Summary (IBList user synopsis):

Original title: Wang's Carpets
Original languages: English

Quotes:

Genre: Fiction→ Science Fiction→ Alien Beings→ First Contact
Fiction→ Science Fiction→ Species Evolution

This work is a subwork of the following works :
     Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirteenth Annual Collection, the (1996) [Anthology]
      Authors: Ursula K. Le Guin , Dan Simmons , Poul Anderson , Pat Cadigan , Greg Egan , Michael F. Flynn , Joe Haldeman , Nancy Kress , Paul J. McAuley , Robert Reed , Michael Swanwick , Brian M. Stableford , John Kessel , Allen M. Steele , James Patrick Kelly , Mary Rosenblum , William Sanders , Geoff Ryman , Terry Bisson , Ian R. MacLeod , Maureen F. McHugh , David Marusek
     Hard SF Renaissance, the (2002) [Anthology]
      Authors: Arthur C. Clarke , David Brin , Frederik Pohl , Ben Bova , Bruce Sterling , Kim Stanley Robinson , Gregory Benford , Poul Anderson , Stephen Baxter , Greg Egan , Vernor Vinge , Michael F. Flynn , Robert J. Sawyer , Joe Haldeman , James P. Hogan , Nancy Kress , Paul J. McAuley , Robert Reed , Charles Sheffield , Michael Swanwick , Brian M. Stableford , Alastair Reynolds , Joan Slonczewski , Allen M. Steele , James Patrick Kelly , Karl Schroeder , Hal Clement , Paul Levinson , David Langford , G. David Nordley , Ted Chiang , Geoffrey A. Landis , Sarah Zettel , Peter Watts
     Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction (2005) [Anthology]
      Authors: Ursula K. Le Guin , William Gibson , Greg Bear , Bruce Sterling , Lucius Shepard , Stephen Baxter , Pat Cadigan , Greg Egan , Joe Haldeman , Nancy Kress , Paul J. McAuley , Mike Resnick , Robert Reed , Robert Silverberg , Michael Swanwick , Brian M. Stableford , Walter Jon Williams , John Kessel , Howard Waldrop , Gene Wolfe , Connie Willis , Ian McDonald , Tony Daniel , James Patrick Kelly , Steven Utley , John Crowley , William Sanders , Geoff Ryman , Charles Stross , Eileen Gunn , Terry Bisson , Ian R. MacLeod , Maureen F. McHugh , Molly Gloss , Ted Chiang , David Marusek
     Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction, the (2006) [Anthology]
      Authors: Harlan Ellison , Greg Bear , Gregory Benford , Stephen Baxter , Pat Cadigan , Greg Egan , Jerry Oltion , Clifford D. Simak , Robert Reed , Theodore Sturgeon , Alastair Reynolds , Ian McDonald , Paul Di Filippo , James Patrick Kelly , Charles Stross , Lawrence Person , Geoffrey A. Landis , Cory Doctorow , Stephen L. Gillett , B. Vallance