dramatic-dolphin:

dramatic-dolphin:

a while ago I read this sci-fi short story from the 50s where a guy is kidnapped and interrogated by aliens using a very sophisticated lie detector, but he realizes that the lie detector works off technical truth, and with some careful phrasing and misdirection, he manages to make them believe that humans are a race of immortal, overpowered, omniscient telepathic beings. and it works.

my favorite part is when he tells them that humans are “capable of transportation without the aid of spaceships or any vehicles, just by using mental power to control physical matter”. it’s true, we can. it’s called walking.

okay I found it, it’s The Best Policy by Randall Garrett

and it has other gems such as “I know beyond a shadow of a doubt what every member of my race thinks of you” (they don’t know you exist) and “every human knows exactly as much about the location of your home planet as I do” (nothing)