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Dewicking per TRS.
* MirroringFactions: After the ships depart, one of the humans states he believes the two species will probably end up getting along (or at least understand one another) because, while both crews were preparing their ships for departure, lower ranking crew members of both ships were telling each other dirty jokes that both groups found hilarious.
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* NotSoDifferent: After the ships depart, one of the humans states he believes the two species will probably end up getting along (or at least understand one another) because, while both crews were preparing their ships for departure, lower ranking crew members of both ships were telling each other dirty jokes that both groups found hilarious.
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None
Changed line(s) 21 (click to see context) from:
* PrisonersDilemma: The paradox the two ships find themselves in. If one of them leaves and the other follows, the side that left will be at a fatal disadvantage. If they both leave, then both sides get whatever their ship has managed to learn about the other and they preserve the possibility of peace. If they fire on each other, then most probably both ships will be destroyed and neither side learns anything.
to:
* PrisonersDilemma: The paradox the two ships find themselves in. If one of them leaves and the other follows, the side that left will be at a fatal disadvantage. If they both leave, then both Both sides get whatever agree that the best possible outcome would be for both ships to return to their ship has managed homes, allowing each to learn about inform their species of the other other's existence and they preserve preserving the possibility of peace. If they fire peaceful exchange between the two races. Conversely, if one ship fires on each the other, then most probably at best the firing ship returns home with the knowledge of the other race's existence, but no information on their location, intent, or capabilities, and the near-guarantee of war. More likely, both ships will be destroyed and or crippled, leaving both races ignorant. The problem is that, since neither side learns anything.race knows how fast the other ship can move through FTL or how good their sensors are, if one ship leaves the other ''may'' be able to tail it back, learning the location of the other race's homeworld.
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Changed line(s) 8,9 (click to see context) from:
* AliensAreBastards - Maybe. We're not sure, and nobody's going home until we ''are'' sure, or the aliens are dead. Which would make humans the "alien bastards".
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse - The human captain hatches a plan to make one of these to the aliens. [[spoiler: Immediately after his ultimatum, several of the aliens collapse in convulsions; it's revealed they're laughing because the alien captain was just about to make the exact same offer.]]
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse - The human captain hatches a plan to make one of these to the aliens. [[spoiler: Immediately after his ultimatum, several of the aliens collapse in convulsions; it's revealed they're laughing because the alien captain was just about to make the exact same offer.]]
to:
* AliensAreBastards - AliensAreBastards: Maybe. We're not sure, and nobody's going home until we ''are'' sure, or the aliens are dead. Which would make humans the "alien bastards".
*AnOfferYouCantRefuse - AnOfferYouCantRefuse: The human captain hatches a plan to make one of these to the aliens. [[spoiler: Immediately after his ultimatum, several of the aliens collapse in convulsions; it's revealed they're laughing because the alien captain was just about to make the exact same offer.]]
*
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* FirstContact - Obviously.
* FoolsMap - The humans want to discuss astronomy with the aliens, and to aid this they send the aliens some mockups of star maps, realizing that a ''real'' star map would give away too much information about Earth's location. When they get some maps back from the aliens, their astronomers briefly drive themselves nuts trying to figure out from what point in the galaxy star maps might look like that ... until they realize the aliens just sent back the same maps distorted slightly.
* HellYesMoment - The humans find out that the aliens see by infrared light, meaning that they probably evolved in a red dwarf system, giving the humans a leg up on knowing where the alien homeworld is.
* HigherTechSpecies - Neither race knows if the other is this or not, and neither wants to gamble on it by starting a fight and finding the other has better weapons, or by turning and running and finding out the other ship is faster or has better tracking capabilities.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The humans mention that the aliens are similar enough to humans in biochemistry that they could inhabit Earth, and conversely humans could presumably inhabit the alien homeworld. This is one more reason why neither race can risk trusting the other.
* NotSoDifferent: After the ships depart, one of the humans states he believes the two species will probably end up getting along (or at least understand one another) because, while both crews were preparing their ships for departure, lower ranking crewmembers of both ships were telling each other dirty jokes that both groups found hilarious.
* NoWarpingZone: When "First Contact" was published, many astronomers believed that outer space was a perfect vacuum. The human-piloted starship in this story could only travel faster-than-light in a ''total'' vacuum -- even the slightest wisp of atmosphere or nebula would be enough to prevent it.
* OhCrap - Shortly after the humans deduce the alien star is probably a red dwarf, they realize that the same logic can be used by the aliens to determine that humans probably evolved in a ''yellow'' dwarf system. The story doesn't specifically mention it, but this is a ''significantly'' worse than even exchange, since there are a lot more red dwarfs than yellow ones.
