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insanity that infects human beings. Having been the lords of creation for so long, the built-in response to any challenge was to attack! In most human beings, the “fight or flight” reflex was permanently stuck on “fight,” and while emotionally satisfying, it was a reaction that could well end all life on Earth.
    The fact was that the human race lacked the power to challenge the Broa. The overlords had a million worlds; humanity, no more than a dozen, and eleven of those were net drains on resources. Compared to the Broa, humanity was a gnat headed toward a speeding truck.
    Mark Rykand was correct about one thing. Humanity’s only defense lay in its anonymity. Mikhail Vasloff intended that they do everything in their power to remain anonymous.
    When the committee returned, Chairman Hulsey gaveled them to order and introduced Vasloff before turning over the meeting to him.
    “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee,” he said in his carefully cultivated speaking voice. “I appreciate the opportunity you have given me this afternoon. I would also like to thank you for springing me from PoleStar, where I was being held in durance vile to keep me from talking.
    “Before I begin, I would like it understood that there is nothing personal in my dispute with Mr. Rykand. Our differences are due to the differing ways we view the world. Mr. Rykand is still young. He has the optimism of the young. To him, conquering the rulers of the galaxy is merely a task to be undertaken like any other. I am older and more experienced in, shall we say, the unpleasant realities of life. There is a reason why the old are more pessimistic than the young. We have been disappointed more often.
    “When Mr. Rykand presents his grand scheme for defeating the Broa, I say, ‘Bravo!’ If such a plan has any possibility of success, I will support it enthusiastically. Unfortunately, the odds are too great against us. His plan has no chance of success. Somewhere, something will go wrong and the Broa will discover the location of Earth. They will send a war fleet to conquer us, we will resist valiantly, and in the end, we will be destroyed.
    “The unpleasant facts are facts nonetheless. The Broa are the masters of the galaxy. They receive tribute from hundreds of thousands of species. No matter how brave and skilled our warriors, the day will come when the Broa occupy this world, or destroy it. This point is crystal clear in the Klys’kra’t data. Mr. Rykand obtained a number of scenes that show the fate of rebel worlds. They are now cinders orbiting their respective stars.”
    He waited a few seconds for the mental image to sink in, then continued.
    “It is not glamorous, I grant you. But the only safety the human race will ever know lies in making ourselves as invisible as possible. Earth has coexisted with the Broa for thousands of years. We just didn’t know it. If we keep to our part of space and they keep to theirs, I submit that we can keep coexisting with them indefinitely.
    “To this end, I say that we must do everything in our power to keep from coming to their attention. To do this requires some unpleasant actions on our part.
    “We must return to Earth and the Solar System. We must reduce the radio noise we broadcast skyward. The earliest TV and radio signals are far away and getting farther, yet they are relatively weak compared to our modern broadcast power. We can do nothing about past sins, but we should not continue them. By shielding our power sources and reducing electromagnetic emissions, we can prevent Earth from becoming a radio beacon in the Broan sky.”
    “Is that it?” the chairman asked.
    “Far from it, sir,” Vasloff responded. “Reducing emissions is only the first step. We must also abandon our interstellar colonies. They give us too large a footprint to remain inconspicuous. Even though space is vast, it is exponentially easier to find a civilization spread across a dozen star system than it is to