The ship floated in the rings of the 7th planet in the solar system, masking its presence to its target. Inside three Methuselahians sat at separate consoles digesting the information before them. It was Jo the Unknown who broke the silence.

“Recommendations?”

“We bring the military fleet’s arrival forward.” Ramla the Hasty replied.

“Why?”

“The animals are advancing quicker than previously forecasted, they have reached the fourth industrial revolution. Soon they will be capable of producing automatons and weapons of an advance enough nature to threaten us.” Ramla the Hasty stood up. “Losses are unacceptable”

“These projections suggest that this will not happen for a significant time. The fleet will arrive before their technology can advance to the point where it possesses any danger to us.” Jo the Unknown remained stoic in her response.

“We cannot be complacent. To comply with General Order 1 all life in a solar system must be eliminated before resource gathering can commence. The mining fleet will arrive in fifty years. We must hasten the arrival of the military to ensure that all life is extinguished.” Ramla the Hasty banged the desk.

Jo the Unknown raised an inquisitive look. “It is true that the dominating species is progressing ahead of our previously projected curves, however I do not believe that this changes anything. Your recommendation is false, it is the same as last time.”

“Their threat has not diminished. Last time we examined this solar system your decision was to send the military fleet to the next arm of the galaxy, where they experienced significant resistance from a lesser race than these.”

“Regardless, your recommendation will not be taken. Odoacer the Profit Driven, what is your recommendation.”

The third Methuselahian had been focused on the data rather than the conversation, after several seconds he spoke.

“We wait”

“Why?”

There was no answer.

Ramla the Hasty exploded. “Why do you always listen to him? His advice is always the same!”

“Odoacer the Profit Driven, please explain your reasoning.”

“The dominant species will destroy this planet.”

“That’s what he said last time we were here, and the time before that too. When their so called Cold and World Wars were raging. However, they are now the most peaceful we have seen them in centuries. If we allow this peace to flourish they will only become more dangerous to us.”

“That thinking is incorrect.” Odoacer the Profit Driven only now turned away from his screen and towards his fellow Methuselahians. “During the wars they were only actively killing each other. The last world war was 60 million dead, 40 million in the war before, less than 3% of the population each time. These figures are meaningless.”

“You fucking psychopath. 100 million is meaningless? That’s more than our combined fleets.”

“It pales in comparison to other causes. The pandemics after their first world war killed up to 100 million. This was when they were at peace. The Great Plague of 670 years ago killed potentially 200 million, around 40% of the north eastern hemisphere’s population. The world population took another 200 years to recover. The casualties of war are meaningless in comparison”

“We were here after the Great Plague. They were nothing then and you said wait. Now they are billions and with ever advancing technology and you still say wait, they are now capable of curing many of the diseases that have ravaged them for centuries.”

“They can, but they are ignorant. Diseases that have been wiped out are re-emerging as people turn away from scientific results. At the same time, they shove antibiotics in themselves for the most minor of symptoms which only succeeds in creating more resistant diseases. At some point their medicine will fail them. Besides all life needs to be eliminated from the planet, not just one species. After the Great Plague the majority of the world was still wild.”

“You wanted to wait because there were too many plants?” Ramla the Hasty sneered

“Plants and animals”

“Ha! After a week of orbital bombardment there will only be dust left. You are a coward.”

Odoacer the Profit Driven was unperturbed “At what cost?”

“Cost? What of cost? This whole solar system has enough resources to pay for a century of bombardments.”

“Losses are unacceptable” Odoacer the Profit Driven parroted Ramla the Hasty’s words back at him. “High command does not like waste. We are an evolved species not animals, like those down there. Yes, the dominant species are at peace and they are advancing technologically faster than we have previously estimated. However, that comes with consequences. They are political, and self interested. As we speak their fear of death strickens them into spending more in biomedical research than anything else. This is reducing the mortality rate, couple this to the medical crisis that is looming you can clearly see that their numbers will suffer a catastrophic collapse.”

“In the meantime their population, which is already well beyond a sustainable level, is exploding. As a result they are clearing more and more land to produce farms to feed themselves. This reduced biodiversity is only hastening the insect population collapse, which currently is declining at a rate of 2.5% per year. This is before we even start to examine the mass extinction event that is occurring across the planet. If we couple the loss of high density Oxygen producing areas with the increase of greenhouse gases through farming and the burning of hydrocarbon based fuels for energy we can see that they are poisoning their own atmosphere against themselves. They know this but their hubris prevents them from tackling the issues.”

“So?” Ramla the Hasty’s tone was petulant. He had missed the point.

“What this means is that within the next 100-200 years the planet will be dead. Our fleet will arrive to a solar system devoid of anything but the most negligible levels of life. There will be no orbital bombardment.”

“My final point on this planet is the gullibility of its populace. Their largest company is multi national and multi product, focussing on their drinks alone, which are known to cause a variety of diseases from cancer to syphilis, yet through their corrupted version of capitalism huge sums of money are spent on lobbying to ensure that no laws are passed to prevent the production of said beverages. The marketing of the product is so extreme that the drink, despite being highly addictive and a major contributor to obesity in several countries, is the sponsor of several major sporting events. The population loves it, if they cannot even act to protect themselves from something so simple as this, what chance do they have against other larger more catastrophic problems?”

“Actually, many of those studies have been created by fake scientist using shoddy techniques, there are no creditable studies that can link Merlo with any of those issues.” Ramla the Hasty explained.

Both Jo the Unknown and Odoacer the Profit Driven looked at Ramla the Hasty carefully, was this planet’s marketing propaganda so strong that it could corrupt even the mind of a Methuselahian? Ramla the Hasty’s emotions had been far more excitable recently than ever before, was this the source of such unwanted behaviour?

Ignoring Ramla the Hasty’s outburst Jo the Unknown turned to Odoacer the Profit Driven and asked in a measured tone “Do you not think that they will realise all of this before it is too late?”

“No. Currently their world institutions are crumbling. Self interest, dogma and ideological thought are ruling, funded by a small amount of people who rile against the elite, of which they are part of. The one caveat I will add is that a large number of cultures have a hero complex, an alarming number of them have spent vast sums of capital creating motion pictures depicting this. They truly believe that they will join together and fight off a great evil. Given current political trends I find that unlikely but regardless, I would not give them the opportunity.”

Jo the Unknown had made a decision “Hail the fleet, tell them to reduce to quarter speed and remain in hibernation. We allow the animals down there to do our work for us.”