The Heart of the Serpent

The Heart of the Serpent, compilation of Soviet Science Fiction Stories by Ivan Efremov [aka Ivan Yefremov], Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky et alii. "The Heart of the Serpent" (Originally in Latin: Cor Serpentis) is a 1958 science fiction short story by the russian writer and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov. - Synopsis - The crew of a spaceship encounters an alien ship in deep space. Speculation ensues about whether the other crew might be hostile. Comparisons are made to American SF writer Murray Leinster's story, "First Contact" (1945)*, in which an elaborate protocol is developed to prevent the aliens from following to the Terrans' home planet and destroying them or vice versa. The premise of Leinster's story is debunked, in part by pointing out that in order for a planet's civilization to become space-faring, they would need to be at peace among themselves and presumably have organized themselves into a planet-wide classless communist society; a point Yefremov had made earlier in his novel 'Andromeda' (1957). Thus the aliens must necessarily be peaceful. This story takes place within the rubric of Yefremov's Great Circle, a confederation of galactic civilizations that can communicate at faster-than-light speeds, and which also appears in the novel "Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale" [a.k.a.] "Andromeda Nebula".
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(*) "First Contact" is a 1945 science fiction novelette by Murray Leinster credited as one of the first (if not the first) instances of a universal translator in Science Fiction. It won a retro Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1996. It was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. As such, it was published in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964.