Alfke.PASA@XEROX.ARPA (09/07/84)
Whee! The book is GATEWAY by Fred Pohl. The "thing" that is sending ships out at random is a space-station left by an extinct (??) alien (??) race called the Heechee; there are many ships at the station, but no one knows how to set the destination controls properly, so the places the ships go to (and automatically return from, after a period that may be longer than one's air supply . . .) are unpredictable. What the hero and his crew find is in fact a black hole of enormous mass -- the other pod is still falling into the event-horizon, which it will never reach. Gateway is a real good book. The sequel, "Beyond the Blue Event Horizon", is a real real good book. There is a third (new) book, "Heechee Rendezvous", which I have not read yet. Enjoy! -- Peter Alfke "If I spoke prose, you'd soon find out I don't know what I talk about."