Rescue Party
Encyclopedia
"Rescue Party" is a short story
by Arthur C. Clarke
, first published in Astounding Science Fiction in May 1946. It was his first story that he sold, though not the first actually published. It was republished in Sir Arthur’s second collection, Reach for Tomorrow
and also appears in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
To the aliens' surprise, the planet seems to be empty of intelligent life, except for the remnants of a civilization. While the aliens explore the old cities, we find out that it's typical for species to take thousands of years to develop from radio to space travel.
At the end of the story, the aliens find a communication tower beaming into space. They follow the beam and find an enormous fleet of human ships, powered by rockets. The aliens, equipped with faster-than-light
ships, are amazed that humans "dared" to cross interstellar space with rockets, having done so only 200 years after inventing radio. Humans do not possess faster-than-light ships, but in order to survive as a species have taken the audacious tactic of using generational starships
, in the hopes that their descendants will one day arrive at a new planet.
The final lines of the story have the aliens musing about the nature of human civilization and the future of the humans when they learn about the existence of other intelligent life, given their rapid advancement and apparent determination. The last sentence hints the outcome wasn't favorable to the aliens.
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, first published in Astounding Science Fiction in May 1946. It was his first story that he sold, though not the first actually published. It was republished in Sir Arthur’s second collection, Reach for Tomorrow
Reach for Tomorrow
Reach for Tomorrow is a collection of short stories by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. The stories all originally appeared in a number of different publications.-Contents:...
and also appears in The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke, , first published in 2001, is a collection of almost every science fiction story shorter than novel length that Arthur C. Clarke has ever published: with 114 in all arranged in order of publication, "Travel by Wire!" in 1937 through to "Improving the...
Plot summary
The story begins with a ship full of aliens visiting Earth only hours before the sun will explode, destroying the planet. The mission of the aliens is to try to save as many people and as much of the culture as possible. Normally the galactic civilization does surveys of planets every one million years for new species, but the human race did not exist the last time the survey was done – four hundred thousand years before. However, radio signals had been detected on a planet 200 light years away, indicating intelligent life had arisen.To the aliens' surprise, the planet seems to be empty of intelligent life, except for the remnants of a civilization. While the aliens explore the old cities, we find out that it's typical for species to take thousands of years to develop from radio to space travel.
At the end of the story, the aliens find a communication tower beaming into space. They follow the beam and find an enormous fleet of human ships, powered by rockets. The aliens, equipped with faster-than-light
Faster-than-light
Faster-than-light communications and travel refer to the propagation of information or matter faster than the speed of light....
ships, are amazed that humans "dared" to cross interstellar space with rockets, having done so only 200 years after inventing radio. Humans do not possess faster-than-light ships, but in order to survive as a species have taken the audacious tactic of using generational starships
Generation ship
A generation ship is a hypothetical type of interstellar ark starship that travels across great distances between stars at a speed much slower than the speed of light...
, in the hopes that their descendants will one day arrive at a new planet.
The final lines of the story have the aliens musing about the nature of human civilization and the future of the humans when they learn about the existence of other intelligent life, given their rapid advancement and apparent determination. The last sentence hints the outcome wasn't favorable to the aliens.
Quotes
Arthur C. Clarke spoke of "Rescue Party" in a foreword to the story, republished in The Sentinel, a book of short stories, in 1983:
"Rescue Party," written in March 1945, while I was still in the Royal Air Force, was the first story I sold to the legendary John W. CampbellJohn W. CampbellJohn Wood Campbell, Jr. was an influential figure in American science fiction. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction , from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.Isaac Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in...
, Jr., editor of Astounding Science Fiction. It was not, however, the first of my stories he published; "Loophole" (April 1946) beat it by a month.
I don't believe I've reread it since its original appearance, and I refuse to do so now — for fear of discovering how little I have improved in almost four decades. Those who claim that it's their favorite story get a cooler and cooler reception over the passing years.