In a futuristic world, humanity has calculated how many humans can exist on Earth without fear of hunger or the threat of war. Their solution is only to have enough plants and animals needed to feed humans. Any plants and animals that don't go into human consumption are eliminated. Additionally, the government controls the birth rate to ensure that the planet can support humans. This has allowed for there to be 15 trillion humans on Earth. Two workers for the government, Alvarez and Bunting, try to convince a man named Cranwitz to kill his pets. They tell the man that they are unnecessary since humans will not consume them. They then explain the good of destroying all life that doesn't go into human consumption. Before, humanity was worried about the population explosion, an event leaving more lives on Earth than resources to support them. However, the government has successfully avoided this by carefully controlling how many people can reproduce and eliminating any animals or plants that are taking unnecessary energy and space from humans. They also explain that all animals and plants have been preserved digitally, which allows people to remember these beings. The men then tell Cranwitz that he is standing in the way of humanity's progress. Cranwitz, who doesn't want to stifle humanity's perfection, agrees to kill his animals.