The Annals of the Heechee was published by Ballantine/Del Rey in 1987, completing the main Heechee saga. The novel is narrated entirely by the digitized Robinette Broadhead — “Robin” to his friends — who now exists as a machine-stored personality in the Heechee computer network, along with his digitized wife Essie and the “Dead Men” from Gateway.
The central conflict is the approaching confrontation with the Assassins — the energy beings who seek to eliminate matter from the universe. The defense requires cooperation between humans, Heechee, and other alien species, and Broadhead’s role is to serve as a coordinator and diplomat — tasks for which his human qualities (empathy, stubbornness, the ability to understand irrational behavior) prove more useful than the Heechee’s superior technology.
The novel’s deeper theme is the nature of digital existence. Broadhead’s consciousness is a copy — he can be backed up, duplicated, and modified in ways that biological humans cannot — and Pohl explores the philosophical implications with characteristic honesty. Is a copied consciousness the same person? Can a digital being truly experience emotions, or does it merely simulate them? Broadhead insists that his feelings are real, but the question of whether his insistence is itself just a programmed response is never entirely resolved.
Collecting The Annals of the Heechee
First edition (Ballantine/Del Rey, New York, 1987): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $10–$25
- Complete Heechee saga (4 volumes, first editions): $150–$500