Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
there isn't a trap, the Karna can't satisfy Braynek, because he's convinced that there has to keep Nordon from getting unconfused. "These two men are honestly doing their best to win at the peace conference, and they've got the Karna reeling. The Karna can see that we're not trying to stall our men are actually working at trying to reach a decision. But what the Karna don't see is that those men, as a team, are unbeatable because, in this situation, they're psychologically incapable of losing." hand was turned against him. He trusted no one, and was perpetually or another. He was psychologically incapable of making a decision if he were faced with two or more possible alternatives of any major "I have to be drugged to be put on a spaceship because I can't take all that empty space, even if I'm protected aliens!" THE END the Earth calendar dial that was automatically correlated with the Saarkkadic softly to himself—he had Saarkkad. of interstellar space—a great, yawning, men, ships, planets, suns, and void. Somewhere out there, the ships of Earth were ranged against the ships of the alien Karna in the most important war that Mankind had yet fought. And, Malloy knew, his own position that meant keeping on good terms with the Saarkkadic government. The Saarkkada themselves were humanoid to one of them would have meant instant loss of prestige. To their way of thinking, an important official was aloof. The greater only way Saarkkad would do any business at all. To violate the rigid social setup of Saarkkad would mean the instant closing off of the supply of biochemical products that the that were vitally necessary to Earth's war, and which could be duplicated nowhere else in the known universe. Earth and her allies and outposts. The job would have been a snap cinch in the right circumstances that will tax his full output. So Malloy was stuck with the culls. Not the worst ones, of course there less important than Saarkkad to the war effort. Malloy knew that, no matter But Malloy didn't like to stop at merely thwarting mental quirks he bring it in?" right—even desirable—for her to keep secrets from everyone except Malloy. it didn't matter because eyes widened involuntarily. "Armistice," he said in a low whisper. "There's a chance that the war may be over." Malloy read the whole thing through, fighting to keep his emotions was over—at least for a while. He looked down at the papers again. The Karna, slowly being beaten back on every front, were suing for peace. They wanted an armistice conference—immediately. Earth was willing. Interstellar war is too costly to allow it to continue any longer than necessary, and this one had been going on for more than thirteen years now. Peace was necessary. But not peace at any price. The trouble was that the Karna had a reputation for losing wars and winning at the peace table. They were clever, persuasive talkers. They could twist a disadvantage to an advantage, and make their own strengths look like weaknesses. If they won the armistice, they'd be able to retrench and rearm, and the war would break out again within a few years. Now—at this point in time—they could be beaten. They could be forced to allow supervision of the production potential, forced to disarm, rendered impotent. But if the armistice went to their own advantage ... Already, they had taken the offensive in the matter of the peace talks. They had sent a full delegation to Saarkkad V, the next planet out from the Saarkkad sun, a chilly world inhabited only by low-intelligence animals. The Karna considered this to be fully neutral territory, and Earth couldn't argue the point very well. In addition, they demanded that the conference take more than a week for the Earth government to get a vessel to Saarkkad V. Earth had been caught unprepared for an armistice. They objected. The Karna pointed out that the Saarkkad sun was just as far from Karn as it was from Earth, that it was only a few million miles from a planet which was allied with Earth, and that it was unfair for Earth to take so much time in preparing for an armistice. Why hadn't Earth been prepared? Did they intend to fight to the utter destruction of Karn? It wouldn't have been a problem at all if Earth and Karn had fostered the only two intelligent races in the galaxy. The sort of grandstanding the Karna were putting on had to be played to an audience. But there were other intelligent races throughout the galaxy, most of whom had remained as neutral as possible during the Earth-Karn war. They had no intention of sticking their figurative noses into a battle between the two most powerful races in the galaxy. But whoever won the armistice would find that some of the now-neutral races would come in on their side if war broke out again. If the Karna played their cards right, their side would be strong enough next time to win. So Earth had to get a delegation to meet with the Karna representatives within the three-day limit or lose what might be a vital point in the negotiations. He had been appointed Minister and Plenipotentiary Extraordinary to the Earth-Karn peace conference. He looked up at the ceiling again. "What On the second day after the arrival of the communique, Malloy made his decision. He flipped on his Nordon nodded slowly. "Yes, sir." Malloy explained the problem of the Karna peace talks. "We need a man who can outthink them," Malloy finished, "and judging you make the wrong decisions, your name will be mud back on Earth. But I don't think there's much chance of that, really. Do you want to handle "No," said Malloy, "I'm sending to study it and get it into your head before the ship leaves. That isn't much time, but it's the Karna who are doing the pushing, not us." As soon as Nordon had left, Malloy Again Malloy went through the explanation of the peace conference. "Naturally, they'll be trying to trick you every step of the way," Malloy went on. "They're shrewd and "They won't get anything by me, Mr. Malloy." By the time the ship from Earth got there, the peace conference had on Earth?" "Tense. They're waiting to see what is going to happen on Five. So am I, for that matter." His eyes were curious. "You decided not to go When Blendwell looked up from the reports at last, he said: "Amazing! They've held off the Karna at every point! They've beaten them back! They've managed to cope with and outdo the finest team of negotiators the Karna could send." "I thought they would," said Malloy, trying to appear modest. Is this one of your ... ah ... successes?" Malloy nodded. "I think so. The Karna put us in a dilemma, so I threw a dilemma right back at them." "How do you mean?" making up his mind whether to kiss her or not until she made up his mind for him, one way or the other. He's that kind of guy. Until he's presented with one, single, clear decision which admits of no alternatives, he can't move at all. "As you can see, the Karna tried to give us several choices on each point, and they were all rigged. Until this was, and the more importance there is attached to his decisions, the more incapable he becomes of making them." "What about Braynek?" "Paranoid," said Malloy. "He thinks everyone is plotting against him. In this case, that's all to the good because the Karna are plotting against him. No matter what they put forth, Braynek is convinced that there's a trap in it somewhere, and he digs to find out what the trap is. Even if

<question>:
Does Earth want peace with Karn?

<options>:
A The Earth is ready for peace, as interstellar war is costly.
B Earth needs to eliminate the Karna to protect the galaxy.
C The Earth does not want peace with the planet Karn. The Karna are an evil race.
D The Earth wants peace but doesn't trust the Karna to hold up their end of the bargain.

<answer>:

A