They would simply starve, or be forced to turn themselves to unthinkable occupations.
If he can't pay the price, he simply starves.
Otherwise, prisoners will simply starve themselves to death, and no one will know.
If labourers protested and refused to work, they were not paid or fed: they simply starved.
"The entire population of the desert would simply starve and go naked if it couldn't trade in P'naki," said the Countess.
Another race, the Duglaari or "Doogs" is slowly conquering human systems, herding the inhabitants into barren areas where they simply starve to death.
Vizka soon realizes that Gorath would rather die than join his crew, so he simply starves him.
Or he simply starved to death while on his cellar quest?
Or it might be that the aliens sucked the soil so dry of moisture and plant food that the other plants simply starved to death.
Do they simply starve?