Heechee. An Ave Futura piece dedicated to a mysterious species of aliens known as the Heechee. They appear in a number of books by the American science fiction writer Frederik Pohl, beginning with his 1977 novel Gateway. In Pohl's bleak future Earth is polluted and overcrowded, and its inhabitants are desperate to escape to a better life.
Anyone with enough money can buy a ticket to a facility known as Gateway, which is actually a deserted Heechee space station built into an asteroid. There they can get into one of the thousands of left-behind spaceships and press a button which will then send them on a journey to who-knows-where. Scientists have figured how to make the ships go, and they are automatically programmed to return to Gateway once the mission is complete. But nobody knows where each ship is programmed to go, nor how much time it will take. You could end up near a black hole, or the voyage could take so long that you exhaust your food supplies and starve to death. Still, compared to the dismal conditions on Earth, it's a tempting proposition.
The protagonist, a "food shale miner" named Robinette Broadhead, wins the lottery and uses his winnings to purchase a ticket. Terrified, he eventually works up the courage to get in the pod and push the button.
The spaceships left behind by the Heechee give us our only sense of their appearance and form, at least prior to contact. They have really wide chairs with hollowed-out pits in the middle, which is puzzling until we learn that their home world is in proximity to a source of strong microwave energy. Believe it or not, they have to carry huge microwaves around to survive! Weirder yet, since they're bowlegged, they carry them in between their legs. Which explains the pit in the chair.
So based on everything I could glean from the novels, here is my portrayal of a Heechee, complete with hanging microwave generator, sitting in the captain's chair, ready to press the button to who-knows-where.
This poster has a partly glossy, partly matte finish and it'll add a touch of sophistication to any room.
• 10 mil (0.25 mm) thick
• Slightly glossy
• Fingerprint resistant
Anyone with enough money can buy a ticket to a facility known as Gateway, which is actually a deserted Heechee space station built into an asteroid. There they can get into one of the thousands of left-behind spaceships and press a button which will then send them on a journey to who-knows-where. Scientists have figured how to make the ships go, and they are automatically programmed to return to Gateway once the mission is complete. But nobody knows where each ship is programmed to go, nor how much time it will take. You could end up near a black hole, or the voyage could take so long that you exhaust your food supplies and starve to death. Still, compared to the dismal conditions on Earth, it's a tempting proposition.
The protagonist, a "food shale miner" named Robinette Broadhead, wins the lottery and uses his winnings to purchase a ticket. Terrified, he eventually works up the courage to get in the pod and push the button.
The spaceships left behind by the Heechee give us our only sense of their appearance and form, at least prior to contact. They have really wide chairs with hollowed-out pits in the middle, which is puzzling until we learn that their home world is in proximity to a source of strong microwave energy. Believe it or not, they have to carry huge microwaves around to survive! Weirder yet, since they're bowlegged, they carry them in between their legs. Which explains the pit in the chair.
So based on everything I could glean from the novels, here is my portrayal of a Heechee, complete with hanging microwave generator, sitting in the captain's chair, ready to press the button to who-knows-where.
This poster has a partly glossy, partly matte finish and it'll add a touch of sophistication to any room.
• 10 mil (0.25 mm) thick
• Slightly glossy
• Fingerprint resistant