The Barbarians

In a city that has known peace for fifty thousand years, the Supreme Executive of Tharnar prepares to seal the fate of two captured Terrans. The alien world, built on unchanging architecture and robot guardians, views the humans—still raw from recent wars—as a dangerous threat to its centuries‑long tranquility. As the execution order is signed, the ruler reflects on the stark contrast between the city’s eternal calm and the uncertainty of this youthful, volatile race.

The story opens with a vivid tableau of the Terran ship landing, the chained captives stepping into a world of immaculate order. It explores the executive’s uneasy conscience, questioning whether the Terrans’ humanity truly makes them less barbaric than they appear. Listeners are drawn into a tense moral dilemma, watching an ancient civilization grapple with fear, law, and the possibility that its own definition of “civilized” may be more fragile than it believes.