Hinterlands (short story)
| "Hinterlands" | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Gibson |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | science fiction |
| Published in | Omni (October 1981), Burning Chrome (1986) |
| Publication date | October 1981 |
| Preceded by | "The Gernsback Continuum" |
| Followed by | "New Rose Hotel" |
"Hinterlands" is a science fiction short story written by William Gibson . It was first published in Omni in October 1981 and was republished in his short fiction collection Burning Chrome (1986). The story is a fable about the "cargo cult'" mentality and explores the consequences for cultures and civilisations when confronted with artifacts - from an unknown but likely superior source - that are dangerous but nonetheless valuable.
"Hinterlands" is a German term that literally translates to "behind land", and in that original context it refers to a remote or less developed area behind a more central or developed site, for example the land behind a coast, a harbour, or a city.
The story is told by the narrator, Toby Halpert, through a series of expositions detailing the history of the space station in which he lives, nicknamed Heaven.
The history begins with Soviet cosmonaut Olga Tovyevsky, who disappears from radar while en route to Mars shortly after a routine scientific experiment. She returns into space-time two years later, and after being discovered her spacecraft is towed back to Earth orbit to be examined. Tovyevsky is in a catatonic state, and the spacecraft has been sabotaged in an attempt to make it impossible to find and to hide any details of the missing two years. In her hands Tovyevsky has a seashell, the likes of which is unknown in Earth's biosphere. Tovyevsky never regains her sanity.
The Russians send another probe to the same space coordinates Tovyevsky had travelled to. The solo cosmonaut also disappears, at precisely the same point, after performing the same experiment, and returns dead 234 days later. He has committed suicide before anyone can reach him. Further attempts always end the same way; most of the cosmonauts have killed themselves before they can be found, while a very few have attempted to and failed, and are now insane. Attempts to send through unmanned spacecraft all fail, as well, and some manned spacecraft are simply never picked up for reasons unknown.
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