The Wailing Asteroid

by Murray Leinster

The first sounds came at midnight
a plaintive keening from an unknown voice in the vastness of uncharted space. Within hours the whole world had heard the strange, unearthly music--and the panic had begun.

Were the sounds a plea for help? From whom? From where? Or were they a command too terrible to think about? No one knew. And in billions of earth-bound minds the horror grew....

For how could man, who had not yet claimed the moon, defy a challenge from the stars?

And hours later, to the ears of a helpless world, the second message came....

And Earth's days were numbered!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Pulp

143 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

see also:
Will F. Jenkins
William Fitzgerald Jenkins

Murray Leinster was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published over 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays.

An author whose career spanned the first six decades of the 20th Century. From mystery and adventure stories in the earliest years to science fiction in his later years, he worked steadily and at a highly professional level of craftsmanship longer than most writers of his generation. He won a Hugo Award in 1956 for his novelet “Exploration Team,” and in 1995 the Sidewise Award for Alternate History took its name from his classic story, “Sidewise in Time.” His last original work appeared in 1967.

Reviews

[Carlex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and half stars.

A classic science fiction story of discovery, with a touch of hard. Very entertaining, with some really good ideas and also some classic tropes (the most significant, the role of women in the plot). And some sense of wonder too, in the wailling asteroid mentioned in the title. This novel was published in 1960, thirteen years before "Rendez-vous with Rama".

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: This is the first time I've read this novel by Murray Leinster. I found it very interesting, with just five very likable characters, three men and two girls. One of the men, Burke, has had recurrent dreams since his childhood, where he met a girl in a strange extrasolar planet. This makes him unable to propose to his secretary, Sandy. At the end of the novel, however, he discovers that the girl in his dreams was Sandy. The novel ends with a kiss :-)

But the main subject of the novel is the attack by aliens against the solar system, which the wailing asteroid is warning about, and which the five protagonists must stop from a space fortress full of weapons, which they must learn to use.

ESPAÑOL: Esta es la primera vez que he leído esta novela de Murray Leinster. Me ha parecido muy interesante, con tan solo cinco personajes muy simpáticos, tres hombres y dos chicas. Uno de los hombres, Burke, ha tenido sueños recurrentes desde la infancia, en los que se encontraba con una chica en un extraño planeta extrasolar. Esto le impide proponerle matrimonio a su secretaria, Sandy. Sin embargo, al final de la novela descubre que la chica de sus sueños era Sandy. La novela termina con un beso :-)

Pero el tema principal de la novela es el ataque de unos extraterrestres contra el sistema solar, sobre el que avisa el asteroide que se lamenta, y que los cinco protagonistas deben detener desde una fortaleza espacial llena de armas, que deben aprender a utilizar.

[Julie Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Nelson's latest narration at Librivox is this Murray Leinster, which I haven't read. Love both Nelson and Leinster, so this will be a treat.

Not one of Leinster's best but entertaining enough. When an asteroid enters our solar system, emitting odd warbling "wails", scientists soon figure out that Earth is being hailed by another civilization. Are they friendly or enemies? What is the warble saying? Can the Cold War stop long enough to work together? As is so often the case in Leinster's stories, an enterprising young engineer comes up with a novel form of space flight and jumps ahead of everyone to explore the mysterious asteroid. Along with a few friends, including his best girl.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There is as yet no hint of what the messages may mean but that they are an attempt at communication is certain."

An artificial signal received on Earth that appears to be of non human, but intelligent origin sets the people of Earth into a frenzy.

Joe Burke was in the middle of confessing insanity to his partner, explaining that he'd always wanted to marry her but had not wished to inflict his madness into her life, on the grounds that he had been hearing (since childhood) a strange message that noone else can hear. When the news of the extraterrestrial message is broadcast on the radio, Joe forgets all about his marriage proposal and immediately he draws a connection between the public messages and his own private ones.

When Joe Burke was young an uncle was showing him some cromagnon artefacts and he dropped and shattered a peculiar black cube. Ever since then, he had been having these recurring dreams and throughout his early years had tried to explore certain elements of the dream as best he could by recreating strange items from the dream. After the public announcement of the signal he picks up this idea again and with some practice creates a tiny but powerful pseudo magnet, with negative inductance.

