Anne McCaffrey: Decision at Doona

Hrruban:

First Speaker Hrruna

Second Speaker for External Affairs Hrrto

Third Speaker for Internal Affairs

Fourth Speaker for Education

Fifth Speaker for Health and Medicine

Sixth Speaker for Production

Seventh Speaker for Management

Eighth Speaker for Computers

Senior Scout Chief Hrral

Hrrestan – elder of village

Mrrva – his mate

Hrriss – their son

Hrrula – young man of the village

Hrran – Duty Officer on Hrruba

Mrrim – Technician

Terran:

Kenneth Reeve, jack of all trades

Patricia Reeve, his wife

Ilsa, 10, Todd, 6

Hu Shih and Phyllis Hu

Sam and Aurie Gaynor

Victor and Anne Solinari

Lee and Sally Lawrence

Macy and Dot McKee

Ezra and Kate Moody

Bill Moody – their son

Martin and Fawzia Ramasan

Alfred Ramasan – their son

Ben and Akosua Adjei

Abe and Becky Dautrish

Buzz and Anneck Eckerd

Captain Ali Kiachif of the ship Astrid

Commander Al Landreau, Spacedep

Mr. E. K. Chaminade, Codep (Colonial Department)

Admiral Afroza Sumitral, Alreldep (Alien Relations Department)

THE PLANET RECEDED to a small, blue-green sphere, the lesser of its two satellites beginning to pass across the retreating face of its primary, a pearly tear in the north-east hemisphere. The film ended with such abruptness that there was a pause before the viewers reacted with the customary throat-clearing and chair-shuffling.

The First Speaker motioned for silence and bowed courteously toward the Senior Scout whose inner apprehension defied his attempts to suppress it.

“Thank you, Senior Scout, for such an effective visual presentation,” the First Speaker began blandly. “The planet is, as you have reported, a pastoral jewel.”

"Exactly!" And the Third Speaker rose to his feet, turning slightly to First but not waiting for permission to address the group. "Exactly. A pastoral jewel and utterly useless since its mineral and metal deposits are too negligible to warrant the high cost of extraction. We'd do much better working on that turbulent volcanic planet in Sector – " he glanced at his notes, "9A-23. It's far more important for us to increase our stores of the rare elements so abundant there than to mess around with pastoral jewels."

The Senior Scout and the Chief of Extraterritorial Explorations exchanged quick, concerned glances, but when the Chief leaned forward to their sponsor, the Second Speaker, he received a barely perceptible nod of reassurance.

“I believe Fourth has information relevant to 9A-23 and its exploitation,” First suggested.

The Fourth Speaker rose, shrugging his robe into place over his shoulder.

“There is, unfortunately, no possibility of opening 9A-23 to an exploitation venture.” He gave a wry grimace. “There have been no applicants for the courses required to train personnel for the complicated mining procedures necessary to such a closed unit project.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Third muttered indignantly.

Fourth swiveled slightly toward Third, his attitude mildly rebuking him for his aside.

“In fact, there have been very few applications for any training courses in recent years except . . .”

“We'll go into your report in detail in a few minutes, Fourth,” the First Speaker broke in smoothly. “However, Fourth merely underscores one of the many reasons why we are here to consider the opening of that lovely pastoral planet to colonization.”

“Colonization?” Third exploded.

“Exactly. And immediately.”

“I fail to see how opening that useless planet to colonization can help us get trained personnel to man a mining operation on 9A-23.”

"With your kind permission?" said First, his irony so uncharacteristic that Third subsided instantly, looking chagrined. "This lovely place, graciously endowed with clean, fresh air, land, water, lakes, streams, fields, mountains, deserts, abounding with all manner of wild life, yet none sentient enough to violate our Prime Rule, vast stretches of uninhabited space – " and he caught the involuntary shudder that seized the Third Speaker. "A planet so close to what our home world once was as to be its twin is perfect as a retraining ground."

Undaunted, the Third Speaker rose to his feet, his eyes round, his visage reflecting distaste and concern.

“Good sir, a hundred years ago the Ruar System proposal was overwhelmingly rejected by 87% of the voting adults. You cannot be proposing to revive that old wheeze about a return to the simple, pure, primitive life. Why, who'd put up with such deprivations?”

The Senior Scout wondered if he could control himself.

"A hundred years ago," the First Speaker answered gently, "our suicide rate among young adults was not what it is today, nor had the last major continental mass of our fourth planet been dormitized, destroying the remaining natural land; the sea harvests were still adequate for our population's basic subsistence diet. Today we are faced with so grave a crisis that I fear for the future of the race itself. In our search for freedom from want and to remedy the inequalities of opportunity by the suppression of physical competition on all levels, we have literally destroyed initiative, ambition and vitality. The once vigorous hunter has become the enervated observer.

"Fourth Speaker will shortly give us his report but let me repeat the most distressing statistic: in the generation now approaching maturity, only one half of one percent have indicated interest – oh, nothing as decisive or binding as actually applying; just an interest – in training for technical or administrative careers. I need not tell you that this falls disastrously below even the minimum requirements for the replacement of essential personnel.

“We have become a people so passive, so pacifist, so detached and unemotionally involved that even the effort to propagate our species has become too great.”

The Fifth Speaker for Public Health and Medicine nodded gravely, his fingernails unconsciously tapping on his own distressing report.

"The Computers predict that, unless we immediately – " and First paused to impress on each of the Seven Speakers the gravity of his pronouncement, "immediately begin to reverse this effect, our civilization will collapse of its own dead weight within three generations. "Therefore," and the First Speaker rose to his feet, "I, as First Speaker, have already chosen family units to settle on this lovely new world, to begin an intensive re-education, stressing those racial characteristics which allowed our ancestors to conquer space and . . ."

“To hunt and kill?” breathed the Third Speaker in a horrified whisper.

«To hunt, yes. And to kill, yes, for food,» the First Speaker agreed in a gentle, reasonable tone, «with as primitive a weapon as is effective. There are no sentients on this planet, Third Speaker, no creatures of any great intelligence or sensitivity. It is, as you saw from the films, ecologically balanced on the kill-or-be-killed natural order. Yet, even if we were forced now – on some other planet – to consider the destiny of another rising species, I trust that we have come far enough along evolution's scale by now to remember the terrible lessons of past errors and to profit by them. Indeed,» and his smile was grim, «we have almost come too far along that scale for the perpetuation of our own race. Therefore, as the truly rational intelligent beings we profess to be, let us discuss this necessity from all angles. I cannot, of course, presume to override anyone's honest beliefs and principles. Fifth Speaker, you have comments relevant to this crisis do you not?»