The Guests were angry. The Leader wanted to have his Top General executed for incompetence; unfortunately, the Top General was already dead. He had been killed by the child he was about to eat. The Leader did not know the child's name; she was only supposed to be food, and food didn't have names or titles. The Terror was over; the New Terror was just beginning.

"The humans know our weakness," said the Second General. "We should leave while we still can." The Second General, soon to be the New Top General, had had little regard for his now dead superior officer. "We should never have come in the first place. I do not know how we managed to keep our weakness a secret for so long. Top General put a lot of good soldiers and officers at risk for no good rea--"

"Silence!" roared the Leader. "I know all of that!" He lowered his voice. "Listen, I made a mistake in listening to a soldier. I don't intend to make another by listening to you!"

"Sir--" The Second General sounded hurt. "I never meant to second-guess you. . . If I may be frank, when Top General suggested an invasion of this planet, you were at first very skeptical. I shared your skepticism. I think we--you--have been proven right. I may be just a soldier--"

"All right! I could have you executed for insubordination, but there's been enough killing already. Besides, you are right. As punishment, though, you will maintain the rank of Second General, though you will be Acting Top General till we get all soldiers--at least, those who are still alive--off this godforsaken planet."

The Second General was hurt, but only a little. He would be the New Top General soon enough. Not long after that, the Leader would be dead, and the New Top General would be the New Leader. Earth would soon be under the complete domination of the Guests, and the New Leader would be the most powerful being in the universe.

Previous Part  Next Part