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Warning From The Stars
from the introductory:
Don't believe in flying saucers? Neither do we,
but that doesn't necessarily mean that there
can be no other way for Earth to get its last....
Don't believe in flying saucers? Neither do we,
but that doesn't necessarily mean that there
can be no other way for Earth to get its last....
IT WAS a beautifully machined container, shaped like a two pound chocolate candy box, the color and texture of lead. The cover fitted so accurately that it was difficult to see where it met the lip on the base.
Yet when Forster lifted the container from the desk in the security guards' office, he almost hit himself in the face with it, so light was it.
He read the words clumsily etched by hand into the top surface with some sharp instrument:
TO BE OPENED ONLY BY:
Dr. Richard Forster,
Assistant Director,
Air Force Special Research Center,
Petersport, Md.
CAUTION: Open not later than
24 hours after receipt.
DO NOT OPEN in atmosphere less
than equivalent of 65,000 feet
above M.S.L.
He turned the container over and over. It bore no other markings-no express label or stamps, no file or reference number, no return address.
It was superbly machined, he saw.
Tentatively he pulled at the container cover, it was as firm as if it had been welded on. But then, if the cover had been closed in the thin atmosphere of 65,000 feet, it would be held on by the terrific pressure of a column of air twelve miles high.
Forster looked up at the burly guard.
"Who left this here?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, sir." The man's voice was as close to insolence as the difference in status would allow, and Forster bristled.
"I just clocked in an hour ago. There was a thick fog came on all of a sudden, and there was a bit of confusion when we were changing over. They didn't say anything about the box when I relieved."
"Fog?" Forster queried. "How could fog form on a warm morning like this?"
"You're the scientist, sir. You tell me. Went as fast as it came."
"Well-it looks like very sloppy security. The contents of this thing must almost certainly be classified. Give me the book and I'll sign for it. I'll phone you the file number when I find the covering instructions."
Forster was a nervous, over-conscientious little man, and his day was already ruined, because any departure from strict administrative routine worried and upset him. Only in his field of aviation medicine did he feel competent, secure.
He knew that around the center they contemptuously called him "Lilliput." The younger researchers were constantly trying to think up new ways to play jokes on him, and annoy him.
Crawley Preston, the research center's director and his chief, had been summoned to Washington the night before. Forster wished fervently that he was around to deal with this matter. Now that relations between East and West had reached the snapping point, the slightest deviation from security regulations usually meant a full-scale inquiry.
He signed for the container, and carried it out to the car, still seething impotently over the guard's insolence.
He placed it beside him on the front seat of his car and drove up to the building which housed part of the labs and also his office.
He climbed out, then as he slammed the door he happened to glance into the car again.
The seat covers were made of plastic in a maroon and blue plaid pattern. But where the box had rested there was a dirty grey rectangular patch that hadn't been there before.
Forster stared, then opened the door again. He rubbed his fingers over the discolored spot; it felt no different than the rest of the fabric. Then he placed the box over the area-it fitted perfectly.
Kindle Edition
First published September 17, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 27, 2022
A Pessimistic Tale
When Dr Forster, a scientist of modest achievements, finds himself the addressee of a mysterious message from space, he faces the challenge of making politicians on both sides the Iron Curtain do their best to stop the nuclear arms race. It is not that, like in other stories of this ilk, the extraterrestrials threaten the destruction of Earth unless the development and testing of nuclear arms be stopped but that they will simply abduct all top cream scientists that do research in the military use of nuclear weapons, which sounds like a good idea.
This is the basic premise of the short story Warning from the Stars from 1959 by Ron Cocking, an author I had never heard of before. What is more, or less in this case, a quick google research did not bring to light any further biographic information on Ron Cocking nor did it enable me to find any other story than ran from his pen. I think this a great pity because Warning from the Stars is a very clever story. On the surface, it might even seem optimistic in tone because when Forster finally gets through to the military and they set up first steps to act upon that warning – unbelievable to me that they believed in its veracity –, the deadline allotted to them has already run out, and by and by all the important scientists, all over the world, disappear, and it is in the light of these disappearances and the lack of manpower to conduct further nuclear weapons tests and development that all of a sudden, governments are willing to compromise and work out an order of global peace. What is not to love about this?
