Gateway Chapter 25: Broke, Depressed, and Signing Up Again
Rob is broke. Again. Still. Always. And this time the hole he is sitting in feels deeper than before.
This chapter is about what happens when the universe hands you just enough to survive, but not enough to escape. And about the choices people make when the only options left are bad ones.
Facing the Evaluation Board
Rob has to answer for wrecking the One-class ship. Remember, he messed up the course settings on his solo mission, and the Corporation does not just let that go. These ships are irreplaceable Heechee technology. You break one, somebody has to answer questions.
The Evaluation Board consists of Emma and Mr. Hsien. They go through the whole thing. What happened. How it happened. Why the ship came back damaged. Rob sits there and waits for the number. How much does he owe for destroying alien technology that humanity cannot build?
Here is the twist. Rob’s accidental course modification actually produced useful data. By messing up the settings, he gave the scientists something they did not have before. New information about how Heechee drives work. A data point that could help future missions.
So Emma and Mr. Hsien make a decision. They write off the debt. Rob’s mistake becomes his “contribution to science.” He does not owe anything for the ship.
But he does not get rich either. His total payout comes to about $8,000. Per diem and some small shares. That is it. Months on Gateway, multiple missions, risking his life, and he has eight thousand dollars.
Eight thousand dollars does not get you off Gateway. It does not get you home in any meaningful way. It is just enough to keep you trapped. Enough to eat, enough to stay alive, not enough to leave or to start over.
This is the Gateway trap. The station gives you just enough hope to keep you from quitting, but never enough success to actually win.
The Depression
What follows is weeks of nothing. Rob drifts. He attends lectures. He hangs around the station. He does not launch. He does not plan. He just exists.
If you have ever been stuck somewhere, not just physically but emotionally, you know this feeling. Every option seems equally bad. Getting up takes effort because there is no reason to do it. You are not sad exactly. Just empty.
Pohl does not rush through this. He lets us sit in it with Rob. The lectures, the conversations, the slow meaningless days piling up. This is what depression looks like in a science fiction setting. Not dramatic. Just flat. Gray. Stuck.
Susie Hereira
During this gray period, Rob makes a new friend. Susie Hereira. She is a young Brazilian naval officer and the cousin of Francy Hereira, whom we have heard about before.
Susie is new to Gateway. She has the energy that new people always have. The excitement that has not been beaten out of her yet. She is smart and capable and she does not yet know what Gateway really costs.
Rob gravitates toward her. Not romantically. More like a person freezing to death moves toward a fire. Susie has something Rob has lost. Belief that things might work out.
Shicky Wants Rob to Try Again
Shikitei Bakin, whom everyone calls Shicky, has been Rob’s friend for a while now. And Shicky is a pusher. Not in a mean way. In the way that good friends sometimes are. The friend who says “get up” when you want to stay in bed. The friend who does not accept your excuses.
Shicky tells Rob he needs to launch again. Sitting around Gateway is killing him slower than space would. Either go home or go out there. But stop sitting in the middle.
Rob knows Shicky is right. That is the worst part. He knows it. He just cannot make himself move. The fear is still there. The failure is still there. The empty bank account is still there.
But Shicky keeps pushing. And sometimes that is all it takes. Not courage. Not inspiration. Just someone who will not let you rot.
The Science Mission
Then Dane Metchnikov drops something interesting.
There is a science mission being put together. Not the usual prospecting run where you press a button and hope for the best. This is different. This is organized. This is planned. And it pays guaranteed money.
Here is the setup. Two Five-class ships will launch to an unexplored destination. The goal is to test whether varying non-critical course settings produces the same arrival point. If you tweak things that should not matter, does the ship still end up in the same place?
The catch: it is dangerous. Nobody knows where these ships are going. The destination is unexplored. That word, on Gateway, means “we have zero data and people might die.”
The payout: one million dollars per person. Guaranteed. Whether you find anything or not. Whether you survive or not, your estate gets it.
One million dollars. For Rob, who has eight thousand to his name and no way forward, this is everything. This is the exit. This is the answer to every question he has been avoiding for weeks.
He signs up immediately.
Shicky Gets Cut
Here is where it gets painful.
Shicky wants in too. Of course he does. He is the one who pushed Rob to try again. He wants to fly. He wants to be out there.
But Shicky has a problem. He is missing his legs. And the mission parameters are strict. The crew needs to be physically complete. No exceptions. The evaluation board looks at Shicky and says no.
Rob gets accepted. Shicky does not.
And now Rob has to pick his crew. He has to choose between Shicky and Susie for the last spot. Shicky, his friend who pushed him to do this. And Susie, the capable young officer who brings fresh energy and working legs.
Rob chooses Susie.
He chooses the practical option. The smart option. The option that gives the mission the best chance of success. And he feels terrible about it.
Because Shicky was the one who kept him going. Shicky was the one who said “try again.” And now Rob is trying again, and Shicky has to watch from the station.
This is the kind of guilt that stays with you. You know you made the right call. Your brain knows it. But your gut does not care about right calls. Your gut just knows you left your friend behind.
The Gateway Cycle
This chapter shows the full cycle of Gateway in miniature. Failure. Depression. Small hope. Big gamble. Personal cost.
Rob lost everything, sat in the wreckage for weeks, found a way forward, and had to hurt someone to take it. That is Gateway. That is the whole game compressed into one chapter.
And the worst part? He has not even launched yet. The million dollars is still theoretical. The danger is still ahead. All Rob has done is sign a piece of paper and betray a friend.
The mission has not even started, and it is already costing him.
Book: Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1977) | Hugo Award, Nebula Award, John W. Campbell Memorial Award Winner
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