When I first started reading First Contact by Murray
Leinster, I was put off by the complex descriptions of the futuristic spaceship.
However, when the spaceship and crew encounter an alien ship while
investigating a nebula, their attempts to learn about the new life form became
more engaging. Not that I’m one to know much about realistic alien encounters,
but I really enjoyed that, in contrast to many first encounter stories, the
opposing sides didn’t immediately go to war. They didn’t become friends either.
Instead, they acknowledged the faults of their own societies and the instinct
to start a war with the unknown. The authors exploration of the differences
between humans and aliens as well as the ways the main character, Tommy Dort,
derived facts about the aliens based on the very limited information they gave
was well thought out.
Tommy’s
relationship with the alien, Buck, was part of what made this story accessible,
at least to me. The personal element added a lot to what could have been a,
while not uninteresting, less “human” alien encounter. This relationship was
one of the grounding factors in a story where a lot of the characters barely
know what’s going on.
The
ultimate resolution to the story was an interesting one. While, it was a
hopeful one, it also left the reader hoping the two societies saw the exchange
as a peaceful occurrence. I can think of one specific person who’s pioneering a
“space force” who may not react well to such an event. Regardless, the ultimate
resolution of finding that aliens are more human than we thought is a pleasant
one to say the least.
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