Well, I think it is this: It becomes quite clear that without the intervention of the mysterious extraterrestrials, who are killed by the pressure released by nuclear weapons, no peace agreement would have been reached because human beings simply remain paranoid, selfish and prone to run in the rut of their usual patterns of thinking. As chances are not very high that one day, an alien life form will come to us and put a stop to our walking down the road of self-destruction, we might ultimately, in all probability, have to grasp the nettle of facing the consequences of our own stupidity. This story was written in the darkest times of the Cold War, with its sinister apex still in the immediate future, and in the past few decades we could feel inclined to think that we had outgrown the bi-polar thinking that was prevalent in those days, that we had learnt to regard the world as one unit and humanity as one entity. All this time, we were somehow able to overlook or play down the wars that were waged in our world, which was never really peaceful, but now there is a war going on that makes us realize that we were victims of a pipe dream and that our governments had not learnt a bit. The paradox behind all this may be that most people in this world do want to live in peace and quiet and wholeheartedly say no to war, but still there are wars all the time. This strange truth is also cleverly mirrored in Cocking’s story, which first centres on Dr Forster and his discovery of the mysterious message. Even he is initially inclined to think this a practical joke concocted by one of his many rivals at the institute where he is working, but eventually he is getting the drift and tries to heed the warning. Later, the story loses sight of him and focuses on global events. This may seem like a fault on the part of the narrator, but I tend more to regard this shift as a hint at the lack of power and influence of the individual, and as there are billions of individuals, this lack of power and influence is all the more remarkable – and disheartening.
There is also another detail that I found interesting, namely that the aliens mainly acted in their own interest. Remember: The nuclear tests wreaked considerable harm on them. And they only put a stop to the nuclear arms race, leaving us enough leeway to kill each other with conventional weapons.
So, all in all, this story is not as simple and straightforward as it may appear at first sight.
When Dr Forster, a scientist of modest achievements, finds himself the addressee of a mysterious message from space, he faces the challenge of making politicians on both sides the Iron Curtain do their best to stop the nuclear arms race. It is not that, like in other stories of this ilk, the extraterrestrials threaten the destruction of Earth unless the development and testing of nuclear arms be stopped but that they will simply abduct all top cream scientists that do research in the military use of nuclear weapons, which sounds like a good idea.
This is the basic premise of the short story Warning from the Stars from 1959 by Ron Cocking, an author I had never heard of before. What is more, or less in this case, a quick google research did not bring to light any further biographic information on Ron Cocking nor did it enable me to find any other story than ran from his pen. I think this a great pity because Warning from the Stars is a very clever story. On the surface, it might even seem optimistic in tone because when Forster finally gets through to the military and they set up first steps to act upon that warning – unbelievable to me that they believed in its veracity –, the deadline allotted to them has already run out, and by and by all the important scientists, all over the world, disappear, and it is in the light of these disappearances and the lack of manpower to conduct further nuclear weapons tests and development that all of a sudden, governments are willing to compromise and work out an order of global peace. What is not to love about this?
Well, I think it is this: It becomes quite clear that without the intervention of the mysterious extraterrestrials, who are killed by the pressure released by nuclear weapons, no peace agreement would have been reached because human beings simply remain paranoid, selfish and prone to run in the rut of their usual patterns of thinking. As chances are not very high that one day, an alien life form will come to us and put a stop to our walking down the road of self-destruction, we might ultimately, in all probability, have to grasp the nettle of facing the consequences of our own stupidity. This story was written in the darkest times of the Cold War, with its sinister apex still in the immediate future, and in the past few decades we could feel inclined to think that we had outgrown the bi-polar thinking that was prevalent in those days, that we had learnt to regard the world as one unit and humanity as one entity. All this time, we were somehow able to overlook or play down the wars that were waged in our world, which was never really peaceful, but now there is a war going on that makes us realize that we were victims of a pipe dream and that our governments had not learnt a bit. The paradox behind all this may be that most people in this world do want to live in peace and quiet and wholeheartedly say no to war, but still there are wars all the time. This strange truth is also cleverly mirrored in Cocking’s story, which first centres on Dr Forster and his discovery of the mysterious message. Even he is initially inclined to think this a practical joke concocted by one of his many rivals at the institute where he is working, but eventually he is getting the drift and tries to heed the warning. Later, the story loses sight of him and focuses on global events. This may seem like a fault on the part of the narrator, but I tend more to regard this shift as a hint at the lack of power and influence of the individual, and as there are billions of individuals, this lack of power and influence is all the more remarkable – and disheartening.
