Doorway to the Stars by Jack McDevitt

Published by Subterranean Press on February 1, 2024

Jack McDevitt has a long history of writing entertaining space opera, often focusing on the exploration of alien races that have become extinct. His new novella sets aside the space travel that dominates most of his stories and imagines an easier means of interstellar travel.

About 12,000 years ago, a transportation grid was installed in North Dakota. Nobody noticed it until members of a Sioux tribe found it, started pressing buttons, and realized that it would transport them to other worlds. All the worlds they have visited are Earth-like in atmosphere and gravity. The journeys often seem like visiting the nicer parts of New Jersey.

The destination that departs from the norm is a space station at the edge of the galaxy. The station has no atmosphere, which led to an early explorer’s unfortunate death. Explorers now wear space suits when they visit the station.

A few of the worlds are inhabited. The aliens are generally humanoid, although the residents of one world are simian in appearance. They look like apes who wear pants and read books. Why these particular worlds are linked by the grid is answered (sort of) by the story's end.

Visitors to a ruined world catch a glimpse of an alien who resembles the devil. They decide to call the planet Brimstone. On the space station, visitors find a screen (perhaps an alien version of Facetime) that shows a devil speaking in a tongue they don’t understand.

The transportation system is Sioux property by virtue of being on their reservation. However, when a tribal leader dismantles it and tries to hide the pieces — on the reasonable theory that nothing good will come of giving white people access to such powerful technology — the government steps in and asserts its questionable authority. In the real world, I would expect the government to ignore tribal autonomy as it always does when treaties become inconvenient and to surround the grid with soldiers in the paranoid anticipation of an alien invasion. McDevitt tells a more optimistic story.

The novella’s ending illustrates the lesson that we shouldn’t judge others by their appearances. That includes aliens who look like devils.

There isn’t much to this story. Portals that allow quick transportation to other worlds are familiar in science fiction and McDevitt makes little effort to build the worlds his characters visit. The story’s point is its twist ending, but I'm not sure the relatively obvious tiwst merits the buildup.

The story is published as a deluxe first edition and is fairly pricey for a novella, but it is a signed limited edition meant for collectors. I ignore price when I review books because value is for the consumer to determine (and the text might eventually be available in a more affordable format). I might recommend the novella as a pleasant story by a long-time practitioner of the science fiction genre, but if Doorway to the Stars were packaged in a volume with McDevitt's best stories, it probably wouldn't be anyone's favorite.

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