Flash Fiction: The Gworhs are Here

I don’t know how to start this off, I can’t tell anyone or else they will fire me from the project, or worse, they’ll probably kill me and chalk it up as a field accident. If they catch me writing this, I will face the same fate no doubt. I don’t want to die, but after all I’ve seen and learned…is there even a reason to live? 

I can’t tell my wife, I can’t tell my parents, I can’t tell my close friends, big brother is watching me closely. I have to get it off my chest but I don’t want to put them in harm's way. Alas! I can’t hold on to this guilt much longer either, I have to just…tell someone, somebody! Even if this scrap of paper reaches just one person passing by the park or on some trail somewhere, someone from the public has to know. If you happen to be the poor soul that is reading this paper, then may God have mercy on your soul. Hell! Who knows if there is a God after all?

I am contemplating whether to put some sort of identification to this or not so that you the reader can know I am a creditable person, but I also want to enjoy what life has to offer with the people I love in my last moments. A pox on it! Just know this reader, I am one of the five selected biochemistry professors and researchers from Stanford University picked for ‘Operation Laserbeak.’ That might not mean much to you now but I am confident that in the future, people will learn the significance of it. 

Operation Laserbeak is a top-secret US military project happening here in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park to be precise. Yes, this national park has a secret military outpost in it hidden from public record. As do many national parks in this country, but that is not the secret that I want the public to know. The real secret is that we have about ten generations before the majority of the population- roughly 95% of humanity goes extinct as we are now.

Originally, Operation Laserbeak focused on bringing in researchers from the country’s top universities from various fields of science to learn from the alien life form that had crashed landed on a rural farm in Montana. We had people attempting to reverse-engineer its ship, studying the various instruments. We have taken samples of its blood and ran multiple tests on it. It took two weeks for it to learn to communicate with us, it used an instrument from its arsenal of tools that translates languages. We were in the presence of a god, a creature whose skin would regenerate from any cut or blemish within minutes. It showed us unbelievable physical strength and mental prowess as it quickly learned what we were trying to do with its ship. It repaired it and even went out of its way to show us how the instruments all work together. A creature that watched us diligently and asked how our sciences worked despite us prodding it with various needles and hooking it up to different machines. A being that knew we were desperate to figure it out and its motives.

It wasn’t long before it started to talk about where it came from and why it was here. According to it, it comes from a galaxy outside the Milky Way which its kind calls ‘Qwdlotlope’ from the planet ‘Fehgrucanzolre’- its pronunciation is strange and my spelling is off, but I digress. I believe we call it the Andromeda galaxy. Its people call themselves ‘Gworhs,’ their average height according to this creature is six to seven feet tall with male, female, and by what he was explaining, hermaphrodites within its species. We learned this one was a male, it explained some of its culture to us ranging from their people’s pride in exploration and conquest. The use of their slave society of nonbreeding hermaphrodites and the pride they took in tearing down unknown worlds and rebuilding them to reflect their species and ever-growing empire. 

It exhibited malevolent ideas, it talked about warring with other alien species and losing planets to rival empires. Suppressing rebellions of lesser species on different planets and completely obliterating their planets for not complying with these ‘Gworhs’ demands. It talked about the discovery of our solar system and being surprised that our planet was the only one to harbor life within it. Many researchers and military personnel started to fear this thing’s agenda as it talked about our lush resources and our species, and how we can "benefit their great empire." I sensed that we were no longer in control and that being caught was perhaps part of its plan.

The more days that passed the more nonsense it would speak, it told us that his purpose within its species rank is that of a scout. It was impressed when it stumbled upon our planet. It said that our genetic makeup and muscular structure “would do.” That his superiors would be pleased with his findings and that we would be a great asset to get the upper hand on their foes. Not long after, higher-ranking military personnel started to make a consistent appearance at the base. I even saw the prime minister of the UK surrounded by lots of men in suits being led into the rooms where we held this life form. Little by little, I started to lose access to various parts of the base. My work became limited and restricted, I heard one of the other researchers mention he saw a man that looked like Larry Fink and another like Jerome Powell in this base. Another researcher mentioned the president of the United States had visited as well. I never saw these people, but I did notice more traffic of men in suits, and people became more quiet. I was ‘shushed’ once during lunch because I asked why we weren’t allowed to do more tests on the alien life-form, the one who ‘shushed’ me proceeded to motion his head and I quickly saw that we were being monitored by a man who looked like he was part of secret service.

Last Wednesday my team was called to our usual conference room, there our superiors along with two US Army generals explained the future of Operation Laserbeak. We are to remain in the base a bit longer with new tasks to complete before being discharged from our duties and being sent home to our families. Our new tasks are to work with this life form and its kind that have made contact with it on our planet and assist them in finding what region of the planet they want to start selectively breeding humans to achieve the perfect specimens for consumption and trade.

That is how these ‘Gworhs’ survive and grow their empire, the inhabitants of the planets they find are nothing but cattle to them. They breed them to their liking, slaughter them, and sell them in intergalactic markets. And our wonderful ‘leaders’ have struck a deal…$230 million buy-in per immediate family to the United Nations for you and your future generations to be spared from being used as guinea pigs to reproduce monstrosities of human beings. They already showed us markings on a world map where "the first pens" will be built. Whoever can afford that is only delaying the inevitable.

Save yourself, reader, I don’t know, hide underground…do something! The ‘Gworhs’ are here and they have the technology and the tools. They have done this multiple times, and according to the data we were able to interpret, they never fail.