This is a great little sci-fi short story about some aliens checking on the planet Earth and noticing something odd. There are SEVEN BILLION of them:
Source: crinosg
(via: Cheezburger)
Seven Billion of Them – Sci-Fi Short Story
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you can “over”, or you can “out” … you can’t do both 🙂
THAT’S what you can’t get over? Aliens drinking, allusion to contact multiple times with what seems to be multiple differing extraterrestrial species, and radio etiquette is where you draw the line??
Now that you mention it, why does the spaceship have a window when it has scanners accurate enough to count the amount of humans living there? It seems like an odd compromise to the strength of the hull. 0/10.
The space is beautiful, who wouldn’t want to look outside?
Because scanners can fail, or possibly miss something entirely. Also you’re putting WAY too much thought into something some nobody in the internet likely thought up (and wrote) while on the john one random afternoon.
Exactly what I thought. This thread makes the story mor pertinent.
“Over and out” is an official two way radio communication code. “Over” means end of this message. “Over and out” means end of communication.
Sorry but no: The term ” over ” is used with radio (or even telephone) connections when only one person can speak (successfully) at a time. It means “I have finished speaking for the moment, but am expecting your reply – go ahead”. ” Out ” means “I have finished speaking, and the conversation is finished; don’t reply”. They are not properly used together.
Not gonna debate about the authenticity of those rules. But as someone who actually uses radio for work and CB, I’m just gonna say that saying “over and out” when you’re done is perfectly fine -not because it’s written on manuals or handbooks, but simply because it is what we’re used to. And let’s say we’re wrong about our contextual understanding of it, but considering the factors of “who’s gonna scold us, on what grounds, and to what productive end”, it still boils down to just using what works.
Now if an aerospace organization is lax enough to make it an “okay” procedure for ‘nauts on an EVA to just mosey on up to an alien craft and tap on windows as a form of first contact, then I doubt they’d be any stricter on their comms discipline.
I actually have the license. It’s Over for when you expect a reply and Out for when you are done talking. Over and Out means “you keep talking while I hang up” 😂
I’ve noticed that civilian use is inconsistent. I have Canadian Military communications experience (which extends to UN and NATO usage). “Over” indicates the end of the current message, with an expectation of a response. “Out” indicates the end of communications. Both are not used together. It’s a breach of protocol to answer after “Out”. A new message must be started, using the call-sign and identity confirmation protocol. I would assume all space activities are enacted like military. It’s intended for brevity and accuracy, with low chance of misunderstanding.
umm – only 2 life forms? What about elephants, jellyfish, protozoa and onions?
The point of the story was all those other animals were part of “the most savage and destructive of worlds” and meant to kill Adam and Eve.
They are saying that the humans are the “most savage and destructive of any world”
They are confined on the planet, the animals just so happen to live on the chosen planet. The reader would probably be set to only scan the life forms of humans
Alan Dean Foster, “With Friends Like These.”
Gordon Dickson, “Danger: Human”
Larry Niven’s “Known Space” series: “Man had decided to study war no more because they were very, very good at it”.
i love the mind behind this, though an intolerable craft pipeline for the creativity. no effort, write a book.
Judging from the language used (confined, prisoners, etc…) these were the last two members of what must have been a space faring race, sentenced to banishment on a hostile, distant, prison planet. This ties in beautifully with the Earth is Space Australia bit. https://mediachomp.com/earth-being-space-australia/
What a great little short. Thankyou for this. Lovely writing, I really enjoyed that.
and to all of those that are picking holes in it….. get a life. Really. Discussing if an alien ship would have windows, or whether you can say “Over and out”…. its a piece of art, and the writer can take any licenses they want. Its their world to control. Suspend disbelief and enjoy the story for what it is.
And what it is is a nicely written piece of fiction.
Ben Johnson… well said. Get a life for all that pick holes in it. Its also annoying when people pick holes in a joke making it loose all humour. lol
If you pick holes in it you’ll let the space in and freeze your butt off..