Project Gutenberg 2019-05-19 Public domain in the USA. 247 Fontenay, Charles L. 1917 2007 Fontenay, Charles Louis Communication Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, October 1956 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Communication" by Charles L. Fontenay is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. The narrative explores the first Earth expedition to Mars and examines the challenges and misunderstandings inherent in inter-species communication. The work invites readers to consider the possibility of intelligent life on Mars and the complexities of establishing contact. The story begins with Earth astronauts encountering Martians for the first time. As the Earthmen boldly attempt to communicate using mathematical representations, they fail to recognize the Martians' apparent hostility. Misinterpretations and assumptions lead to tragic consequences as communication breaks down completely. Ultimately, the Martians respond to the perceived threat from the Earthmen by eliminating them, illustrating the frailty of communication across vastly different cultures and species. Through this encounter, Fontenay prompts important questions about understanding and the potential dangers of miscommunication in an interstellar context. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 76.9 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Martians -- Fiction Mars (Planet) -- Fiction Human-alien encounters -- Fiction PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 31139 2025-07-23T13:48:31.314771 text/html 27355 2019-05-19T15:41:54 text/html 79772 2025-07-23T13:48:32.812750 application/epub+zip 78627 2025-07-23T13:48:31.644793 application/epub+zip 78627 2025-07-23T13:48:31.454787 application/epub+zip 110671 2025-07-23T13:48:33.853774 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 103759 2025-07-23T13:48:32.619775 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 103980 2022-09-27T00:44:48.416370 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 25086 2025-07-23T13:48:31.234779 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 25344 2019-05-19T15:41:54 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19189 2025-07-23T13:48:34.169770 application/rdf+xml 26655 2025-07-23T13:48:31.531782 image/jpeg 4919 2025-07-23T13:48:31.492792 image/jpeg 274742 2019-05-19T15:41:54 application/octet-stream application/zip 9401 2019-05-19T15:41:54 application/octet-stream application/zip 276551 2025-07-23T13:48:31.321792 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia