![]() ![]() The random aspect of life on Gateway takes a psychological toll on the space explorers. Since death isn't an outcome of gambling in the casino, the space travelers prefer casino gambling to the much more random alien spaceflight version of gambling. Most of the space travelers double down on the gambling aspect of their work and spend their hard-won earnings in Gateway's casino. Still other flights are so long that passengers starve to death before they can return home. Other flights pass so close to supernovas that anyone on board the flight is irradiated and killed. Some flights lead humans to alien artifacts or treasure. Many flights are uneventful, relatively short flights that don't go anywhere of value to humans. The result of taking a flight out is essentially a roll of the dice. ![]() ![]() The alien spaceships have preprogrammed flight patterns but no one has any understanding of the program. ![]() As part of an ever replenishing caste of space explorers, Robinette takes completely random trips on alien spacecraft in an attempt to gain wealth and learn more about the vanished species that left their spacefaring technology. The protagonist, Robinette Broadhead, has made the trip out to an asteroid containing alien spaceships to try to make a fortune. In the Alien movies, Gateway Station is a space dock in Earth's orbit, and the book even had it's own text adventure game. Ah, Gateway, by Frederik Pohl, a book so good that it is regularly referenced in movies and video games. ![]()
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