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Natural Advantage is a 4000-word short story by Lester del Rey, about an alien fleet that discovers intelligent life on Earth. It was first published in the June, 1976 issue of Amazing Stories.

Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.

Plot

Aliens from the planet Ruum approach Earth and, spotting a satellite in orbit, realize there is intelligent life on this planet. The alien ship is heading for a colony planet, about 10 years travel away, because of a vast storm of antimatter that is threatening this sector of space. The alien captain, Sef, is excited about meeting the first alien species his people have found, and he feels duty bound to tell them about the coming disaster. The ships meet, a human astronaut enters the alien airlock, and she teaches the aliens English. The aliens are shocked by the simplicity of English, since their own language has half a million basic words, and 20 million less common words. Sef informs the humans about the coming disaster, and both sides agree that Sef’s ship is too small to save enough humans to preserve the human species. But they exchange books instead, and Sef and his people continue on their way.

Sef and his ship go to their colony world, and then return to their homeworld, Ruum, where they are shocked to meet the same astronaut they had met before. She explains that when the humans translated the Ruum books, they were able to see Ruum science with a different perspective, and so made some improvements on it. She is here on a simple diplomatic mission, and she explains that human scientists had already found a way to transport the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon out of the way of the antimatter storm.

Reprints

This story is reprinted in Donald A. Wollheim's The 1977 Annual World's Best SF.

External Links

• Natural Advantage at ISFDB.org

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