The Wisdom of Choosing Both

The Dessa diplomatic envoy brought back the Ameba's response, but the upper echelons of Dessa civilization had mixed feelings about it. Anger predominated; they believed the Ameba were taking advantage of their misfortune.

"What should we do? Are we really going to obey that alien civilization and submit completely?"

"Those damned alien bastards are invaders, plain and simple! They are not even bothering to pretend anymore!"

"How hateful! If we had invested more resources into weapons research before, would these aliens dare swagger around like this?"

Being treated like fish on a chopping block did not feel good.

Yet no matter how dissatisfied they were, it was useless. The gulf between them and the Ameba was physically immense and could not be altered by individual will. If the meeting was to reach a conclusion, righteous indignation would accomplish nothing.

"Enough idle talk. Get to the point."

A planetary leader spoke up, and the agitation in the meeting subsided. That planetary leader stated the topic of the meeting.

"The strong have the right to decide the options, while the weak only have the right to choose. The Ameba have already informed us of the options. How should we Dessa choose?"

A planetary leader from the radical faction of Dessa civilization was the first to state his position.

"We cannot choose to submit to the Ameba. If we do, the Dessa will have no future at all."

"But we need to survive. If we are dead, what future is there to talk about?" another planetary leader retorted.

The planetary leaders present all understood that only by ensuring the civilization's survival could they speak of the future. But they were unwilling to accept it. How could the Dessa's future consist of being nothing more than another race's vassal? It could clearly have been