Um… Is this on? Am I on? Yes? Okay, good.
Hello there, fellow Trantorians. My name is Kag. As a very few of you may know, I am the Secretary of Advance Scouting Research.
Our Supreme Ruling Council have asked me to share with you, in broad strokes, the results of our scouting probes to our destination star system.
Let me say, up front, how lucky and honored I feel, how honored I'm sure we must all feel, to be a member of the generation actually arriving at our destination, after centuries of travel! Like all of you, I was born in transit, and just the thought of it!...
Sir? Yes, sir. I'll get on with it.Ahem. So, anyway…
As many of you may know, when our ancestors embarked on this journey, some 300 planetary cycles ago (ship's time), they had some hint that one of the planets in our destination star system had chemical signatures consistent with organic life. This was not a matter of much concern at the time, as there were no indicators of emergent, let alone advanced, intelligence.
However, some 170 cycles or so ago, further observation revealed chemical signatures consistent with the use of fossil fuels, a sure sign of emergent intelligence and early technological development. This has been a source of much concern. If this emergent intelligence advanced far enough, fast enough, before our arrival, it might have some objection to our mission, and the ability to challenge, or potentially even destroy our fleet.
There has been much discussion, since before anyone in this room was born as to what action we should take, whether we should plan a slingshot trajectory through the system, and hope what's left of our supplies can be stretched to see us through to the next one... Whether we should prepare for war... Or whether the nascent intelligence might simply wipe itself out, as ours nearly did a few millennia ago. As in any such controversies, there are always those who convince themselves that they know the answers with certainty, which only serves to raise the volume, but rarely...
Yes, Ma'am. Sorry. Moving on.
Our fleet of reconnaissance drones have been surveying the 3rd planet, the one that has caused all of this concern, and I am pleased to report that the threat appears to be negligible. Though the inhabitants' military tech is progressing at an alarming rate, this is largely because they are obsessed to the point of mania with killing each other, an activity that tends to slow other endeavors. And though they have sent a few probes to the other planets in the system, their space-travel capabilities are nearly nonexistent.
So we should have no trouble mining every asteroid, comet, moon, and dwarf planet in the system, expanding our fleet, and moving on to our next several targets. The resources of the 3rd planet are such a tiny percentage, we can pretty much ignore it. If the natives take exception to us using up the system's long-term resources, we can expect an occasional primitive rocket, armed with equally primitive nuclear weapons. They should represent little more than a mild nuisance.
Of course, there are those among us who will argue that, even if we leave the 3rd planet be, by clearing out all the rest of the system, we are dooming it's inhabitants to limited future, confined to their single home world. It has already been referred to by some as a "mugging." But the council has already ruled on this. And I agree whole-heartedly with their decision.
Get your mining equipment ready. The rush is on.
Category: Uncategorized