“As you all now know,” Synapo said, opening the joint gathering, “we are in a strike situation, not only at the highest command level in the Cerebron elite, but with regard to our world in general, for in all fairness, we must regard the invasion by the aliens as a strike for cohabitation of a world which we have previously regarded as strictly our own.

“To regard the presence of the aliens in any other fashion is not to give them their just due, for we cohabit now with many lower forms of life. The aliens may simply be another inferior species seeking peaceful coexistence.

“On the other hand, that may not be so. We must consider the possibility that we are seeing a superior race and may be bargaining from a disadvantageous position, trying then to retain cohabitation rights ourselves.

“The Cerebron elite and the leader of the Myostria were all familiar with this philosophy of negotiation and with the details of the discussion that had already taken place as we undertook further discussion with the aliens this morning.

“By this morning, however, it had come to my attention that Neuronius was striking for command, so we entered this latest meeting with the aliens under slightly different circumstances.

“If conditions were appropriate, it behooved me to give Neuronius his chance to prove competent in command, to possibly prove superior competence in our continual striving to avoid the pitfalls that beset a governmental hierarchy described by Petero's Principle.

“The Cerebron caucus has been called this afternoon to judge that competence, while remembering our delicate situation with regard to our cohabitation with aliens.”

Synapo then summarized the discussion with the aliens that had taken place that morning up to the point when he had turned over control of the negotiations to Neuronius.

After calling upon Neuronius to defend his response to the aliens' proposal, Synapo sailed down to the table rock to stand a pace in front of Neuronius, who then sidled out from behind Synapo, and with an awkward hop and a powerful flap of his wings, arrived at the position on the topmost crag that Synapo had just vacated.

“Cerebrons, your challenge this afternoon is not just a matter of judging day-to-day competence of command. The matter is far larger than that. You must also judge competence in assessing and establishing the rank of the Ceremyons in a galactic hierarchy that includes the invading aliens.”

His body language radiated confidence, even arrogance.

“There are many facets of superiority of one race with respect to another, but the fact of most concern to us should be whether we are superior enough to eject the aliens from our planet. All else is the weak juice of the soft, degenerate culture Synapo would have us embrace.

“That summarizes the results of my cerebrations, and I responded accordingly. There is no point in subjecting you to useless rhetoric. I told the aliens that we could no longer tolerate their presence on our planet and terminated the negotiations.”

Synapo was stunned for the second time that day. That last was a brazen lie. He, Synapo, had terminated the negotiations that morning. For Neuronius to lead the caucus to believe otherwise was to presume the outcome of the forthcoming vote.

Neuronius paused for just a moment and then continued, “However, I did not tell the aliens how I propose to insure their removal. Threats merely alert the enemy and eliminate the element of surprise.

“But to this caucus I suggest-and strongly recommend-that we immediately remove them the way one of their number accidentally and effectively removed himself from our world-when he blindly ran into the edge of an embryonic compensator.”

Neuronius paused for a moment. Then he dramatically rotated his hook forward.

“I suggest we ship them all into the black eternity that lies beyond space and time, where those two part company in the bowels of a node compensator. “

Neuronius stood silently on the crag for a moment, and then sailed down to the table rock and waddled back to his place in the line behind Synapo.

For a while the silence was disturbed only by Neuronius, by the rustle of his wings and the soft slap of his feet against the table rock as he moved to resume his position in the line.

Finally, when even those sounds were complete, the only thing to be heard was the soft sigh of excess oxygen being vented here and there among the assembly.

Synapo was appalled by the suggestion, so disconcerted he had a hard time taking it in.

Finally, he spoke again from his position on the table rock.

“Axonius, I appoint you temporary Chairman of the Caucus, for the purpose of stating your position, taking other statements from any who may care to speak, and finally tallying the Vote on Superior Competence.”

That was the standard statement to make at that point in the proceedings; and that was fortunate, for he could not have trusted himself to say anything else after Neuronius had presented such a quixotic solution to the alien problem.

Axonius now flew up to the topmost crag.

Neuronius had impaled Axonius on the horns of a terrible dilemma, unless Synapo had completely misjudged the younger Cerebron. Axonius was an opportunist-that had become clear that morning-but he was not a killer.

Synapo knew exactly what was going through Axonius's mind and could sympathize with him and feel his anguish-a terrible anguish his body language clearly bespoke: the flicker in his eyes, the slight flutter of his cold-junction, the tight way he was hugging his wings to his body.

Axonius was finished. The only way he could possibly save his position in the elite after the foolhardy position he had taken that morning was to vote for Neuronius and hope that he would win. Yet he was a gentle being and could not honorably endorse the violence recommended by Neuronius. He had misjudged Neuronius, and now he would have to pay the terrible penalty for that unfortunate error.

Synapo wondered how well Axonius would handle it. He wanted to see him unbowed by defeat, wanted to feel he had not completely misjudged him.

“Honorable leaders, fellow Cerebrons, fellow Ceremyons, I am placed this afternoon in an exceedingly awkward position.”

Good,Synapo thought, that's the first promising observation I've heard from a Cerebron all day.

“This morning,” Axonius continued, “it was my opinion that Neuronius spoke from a position of superior competence in his assessment of what should be the posture of Ceremyons if we are to insure our proper place in the galactic hierarchy, to use his terms.

“It was not a decision arrived at lightly. I have great respect for our leader, and have never before seen him come to an erroneous judgment. He is completely right in pursuing a policy of peaceful cohabitation with all life forms on our world.

“But is he right in applying that same policy to any galactic species that may take a notion to inhabit our planet? How can we determine and judge the intentions of an alien species without conducting an experiment and risking our survival in the very process of the experiment?

“It is an unfortunate dilemma which risks, on the one hand, prejudging and punishing an alien species without a hearing, but on the other hand, risks our very survival not to do so, not to prejudge.

“Mine was not a decision arrived at impetuously this morning. We have all been pondering the problem and updating our cerebrations with each report of the negotiations by our leader.

“So this morning, the risk to our survival seemed overwhelming, and I favored the position of Neuronius as being the more competent exercise of leadership.

“I shall not dwell unduly on the remarks of Neuronius this afternoon, and will merely conclude by saying that I cannot in good conscience endorse them; they do not reflect competent leadership.”