* FoolsMap - The humans want to discuss astronomy with the aliens, and to aid this they send the aliens some mockups of star maps, realizing that a ''real'' star map would give away too much information about Earth's location. When they get some maps back from the aliens, their astronomers briefly drive themselves nuts trying to figure out from what point in the galaxy star maps might look like that ... until they realize the aliens just sent back the same maps distorted slightly.
* HellYesMoment - The humans find out that the aliens see by infrared light, meaning that they probably evolved in a red dwarf system, giving the humans a leg up on knowing where the alien homeworld is.
* HigherTechSpecies - Neither race knows if the other is this or not, and neither wants to gamble on it by starting a fight and finding the other has better weapons, or by turning and running and finding out the other ship is faster or has better tracking capabilities.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The humans mention that the aliens are similar enough to humans in biochemistry that they could inhabit Earth, and conversely humans could presumably inhabit the alien homeworld. This is one more reason why neither race can risk trusting the other.
* NotSoDifferent: After the ships depart, one of the humans states he believes the two species will probably end up getting along (or at least understand one another) because, while both crews were preparing their ships for departure, lower ranking crewmembers of both ships were telling each other dirty jokes that both groups found hilarious.
* NoWarpingZone: When "First Contact" was published, many astronomers believed that outer space was a perfect vacuum. The human-piloted starship in this story could only travel faster-than-light in a ''total'' vacuum -- even the slightest wisp of atmosphere or nebula would be enough to prevent it.
* OhCrap - Shortly after the humans deduce the alien star is probably a red dwarf, they realize that the same logic can be used by the aliens to determine that humans probably evolved in a ''yellow'' dwarf system. The story doesn't specifically mention it, but this is a ''significantly'' worse than even exchange, since there are a lot more red dwarfs than yellow ones.
to:
* FirstContact - FirstContact: Obviously.
*FoolsMap - FoolsMap: The humans want to discuss astronomy with the aliens, and to aid this they send the aliens some mockups mock-ups of star maps, realizing that a ''real'' star map would give away too much information about Earth's location. When they get some maps back from the aliens, their astronomers briefly drive themselves nuts trying to figure out from what point in the galaxy star maps might look like that ... until they realize the aliens just sent back the same maps distorted slightly.
*HellYesMoment - HellYesMoment: The humans find out that the aliens see by infrared light, meaning that they probably evolved in a red dwarf system, giving the humans a leg up on knowing where the alien homeworld home world is.
*HigherTechSpecies - HigherTechSpecies: Neither race knows if the other is this or not, and neither wants to gamble on it by starting a fight and finding the other has better weapons, or by turning and running and finding out the other ship is faster or has better tracking capabilities.
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The humans mention that the aliens are similar enough to humans in biochemistry that they could inhabit Earth, and conversely humans could presumably inhabit the alienhomeworld.home world. This is one more reason why neither race can risk trusting the other.
* NotSoDifferent: After the ships depart, one of the humans states he believes the two species will probably end up getting along (or at least understand one another) because, while both crews were preparing their ships for departure, lower rankingcrewmembers crew members of both ships were telling each other dirty jokes that both groups found hilarious.
* NoWarpingZone: When "First Contact" was published, many astronomers believed that outer space was a perfect vacuum. The human-pilotedstarship star ship in this story could only travel faster-than-light in a ''total'' vacuum -- even the slightest wisp of atmosphere or nebula would be enough to prevent it.
*OhCrap - OhCrap: Shortly after the humans deduce the alien star is probably a red dwarf, they realize that the same logic can be used by the aliens to determine that humans probably evolved in a ''yellow'' dwarf system. The story doesn't specifically mention it, but this is a ''significantly'' worse than even exchange, since there are a lot more red dwarfs than yellow ones.
*
*
*
* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The humans mention that the aliens are similar enough to humans in biochemistry that they could inhabit Earth, and conversely humans could presumably inhabit the alien
* NotSoDifferent: After the ships depart, one of the humans states he believes the two species will probably end up getting along (or at least understand one another) because, while both crews were preparing their ships for departure, lower ranking
* NoWarpingZone: When "First Contact" was published, many astronomers believed that outer space was a perfect vacuum. The human-piloted
*
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* ProperlyParanoid - The story ends before we find out for sure whether the aliens are potential allies and trading partners or bloodthirsty conquerors, but given the stakes, the initial paranoia is certainly justified.
