Choices Read online

just eliminate you all together.”

  “What do you mean eliminate us?”

  “We have the means available to us to wipe your race out completely. I understand that your kind keeps certain domesticated animals as pets? Dogs, I believe they are called, and they sometimes get infested with unwanted organisms?”

  “Yes, sometimes they get fleas.”

  “The flea, a parasitic insect that lives off the blood of it host! How do you get rid of them?”

  “The owner can give the dog medicine to kill the fleas. The medication is introduced into the bloodstream of the animal. It kills the parasite, but not the host.”

  “Good analogy! Your race are like fleas on the body of the universe. My race wants to introduce medication into the universes bloodstream to kill the fleas.”

  He was silent. The war had not been going very well when he had volunteered for this mission. The whole point was to find out exactly this, what the enemy was capable of, and somehow get that information back to his superiors. He didn't like what he was hearing. “I don't believe you!”

  “Naturally, but let me share with you. You must know by now that we are technologically more advanced than your race. Our body chemistry is also far different, so what can harm you is harmless to us. That makes it easy to formulate something that is devastating to you, but leaves us untouched.”

  He was silent for a while, and when he spoke he spoke quietly. “What are you planning?”

  “That depends on you, and how you handle this test.”

  “I don't understand.”

  “Simple. We want to see what kind of choices you make; we want to know how far your races cognitive thinking has evolved. Typically, the more advanced the race the more advanced their thinking.”

  “So, all I have to do is solve your little puzzle and I save my world. Do you really want me to believe that?”

  “I am not interested in anything other than your decision making process. What happens to your race will be determined by that.”

  “He thought for a moment, and then said, “I guess I have no choice but to go along with this.”

  “You have a choice, which is what this is all about. You could choose to not do anything. In that case you will most likely die here from thirst. You could attempt to escape, but that is not very probable. Still, you could try. You could try to somehow trick your way out...”

  “All right, all right, I got it – I have to choose. When do I start?”

  “Now, if you choose to.”

  The room became silent. He walked over to the wall containing the two screens and stared. He had no clue what to ask. 'One question, one computer, huh.' He must have stood staring for the better part of an hour before he turned away in disgust, walked to the other end of the room, and sat down.

  He slept for a while, but his dreams were troubled by strange thoughts. He could think of no single question he could ask that would free him from this room. If he could ask two questions, but he didn't have that option! There was another question that plagued him – even if he could by some miracle come up with the right question how did he know for sure that the enemy would keep its word? He shrugged his shoulders, he had no control over that and his first priority was to get out of this room by any means possible.

  'Clear your mind – think!' He practiced meditation in order to help him stay calm. He'd been sitting quietly for some time when, in a moment of insight, it came to him. He had it! He had the question, and the answer that the question raised. He knew it! He rose and walked over to the wall containing the screens, choosing the left one at random.

  “Computer, which door will the other computer tell me to select?”

  The answer came, the small panel opened, and he pulled the handle. He strode to the door it opened and walked into a small room containing a transporter pad. He stepped onto the pad and it immediately energized. He materialized on another pad, and looked around. He was at his base; he'd made the right choice!

  ******

  “Are you finished?”

  “Yes.”

  “And your findings?”

  “They are much more intelligent than we surmised; he was able to resolve the puzzle. Given enough time they will threaten us.”

  “Explain!”

  “The puzzle has two levels. The first seems straight forward enough. What one question could be asked of a single computer which would allow the occupant of the room to exit safely? The difficulty is that one of the computers will always return false data and one of the computers with always give true data. The problem lies in not knowing which computer is which. The answer is this – you ask either computer 'which door will the other computer tell me is the door to safety?' The puzzle comes in the fact that you do not know which one is giving false data so you don't know if you should believe the answer you are given. The resolution to the puzzle is this – regardless of which door you are told you select the other door to walk through.”

  “Explain further!”

  “If you ask the computer replying falsely, it will tell you that the other computer will name the wrong door – it will lie! If you ask the computer that is replying in truth, it will tell you that the other computer will name the wrong door – it will always answer truthfully. Either way you will be told the wrong door. All you need do is select the other door to be safe. This is what our subject did, proving that their race is advanced farther than we thought. They are dangerous to us. I have initiated the protocol agreed on.”

  “Good. How long?”

  “He is carrying the virus, and it is undetectable to their present level of science. I returned him to his people. It will take approximately two of their years to spread to everyone of them, then it will trigger. In a very short time it will be over.”

  “You seem regretful?”

  “No, I can see the necessity of what we did, if he hadn't been able to resolve the puzzle we would have simply eradicated him, and not bothered with his race. He never suspected the true nature of what I was doing. He could never see his death as an option that saved his race.”

  “They will not suffer. Our scientists worked out a benevolent form of eradication.”

  “True, but I can't help thinking about fleas on a dog.

  “Explain please.”

  “To the dog the fleas are an infestation, a nuisance to be rid of, but to the flea it is all about survival of their race.”