Biologist Peters raced to the colony’s lab dome, only to find his samples destroyed and Colony Director Carson wiping the last of his files. Carson said, “If the Council learned that there’s life on this planet they’ll want us to resettle.”
“But if we terraform this planet, we’ll kill off the native ecosystem!” Peters exclaimed, aghast.
“It’s men or microbes,” Carson stated as he left. “I choose men.”
When Carson had left, Peters went to where he’d kept his backup files hidden. “I choose both. It’s not either-or,” he declared, as he started to rebuild his case for the Council.