Gateway

Narrator; former food-mine worker turned Gateway prospector, paralyzed by fear and guilt, undergoing therapy with Sigfrid while suppressing memory of a traumatic final voyage involving Klara

Rob's AI psychotherapist, experienced in many physical and conversational forms; persistently probes toward the suppressed central trauma Rob evades through anger, humor, and a secret override command

Rob's legless neighbor on Gateway, a winged figure who mirrors Rob's paralysis — unable to spend his stake on Full Medical to get his legs back; Rob's inaction excludes him from the final mission crew

Rob's lost love; frozen in relativistic time near the singularity, perpetually experiencing the moment of apparent betrayal; shown to Rob as a hologram from her own therapy sessions.

Rob's pale, ornately-bearded proctor on Gateway; laconic, makes six trips, introduces Rob to the Blue Hell and Gateway norms

Fellow trainee who shares Rob's arrival ship, sleeps in his hammock, and directly invites him to join her Three mission

Brazilian naval gunner who volunteers for Metchnikov's mission; takes the berth denied to Shicky; less sexually interested in Rob on shipboard than she was on Gateway

Rob's current girlfriend, an AI expert with credentials from Akademogorsk and Max Planck; Rob values her knowledge of machine intelligence and her practical company over Sigfrid

Gateway prospector from a Venusian tourist-trap family; survivor of extreme poverty, probable former sex worker; waits at Gateway for family members to return before signing on again

Very fat Corporation assistant personnel director who reprimands Rob for idling and pressures him to take a mission.

Gay prospector who runs the Heechee Seekers study group; leads the Five on the major mission and returns mentally broken, restrained in a homemade straitjacket.

Crewmate on the major Five mission; slowly unstraps himself on return, largely silent.

Crewmate on the major Five mission; stares absorbedly at the viewscreen on return; fashioned the straitjacket used on Sam Kahane.

New arrival on Gateway; has been out five times, once made a big find, spent it trying to become a PV singer; Rob spends two days with her before returning to Klara.

Out-pilot stationed at Gateway Two; tries to recruit Rob for Aphrodite prospecting; sexually involved with Rob during the return voyage; eventually cedes and takes him back to Gateway

Loose administrator of Gateway Two; resolves Rob's illegal-entrant status by putting him to work; raises a farewell toast and shares the story of Shicky's lost legs

Gay crewmate on the final mission; teaches courses on Gateway; helps Rob calculate the distance to Klara's ship after turnaround; part of Metchnikov's chosen inner circle

Rob's early romantic partner; appears in his dream trapped in a collapsing tunnel; the knife incident with her led to Rob's institutionalization — his first 'murder' in his own guilt narrative

Scientist whose lecture on Heechee diet and cometary shell missions appears as a paratextual insert.