Go Vegan

Yes, I think more people (okay, all people) should become vegans.

If, for some reason, "you can't" be vegan, at least eat fewer animals to start with, to lessen the suffering.

That being said, let's try the start of a story about aliens.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Brugorians. Not that this is already clear in these few words…

We are from Brugor.

Chapter 1.

John pushed his plate away. That T-bone steak had been too much, he'd barely gotten through half of it. He belched, and through that noise he almost missed the sound from his phone. "What..." People messaged him at the weirdest times.

"Hey, John. Bit off more than you could chew?" The waitress pointed at the half-eaten dinner. "Want something else?"

"No, I'm full as it is," John said, unlocking his phone. "Make someone happy with what's left, Connie."

Connie laughed as she picked up the plate. "The dump loves it," she said as she walked off.

John stared at his phone. Could this be real? He dialed a number.

"John. I knew you'd call," a voice on the other side said.

"You're not screwing me out of dinner, are you?" John knew they wouldn't, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"No way. If you can, get your butt over here, buddy." Gary, John's co-worker at the observatory, sounded serious. "You'll be as stunned as we are."

"Connie, put it on my tab!" John got up, grabbed his jacket and ran to the exit of the diner. His car was close, and the pebbles on the parking lot flew as he drove off as fast as he could.

*

John ran into the control room. "Show me," was all he said, even though it wasn't necessary. The main display, a thirty-foot affair on the wall, showed what Gary had already sent him as a picture. A true to life spaceship, hanging between Earth and the moon. "I'll be damned by every saint..." John stared at the image. "Since when? Where are they from? Any contact? Emergency protocols?"

Gary told him that the military and the president had been alerted and they all were on alert. "And there are several others," he knew. "Four in total, spread across the globe."

"And no panic yet," John said. "There was nothing on the radio, on the way over here."

"For now," Barbara said, who was on duty as well. "It's a matter of time before some amateur starts shouting it all over the social media." As soon as she'd said that, a few phones started beeping, notifying their users that some keywords had been picked up. "Told you so. Did someone just bet twenty dollars with me?"

They checked their phones and weren't surprised to find messages about the spaceships streaming in.

"Right. We'll just wait for what's next. Either from high up, or from out there."