_"Our problem," Mittich, the Hisser of the Assembly was saying, "has been clearly defined. We have captured the expeditionary ship of an alien culture that appears to be expanding in the direction of the Tzarean Shoal. We have taken pain to teach its two crew members the rudiments of our language. And we have found that the official alien response to this situation may or may not be hostile."_ _"Kill them! Kill them!" one of the Assemblymen clicked out as he sprang up on his tail._ _The Great Hall resounded with click-hisses of approval and disapproval--an equal measure of each, it seemed to Stewart._ _He watched Mittich smile--at least, it passed for a smile in the Tzarean Shoal--tolerantly at the excited Assemblyman._ _"Killing our prisoners," he chided, "will not alter the fact that alien expansion is under way in the direction of our Shoal."_ _Chancellor Vrausot lumbered down the central aisle, defying the independence of the legislature as he had during all sessions which Stewart and Harlston had attended as Exhibits A and B of the "Alien threat" issue._ _Whacking his tail against the floor for attention, he stood before the table and hissed vehemently, "We must arm to the limit of our potential. We must dispose of these prisoners. We must attack their centers of civilization before they attack_ ours!" _Another Assemblyman rose imploringly. "But how can we do that? We haven't fought a war in countless millennia! Once we were many and mighty, as_ they _are now. But while they have grown, we have shrunk. Why, our entire Shoal consists of only two civilized worlds. All the others have long been in decay."_ _"Oh, we could take them by surprise and inflict much damage on their worlds," Hisser of the Assembly Mittich agreed with Chancellor Vrausot. "But they would recover. And we would be annihilated."_ _"Then what," the Chancellor asked scornfully, "would you propose that we do?"_ _"Our choices are enumerable:_ _"One--we kill these captives and prepare a surprise attack. Two--we condition our captives to return to the center of their civilization and report that they found no worlds worth possessing in this sector."_ _Vrausot reared erect in protest. "But eventually the conditioning will break! They will remember! And their race will then fashion an attack!"_ _"If we are to assume that they would attack in the first place," Mittich pointed out. "Our prisoners themselves aren't certain whether their race would or would not._ _"Three--we could try instilling fear in them. Condition our captives to go back home and report a powerful, vast Tzarean Shoal culture. But that, I suspect, would only drive the aliens into a frantic arming effort. And, once a formidable striking potential is accumulated, use will be found for it--believe me._ _"Four--we could let them return and tell the truth--that the Tzareans are a declining culture on its last tail, so to speak."_