Member-only story
Fiction and food for thought.
There was fear, of course, but let’s admit it, also excitement when the aliens came. Because life was boring drudgery before that. Yeah, there was the ongoing war between Conglomerate East and Conglomerate West, but even that had become background noise, a victim of its own duration. People worked dull dismal jobs if they could find them. If not, they begged. People died of hunger, died in the war, died of boredom.
So, the aliens were really exciting. A new way to die!
“Go” — that’s what they called him — looked up and saw them arrive. They landed in the field he worked, just behind the kale. Except for a few other “fielders” and the occasional robot overseer, he hadn’t seen anybody in years. So Go welcomed the strange and hostile newcomers.
The landing flame incinerated the crops, and the flash blinded many of the fielders. Still, Go and the others rushed toward the spacecraft. “Build” and “Plant” reached it first. Build was vaporized and Plant disappeared inside the vehicle. Still, Go continued to approach.
He reached an alien, stood face to presumed face and said: “Do with me what you will.”
Go, like the others was numbed by disgust and he was fearless. Everyone knew there was more than enough for all in the world. The “Haves” just wanted the “Have Nots”…
