History Literature / DragonsEgg

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The first human time is the year 2020 in a book written in 1980. There's not a lot of tech development though there are no personal computers and no internet. The idea of ''any'' computer time being a valuable resource you have to pay for time on in the year 2020 is kind of funny in retrospect. The nearest to this is the booking system in supercomputers and clusters, only the little difference that is no money involved, or Amazon's [=EC2=].

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The first human time is the year 2000 in a book written in 1980. There's not a lot of tech development though there are no personal computers and no internet. The idea of ''any'' computer time being a valuable resource you have to pay for time on in the year 2000 is kind of funny in retrospect. The nearest to this is the booking system in supercomputers and clusters, only the little difference that is no money involved, or Amazon's [=EC2=].

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: {{Justified}} as the book covers all of Cheela civilization, and even the human characters go through two generations from the beginning to the end.

* LukeNounVerber: [[RenaissanceMan Swift-Killer]], Bit-Cruncher, Clear-Thinker, and Sky-Teacher.
* MinovskyPhysics: Most of the human technology that didn't already exist when the book was written is based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_monopole magnetic monopoles]], particles that are actually discussed by RealLife physicists (though they remain hypothetical for now). Forward explains in great detail the physics behind the monopole-using tech. Which brings us to...
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Leonardo. It's [[ImpliedTrope implied]] that many more Cheela are named after important historical figures, but they're never named.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: A 5.5. It's considered to be a fine example of hard sci-fi.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The first human time is the year 2000 in a book written in 1980. There's not a lot of tech development though there are no personal computers and no internet. The idea of ''any'' computer time being a valuable resource you have to pay for time on in the year 2000 is kind of funny in retrospect. The nearest to this is the booking system in supercomputers and clusters, only the little difference that is no money involved, or Amazon's [=EC2=].
* YearInsideHourOutside: For every twenty-nine human seconds, about a year goes by for a Cheela. (Reading this out loud at a normal pace from "YearInsideHourOutside" to this point takes about six months of Cheela time.) A Cheela lifetime runs about 90 "greats" (approximately forty-four minutes) on average. One human character goes to bed annoyed that he'll be asleep for the Cheela equivalent of a millennium.

* BizarreAlienBiology: The Cheela aren't even made from ''normal'' matter.

* {{Egopolis}}: After awaking from her long slumber [[ItMakesSenseInContext as a plant]], Swift-Killer returns to find that there's a town named after her.

* LukeNounVerber: [[RenaissanceMan Swift-Killer]], Bit-Cruncher, and Clear-Thinker.

* NounVerber: [[RenaissanceMan Swift-Killer]] and Bit-Cruncher.

* AncientAstronauts: That is, we are. The arrival of the human spacecraft is so slow from their standpoint they worship it as a god. By the time we actually make contact, the Cheela are a little smarter. Also deconstructs the trope, since the interaction is nothing like how believers in ancient astronauts think it happened on Earth.

* CrystalDragonJesus: The story of Pink-Eyes.

* HeavyWorlder: One of the most extreme examples. The Cheela has the same mass as a human being, but compressed into the size of a sesame seed.
* ImAHumanitarian: The Cheela think absolutely ''nothing'' of eating their dead. While they still consider killing wrong, those who die of old age or an accident become somebody else's lunch.

* NoAntagonist: In terms of the overarching plot of FirstContact. The Cheela go through a great deal of time and conflicts happen in each time period, but there is no BigBad in the book.

** {{Justified}} up to a point, because the arrival of the humans is explicitly said to heve kickstarted the Cheela civilization: suddenly some "stars" are moving, so Cheela astrologists invent a writing system to keep track of them, which gets adopted by the general population, etc. It's still a heck of a coincidence, because if the humans arrived a few years earlier or later, the Cheela might have not evolved yet, or be already extinct.

** {{Justified}} up to a point, because the arrival of the humans is what jumpstarts the Cheela civilization: suddenly, some "stars" are moving and the astrologists invent a writing system to keep track of them, which gets adopted by the general population, etc. It's still a heck of a coincidence, because if the humans arrived a few years earlier or later -- in the star's 500,000+ year history -- the Cheela might have not evolved yet, or already be extinct.

