The Judgement Conundrum, Page 3

  Trasses asked Kesses what had swayed it, and Kesses replied, "It was not so much what they said, but what they thought. We know humans lie all the time. My brief to Gresses was only to read their emotions. Gresses reported that they did have an ideal for a better future, and the hope that next time around they would do better. Gresses also reported an underlying feeling of remorse for how humanity had ended up. But most importantly, they had all thought about the achievements of their species, and seemed proud of them."

  Kesses continued, "I keep going back to our discussion on the duality of their species. We cannot afford to overlook that some of their greatest thinkers were also human - and we can see the seeds of a future for the race there. In the aftermath of their own internal wars, there were not too many of the thinkers left. But there should be enough genetic material to produce a reasonable number of humans with intelligence."

  Trasses acknowledged the wisdom in the thought. Kesses told Trasses the other reason for the decision "What swayed me in the end was your experiences with the scientists of this planet who had interrogated you – remember, I shared your debriefing. While they had their petty differences, they were some of the best minds we have encountered on this planet. Even though we cannot find any scientist who has survived our strikes on this planet, there is hope for this species."

  Trasses saluted Kesses' astuteness and asked it how they would contain the aggressiveness of humans. Kesses replied that the humans were in no state to recover from the pounding they had received. It proceeded to explain that they would not be allowed to leave their planet. At some stage they would be either invited to join the Intergalactic Council or would be obliterated.

  Kesses signaled for the armada to leave; it was now up to the progeny of these captured humans to demonstrate that the species deserved to live. It hoped that it would not be the one to have to pull the trigger.

  ****END****

  Also see, by the same author:

  The Final Colony

  Orange Rock