"At the cost of several hours work, he had made a thing like a magnet, which wasn't a magnet and which destroyed itself when turned on."

Burke runs a small tech business and, suspicious of the aliens' intention, he uses his few resources to covertly construct a spaceship of inexplicable design (not actually rocket powered) and launches himself out to meet the aliens face to face.

"When a man is important enough it does not matter if he never does anything, it is only required of him that he do nothing wrong. Eminent figures all over the world prepared to do nothing wrong. They were not so concerned to do anything right."

There's plenty of confusion and paranoia among the scientists and the general population alike in this story, which speculates in some detail how societies and individuals would react to the news. Americans for example are the first to reply with a message of their own. Russians go one step further and are the first to send a probe out to investigate the signal at its source. Physics that don't work (or at least break our previously established principles) get scientists in a grumble of their own.

"The truth was too horrible to believe, so it was resolved not to believe it."

Large groups of people, wanting very much to pretend that none of this is happening, have taken issue with both of those initiatives deeming them dangerous and believing that the best response would have been to ignore the alien signal and wait to see what happens next.

The book is rife with oldskool gender cliches, mostly gender roles. Joe Burke finds women mysterious and the old adage is at least implied, that the man always asks the woman to marry rather than vice versa. However, the story also has Joe's gal, Sandy, distinctly more knowledgeable and capable than he is at several points and she's certainly never once a pushover.

I spotted several uses of the term "waked" instead of woken. Not sure if that's grammatically correct where you're from but I wouldn't expect to hear it over here in slang capital Oz.

According to GR this was first released in 1960, pre moon landing folks, so give this a bit of slack for a few silly notions, but I still think overall this was a well thought through imagination. There's a little bit of telepathy, which we will forgive, but also a bunch of fun ideas about gravity waves (including using them for communication). The received signals are said to originate at M387 - Shoal's Object- 360 million miles from the sun, at less than 2 miles in diameter and with variable brightness suggesting an irregular shape. Shoal's Object is a fictional Messier object supposedly discovered in 1913. At one point the narrative says that there were no ancestral species for either dogs or humans, but I think he must have meant no *known* examples. Otherwise I'd have to presume it is a sly missing link plug, which would be a shame.

The story has excellent pacing throughout, it moves along at a very steady trot and even gets a good bit nice and tense towards to the thrilling end. The narration by Mark Nelson is very good.

I've had the Librivox app on my phone for ages and finally decided to have a play with it today. I've got the playback speed cranked right up and this still read wonderfully. The player isn't perfect but it works well and importantly has a snooze timer. Selection of books is always growing and some of the narrators are doing a top notch job these days. I highly recommend that you check out the app and support the Librivox project if you can.

[Allen McDonnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had the paperback book edition of this novella since I was a young boy and read it many times over the decades because I love the story. The story is set at the very end of the space race era when a mysterious radio signal suddenly starts arriving at receiving antennae all around the earth as they face the correct direction. I won't spoil the story by telling any more except to say our adventurous crew are led by a very driven engineer who owns his own small specialty firm which lets him develop important things quickly without the large multinational bureaucracy every big corporation has clogging up the process.

Last week I had the joy of listening to the free audiobook version which is available free on Librivox because the copyright was not renewed in a timely manner allowing this novella to become a public domain work of fiction. I recommend this book to classic sci-fi fans in both paperback/kindle print version and Librivox free audiobook version, it is a treat to enjoy the male-female dynamic from the early 1970's before so much hostility entered the act of balancing work and family.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of Leinster's delightful puzzle-stories, similar to a Heinlein story but without the preaching. It was one of my favorites when I was young, though the lack of any characterization and some of the social attitudes made me wince a time or two upon re-reading it now. It was nicely filmed as The Terrornauts fifty years ago, with a screenplay by John Brunner (!) and a budget which must have been in the dozens of dollars. Leinster was one of the fine old masters of the early days of the genre.