* ImAHumanitarian: The Cheela think absolutely ''nothing'' of eating their dead.

It is a first contact story about humans meeting the [[StarfishAliens Cheela]], a race of beings who live on the surface of a neutron star. Both races live at a different time frame - twenty-nine seconds for a human is the rough equivalent of a year for a Cheela. It was followed in 1989 by a sequel, ''Starquake'', which picks up exactly where ''Dragon's Egg'' leaves off.

* ScavengerHunt: The Cheela eventually surpass humanity and give them the secret of interstellar travel [[spoiler: but in it's encrypted with the key listed as "written on a pyramid on the fifth planet of Epsilon Eridani".]]

It is a first contact story about humans meeting the [[StarfishAliens Cheela]], a race of beings who live on the surface of a neutron star. Both races live at a different time frame - twenty-nine seconds for a human is the rough equivalent of a year for a Cheela. Was followed in 1989 by a sequel, ''Starquake'', which picks up exactly where ''Dragon's Egg'' leaves off.

* FigureItOutYourself: After cheela science advances far beyond human knowledge, they give the humans an encyclopedia... of entries encrypted using keys based on the new scientific knowledge in the files. For instance, the explanation of {{faster than light travel}} is encrypted with a key engraved on an object placed in another star system. Thus, the humans need to figure things out for themselves, but when they do the files will confirm that they got the right answers and perhaps provide additional details.

* [[ImAHumanitarian I'm a Cheelatarian]]: The Cheela think absolutely ''nothing'' of eating their dead.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: {{Justified}} as the book covers all of cheela civilization, and even the human characters go through two generations from the beginning to the end.
* MinovskyPhysics: Pretty much all of the human technology that didn't already exist when the book was written is based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_monopole magnetic monopoles]], particles that are actually discussed by RealLife physicists (though they remain hypothetical for now). Forward explains in great detail the physics behind the monopole-using tech. Which brings us to...

* ContrivedCoincidence: The humans meeting up with the Cheela right as they developed society. If the trip had been scheduled just a few weeks (or days!) earlier the humans may have missed them. A few weeks later and the Cheela may have developed some tech already on their own.

''Dragon's Egg'' is a 1980 hard science fiction novel by Robert L. Forward.

* HeavyWorlder: One of the most extreme examples. the Cheela has the same mass as a human being, but compressed into the size of a sesame seed.

* HeavyWorlder: One of the most extreme examples.

Dragon's Egg is a 1980 hard science fiction novel by Robert L. Forward.

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The first human time is the year 2000 in a book written in 1980. There's not a lot of tech development though there are no personal computers and no internet. The idea of ''any'' computer time being a valuable resource you have to pay for time on in the year 2000 is kind of funny in retrospect. The nearest to this is the booking system in supercomputers and clusters, only the little difference that is no money involved, or Amazon's EC2.

It is a first contact story about humans meeting the [[StarfishAliens Cheela]], a race of beings who live on the surface of a neutron star. Both races live at a different time frame - twenty-nine seconds for a human is the rough equivalent of a year for a Cheela. Was followed in 1989 by a sequel, ''Starquake'', which picks up exactly where ''Dragon's egg'' leaves off.

It is a first contact story about humans meeting the [[StarfishAliens Cheela]], a race of beings who live on the surface of a neutron star. Both races live at a different time frame - twenty-nine seconds for a human is the rough equivalent of a year for a Cheela. Was followed by a sequel, ''Starquake''.

* AngstWhatAngst: The cheela adapt pretty quickly to learning that their entire worldview is false, though a single sentence implies that they do still have a religion of some sort even when they first enter space.

* HarsherInHindsight: During the Visit, the cheela discover that Amalita has the first stages of breast cancer, and cure her without any humans noticing. Twenty-two years after the book was published, Robert L. Forward would die of cancer.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: A bit for the humans, a ''lot'' for the Cheela.

* FlatCharacter: The humans in this story who are visiting the Cheela have a few simple characteristics, but are nothing more than a device to bring the Cheela in. The Cheela are far richer characters.

* AncientAstronauts: That is, we are. The arrival of the human spacecraft is so slow from their standpoint they worship it as a god. By the time we actually make contact, the Cheela are a little smarter.