# Ask the guy who is pretty good at SF Story Identification **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [September 7, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417 "2008-09-07T00:08:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1144
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417/1144 "2023-03-21T15:44:37Z")
Based on the successful resolution of my [12 year old Sci-Fi ID thread here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-medicine-induced-help-me-find-these-books-thread/599350), I want to give this open mystery one final bump. I feel like we’re on a roll here, and that which could not be identified in 2011 and again in 2020 might now be primed and ready for an answer. > [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > **Easy one (classic era stuff, I think).** A guy lives in great solitude in a remote outpost on the edge of the solar system, on lookout for alien armadas. The timing and protocol of the alert communications that he might have to send are so complicated that he has to by hypnotized to learn the techniques. Then one day, here come the aliens. Our guy sits in his special seat, battles nerves to get into the proper trance-like state, then pounds away at a number pad. Don’t remember if he saved the day or not. > [@](#): > > Interesting sounding story, thanks, but not it. What I read was a more straightforward sci-fi short story (I think), themed more along the lines of the loneliness of space, the isolation of the watch. And as I recall it, it was focused on the mechanics of the deal. I specifically remember the mechanics of quickly and accurately manipulating the keypad that triggers the warning. This obviously had to be pre-computer era, because a more contemporary similar story would have to be from the viewpoint of the Arduino that could more than handle all of the needed computational power. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417)._