[Phil Giunta · Rating 3 out of 5]

A signal from outer space reaches Earth and is broadcast over the radio, interrupting Joe Burke just as he is about to propose to his secretary and longtime friend, Sandy Lund. As it turns out, the signal is comprised of sounds resembling those of a flute. They are eerily familiar to Burke from a recurring dream he had as a child after his uncle gifted him with a number of relics found in a Cro-Magnon cave.

Though disappointed, Sandy returns to Burke's engineering office where he plays a recording he made of the sounds years before and they are an exact match to those from space. Soon after, astronomers identify the source of the signal as an asteroid on a course that will bring it close to Earth.

Without sufficient evidence, the United States and Russia interpret the signals as a threat. The two major powers compete, and fail, to send a craft to the meet the aliens. However, Burke designs and constructs a small ship with the assistance of a yacht builder named Holmes and a taciturn electronics expert named Keller. Sandy's sister Pam joins the team to assist with tracking orders and receiving shipments.

Early in their testing of a reactionless drive, an explosive mishap draws the attention of a reporter, two government agents, and the police. Burke tries to persuade them that he is building an advanced bomb shelter. They are not convinced and suspect Burke and company of conspiring with the aliens. A few days later, the police return to arrest them, but Burke launches the ship with Holmes, Keller, and the Lund sisters aboard.

A week and a half later, they reach the asteroid and fly the ship through a tunnel, which closes behind them. Lights, breathable air, and an artifcial gravity system are activated, allowing the intrepid voyagers to leave the ship. To their dismay, they find the asteroid devoid of life.

Burke and his team explore the interior and learn that it is a garrison, long abandoned by its troops. They also interpret the flute-like signal as a beacon ordering the ancient soldiers to return in order to defend against an approaching enemy. Who were the soldiers and where did they go? More importantly, can Burke and company learn how to operate the garrison in time to defend Earth against this powerful and unknown threat from interstellar space?

If you can ignore Leinster's cardboard characterizations—such as the whiny and emotionally clueless Burke and the stereotypical capricious, husband-hunting women—The Wailing Asteroid is an enjoyable light-hearted adventure with a healthy dose of plausible 1960s science and engineering.

[Roddy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘As the earth party wandered through the rock-hewn corridors, they had no doubt about the purpose of the asteroid.

It was a mighty fortress, stocked with weapons of destruction beyond man’s understanding. It seemed as if it was deserted by some ancient race and yet in a room high in the asteroid a powerful transmitter beamed its chilling sounds toward earth. Near it, on a huge star-map of the universe, ten tiny red sparks were moving inexorably toward the center – moving at many times the speed of light; moving on a course that would pass through the solar system.

The unknown aliens would not even see our sun explode from the force of their passing, would not even notice the tiny speck called Earth as it died…’

Blurb from the 1968 Sphere paperback edition

This is an odd little concoction from Leinster which begins when a strange musical message is received from space and identified as originating in an asteroid.
A scientist, hearing the message is shocked, as the music is part of a recurring dream he has had since childhood, The Russians immediately send out rockets to reach the source of the signal, but our valiant hero, with the help of images from his dreams, (and his girlfriend, her friend and his best friend) is able to build a ship in his backyard.
The four end up on the ship (it’s not important why) and blast off to the asteroid.
The asteroid is actually a space-fortress with artificial gravity, its own air system and a bank of screens upon one of which can be seen ten red moving dots.
With the help of some mind-induction educational cubes they learn that the red dots are an ancient enemy of the fortress builders and are on their way to destroy the Solar System.
If one employs a certain suspension of disbelief, it’s enjoyable hokum although certainly not an example of Leinster at his best.
It’s another Origin of Man tale since, as astute readers would have guessed long before Leinster springs the surprise on us, humans are the descendants of the fortress builders, whose last garrison escaped to Earth two million years before.
It is up to our hero to find a way to stop the ships of the mysterious Enemy and prevent the Solar System from being destroyed.

