[ WP ] You are a member of an alien race who has been observing Earth for the last few hundred years trying to decide what to do with it . Over the last decade , your leaders have narrowed it down to either colonization or annihilation . That decision is due today .

Silence filled my ears. 
 
 The Councilors entered the gigantic room, apparently having made their decision. 
 I looked on, curious as ever about politics and outer space. 
 
 Two hundred years ago, the Extragalactic Research Department had discovered a planet in the far-off Sol System, just beyond the edge of Hekk-controlled space whose name I could never remember. They claimed that the geology was similar to that of our home planet, Hekka. But the strangest revelation was that instead of methane, the atmosphere contained large amounts of gases in the presence of which we had seen other alien life live and survive. 
 
 15 years later, interception of some sort of primitive radio waves indicated the presence of intelligent life, and this became an instant topic of debate among the Government's top officials, including the Grand Minister. 
 A lot of the Government's resources were entirely devoted to monitoring this new planet, which, according to my friends, was called something like'Ert'. Radio signals we intercepted were eerily similar to ours. Eventually, around 10 years ago, we had a comprehensive understanding of this new planet and the species that resided on it. 
 
 Discovering a planet with life on it was nothing new to us, though. Every single Hekk child was taught about our history, and so far, we had made contact with at least 134 planets with life on them, intelligent or not. 
 
 But the main issue was regarding the course of action to be taken. 
 
 The last time we discovered a new planet, the Arbiter had, within a few years, ordered the Navy to obliterate the planet and all its native flora and fauna, citing a'danger to the security of our species'. Days after the planet was burned to glass by our ships, information was leaked that the planet and its natives were actually harmless, but the Council decided to glass it anyway so we could harvest the abundant mineral resources with relative ease. 
 Naturally, this did n't go down well with the alien rights activist groups, who staged violent protests all over Beq, the administrative capital of Hekka. 
 Because of this, the Government had been having trouble deciding the so-called'fate' of planets we discovered, because what the activists did n't take into account was that we were on the brink of exhausting our minerals. 
 
 Loud echoing footsteps disturbed my train of thoughts, and I saw that the Arbiter had already entered the room. He took his place on the dais, an air of majesty around him, yet it was visible on his face that he had been troubled by the recent turn of events. 
 
 He spoke. 
 `` I am proud to announce that that the Council has made their decision.'' 
 Everyone in the room held their breath. The live feeds were broadcasting this announcement to every single planet we had landed on, for those who were n't lucky enough to live in the glamourous capital city. 
 
 `` My people, I know this will sound absurd, but know that the Council has your best interests in mind. 
 The planet we discovered, Earth, houses an intelligent alien race, as you may already know. This species could pose a threat to the safety of our kin-'' 
 His words were interrupted by screams from the crowd. The silence that ruled the giant hall moments ago was replaced by screams and loud arguments. I could n't hear a word of what anyone was trying to say, but they did n't sound happy. 
 
 `` SILENCE! ``, he boomed to the crowd. Almost as if it had been summoned by some dark magic, the silence returned. 
 
 `` The risks of us being attacked are too high.'' Everyone knew this was a blatant lie. No alien species we had seen so far was even close to us in terms of weaponry and technology. 
 
 `` As such, I have instructed the Council to begi-'' 
 His words were interrupted once again, but no one had spoken. A faint cry of pain was heard, and the Arbiter fell to his knees, a tiny would in the center of his forehead. He collapsed to the floor, never knowing what hit him. 
 
 We never got to hear his decision. 
 
 They lined us up in the warehouse, our limbs bound by some kind of simple mechanical lock, but still beyond our physical strength to break open. One by one, they called each one forward, touched some kind of weapon to his head and, by the looks of it, killed him on the spot. 
 
 Only two paces away from the weapons, I knew that the Arbiter was right that day. 
 
 The'human' whispered to his companion, 
 `` They were a danger to the security of our species.''
