MATERNAL INSTINCTS

“You asked to see me?” the woman in the doorway asked.

The Director turned away from the huge glass panes he had been looking through. His office was spacious. One would wonder why he didn’t sit on any of those numerous leather-cushioned chairs, and sofas that littered the room.

The only desk in the center was wide, full of documents that needed immediate attention. But none of them seemed interesting enough for him as he looked at the woman in front of him with more curiosity.

“Yes, Karen. The White House has asked for an update from me.”

“The government is impatient, and wants to know what is happening?”

The Director nodded. “Would you blame them? Every other government on Earth is apprehensive, and wants to know what we have done so far to counter this threat.”

“I understand,” Karen said as she swiped open the tablet in her hand. “I am going to send you a detailed brief on the efforts we have taken so far.”

“Yes, that would be great. But I need to know, Karen, are we succeeding at all?” The Director looked worried.

“From the review I did this morning, I believe we are.”

All the while, the Director had been standing. Only now did he usher her to one of the leather sofas. “Come, tell me how far we have succeeded. I need to know everything.”

As soon as they sank into the sofa, Karen pointed at her tablet. “I have forwarded the details of the progress we have made so far to you. What I am going to say is just a summary of that report.”

“I understand, Karen. Go on. I am listening.”

“When the aliens decided to invade Earth several months ago, they did so by preying on one of mankind’s most inherent instincts.”

“Which is?”

“The instinct to breed.”

“Yes, I am aware of that. They used embryo probes disguised in the form of storks. And those storks were carrying babies, which many childless couples were simply crazy about.”

“Exactly,” Karen conceded. “Although we have tried everything possible to educate the citizens everywhere about how dangerous these alien babies are, we could not make any progress at all.”

“How can we convince childless couples not to take these babies? They are so desperate to have children of their own at any cost.”

“And to make matters worse, the aliens were even bribing women to raise these alien children as their own.”

“Yes, yes, yes, the bribes,” the Director said, snapping his fingers. “Who would have imagined that aliens could think of bribing our women to fall for such a cheap gimmick of raising alien children?”

“They simply preyed on the maternal instincts of our women. They knew our women would easily fall for the desire to become mothers; even if those children were not human.”

“Yes, I am fully aware of all this, Karen.” The Director tapped a finger to his chin. “You said we have been making some progress.”

“Yes, we have. And that progress was achieved through hunting down the probes, and the infant aliens.”

“How?”

Karen scrolled down the screen of her tablet, showing him more content. He could see a picture of a silver colored drone hovering in the air.

“You are using drones to hunt down the alien babies?”

“Yes. After extensive research, we have been able to isolate the genetic code of the alien babies. These drones are programmed to spot them wherever they might be, either in the probes disguised as humans, or in the infant aliens themselves.”

“And what happens when the drones spot them?”

“They exterminate the aliens with a blast of high-powered laser beams.”

“And what about the women? Aren’t they protesting against the killing of their alien children?”

“That is the beauty of the program. The drones can spot these aliens from very far away. And from that distances, they can determine whether a child is an alien life form, or not. They do not need to come close to exterminate such aliens.”

“I see. In other words, these women with alien children would not even know what killed their alien children.”

“Correct, and that is simply because the drones won’t be seen close by when they carry out their attacks.”

“Bravo, Karen. You have done an excellent job.”

“Thank you, Director.”

“When the White House sends its commendations to our department, I will make sure that they give you special recognition for coming up with such an ingenious idea.”

Karen smiled. “Thank you, Director.”

“In fact, I think you should come with me to the briefing. Let them know what a hard-working woman you are, and how your hard work has prevented a new dangerous culture from taking hold on Earth.”

“Thank you, Director.”

 

***

 

At the same moment, in a spaceship very close to the moon, the aliens were discussing strategy among themselves.

“These humans have started to destroy our probes, and children,” one of them said.

“Yes, but that won’t stop us from carrying out our counter-attack on humans,” another replied.

“Well, what do you have in mind?”

The second alien pointed at what appeared to be a spray of dust spewing out of several nozzles outside their spaceship. “These would solve the problem for us.”

“And what are those?”

“They are spores I’ve developed in our lab,” the second alien answered with a grin.

“Spores? What do they do?”

“Once a female human-being inhales them, she would become pregnant with an extraterrestrial offspring.”

“That is very ingenious of you. Earth would never succeed in eradicating our alien children from their midst. Not when their women will continue to get pregnant, and bear them for us.”

 

THE END