[Plch · Rating 1 out of 5]

read.. but very very partially... it's very dated but this was not a problem and I love to read of imaginary futures that never happened. But there was a huge problem just a few pages into it, I don't know if it was because of the translation or not, anyway, I read the following sentence: "a few miles east from the equator"... and I really couldn't go further.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantasy listing 🎧🚀
Due to eye issues and damage Alexa reads to me.
A wonderful will written fantasy Sc-Fi space adventure novella with interesting characters. The story line is two women and three men on a space adventure on an Asteroid that is thousands of years old. Their finds on the asteroid are amazing. I would recommend this novella to readers of space adventure. Enjoy reading 2021 😎🎉✨

[Mark Welsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maverick engineer Joe Burke has been plagued since childhood by dreams of walking on an alien planet carrying a hi-tech weapon, accompanied by strange fluting noises like bird song. When alien signals are suddenly received around the world, they are the very sounds that he's been hearing in his dreams. This strange coincidence compels him to build the weapon he remembers and, using the same scientific principles, his own spaceship. As the world struggles with the implications of first contact, Joe and his associates blast off for the asteroid that is the apparent source of the signals. When they arrive, they discover that it's an armed fortress, filled with amazing intergalactic weaponry. But what is it for and where are the beings that built it? And what are those strange objects rapidly approaching the edge of our solar system?

This is a fine, if fairly unspectacular, slice of mid 20th century American science fiction, which pits five representatives of humanity against a mysterious intergalactic force, which is on its way to wipe out planet Earth. I found the strength of the novel lies in its core concepts and ideas rather than its execution because, although the abandoned fortress in space is a wonderful setting for a science fiction mystery, its puzzle pieces come together pretty easily for Joe and his crew and everything wraps up in a rather conventional and predictable fashion.

Also there are some significant issues with the characters here. Resident genius Joe is pretty hard to like. He’s quick to anger, fairly rude and obsessed with his work. It’s a puzzle what beautiful assistant Sandy sees in him. His scientific colleagues aren’t much more engaging, with both defined by one single characteristic. Holmes, Joe’s big bluff, handsome number two, is a little socially awkward when he's around Sandy's ditsier sister, Pam, and Keller is a guy who says very little. Yes, that’s his only personality trait. And these are the five guys and girls we’re supposed to invest in as the possible saviours of humanity.

Of course, we also have to talk about gender roles. This is a novel written in 1960 and it is a little progressive I guess, but not very. Sandy and Pam assist the guys, helping out both on Earth and in space. Sandy gets one important job, working out a code they can use so they can communicate directly with the US government on Earth without other nations being able to listen in. Pam just gets to be Pam.

Inevitably, perhaps, there are certain passages which haven't aged too well. Leinster refers to the girls as ‘probably as satisfied as two girls could be. They were on the sideline of interesting happenings which were being prepared by interesting men. They were useful enough to the enterprise to belong to it without doing anything outstanding enough to amount to rivalry with the men.’ There’s also a moment when a serious technical discussion on the spaceship that’s interrupted by Pam’s cheerful announcement that ’dinner is ready!’ There is a possibility that Leinster was being satirical here because there is a faint comic undertone to some of this, but it’s hard to know for sure.

One pleasing aspect is the ‘homemade’ kind of Jules Verne vibe that accompanies some of our heroes’ adventures. Because they leave Earth in a hurry, their only space suit is a bulky, Victorian diving rig with a big helmet, and when they need to check if there’s any oxygen outside their capsule in the abandoned passages of the asteroid, they use a cigarette lighter.

It was turned into a movie by UK studio Amicus in 1967 and retitled ‘The Terrornauts’. It's low budget and not very good, but quite fun. Charles Hawtrey from the ‘Carry On’ comedy films stars.

Enjoyable time passer but nothing very memorable.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was at my favorite used bookstore (Dunaway’s in St. Louis), and was browsing the S-F section, looking for something by Murray Leinster, came across this one, from 1960. It tells of what appears to be an asteroid from deep space, which emits radio signals. The protagonist, Joe burke, is an engineer, who recognizes the signals, which he had heard in dreams when he was a child, in which he was on a mysterious planet with two moons, and he is holding a strange weapon. Joe plays the tape of the radio signals for his girlfriend, Sandy Lund, and he also attempts to make a replica of the weapon, with disastrous results.

