Science Fiction Short Story Review: "Earthmen Bearing Gifts" by Fredric Brown

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Dhar Ry is anxiously awaiting the earth rocket, due to land 1000 miles outside the single remaining Martian city, if their calculations are correct. The Martians know this because their telepath teams have been reading the thoughts of the Earthmen for centuries. The rocket is expected to allow Earthmen to perform a spectroscopic analysis of what they believe to be an uninhabited planet. When they realize how wrong they’ve been, they’ll send manned a rocket within a few oppositions. Mars’s civilization developed social and parapsychological rather than physical sciences. They have no crime, but their civilization has diminished to this single city. Mars could teach Earth much. And Mars could learn much from Earth. The meeting of the two would certainly benefit both and no one would lose. Perhaps Martian civilization would once again flourish with the new knowledge. And tonight, is Earth’s first sighting shot. Despite the brevity of the piece, author Fredric Brown is able to create a nice, believable Martian world. One can see the hopefulness through the Martians’ eyes. It is also good storytelling in that nothing goes to waste, even if the ending is not much of a surprise. The title alludes to a line from the Aeneid, “I fear Greeks, even those bearing gifts.” That gift was, of course, the Trojan horse. According to Wikipedia, Brown was a “master of the ‘short short form.’” That certainly fits this story. Another of his short stories “Arena,” was (perhaps unconsciously) the basis of an episode of the original Star Trek series, also named “Arena.” This story is available for download from Project Gutenberg as well as an audiobook from Librivox. ______ Title: “Earthmen Bearing Gifts” : alternate title “Contact” Author: Fredric Brown (1906-1972) First published in Galaxy magazine June 1960 Source: ISFDB *An earlier version of this review was posted at another site. It's been removed from there, updated and expanded for its inclusion myLot*