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Earth: 2015 AD
The immense Procyon warship hovered above the Earth, lethal, but invisible. The warship's captain left his command shell and slithered across the deck to the shell occuppied by the scientist/philosopher. "Well? Report!" the captain demanded. "I'm afraid the scouts were correct," replied the scientist/philosopher. "The humans could be a threat to us. They have potent weaponry and they are on the verge of space travel. Prudence demands that we destroy them." "Obliterating the whole planet would be wasteful" the captain mused. He activated his intercom nodule and spoke. "Weapons officer! Deploy the Mutation Device!" Turning back to the scientist/philosopher, he spoke in a softened voice "The Mutation Device will destroy mankind quickly enough, and perhaps even give some more benign species an evolutionary boost. Our colonial forces can return in a few millenia. Perhaps the planet will be useful to us by then." The weapon was launched. Mankind died. Life on Earth went through feverish mutations. Time passed.
Procyon 4: Several millenia later The massive Earth fleet continued to bombard the planet's surface. The plasma and debris that were once Procyon's mighty warships could no longer protect the home world. The communications officer, wounded, but still in his shell, called out to the Leader. "The Earth fleet commander is sending us a vid-o-vox! He demands that you reply in person!" The Procyon Leader slithered to the communications shell. He steadied himself, then spoke: "I am the Leader of Procyon 4. Most of us are dead. Your assault upon us was viscious and unprovoked. We do not understand your intentions nor your motivations. Why have you done this?" The vid-o-vox image of the Earthling gave an electronic shudder, then steadied. The Earth fleet commander spoke. "Our intention is to kill every last one of you, land, and eat your rotting carcasses. That is our nature. We are, after all, carnivores. As to our motivation, that is simple. Revenge. This is retribution for what you did on Earth thousands of years ago." "But our use of the Mutation Device was responsible for your evolution into sentient beings! We wiped out Man, which cleared the way for your own development! You are not humans, how can you claim retribution?" "We know all about that. Revenge is our duty. It is true, we are not Mankind." The face on the vid-o-vox screen split into a grim smile, showing dazzling pointed teeth. "We were, however, Man's best friend" said Earth Spacefleet Admiral Woofie, as he signaled the heavy cruiser Good Boy to fire another salvo of planet-busters.
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