The “asteroid” is found to be an alien spaceship, and Joe feels a strong urge to visit it. He has several assistants in his lab and builds a spaceship of his own which will meet up with the alien ship. When they enter the ship (which conveniently has the capacity to manufacture and recycle air), they find a number of large chambers, many of which hold weapons. The small group also finds a number of small cubes, which apparently are used for weapons and strategy training when they sleep. And here comes the kicker: Joe recalls that a fragment of such a cube was discovered in a location which is part of Earth’s prehistory. Thus, there is a connection between Joe’s dreams and the possibility that the civilization that had made the asteroid had had some ancient connection with us. The small party discovers that that civilization’s “enemy” is on their tail, and that they will have to learn to modify and activate the weapons and missiles at their disposal in order to engage and defeat the enemy.

While I found this book entertaining, I kept thinking that the interior of the asteroid was reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama,” and I was also reminded in the Wikipedia article which compares the spacecraft Burke and his associates fashion as similar to that envisioned by H. G. Wells’ “The First Men in the Moon.” Other references are made to Earth’s civilizations having been the descendants of alien visitors (H. P. Lovecraft had the notion of “The Old Ones” in a similar fashion).

I will say that I did become irritated by the sexism in this story (as I have found in many S-F stories from this era). The two female characters are basically secondary and see themselves as subservient to the men, disclaiming any scientific knowledge or even innovative ideas about how to deal with the situation.

This book was made into a movie, “The Terrornauts,” from 1967, with a script by John Bruner, a well respected British S-F author of the time, who apparently should have known better. The Wikipedia article describes a similar plotline, but the reviews are merciless, criticizing the acting, cheesy sets, a homemade robot, and awful dialog, making it, to my mind, perfect for “Mystery Science Theater.” Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find it at my local library, or even on Amazon/Neflix/Hulu/Crakle. If and when it becomes available, I promise to submit a gleeful review!

[Bhakta Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first came across this story when watching the move The Terrornauts, which was (loosely) based on this book. The movie was just awful. However, just as bad books sometimes make good movies, sometimes lousy movies are based on good books. I got this for free from Project Gutenberg, and I have to say I enjoyed it. Not the best science fiction ever, but a decent effort with some pretty neat ideas.

The story begins when radio signals start coming from an asteroid that are clearly intelligent. The hero of the story recognizes the signals as matching some he heard in a recurring dream. He'd had that dream since he was a child, and details from the dream help him build a spacecraft to visit the asteroid. What he finds there suggests that the human race is being threatened by an unknown enemy, and he'll need to learn the secrets of the asteroid to save it.

Pretty good stuff, though dated. My one criticism is that Leinster introduces a Russian cosmonaut who is also sent to visit the asteroid, but he never gets there and he's forgotten (by the author, not the reader).

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may well be my personal favourite of all the books that master Murary Leinster has written.
Except for the treatment of woman - not allowed in times of "women should behave like men" - and the woman liking that!, you cannot deduce from the plot or full text of the story that it was written almost a centiry ago.
It has everything: a lone scientist that builds his own spacecraft, its launch with unexpected passengers, signals from space, discovery of ancient technology, a threat to the whole of civilization, discovery of new planets, the ultimate battle, ...
A bit oldfashioned maybe - humor included but no psychology - but fun to read and building up suspense till the life-or-death climax.
If this kind of stories are still written today, i would love to hear about them an i will certainly buy them all.

[Martyn Vaughan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably engaging yarn about a long abandoned fort in space coming back to life when an alien threat is detected heading for the Solar system. There are a few cliches, such as an inventor designing and building a spaceship in his back yard, and the two women characters being responsible for all the cooking, but these are to be expected for a book of its time. There are a few questionable premises such as both Homo sapines and their pet dogs not being native to Earth but these do not detract from the main story. The humans of course are incredibly inventive and manage to upgrade the ancient fort's weaponry into machines that can defeat the alien invasion. The characters are not exactly convincing, but are believable enough to maintain interest.
An easy, enjoyable read.

