MicroHorror

The invasion came without warning and without mercy. Spaceships descended from the heavens, unleashing their weapons of mass destruction on strategic military installations around the world, effectively eliminating any threat of retaliation. For weeks, wave after wave of alien aircraft brought indiscriminate death from above, laying waste to hospitals, schools, churches, office buildings, and homes.

A massive ground assault followed, consisting of hundreds of thousands of little green men with light blue metallic skulls. They were as ruthless as they were hideous, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

The first country surrendered within hours of the aliens breaching their border, quickly followed by the next country, and then the next. The domino effect continued until only one country was left to defend the planet from the alien horde.

A harried aide rushed into the President’s office with an urgent message. “The aliens have seized control of the city and are demanding our immediate and unconditional surrender,” he said.

“Our country doesn’t surrender, we fight to the death for freedom,” the President answered, pounding his fist on the desk for emphasis.

“Mr. President, with all due respect, this isn’t a fight, it’s a slaughter. We lost this war as soon as the aliens chose this planet; we just didn’t know it yet. As we speak, the aliens are rounding up people by the thousands and we’re powerless to stop them. They perform medical experiments on the men and… and…” he paused and took a couple of deep breaths to collect himself, “…the women are used for the sexual gratification of their soldiers. Although small in stature, their sexual organs are huge and incompatible with our species. That doesn’t stop them, though. They’re animals; they force their way into our women, ripping them apart.”

The President nervously paced back and forth shaking his head. “That may be so, but I’m the President of the most powerful nation on the planet. How can I justify our surrender to the people?”

“The terms are actually pretty reasonable. The aliens want to set up a number of military bases within our borders as they’ve already done in many other countries around the world. They also want exclusive rights to one of our natural resources, a resource that we no longer use. So, our quality of life really won’t change that much.” Sensing the President’s apprehension he added, “Don’t think of it as giving up, but rather as biding our time until we can fight them on even footing.”

This seemed to appease the President. “You’ve convinced me. Have the aliens draw up the terms of surrender,” he said with sigh of resignation.

The President signed the surrender treaty outside the capital building under a blood-red sky. Pen still in hand, he turned to the alien leader and asked him what planet he was from. The alien took off his light blue helmet and rubbed his hand through his short gray hair before answering. “I’m General Nathan Garret, in charge of deep space oil procurement for the United Nations, planet Earth.”