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* ProperlyParanoid - ProperlyParanoid: The story ends before we find out for sure whether the aliens are potential allies and trading partners or bloodthirsty conquerors, but given the stakes, the initial paranoia is certainly justified.
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* BizarreAlienSenses: The alien race can transmit and receive information via radio waves, giving them what amounts to telepathy relative to us. But conversely, they have no ability to detect or transmit information via sound, giving us effective telepathy relative to them.
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* NoBiochemicalBarriers: The humans mention that the aliens are similar enough to humans in biochemistry that they could inhabit Earth, and conversely humans could presumably inhabit the alien homeworld. This is one more reason why neither race can risk trusting the other.
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None
Added DiffLines:
* CuttingTheKnot: Each ship wants to get home with as much knowledge as possible about the other race, but neither knows how fast the other ship can travel, and neither can afford to have their counterpart follow them back. The ultimate solution? Switch ships. Each of them can purge their own ship of any information they don't want the other to have and destroy the weapons and the systems for tracking FTL travel. Then each of them can travel to their home, with more information about the other race than could be gotten back in any other way, knowing that their counterpart crew can't attack or follow them.
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* PrisonersDilemma: The paradox the two ships find themselves in. If one of them leaves and the other follows, the side that left will be at a fatal disadvantage. If they both leave, then both sides get whatever their ship has managed to learn about the other and they preserve the possibility of peace. If they fire on each other, then most probably both ships will be destroyed and neither side learns anything.
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Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:
A classic and award-winning Science Fiction story by Creator/MurrayLeinster.
to:
A classic and award-winning Science Fiction story ScienceFiction {{Novelette}} by Creator/MurrayLeinster.
Creator/MurrayLeinster. First printed in ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction'' (May 1945 issue).
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from Murray Leinster
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The story provides examples of:
to:
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* FasterThanLightTravel: FTL travel is possible, but only in a perfect vacuum. At the time, many astrophysicists believed that interstellar space was completely particle-free, which later turned out not to be the case.
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* NoWarpingZone: When "First Contact" was published, many astronomers believed that outer space was a perfect vacuum. The human-piloted starship in this story could only travel faster-than-light in a ''total'' vacuum -- even the slightest wisp of atmosphere or nebula would be enough to prevent it.
Added DiffLines:
* UniversalTranslator
----
----
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Changed line(s) 17 (click to see context) from:
* TakeAThirdOption: Actually, a fourth. Both crews realize their obvious options are to run and hope the others can't (or won't follow), fight it out and hope to win (or at least cripple the other), or just sit there until something happens to give one of them an advantage. Then they figure out an option that allows both crews to go home safely, and allows some sharing of information in hopes of peaceful relations without revealing more than either is willing to give up.
to:
* TakeAThirdOption: Actually, a fourth. Both crews realize their obvious options are to run and hope the others can't (or won't follow), won't) follow, fight it out and hope to win (or at least cripple the other), or just sit there until something happens to give one of them an advantage. Then they figure out an option that allows both crews to go home safely, and allows some sharing of information in hopes of peaceful relations without revealing more than either is willing to give up.
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None
Added DiffLines:
* NotSoDifferent: After the ships depart, one of the humans states he believes the two species will probably end up getting along (or at least understand one another) because, while both crews were preparing their ships for departure, lower ranking crewmembers of both ships were telling each other dirty jokes that both groups found hilarious.
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None
Added DiffLines:
* TakeAThirdOption: Actually, a fourth. Both crews realize their obvious options are to run and hope the others can't (or won't follow), fight it out and hope to win (or at least cripple the other), or just sit there until something happens to give one of them an advantage. Then they figure out an option that allows both crews to go home safely, and allows some sharing of information in hopes of peaceful relations without revealing more than either is willing to give up.
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None
Changed line(s) 12 (click to see context) from:
* HellYesMoment - The humans find out that the aliens see by infrared light, meaning that they probably evolved in a red dwarf system.
to:
* HellYesMoment - The humans find out that the aliens see by infrared light, meaning that they probably evolved in a red dwarf system.system, giving the humans a leg up on knowing where the alien homeworld is.
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None
Added DiffLines:
A classic and award-winning Science Fiction story by Creator/MurrayLeinster.
The gist of the story is that scientists on a deep-space expedition unexpectedly run into (not literally) an alien ship doing the exact same thing. They work out a way of communicating with each other, but the problem is that while the aliens ''say'' they want to be friends and don't have notions of conquest in mind, blind faith that they're telling the truth risks not only the ship and the lives of the crew, but potentially the lives of the entire human race. The story primarily focuses on the human assigned as the radio operator who communicates with the aliens and his conversations with the rest of the crew.