[Barry Haworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is, I think, my favourite novel by Leinster (not that I have read many of his books). It tells the story of what happens when a signal starts being received from the asteroid belt, from an abandoned fortress built tens of thousands of years ago, because an ancient enemy is on the way.

The novel was made into a movie which I remember watching on TV years ago (The Terrornauts (1960)), and the plot is very similar to David Weber's book The Armageddon Inheritance. It can be read on Project Gutenberg

[Evan Þ. · Rating 2 out of 5]

An apparently-unremarkable asteroid starts sending out radio signals... in patterns which our protagonist realizes he's heard in his childhood dreams. And, his dreams told him other things too - such as how to build what he now realizes has to be a spacedrive.

This's a 1960 pulp sci-fi book, and it partakes of that era's flaws: the characters are one-dimensional, the female characters are clearly in supporting roles, and society as a whole can only get in the way of our zealous forward-thinking engineers. It's a decently fun read, but not deep at all.

[Cammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not like the ending. Found the tone and treatment of the female characters to be too misogynistic. The women's role of keeping house was mentioned too many times for my taste. Three stars for the premise of the story.

[Adhoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cardboard characters but that can be said of all his stories
Repetitive
Lienster should have stayed away from writing love angles in his stories, he had no idea how to do this well.
Still worth reading

[Genna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty good sci fi tainted by an irritating vein of misogyny.

[Jim Goose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story.

[Claudio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uno dei miti della fantascienza della mia personalissima selezione. L’ho letto ancora adolescente, ma anche rileggendolo oggi, nonostante alcune ovvie ingenuità, sempre avvincente.

[Paladin1420 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast moving, enjoyable throwback to 1950s - 1960s. fast moving and satisfying. It brought me back to some of the first science fiction novels that I read as a kid.

[Luca Gonella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lessi questo romanzo anni fa e non ricordo molto. L'ambientazione però mi piacque, e rimasi incuriosito dalla trama fino alla fine.

[Savino Longo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old style SF, but very well written, with many ideas. A classic.

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDAj2...

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyed and loved it!

[Rendier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it a lot - it felt like the fifties, but the science fiction was excellent...

[Bradley White · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was young, one of the four TV stations at that time would run movies with a particular theme on a Saturday. One of those Saturdays was a day in space, mainly from the 1950's and 1960's (like Phantom from space, the thing, the blob, when worlds collide. You get the picture). One of the movies made a lasting impression and for many years, and as an adult, would search for it from my fractured memories of it. Finally I came across the, The Terrornauts , although it differed from my recollections of from 50 years ago. I was delighted to discover is was based on the book The Wailing Asteroid published in 1960.

The movie is very different from the book, which was a very enjoyable read, very good story and the science is spot on.

[Carlos Trujillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 1970, when I was 10; much later, in 1986, I read "Contact", by Carl Sagan, and I was very much impressed by the resemblance "Contact" had with the book by Murray Leinster. Maybe I am being too suspicious, but many of the details in both books are so close, that it becomes very difficult not to think that Sagan's book was inspired, in some way, on Leinster's book. For example, in both books, the main character is obssesed with some shocking event in their childhood (the recurrent dreams of Burke, or the death of Ellie's father) that finally finds its solution .

Another similarity is the way in which the extraterrestrial intelligence delivers the message to the humans, and the purpose of it: the message contains the instructions to build a machine to help humans to go to a definite place in the Universe, for a definite purpose.

Another one is the following: when humans received the message, the extraterrestrials have long gone, but there was an epic task yet to be done (in "The wailing Asteroid" it is to fight against the enemy of humankind; in "Contact" it is to help the human race to save from itself. ) Both of this tasks were older than what even the builders could remember.

In both books is present the communication via mental activity: in "The Wailing Asteroid" is through the cubes, in "Contact" is by mind-reading.

Finally, in both books, at the end it is revealed something the protagonist didn't know: in "The Wailing Asteroid" the humans learn they descend from soldiers abandoned in a "cosmic garrison" (The Earth); in "Contact", Ellie learns who his real father was.

As I stated at the beginning, maybe I am being too suspicious, but... there seem to be too many similarities to be accidental. The difference is that one of the books was published in 1960, and the other one in 1985.