Apologies for reviving this thread, but something occurred to me which I don't think has been brought up before in this thread.
Okay, so we know that Erek used the Pemalite crystal to alter his programming to allow violence. Technically his own programming should've prevented him from doing this, but let's ignore that since we know that's what happened. This would mean that when the Howlers cam along to wipe out the Pemalites, all the Chee had to do was grab a crystal and give themselves the ability to fight back and save their masters. Obviously the peaceful Pemalites wouldn't have wanted this, but surely at least one Chee (eg. Erek) would've realised this possibility? On the other hand, I guess even the trusting Pemalites probably wouldn't have left such powerful technology lying around.
Just something to think about...