As the human captain sees it, the primary objectives of his ship are to find out everything they can about the aliens and get that information back to Earth, subordinate only to preventing the aliens from finding out anything about the location of Earth and getting ''that'' information back to their home planet. The aliens feel the exact same way. The alien communicator at one point sends a message to the effect "You guys are nice. It's too bad we'll probably end up having to kill each other."
The story provides examples of:
* AliensAreBastards - Maybe. We're not sure, and nobody's going home until we ''are'' sure, or the aliens are dead. Which would make humans the "alien bastards".
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse - The human captain hatches a plan to make one of these to the aliens. [[spoiler: Immediately after his ultimatum, several of the aliens collapse in convulsions; it's revealed they're laughing because the alien captain was just about to make the exact same offer.]]
* FirstContact - Obviously.
* FoolsMap - The humans want to discuss astronomy with the aliens, and to aid this they send the aliens some mockups of star maps, realizing that a ''real'' star map would give away too much information about Earth's location. When they get some maps back from the aliens, their astronomers briefly drive themselves nuts trying to figure out from what point in the galaxy star maps might look like that ... until they realize the aliens just sent back the same maps distorted slightly.
* HellYesMoment - The humans find out that the aliens see by infrared light, meaning that they probably evolved in a red dwarf system.
* HigherTechSpecies - Neither race knows if the other is this or not, and neither wants to gamble on it by starting a fight and finding the other has better weapons, or by turning and running and finding out the other ship is faster or has better tracking capabilities.
* OhCrap - Shortly after the humans deduce the alien star is probably a red dwarf, they realize that the same logic can be used by the aliens to determine that humans probably evolved in a ''yellow'' dwarf system. The story doesn't specifically mention it, but this is a ''significantly'' worse than even exchange, since there are a lot more red dwarfs than yellow ones.
* ProperlyParanoid - The story ends before we find out for sure whether the aliens are potential allies and trading partners or bloodthirsty conquerors, but given the stakes, the initial paranoia is certainly justified.
The gist of the story is that scientists on a deep-space expedition unexpectedly run into (not literally) an alien ship doing the exact same thing. They work out a way of communicating with each other, but the problem is that while the aliens ''say'' they want to be friends and don't have notions of conquest in mind, blind faith that they're telling the truth risks not only the ship and the lives of the crew, but potentially the lives of the entire human race. The story primarily focuses on the human assigned as the radio operator who communicates with the aliens and his conversations with the rest of the crew.
As the human captain sees it, the primary objectives of his ship are to find out everything they can about the aliens and get that information back to Earth, subordinate only to preventing the aliens from finding out anything about the location of Earth and getting ''that'' information back to their home planet. The aliens feel the exact same way. The alien communicator at one point sends a message to the effect "You guys are nice. It's too bad we'll probably end up having to kill each other."
The story provides examples of:
* AliensAreBastards - Maybe. We're not sure, and nobody's going home until we ''are'' sure, or the aliens are dead. Which would make humans the "alien bastards".
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse - The human captain hatches a plan to make one of these to the aliens. [[spoiler: Immediately after his ultimatum, several of the aliens collapse in convulsions; it's revealed they're laughing because the alien captain was just about to make the exact same offer.]]
* FirstContact - Obviously.
* FoolsMap - The humans want to discuss astronomy with the aliens, and to aid this they send the aliens some mockups of star maps, realizing that a ''real'' star map would give away too much information about Earth's location. When they get some maps back from the aliens, their astronomers briefly drive themselves nuts trying to figure out from what point in the galaxy star maps might look like that ... until they realize the aliens just sent back the same maps distorted slightly.
* HellYesMoment - The humans find out that the aliens see by infrared light, meaning that they probably evolved in a red dwarf system.
* HigherTechSpecies - Neither race knows if the other is this or not, and neither wants to gamble on it by starting a fight and finding the other has better weapons, or by turning and running and finding out the other ship is faster or has better tracking capabilities.
* OhCrap - Shortly after the humans deduce the alien star is probably a red dwarf, they realize that the same logic can be used by the aliens to determine that humans probably evolved in a ''yellow'' dwarf system. The story doesn't specifically mention it, but this is a ''significantly'' worse than even exchange, since there are a lot more red dwarfs than yellow ones.
* ProperlyParanoid - The story ends before we find out for sure whether the aliens are potential allies and trading partners or bloodthirsty conquerors, but given the stakes, the initial paranoia is certainly justified.
