By Scott Merrow
Two aliens—Drr and Grrd—were in their disc-shaped spaceship, hovering above a large American city. They were zapping people with a neutron-pulse ray gun.
“I love zapping the fat ones,” said Drr. “They really sizzle.”
“But the skinny ones scream more and flop around,” replied Grrd. “They’re a hoot.”
“Hey, look! There’s a crowd by that river. Let’s go over there.”
They steered the spaceship toward the crowd, and as it turned, some writing on the side of the ship rotated into view. In bold letters it said,
][ \ ~~ ]~[ ]^[ ][/
which, in the Strrdian language, means, ‘Galactic Pest Control.’
Very funny with a clever twist. Nice to know they were enjoying their work!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. (I’ll tell Drr and Grrd not to zap you with the ray gun.)
Being a long-time science fiction fan, I naturally liked this one. A suggestion: You began the story in a passive voice; might try active next time. Instead of saying the two aliens were in their spacecraft, it would have been better to say the two aliens hovered in their spacecraft.
Thanks for the tip! (I’d have to re-work the word count a little, though.)
I always like it when man gets a dose of his own medicine, however fictitiously. You portrayed that brilliantly yet lightheartedly. Very nice!
Thanks! I agree. We think of ourselves as “enlightened,” but I’m not sure how that would play out with beings a rung or two above us on the evolutionary ladder.
Read the story and freaked out because it’s almost the exact story that I’ve had in my head for quite a while. But then, maybe there are quite a few of us who have that particular story simmering in their brain? In my version, extraterrestrials would come and treat us the way we do ants. But I thought about writing it from the point of view of the people/ants. In any case, you wrote it way better than I could/would have. So cool! Made my day.