Omnilingual

"Omnilingual" is a science fiction short story written by H. Beam Piper.

It made its first appearance in the February 1957 issue of Astounding Science Fiction.

Synopsis

An expedition from Earth to Mars discovers a deserted city, the remains of an advanced civilization that died out 50,000 years ago. The human scientists recover books and documents left behind, and are puzzled by their contents. Earnest young archeologist Martha Dane deciphers a few words, but the real breakthrough comes when the team explores what appears to have been a university in which the last few civilized Martians made their last stand. Inside, they find a "Rosetta Stone": the periodic table of the elements. The story builds tension from the scepticism of the rest of the team, mostly male, as well as from Ms. Dane's competitive, spotlight-seeking team-mate, Tony Lattimer.

Appearances

Omnilingual has been reprinted several times since its original publication.

• Prologue to Analog (1962, Doubleday)
• Analog Anthology (1965, Dobson)
• Great Science Fiction Stories About Mars (1966, Fredrick Fell)
• Apeman, Spaceman (1968, Doubleday)
• Mars, We Love You (1971, Doubleday)
• Where Do We Go from Here? (1971, Doubleday)
• The Days After Tomorrow (1971, Little Brown)
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow... (1974, Rinehart & Winston)
• Science Fiction Novellas (1975, Scribner)
• Federation (1981, Ace)
• The Great SF Stories: 19 (1957) (1989, DAW)
• The World Turned Upside Down (2005, Baen)

External links

• Omnilingual at Project Gutenberg
• Omnilingual publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Discover How Archaeologists Translated Secret Martian Writings! - A short review of the story at BestScienceFictionStories.com.
• Unofficial edited version