completely empty. Everyone wondered who the Heechee were, why they flew to Venus and where they flew to, and no one could answer these questions. (A certain wag published a book of several hundred pages called “Everything We Know About the Heechee.” All the pages in the book were blank.) In their exploration of the solar system, the Heechee did not limit itself to Venus. They visited Earth, but at that time the closest thing to intelligent creatures were the short, hairy primates with a tiny brain, which we today call Australopithecus robustus. But the Heechee did something else before disappearing. They set up something like a spaceship base on the asteroid. When the asteroid was discovered completely by accident by people, it also turned out to be riddled with tunnels. The corridors were empty, just like on Venus, but the Heechee did not leave the asteroid completely empty. Its surface was pitted with spaceship launch pits; there were hundreds of ships in the pits; and they acted. The Heechee spaceships had many wonderful properties and one very significant drawback. They flew faster than light. They were equipped with an automatic navigation system, so they flew to various parts of the Galaxy, presumably those that interested the Heechee most than others. But no one knew how to choose the right course; as soon as you entered the ship and turned on the engine, you were on your way - but where, you could only determine when you reached your destination. An abandoned Heechee base, the remnants of a supernova, a planet devastated by some intelligent race - the target could be anything. But sometimes - not too often - at the end of a long flight you found yourself in a place where the Heechee left their other machines and tools. This is a product of technology far superior to human technology, and, accordingly, infinitely valuable. To search for these Treasures, the governments of the Earth established the Gate Corporation (described in the novel “The Gate” and its sequels). Daredevils were encouraged to fly to the Gateway asteroid and try their luck - at their own peril and risk. Because the course set by the Heechee hundreds of thousands of years ago did not always end in places that fragile human beings could withstand. Published in 1977, The Gate won almost every award known for best fiction, including Hugo, Nebula , the Campbell Memorial Prize, and the national prizes of France and Yugoslavia. It has been translated into more than thirty languages, two video games have been created based on it, and a movie is currently being made. Frederick Paul