There is also another detail that I found interesting, namely that the aliens mainly acted in their own interest. Remember: The nuclear tests wreaked considerable harm on them. And they only put a stop to the nuclear arms race, leaving us enough leeway to kill each other with conventional weapons.
So, all in all, this story is not as simple and straightforward as it may appear at first sight.
April 7, 2018
beautiful story published 64 years ago
November 7, 2018
Old-timey SF
September 29, 2023
Another Sci-fi short story that hints at the absurdity of the claims suggesting that Mankind is the supreme race in the universe. The abduction of all top scientists from the four corners of the world soon becomes a proof of the contrary. First by showing both sides of the iron curtain that they're, by no means, neither the only nor the strongest powers of the world. And then by showing through the alien conflict-free solution to the war that violence is not a sign of strength or domination, but rather is a childish display of immaturity.
September 12, 2020
Listened to as an audiobook -- Short Science Fiction on PodBean App.
This is an excellent and original sci-fi tale of Cold War melodrama... monitored by non-human intelligence. Well thought out story.
This is an excellent and original sci-fi tale of Cold War melodrama... monitored by non-human intelligence. Well thought out story.
July 26, 2023
🖋️ I greatly enjoyed this short story from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. While it has a poignant message, it is not preachy or condescending. One of the many passages that struck me is:
“’Fog?’ Forster queried. ‘How could fog form on a warm morning like this?’ ‘You're the scientist, sir. You tell me. Went as fast as it came.’ . . . It was January 18, 1951, three years ago, and the jagged line of the Australian coast stretched like a small-scale map to the black curve of the horizon. From the converted bomber that was his flying lab, Forster could see the other American observation plane cruising on a parallel course, about half a mile away, and beyond it downwind the fringe of the billowing cloud dome of the super-secret British thermonuclear shot.”
The quip about the Oak Ridge Boys was funny, too: "I understand now why so many of the Oak Ridge boys turned to religion after they had been exposed to the electron microscope for a while—they realized they had gone as far as their 'scientific' training would ever take them."
This would make a great little movie, as long as it follows the plot to the letter. “Don't believe in flying saucers? Neither do we, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there can be no other way for Earth to get its last.... WARNING FROM THE STARS.”
While the Project Gutenberg e-book version has the original illustrations, the Kindle version is devoid of them. This would make a great movie as long as the plot is followed to the letter,
📙 This book was published in AMAZING SCIENCE FICTION STORIES; APRIL 1959; VOLUME 33 NUMBER 4.
🟢The e-book version can be found on Project Gutenberg.
🟣Kindle.
🚀●▬●💫🪐💫●▬●🚀
“’Fog?’ Forster queried. ‘How could fog form on a warm morning like this?’ ‘You're the scientist, sir. You tell me. Went as fast as it came.’ . . . It was January 18, 1951, three years ago, and the jagged line of the Australian coast stretched like a small-scale map to the black curve of the horizon. From the converted bomber that was his flying lab, Forster could see the other American observation plane cruising on a parallel course, about half a mile away, and beyond it downwind the fringe of the billowing cloud dome of the super-secret British thermonuclear shot.”
The quip about the Oak Ridge Boys was funny, too: "I understand now why so many of the Oak Ridge boys turned to religion after they had been exposed to the electron microscope for a while—they realized they had gone as far as their 'scientific' training would ever take them."
This would make a great little movie, as long as it follows the plot to the letter. “Don't believe in flying saucers? Neither do we, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there can be no other way for Earth to get its last.... WARNING FROM THE STARS.”
