charliee1151
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2020
- Messages
- 4
I'm looking for a short story that was published in one of the sci-fi magazines of the 1970 era (Amazing Stories, etc). The story was multipart, and therefore published in sequential issues.
To the best of my recollection (of course):
The story starts out with a relatively large (man-sized?) insect-like alien flying high above his planet. I'm not sure if he was in very thin atmosphere, or actually in space. His ability to fly was provided by rocket-type exhaust from some kind of biological propulsion created inside his body, which was vented out the posterior of the alien. It was not only a means of propulsion, but a biological necessity as, if the propulsion was not vented, his body would (I believe) explode from eventual over-heating.
The alien insect senses (remember, no instrumentation) what is, to him, an alien ship...which happens to be an Earth vessel. Having some rudimentary knowledge of this "strange" species, he gets the ships attention by broadcasting a high-frequency message created by manipulating his appendages to create some kind of signal that is received by the Earth vessel's radio. The message is what the alien perceives as a hail: "Help! Help". He doesn't know why this works, of course.
The ship responds and brings the alien aboard. The alien is understandably suspicious of this strange race. As he enters the ships docking bay (cargo hold?), the outer door closes. This immediately puts the alien on the alert, as this is obviously a trap; he is unable to travel freely and, if necessary, vent his propulsion to the outside.
Suddenly, the ship seems to begin travelling a full speed, as his weight suddenly increases. The alien looks out a porthole and notices that the ship isn't actually moving. This is obviously impossible as you cannot have weight without acceleration. He quickly demands an answer. "How can the docking bay be under acceleration when the rest of the ship is not?". The answer comes: "Neither the docking bay, nor the deck, nor any other part of the ship is under acceleration". The Earthlings try to explain the concept of Artificial Gravity. The alien is patently mystified and disbelieving.
Then, a port opens and two human enter the docking bay. The alien is astounded to see two beings walking casually while under the effect of the massive, crushing acceleration (the Artifical Gravity). Eventually, a dialog commences.
----
That's about all I remember of the story. I am sure the plot I have described is very close to the actual story; the call "Help! Help!" sticks strongly in my mind, so I am quite positive it is correct. Maybe that story point is unusual enough to help search for this story.
Thanks
C
To the best of my recollection (of course):
The story starts out with a relatively large (man-sized?) insect-like alien flying high above his planet. I'm not sure if he was in very thin atmosphere, or actually in space. His ability to fly was provided by rocket-type exhaust from some kind of biological propulsion created inside his body, which was vented out the posterior of the alien. It was not only a means of propulsion, but a biological necessity as, if the propulsion was not vented, his body would (I believe) explode from eventual over-heating.
The alien insect senses (remember, no instrumentation) what is, to him, an alien ship...which happens to be an Earth vessel. Having some rudimentary knowledge of this "strange" species, he gets the ships attention by broadcasting a high-frequency message created by manipulating his appendages to create some kind of signal that is received by the Earth vessel's radio. The message is what the alien perceives as a hail: "Help! Help". He doesn't know why this works, of course.
The ship responds and brings the alien aboard. The alien is understandably suspicious of this strange race. As he enters the ships docking bay (cargo hold?), the outer door closes. This immediately puts the alien on the alert, as this is obviously a trap; he is unable to travel freely and, if necessary, vent his propulsion to the outside.
Suddenly, the ship seems to begin travelling a full speed, as his weight suddenly increases. The alien looks out a porthole and notices that the ship isn't actually moving. This is obviously impossible as you cannot have weight without acceleration. He quickly demands an answer. "How can the docking bay be under acceleration when the rest of the ship is not?". The answer comes: "Neither the docking bay, nor the deck, nor any other part of the ship is under acceleration". The Earthlings try to explain the concept of Artificial Gravity. The alien is patently mystified and disbelieving.
Then, a port opens and two human enter the docking bay. The alien is astounded to see two beings walking casually while under the effect of the massive, crushing acceleration (the Artifical Gravity). Eventually, a dialog commences.
----
That's about all I remember of the story. I am sure the plot I have described is very close to the actual story; the call "Help! Help!" sticks strongly in my mind, so I am quite positive it is correct. Maybe that story point is unusual enough to help search for this story.
Thanks
C
