Contact With Chaos — Michael Z. Williamson

CONTACT WITH ALIENS MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH .. .

When a ship from the Freehold discovered a planet with sentient lifeforms -- the first which humans had ever encountered -- it should have been the most important event in history. And it might be -- for all the wrong reasons.

Corporations on Freehold were eager to exploit the technological gap between humans and the apparently primitive Ishkul for billions in trade advantage. Then the U.N., which controlled most human planets but not the Freehold, immediately sent its own ship to make contact with the Ishkul. Next, another ship arrived, full of idealistic do-gooders determined to keep the Ishkul in an unspoiled state of nature.

Contact with a more advanced civilization might pose a danger to the Ishkul, but it was definitely becoming even more dangerous to the human factions.