Have aliens been contacted? Radio or physically?

• What if we introduce the discovery of an alien wreck somewhere in the currently reachable solar system (Earth, moon, nearby asteriods, Mars, et) with immense data storage regarding the species own colonial or survey efforts. Such a discover might just spark enough interest to inspire putting together missions to some of the worlds, and detailed planning to attempt to adjust the crew's biology to fit the destination environs. --DaveK

• I would argue against introducing anything alien early in the endeavor. Let Humanity figure this stuff out on its own. Let Humanity decide to value the stars. Let Humanity figure out how to travel through space using time to our advantage. Introducing aliens early on takes away from the Human achievement side of things. What would have happened if aliens gave us the rocket technology to get to the moon? Then we would not have done that for ourselves. I am not against having a stellar voyage come across an alien ship in deep space, as one of the later stories. I think that could be a fasciating story. A lifeless, motionless alien ship a thousand light years from anything is a pretty mysterious story. --CmAmidon - 27 Sep 2004