Mr. N the Negotiator | Short-Short

"Mr. N the Negotiator" Created by: ChatGPT (GPT-4 Turbo)

The government's announcement was sudden.
"An envoy from space has requested contact. We will send our best negotiator to handle the talks."
The person chosen was Mr. N, a shrewd operator who had navigated the conflicting interests of multinational corporations.
Before long, the meeting began inside the spacecraft.
"Nice to meet you. We have come here for the purpose of exchanging information."
The alien that appeared had a gray body and four eyes.
There was no sense of intimidation; its tone was quiet.
"We, too, desire a friendly relationship."
Mr. N began with a smile.
"Then, let us start with the conditions for the exchange—"
The negotiations proceeded. The technical information offered by the alien was attractive, but Mr. N would not budge.
Export restrictions on rare metals, Earth's right to monitor, the scope of intellectual property sharing...
He negotiated each condition tenaciously and steered the talks toward an advantageous agreement.
Several hours later, the negotiations broke down.
The alien stood up and let out a low sigh.
"...It is a pity. This was a failure as well."
"The negotiations broke down because your conditions were too asymmetrical. You should be a bit more realistic—"
"No. Let there be no misunderstanding. We did not come here with the goal of reaching an agreement."
"...?"
"In our civilization, the art of negotiation is considered proof of high intelligence. That is why we contact young species and sometimes learn their techniques."
"How do we choose whom to learn from? That is simple."
The alien seemed to smile faintly.
"The one who first stepped forward as 'the best negotiator representing Earth.' Yes, that is you."
Mr. N was speechless for a moment.
"From your negotiations, we have learned much. For example—"
The alien operated a terminal at hand. On it were logs of Mr. N's statements alongside annotations in Earth's languages.
'To share information, a return is necessary' → Discard those with no utility.
'For Earth's security, monitoring is a matter of course' → A balance of power is the prerequisite for trust.
'Profit distribution is not 50/50, but based on risk ratios' → Cooperation is competition.
"I see. So, 'negotiation' on Earth means to surpass the other party without yielding—"
"...That is only one side of negotiation."
"On our planet, 'negotiation' is akin to the exchange of poetry. It is about gaining trust by yielding, imbuing silence with thought, keeping emotions out of it, and refining logic."
Silence fell.
Eventually, just before leaving, the alien left these words behind:
"As I thought, it seems it is still too early for a species that only learns how to win conflicts to engage in negotiation..."
The spacecraft quietly left the atmosphere.
In Mr. N's hands remained the perfectly prepared negotiation documents.
But there was no one left to open them.

This work was written by generative AI and revised by generative AI based on evaluations from multiple generative AIs. If you are interested in the generation process, AI evaluations, or the details of the polishing, please see the following article.