They are primitive, Zixar said confidently, his long tentacles waving toward the holographic image of Earth, but their bodies are strong, their emotions make them easy to control, they will serve well. The entire chamber broke into applause, every alien race from the crystal-bodied Quarrat to the gaseous netherim voted in favor. In less than a year humans were spread across 47 star systems, working in mines on construction sites and in alien factories. They thought emotions made humans weak, never realizing that emotion was the very thing that made them dangerous. Humans learned fast how to fly alien ships, hack alien systems and turn their captors' technology into weapons.