The Summit

(A Short Story by Shiva IYER aka Sivaram Hariharan)

2010 AD: The spaceship docked silently in this remote and secret space station on the far outskirts of the Andromeda galaxy. It was incredible that such a monster machine could be so noiseless. The doors parted smoothly and out stepped 25 Devtons, the beings of a super intelligent civilization called Devtonia that had evolved over countless eons in the Andromeda. These beings were now colonizing most of the Andromeda and were looking to expand into other parts of the universe. The 25 Devtons were the topmost scientists of the galaxy and they had convened for a galactic summit at this ultra-secret location to debate and cast a final vote. The issue at hand: A breakthrough in their never ending quest for water (H2O), which the Devtonians referred to as neera in their tongue. The Devtonian scientists had now located a little blue planet that orbited a medium sized star, consisting of vast quantities of neera in another galaxy. Some of the Devtonian scientists were proposing to relocate the entire planet to their part of the Andromeda galaxy which would make the harnessing of its neera very easy. They had the requisite technology to effect this relocation. Moreover, they had relocated other planets and satellites from other parts of their own galaxy in the recent past for the purposes of commercial exploitation. But this issue was also a very sensitive one among Devtons and there were violent protests on the mother planet Swargon. That was why this crucial final debate and vote was moved to this ultra secret location. And now the stage was set to decide on the fate of this blue planet.

The 25 Devtonian scientists hurriedly entered the summit hall which was immaculately arranged. The proceedings of the summit would be beamed live with a 10 minute delay to the mother planet. Each of the 25 scientists took their respective seats around a huge revolving round table. The scientists could be split into three groups. The first group consisted of 11 scientists who were in favor of relocation of the planet. They were heavily backed by vested commercial interests keen in exploiting the neera resources of that little planet far away. They also had tremendous political backing from some key figures that held power in the Supreme Governing Council of Devtonia. The second group consisted of 10 scientists/galacto-ecologists against the proposition. And they had the backing of all the protestors on Swargon. The third group consisting of the remaining 4 was undecided. For the proposal to pass, a simple majority was need. Even a draw would defeat the proposal. And the purpose of this debate was to somehow convince the scientists of the third group to vote one way or the other.

The debate began in earnest. Vajra the thunder-diamond head was the spokesman for the first group and was the first to speak about the pros of the proposal:

‘My dear colleagues,’ he began in his Devtonian tongue, a language evolved over more than 10 million years. Gestures, non-verbal signals and brainwaves played a significant part of Devtonian communication which meant that parts of the speech would be punctuated by apparent silence and would just consist of super-sophisticated gestures, nonverbal signals, and brainwave transmission.

‘We have gathered here for this very crucial debate and vote which affects the future of all Devtonians residing in this galaxy. The issue here is the relocation of a small planet from an alien galaxy to our own. This planet is an oasis of neera; neera which is most precious of all things that we Devtonians seek. The relocation would be effortless as we have come long ways in the technology concerning this task and have successfully relocated other planets from other parts of our galaxy in the recent past. The relocation in this particular case is of course going to be very expensive because the planet involved is in another galaxy. But that would be more than offset by the huge resources of neera that this planet holds and in fact the relocation costs would only be a fraction of the total value of the neera resources on this planet. Our quest for neera is never ending and the expansion of our civilization crucially depends on our access to vast neera resources. The relocation of this planet would solve this problem for generations into the future. Posterity needs this and we have to do it for them. After searching for hundreds of Devton years (1 Devton year = 100 Earth years), we have finally come across this dream planet that has everything that we need. It is now or never my dear colleagues. Inaction would lead to tragic consequences for future generations of Devtons. I rest my case and that of my colleagues who hold similar view in this matter.’