While the Project Gutenberg e-book version has the original illustrations, the Kindle version is devoid of them. This would make a great movie as long as the plot is followed to the letter,
📙 This book was published in AMAZING SCIENCE FICTION STORIES; APRIL 1959; VOLUME 33 NUMBER 4.
🟢The e-book version can be found on Project Gutenberg.
🟣Kindle.
🚀●▬●💫🪐💫●▬●🚀
January 16, 2026
This story is o.k., just not particularly exciting or interesting. It's a kind of Safe Old Timey and Parentally Approved kind of Sci-Fi I have never had much interest in, even as a kid. I always liked my Sci-Fi to be a little more Edgy.
I did like the beginning of the story as Dr. Forster wa opening the Mystery Box and reading the Warning From The Stars message. But once the message disintegrated, so did my interest in the story.
And I didn't at all buy into the Military being so easily persuaded to accept Dr. Forster at his word when he related his Tall Tall From The Stars, and how they immediately took action. I guess I feel that, in real life, things never happen that way.
And so the story plodded on, we loose our main character, the narration goes into generalities, problem solved, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Thus, just an o.k. story.
Btw, for those interested, according to the "Lost Sci-Fi Podcast" not only is this the only thing Ron Cocking ever wrote and published, they know absolutely nothing else, zilch, zero, diddly-squat about the author.
Maybe The Shining Ones took him.
My new word for the day: scintillometer. I thought the author made that one up.
I did like the beginning of the story as Dr. Forster wa opening the Mystery Box and reading the Warning From The Stars message. But once the message disintegrated, so did my interest in the story.
And I didn't at all buy into the Military being so easily persuaded to accept Dr. Forster at his word when he related his Tall Tall From The Stars, and how they immediately took action. I guess I feel that, in real life, things never happen that way.
And so the story plodded on, we loose our main character, the narration goes into generalities, problem solved, and everyone lives happily ever after.
Thus, just an o.k. story.
Btw, for those interested, according to the "Lost Sci-Fi Podcast" not only is this the only thing Ron Cocking ever wrote and published, they know absolutely nothing else, zilch, zero, diddly-squat about the author.
Maybe The Shining Ones took him.
My new word for the day: scintillometer. I thought the author made that one up.
January 21, 2025
Quotables:
"Too bad that English is a commercial language, it's so hard to discuss really abstract ideas." Say it like it is, Ron!
"We've always been taught to observe, collect data, then erect a theory to fit the data, a theory which has to be modified when other data came along which don't fit into it.
Here they work the opposite way—they say: "Know the fundamental principles governing the operation of the universe and then all the pieces fit together inside this final Truth."" In other words: Contextualize, contextualize, contextualize!
"A dream which might take a half hour to recount took only a fraction of a second to occur in the sub-conscious of the sleeper as he awoke." Damn perceptive!
Most of the rest is just BS (bullfinch spore).
"Too bad that English is a commercial language, it's so hard to discuss really abstract ideas." Say it like it is, Ron!
"We've always been taught to observe, collect data, then erect a theory to fit the data, a theory which has to be modified when other data came along which don't fit into it.
Here they work the opposite way—they say: "Know the fundamental principles governing the operation of the universe and then all the pieces fit together inside this final Truth."" In other words: Contextualize, contextualize, contextualize!
"A dream which might take a half hour to recount took only a fraction of a second to occur in the sub-conscious of the sleeper as he awoke." Damn perceptive!
Most of the rest is just BS (bullfinch spore).
October 28, 2022
The author uses 'light years' as a unit of time (comparing relative technology levels). I'm pretty flexible with my hard/ soft sci fi, but I do expect an author to have a basic grasp of the terminology they choose to use. That was the point at which I checked out
December 12, 2017
Don't believe in flying saucers? Neither do we, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there can be no other way for Earth to get its last.... WARNING FROM THE STARS
November 15, 2018
The crack about the oakridge boys made me laugh :)
Read
September 6, 2021So that was the cold war ... Sort of
November 3, 2025
Strange scifi, short story
April 6, 2018
Part of LibriVox “Short Science Fiction Collection Vol. 001 and 003”. Classic 50s Cold War story of alien abductions, a tad too predictable for me I’m afraid. Narration not bad. 41:55
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews