Poul Anderson, "Hiding Place" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 555-609.
Damaged in battle, van Rijn's spaceship, the Hebe G.B., needs repairs. Captain Torrance:
"'What occurs to me is, well, we could reach one of the nearby stars. There just barely might be a planet with an industrial civilization, whose people could eventually be taught to make the circuits we need. A habitable planet, at least - maybe...'" (p. 562)
Do "First Contacts" between intelligent species really happen?
If so, might some First Contacts happen like this?
Might a rich merchant's space yacht enter the Solar System, wanting Terrestrial industries to make circuits for it?
Might an event so momentous for humanity be routine or trivial for the beings initiating the contact?
As for Torrance's second idea of maybe settling down on a habitable but uncivilized planet, van Rijn prefers death in battle.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I am not sure, it could be either someone standing on the elephantoid's left tusk or background lighting designed to look like that. Maybe we are supposed to think either or both are possible?
Since I believe it is more likely to be true than not that other intelligent races exist, that also means I agree First Contacts between such races can happen.
Yes, now that you mentioned it, I can believe it possible that a wealthy non-human merchant's ship or yacht can enter our Solar System seeking repairs, if damaged. And Poul Anderson touched on the idea of absurd and even comic could be just as likely to lead to First Contact as "grave" ones in "Peek! I See You!"
And Torrance's second idea, settling on an uncivilized planet, reminded me of how Dominic Flanry told Ydywyr the Seeker in A CIRCUS OF HELLS that he could and would strand the Merseian on a planet like that if they could not come to an agreement.
Ad astra! Sean
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