An expedition from Earth had gone to investigate the Crab Nebula. And—an expedition from Somewhere was already there! Now what is a spaceship skipper to do under such circumstances? Lead the possibly-deadly aliens home? Try to detsroy them? What can he do?

 

Today's story is "First Contact" by Murray Leinster. It appeared in the May 1945 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction" on pages 7 to 33.

 

In the original printing, there was no section two.

 

Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975) was a pen name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an American writer of genre fiction, particularly of science fiction. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.