And even then they shouldn’t be able to communicate at all. The Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky plays with that a lot.
The only reason the space faring civilisations are able to open communication channels with each other is that they all originate from earth and their technology is at least partly based on what the once mighty humans have left behind.
Which leads to this hilarious chapter in which, after finally being able to communicate with the foreign ships, our characters receive just a pattern of wildly dancing colours and they’re all like wtf? I guess that’s what you get for trying to speak to an octopus.
I’m enjoying his Final Architecture books. Some aliens talk with humans perfectly and others don’t. The little crab people and giant worm people are fine. The barnacle folks everyone can translate but no one really understands.
The moon monsters and the demon in the warp make it cosmic horror + space opera. Which makes my heart sing. And playing with communication is a real part of it.
And even then they shouldn’t be able to communicate at all. The Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky plays with that a lot.
The only reason the space faring civilisations are able to open communication channels with each other is that they all originate from earth and their technology is at least partly based on what the once mighty humans have left behind.
Which leads to this hilarious chapter in which, after finally being able to communicate with the foreign ships, our characters receive just a pattern of wildly dancing colours and they’re all like wtf? I guess that’s what you get for trying to speak to an octopus.
All humanoid species in Star Trek originate from the same planet, but it’s not Earth, it’s Progenitor Homeworld https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Progenitor
I’m enjoying his Final Architecture books. Some aliens talk with humans perfectly and others don’t. The little crab people and giant worm people are fine. The barnacle folks everyone can translate but no one really understands.
The moon monsters and the demon in the warp make it cosmic horror + space opera. Which makes my heart sing. And playing with communication is a real part of it.