Heramb the elephant head was the spokesman for the galacto-ecologists. He began without any delay. ‘Dear colleagues. My erstwhile colleague Vajra has presented a case that could probably lead to one of the most tragic cases of galacto-ecocide. The recent relocations of planets from other parts of our galaxy has had an impact on the galacto ecology of Andromeda and has affected the lives of many of us on the mother planet Swargon and other satellite planets of our civilization. We have presented tangible scientific evidence to this effect. Yet my colleagues on the other side argue that our evidence is not comprehensive. Regardless, our scientific data does not bode well for the future of planetary relocations. The second reason is that such relocations are prohibitively expensive at a time when we need funds to build and maintain infrastructure on the far outer reaches of Devtonia. Failure to do so will adversely affect the lives of many of our fellow Devtonians who inhabit these far reaches. This could even lead to mass rebellion as has once happened in the past and which the Supreme Governing Council of Devtonia quelled with great difficulty. All of us know of the economic and social damage that Devtonia suffered in that rebellion. The proponents of planetary relocation argue that the economic benefits of such a super abundant neera resource will more than offset the cost. But they fail to factor in the galacto-eco-costs of such a move. And we can provide concrete examples in this connection. But the most important factor is the inhabitants of the planet itself. Our galacto-eco scientists have been studying the life forms on this little planet and have come away impressed. Even though the chief life form of this planet displays primitive intelligence of no useful function for Devtonia and which Vajra and friends take every chance to mention, this life form is unique and the study of this life form would yield important keys in our understanding of the cosmos. By relocating this planet there is a very big probability that this life form may die and become extinct. And moreover I ask, do we have right to play God to these creatures. Just because they do not have a voice, does it mean that we can relocate them against their will? I urge everyone present in this room to seriously consider the implications. I have nothing more to say.’

Vajra rose once again. ‘As usual my friend Heramb is invoking all the emotional reasoning of rabid galacto-eco-activists. If they are that concerned about the survival of these primitive life forms, then we have also proposed that we will relocate the planet to a very similar environment that it used to be when it was in its native galaxy. We have already identified a star in our galaxy that is very similar to the planet’s parent star and we have decided to place it at the same orbital distance. This will ensure that things will not change much for the life forms of the planet. Moreover, the relocation will be done in suspended animation which means that the denizens of the planet will not even be aware that there planet has relocated. All life forms will be in a trance like state during the entire process of relocation and will wake up smoothly in their new environment. Many of them would not even know what happened and we will, if necessary, erase their past memories. Finally, our exploitation of the planet’s neera will be done with minimal invasion into the lives of these primitive beings and all efforts would be made to ensure that they not only survive but also thrive in their new address in the universe. Moreover, these life forms have a very poor record of preserving their own environment. They are very fractious, self-centered and arrogant and fight each other for the pettiest of reasons. They do not deserve all that precious neera which Devtonia and its future generations rightly deserve. Once relocated, we can also convert part of this planet into a sanctuary where our galacto-ecology friends can indulge in their experiments of studying these life forms.’

‘I beg to differ with my friend Vajra,’ Heramb interjected. ‘There is no proof that the life forms on this planet will survive this relocation. Up to now, we have only relocated planets that were bereft of life forms. So there are no guarantees here. As for erasing the memories of these life forms for the purposes of relocation; that would only lead to vital loss of knowledge how much ever primitive that knowledge is. Moreover, it would be a crime against the universe and ethically and morally repugnant. What about the threats of bio-viruses and alien diseases emanating from this planet? Without adequate quarantine measures, such a relocation could be extremely detrimental for Devtonia. That is why I would urge everyone present here to think hard before they vote and this includes my colleagues who favor this relocation.’

The voting followed after some more intra-group discussions. When the voting finished the galacto-ecologists narrowly edged the planet relocationists by 13 votes to 12. The result ensured that the little blue planet called Earth remained in its native Solar System.

‘But this is not over yet,’ Vajra assured his friends as they boarded the spacecraft to head back to Swargon. ‘The future of Devtonia and Devtonians is at stake here and we will do everything to get all that neera here. And we will not rest until we get this done.’

Meanwhile on that little blue planet referred to as Earth by its apex life form, humans, an epic event was transpiring. Blissfully unaware of the near-near-miss that their little planet and its denizens had in the form of a crucial summit vote in a galaxy far far away, humanity was engrossed in the proceedings of a global summit of prodigious repercussions. The Earth Summit was held on the shores of Antarctic continent for a historic first time and most of the top scientists and politicians were present at this meet to debate and cast a final vote. The issue at hand: To determine whether to throw the continent open to commercial interests or let it remain as a world sanctuary. And all things pointed to a very close vote.

(When we attempt to play GOD to voiceless creatures, someone else somewhere could be playing GOD to us and we will not even be aware.)

Excerpted from Shiva IYER's book:

BEES: A Hive of Short Stories.

https://sites.google.com/site/omsriguru/sivaram

Copyright: No part of this story shall be reproduced in any part, form, or manner without written consent from the author.