January 20

Alien Invasion Scenario #3-X

The ships visited a year ago today, but we didn’t realize it. Their hulls were shaped like clouds, and they reflected our skies back at us. Waves of distortion fooled human equipment, so no warning blips appeared on our monitors.

At the surface level, the visitors assumed the shape of our best people — politicians, athletes, school teachers, police officers, celebrities. Behaviors changed, so that people became almost unrecognizable.

Politicians fought with each other. They lied, and made decisions that weren’t in the public’s best interest. Baseball and football players grew unnaturally strong; in post-game interviews, they spouted foolish platitudes about teamwork and good sportsmanship.

Math teachers invented complex methods to solve simple equations. English teachers found newer, shorter books that were  more tedious than longer ones they’d taught previously; they changed rules of spelling and grammar more quickly than students could learn them.

Meanwhile, police officers beat and shot citizens they were supposed to protect. Movie stars who played admirable characters on the screen slipped into immoral behavior in their private lives, becoming poor role models for our nation’s impressionable youth.

The invasion happened a year ago, or two. Or maybe a decade ago. But to you it seems like it happened overnight. And now you know that society is doomed.