The Nine Billion Names of God

Most of the stories in this collection show or assume that any alien intelligence in the Universe is far superior to the human race. Characters repeatedly experience the act of exploration as humbling because they discover that they know less than they thought they did, or they are far less advanced than the aliens they encounter.

“The Sentinel” illuminates this theme. The astronauts stationed on the moon are all certain that no intelligent life-form has ever set foot on the moon prior to themselves. Their discovery of the object referred to as the sentinel proves them wrong and shows them that there is a source of intelligent life in the Universe that has been waiting for the human race to evolve. These intelligent beings that are only interested in human contact once they have achieved space travel.

“Out of the Sun” brings a group of astronauts into contact with a God-like creature born directly of the sun. Again, the human characters are shocked to discover that their assumptions—that life could not exist on the Sun—are incorrect. They are forced to reckon with the possibility that this creature is “a godlike being” (102). This humbles them to the point that the narrator becomes fearful that one day “they may discover us […] they may not like what they find, for to them we should be no more than maggots” (103).