Life at Half-Speed
October 25, 2011 1:56 PM Subscribe
Name that sci-fi short story I read as a child.
The facts as I remember them:
It was in a sci-fi anthology.
I read it in the early nineties but it could have been published before that.
The plot as I remember it:
Earth starts receiving transmissions from an alien race; radio, TV shows, and finally actual communications. Earth and the alien planet initiate contact and the aliens make plans to come to Earth.
Meanwhile there is a problem with the transmissions, they always seem too fast and need to be slowed down to make them comprehensible.
The aliens arrive and it turns out that they exist at a different speed to us and their spaceship, like, sinks into the ground because of the difference in speeds or something? I'm a little fuzzy on the last part.
So, can you help me?
The facts as I remember them:
It was in a sci-fi anthology.
I read it in the early nineties but it could have been published before that.
The plot as I remember it:
Earth starts receiving transmissions from an alien race; radio, TV shows, and finally actual communications. Earth and the alien planet initiate contact and the aliens make plans to come to Earth.
Meanwhile there is a problem with the transmissions, they always seem too fast and need to be slowed down to make them comprehensible.
The aliens arrive and it turns out that they exist at a different speed to us and their spaceship, like, sinks into the ground because of the difference in speeds or something? I'm a little fuzzy on the last part.
So, can you help me?
Best answer: "Pictures Don't Lie"? (spoiler alert at that link, FYI, if it's the right story)
posted by misterbrandt at 2:28 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by misterbrandt at 2:28 PM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]
Not the one you're looking for, but Dragon's Egg by Robert Forward explores a similar theme, with humans visiting an alien planet where the aliens' time moves much more quickly than ours.
posted by mmoncur at 8:11 PM on October 25, 2011
posted by mmoncur at 8:11 PM on October 25, 2011
(FWIW, I googled [science fiction "short story" aliens sped up broadcasts], and the whatsthatbook.com link was on page #2)
posted by misterbrandt at 3:29 PM on October 27, 2011
posted by misterbrandt at 3:29 PM on October 27, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
I have no idea where I read the story, though -- I will try to do some googling to see what I come up with!
posted by cider at 2:03 PM on October 25, 2011