First Contact
The message had been surprisingly unambiguous, considering it came from an alien culture. Of course, they HAD had the 'Voyager' plaque to use as a standard, but what are you supposed to do when the first message you get from outer space resembles graphical IKEA assembly instructions designed to transcend spoken or written languages?
You do what they ask. A 'space station' put into orbit that resembled two shipping containers butted together, with a clear partition in the middle, with two small airlock pass-throughs installed. No life support on one side, whatever you wanted on the other. (And the graphic sequence for THAT one was a doozy.) Whatever you needed for docking on your side, leave the other one plain.
It was built, and launched – on time and amazingly under budget.
The thing was in orbit two weeks when an alien ship dropped in around Mars with a terrific flash, then zipped into place next to the Contact Station at a rate that left the astronomers tracking it dizzy. There was a flurry of EVA activity, and the alien craft grafted itself onto the bare end and the alien half filled with air slightly lower in pressure and higher in oxygen - a very good sign.
Cameras showed three very hairy starfish going in and out. The Russians launched the waiting Soyuz-V with an international delegation, docking with the Contact Station in short order.
And the hatch opened. The play started, all parts pre-scripted.
On the other side of the partition, two starfish were in isolation suits. The third shaved off some of its ‘hair’, put it in a vented container, then put it in one of the airlock chambers. On the human side, a volunteer unsuited, shaved a patch of scalp, stuffed, and stuck the container in the other. Both chambers bled down to hard vacuum for several minutes so atmospheres wouldn't mix. Then the starfish unsealed the human's airlock, and pulled out the container while the human did the same to the alien's airlock.
The alien lifted the container slowly, pivoted to the other two, then opened the container to what appeared to be a breathing orifice and sniffed deeply, paused for a moment…