"First Contact"

"First Contact"
by Murray Leinster
*Astounding*, May 1945
collected in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. I
winner of a Retrospective Hugo for Best Novelette

Preview

Background
Data

Navigation
Guide

Further
Exploration

Preview

On a mission to explore the Crab Nebula, the Llanvabon encounters an alien ship with a similar purpose. The two species warily initiate first contact in deep space far from either home world.

Background Data

This story is a definitive treatment of man's first contact with an alien race.

This story is presented as a classic war game problem in the form of science fiction.

This story asks whether humans and aliens are bound to see each other as hostile competitors or whether they can find a way of tolerating each other's existence. The story demonstrates a shift from the first attitude to the second.

Navigation Guide

Describe the situation under which contact with the aliens is made.

How is this alien contact different from most projections of how alien contact will be made?

Describe the human crew.

Describe the aliens.

What is the human analysis of the situation? Is this analysis correct or overly suspicious and cautious? What would be your thoughts in a similar situation?

Summarize the relationship between the crew from Earth and the aliens.

How realistic is the story, given the premise of alien contact?

Is the story too cynical? How do you think we as a planet would react to alien contact? How do you think you as an individual would react?

Further Exploration

Comment on the racial prejudice evident in the story.

Comment on the observations made on both sides about the inevitability of war. What is the story saying about the nature of war?

Comment on the sexual prejudice evident in the story.