"Right? Is it right to destroy the people of Pluto with their way of living in comfort?"
"Yes. We do not mind killing cattle for food, do we?"
"Yes, but—"
"No, Elanane, it is no different."
"Then how about the ones used by the Terrans for medical experiments?"
"Justified. Up to a certain point a race may experiment to good advantage on the lower primates. Eventually, there is little to be known, since the more delicate investigations must be carried out on higher levels of intelligence."
"These denizens of the outer moon of one of their planets were not of high intelligence."
"Wrong," said Charalas. "They are of a high order of intelligence. It is their knowledge that is low. They have the capability. Yet, Elanane, we have the fundamental law of the survival of the fittest. In warring upon Mars, weapons and sciences are unloosed which out-strip the advances made in medicine. Nothing is said against Terra for fighting against Mars. They are traditional enemies.
"To return to the denizens of Titan. These semi-intelligent natives are like swine wearing diamonds. They evolved in a society in which they had no native enemy. They were not forced to become intelligent in order to live—if they had but one single enemy, they would have evolved into first-rate civilization ages ago. There has been no forward step on Titan for ten thousand Terran years. They will never make an advance. Even if offered the sciences of the inner system, they would shrug them off and revert back to their semi-savagery."
"I've been told that three generations of schooling would make them suitable allies for Terra," objected Guy.