Milner City, Nevada, is not really a city. It's barely big enough to be a town. It's more like a plus-sized village, really, but it's my hometown, and ever since I was little, I dreamed of taking the reigns and becoming mayor. Last year, it finally happened! I was stunned when I actually ousted that self-important wannabe dictator Michael Arranado and won the election by a landslide. He had been mayor for at least 25 years, he had one every election with at least 60% of the vote, his family was richer than the other Milner City households combined, and he usually ran unopposed. I guess he had finally pushed the diminutive settlement's disproportionately sizable gay community too far with his unsettling history of homophobic comments. Anyway, I had been on top of the world since that happened, and for the whole past year. Until now.
"I knew Arranado's cronies were desperate to keep him in power," I thought as I woke up on the cold metal cabinet. "But kidnapping me is ridiculous!"
That's when I remembered the multicolored flashing lights that appeared in the sky as I strolled down Arranado Street last night, and how I started levitating in the air before blacking out. The orbital image of Earth on the viewscreen was also making think that maybe something more than a corrupt coup was taking place.
"Have I been abducted by aliens?" I wondered out loud. Then a strange glowing speaker on the wall filled the room with an eery, booming voice that sounded like it might have been generated by a computer.
"GREETINGS, CREATURE FROM EARTH. OUR THOUGHT-DETECTORS INDICATE SURPRISE, CONFUSION, AND MILD ANXIETY CONCERNING YOUR PRESENT PREDICAMENT. REST ASSURED THAT YOUR TRANSFORMATION WILL BE PAINLESS AND YOUR HONOR WILL OUTLAST CIVILIZATIONS. YOU ARE OUR CHOSEN ONE, AND FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL MEMORIZE YOUR NAME FLAWLESSLY ALONG WITH THE NAMES OF ALL OTHER CHOSEN ONES OF THE PAST AND OF THE FUTURE."
Wow, I guess Arranado's goons have got me drugged up like a tranquilized elephant.
"Wait, my ... transformation?!"
"EVERY THOUSAND REVOLUTIONS OF OUR PLANET AROUND OUR SUN (OR EVERY 460 OF YOURS), WE MUST CREATE NEW MEMBERS OF OUR SPECIES. WE ARE NOT CAPABLE OF REPRODUCTION OURSELVES, AND DUE TO AN UNKNOWN GENETIC DEFECT, THE BEING THAT GIVES BIRTH TO US HAS BEEN EXTINCT ON OUR PLANET FOR GENERATIONS. WE HAVE PRESERVED THE GENETIC PROGRAM OF THE FINAL SUCH CREATURE AND CAN REPLICATE IT THROUGH THE TRANSFORMATION OF INTELLIGENT CARBON-BASED LIFEFORMS. ONLY ONE IN EVERY NINETY TRILLION INDIVIDUALS IS COMPATIBLE WITH OUR TRANSFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN."
"So, I have to turn into some kind of ... thing ... so I can somehow give birth to a bunch of aliens?"
"YOUR NEW FORM WOULD CREATE US AS A SIDE EFFECT OF ITS OWN REPRODUCTION. UNFORTUNATELY IT CAN NO LONGER REPRODUCE ITSELF AND CAN ONLY PRODUCE US."
I listened to the words, processed them, looked around at the sleek, medical-looking interior of the room around me, and laughed.
"Hahaha, nice try. I don't know what reality TV show you've got me on, but I am the mayor of Milner City, and I don't have time this. So if you'll please return me to my office, we'll just all get on with our own business, and I won't press charges, ok?"
"OUR THOUGHT-DETECTORS INDICATE DISBELIEF. YOU ARE LEAVING YOUR TERRESTRIAL EXISTENCE BEHIND YOU TO BECOME OUR CHOSEN ONE. WE WILL SATISFY YOUR NEEDS AND YOU WILL SATISFY OURS. BEHOLD OUR TRUE NATURES: YOUR CHILDREN WHO WILL COLONIZE A THOUSAND WORLDS."
They weren't kidding. They actually sent three of their own kind in greet to me through a sliding door that opened in the wall. I tried to think it was a costume, I really tried, but I was forced to believe my eyes when I was confronted with a trio of...