First Contact (novelette)

Last updated
"First Contact"
Short story by Murray Leinster
First Contact (novelette) cover.jpg
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Publisher Astounding Science Fiction
Publication dateMay 1945

"First Contact" is a 1945 science fiction novelette by American writer Murray Leinster, credited as one of the first (if not the first) instances of a universal translator in science fiction. [1] It won a retro Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1996.

Contents

Two technologically-equal species are making first contact in deep space. Both desire the technology and trade the other can provide, but neither can risk the fate of the home planet based on unfounded trust.

It was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. As such, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One, 1929-1964 .

Plot

Space travel is routine between planets in the Solar System. Ships function very much like naval warships or research vessels. There are technologies such as "overdrive" which allows a ship to travel much faster than light in normal space and apparently-artificial gravity within a ship. Atomic power is used everywhere, even in a space suit propulsion unit. Ships are equipped with "blasters" not necessarily for use as weapons but for destroying space debris which would otherwise collide with the ship.

The exploration ship Llanvabon is approaching the Crab Nebula when it suddenly detects another ship on its radar. The two ships' radars are, in fact, interfering with each other and so each sees a wildly-distorted image of the other ship. Even after the problem is resolved and the two crews, one human, one alien, establish communication, both realize that they have a problem. Neither can leave without ensuring that the other cannot track them to their home planet.

The aliens are humanoid bipeds but see in the infrared portion of the spectrum. Also, instead of using sound to communicate among themselves, they use microwaves emitted from an organ in their heads. As one human points out, "From our point of view, they have telepathy. Of course from their point of view, so do we."

The crews discover that they have much in common. This is especially true of young Tommy Dort and his counterpart on the other ship, to whom he has assigned the name Buck. Although they can communicate only through an artificial code, they establish a rapport. However, Buck is pessimistic about the eventual outcome. He sends Tommy a message, "You are a good guy. Too bad we must kill each other."

The deadlock persists. Neither ship dares to leave for fear that the other will be able to track it home. Neither captain is ready to gamble by attacking the other ship. Then, Tommy realizes the way out of the impasse. He and his Captain arrange an exchange of personnel between the ships. Tommy and the Captain go aboard the alien ship even as two aliens board the Llanvabon. Then they present an ultimatum: they will detonate the atomic power packs in their suits if the aliens refuse to go along with their plan, which is for each crew to take the other's ship back to their home planet. Each will disable all the tracking equipment on their own ship before the exchange, and indeed, they will have to be thorough to prevent the new crew from tracking them.

At this point, the aliens begin behaving very strangely, twitching or lying down and kicking the floor. In fact, it is their equivalent of laughter. Their own people have just given the humans the same ultimatum, and the same plan.

The story ends with each crew taking over the other's ship. Naturally, before leaving their own ship, they remove everything that might point back to their home world. Each stands to benefit from the new technology on the other's ship. Each keeps the other race's fiction library to gain insight into their thinking. They agree to repeat the encounter at the same location sometime in the future.

Tommy is confident that the two races will get along. He believes this because, as he tells the Captain, he and Buck spent a good deal of time swapping dirty jokes.

Radio plays

This story was performed as a radio play on Dimension X on September 8, 1951 and on X Minus One on October 6, 1955, condensed somewhat and with a different ending.

The story was also performed on Exploring Tomorrow on January 15, 1958.

Style

The style and the language of First Contact have been seen as illustrative of the Golden Age of science fiction. [2]

In 2000, Leinster's heirs sued Paramount Pictures over the film Star Trek: First Contact and claimed that as the owners of the rights to Leinster's short story "First Contact", it infringed their trademark in the term. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted Paramount's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the suit. [3] [4] The court found that regardless of whether Leinster's story first coined the phrase, it had since become a generic and therefore an unprotectable term that described the genre of science fiction in which humans first encounter alien species. Even if the title was instead "descriptive," a category of terms higher than "generic" that may be protectable, there was no evidence that the title had the required association in the public's mind (known as "secondary meaning") such that its use would normally be understood as referring to Leinster's story. [3] The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court's dismissal without comment.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Star Trek: First Contact</i> 1996 film directed by Jonathan Frakes

Star Trek: First Contact is a 1996 American science fiction film directed by Jonathan Frakes in his feature film debut. It is the eighth movie of the Star Trek franchise, and the second starring the cast of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the film, the crew of the starship USS Enterprise-E travel back in time from the 24th century to the 21st century to stop the cybernetic Borg from conquering Earth by changing the past.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray Leinster</span> American science fiction writer

Murray Leinster was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon R. Dickson</span> Canadian-American science fiction writer (1923–2001)

Gordon Rupert Dickson was a Canadian-American science fiction writer. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2000.

<i>Starflight</i> 1986 video game

Starflight is a space exploration, combat, and trading role-playing video game created by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. Originally developed for IBM PC compatibles, it was later ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, and Commodore 64. A fully revamped version of the game was released for the Sega Genesis in 1991.

