Special Ingredient

Many years ago, a land-dwelling multi-tentacled molluscan alien species invaded Earth and colonized our planet.

Everyone tried to fight them off, but the aliens used inherent telepathic pain inflictors. Capable of causing excruciating pain with randomized modulation so a victim's mind could never adapt. Our scientists said that any dampening protection they developed would irreversibly harm us because the alien inflictors transmitted directly to our brains.

Likewise, the aliens used their telepathy to communicate with us.

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My name's Frank Jones. My alien lord took over my house and kept me as a servant. I spent most of my time prepping and cooking its atrocious meals. Memories of mixing up those frothy, bubbly, and slimy concoctions still sickens me today.

I vividly recall that time when I wanted to surprise my lord with a special ingredient that I found in my pantry. I only added a pinch of it to its meal, and yet my lord reacted with amazement.

"Servant, come here!"

"Yes, my lord?" I bowed.

"What have you done to my meal?"

"I .. I .. added a special ingredient to please you, my lord."

"It's delightful. I feel like I'm on top of the galaxy. Servant, bring me more!"

"I opened the jar and sprinkled more of the same ingredient on its meal."

"Incredible! Not a word of this, servant! I shall replicate it and sell it for a high price."

After that, my lord invited guests and gave them samples of the special ingredient, and its fellow aliens consumed it. This went on for several years. Then, I noticed changes in how regular visiting aliens' appeared and in the way they behaved. They at least tripled in size, and their movements became sluggish.

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One day, as my lord returned home, it moved within the house assisted by a personal hovercraft. I observed several of its tentacles amputated.

My lord's body could barely move in a short period, and it couldn't see or hear much. So I went outside and roamed the city for the first time in over a decade. The alien empire left human civilization in ruins. They converted our public parks into cemeteries for their dead. I saw only a few extra-large alien guards patrolling the streets in hovercraft.

As I kept exploring, I encountered a female human servant dressed in a nurse uniform, who also appeared just like myself, confused and wandering around. I spoke to her, despite defying all the communication protocols against it and knowing full well my prospect of facing severe punishment.

"What happened here? Why the mass graves? Where did most of the aliens go?"

The female replied, "Well, rumor has it one of us servants gave their lord refined sugar. The lord felt so gratified and euphoric, it took samples and sold some to the leadership of their home planet. But they foolishly mass replicated it and resold it without restrictions. Needless to say, the entire alien species faced epidemics of obesity, diabetes, loss of limbs, and failed organs. Most of them couldn't fit back into their own space transports."