<i>The Mote in Gods Eye</i> 1974 novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

The Mote in God's Eye is a science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, first published in 1974. The story is set in the distant future of Pournelle's CoDominium universe, and charts the first contact between humanity and an alien species. The title of the novel is a reference to the Biblical "The Mote and the Beam" parable and is the nickname of a star. The Mote in God's Eye was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gerrold</span> American screenwriter and novelist (born 1944)

David Gerrold is an American science fiction screenwriter and novelist. He wrote the script for the original Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles", created the Sleestak race on the TV series Land of the Lost, and wrote the novelette "The Martian Child", which won both Hugo and Nebula Awards, and was adapted into a 2007 film starring John Cusack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Kiriki Hoffman</span> American science fiction writer

Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.

U.S. television science fiction is a popular genre of television in the United States that has produced many of the best-known and most popular science fiction shows in the world. Most famous of all, and one of the most influential science-fiction series in history, is the iconic Star Trek and its various spin-off shows, which comprise the Star Trek franchise. Other hugely influential programs have included the 1960s anthology series The Twilight Zone, the internationally successful The X-Files, and a wide variety of television movies and continuing series for more than half a century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First contact (science fiction)</span> Science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life

First contact is a common theme in science fiction about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life, or of any sentient species' first encounter with another one, given they are from different planets or natural satellites. It is closely related to the anthropological idea of first contact

<i>The Heart of the Serpent</i>

"The Heart of the Serpent" is a 1958 science fiction short story by the Soviet writer and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov.

"In Theory" is the 25th episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, originally aired on June 3, 1991, in broadcast syndication. The episode was written by Joe Menosky and Ronald D. Moore and was the directorial debut of cast member Patrick Stewart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Slaver Weapon</span> 14th episode of the 1st season of Star Trek: The Animated Series

"The Slaver Weapon" is the fourteenth episode of the first season of the American animated science fiction television series Star Trek: The Animated Series. It first aired on NBC on December 8, 1973, and was written by Larry Niven. It was based on his original short story "The Soft Weapon". This episode was expanded to become the first half of a full-length novel by science-fiction author Alan Dean Foster as Star Trek Log Ten.

The Aliens is a 1963-1969 serialized science fiction story that ran in the back of Gold Key Comics' Magnus: Robot Fighter comic book series starting with issue #1. The series was produced by writer/artist Russ Manning. Originally, Manning assumed that the backup feature would be a one-shot, and borrowed the story from Murray Leinster's 1945 novelette First Contact. The publisher liked the story enough to make a regular back-up feature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Think Like a Dinosaur</span> 1995 science fiction novelette by James Patrick Kelly

"Think Like a Dinosaur" is a science fiction novelette written by James Patrick Kelly, originally published in the June 1995 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.

<i>The Andromeda Nebula</i> 1967 film

The Andromeda Nebula is a 1967 Soviet science fiction film starring Sergei Stolyarov and directed by Yevgeni Sherstobitov at the Dovzhenko Film Studios. The film was originally intended to be the first episode of a series of films, alternatively titled as The Andromeda Nebula: Episode I. Prisoners of the Iron Star, but the remaining parts were never made due to Stolyarov's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exploration Team</span> Novelette by Murray Leinster

"Exploration Team" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Murray Leinster, originally published in the March 1956 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1956.

<i>The Last Castle</i> (novella) 1966 science fiction novella

The Last Castle is a science fiction novella by American writer Jack Vance published in 1966. It won the 1966 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 1967 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. It is about a future civilization of wealthy nobles who live in high-tech castles, which are maintained by an enslaved alien race, the Meks. After centuries of slavery, the Meks revolt, destroying the castles and slaughtering their elite inhabitants, until only one castle is left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clifford D. Simak</span> American science fiction writer (1904–1988)

Clifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master, and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is associated with the pastoral science fiction subgenre.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Star Trek:

<i>The Enemy Stars</i> 1959 novel by Poul Anderson

The Enemy Stars, is a science fiction novel by American writer Poul Anderson, published in 1959 by J.B Lippincott in the US and by Longmans in Canada. Originally published in Astounding Science Fiction under the title We Have Fed Our Sea__, it was a nominee for the 1959 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The original title refers to a line in a poem by Rudyard Kipling.

References

  1. "Hic Rhodus, His Salta" by Robert Silverberg, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine , January 2009, page 6.
  2. Taylor, John W. (1990). "From Pulpstyle to Innerspace: The Stylistics of American New-Wave SF". Style. 24 (4): 611–627. ISSN   0039-4238. JSTOR   42946165.
  3. 1 2 Estate of William F. Jenkins v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 90 F. Supp. 2d 706 (E.D. Va. 2000)
  4. "No 'First Contact' Lawsuit", Trek Today, April 3, 2000, accessed Nov. 2, 2008.