Washed

~For the Sci-Fi Smackdown~ Pictures used: 1, 5, 6, and 7.

Washed

 "Madam, your package has arrived."

 Ms. Winders looked up from her desk to the petite maid waiting for her at the office door. The young girl smiled at her master. Her smile was as bright as the rising Verasyllian sun and as artificial as the hover cars and skyscrapers outside of the office window.

 "My chef has arrived already?" Ms. Winders asked.

 The maid nodded, "Looks like it, madam." She suddenly looked out the window, at the shining sun, the floating traffic and the glistening buildings and said, "Beautiful day in Verasylle, isn't it?"

 Ms. Winders looked down and mumbled, "Can you just pick up the package for me?" 

 The maid just stood there, smiling widely and showing no signs of annoyance. "I would love to, but the nice man downstairs said you need to sign some papers."

 Ms. Winders stood up and slowly floated down the stairs. The human maid walked behind. At the front door stood a man holding a clipboard. Besides him sat a tall wooden box marked as "Live Human". The man gave Ms. Winders a polite smile. "Good morning, madam. Lovely day in Verasylle, isn't it?"

 "Good morning. Is that my new chef?" Ms. Winders eyed the human warily. She had noticed that over time these brainwashed humans were slowly replacing the Verasyllian workers. Ms. Winders didn’t know if this was something to worry about or not. At least they got the job done, even if they seemed as shallow and brainless as a puddle.

 The man stood up straighter. "Yes it is. Now if you could just sign these papers you can program your new chef."

 Ms. Winders signed the forms and pointed the deliveryman towards the kitchen. "Just leave her there. I'll program her later."

 The delivery man tipped his hat and rolled the box towards the kitchen.

 Some days, I wish they didn't wash these humans to the point of brainlessness. Ms. Winders thought.

~~~

 When the Verasyllians arrived on Earth, they were just an odd sight. Decades ago, a group of strange looking people arrived at the White House, somehow getting pass all of their security features. They calmly explained their origin to the masses: they were from another dimension called Verasylle, a great technologically advanced world. Not aliens, “just” from another dimension. They had chosen Earth out of all the different worlds to share their vast knowledge with.

 The odd sight turned into a blessing. Before too long, the advances from Verasylle were apparent. Hover cars, medical developments, weaponry and other mechanisms appeared on Earth thanks to the Verasyllians. When asked, “Why us? Why Earth?” they just shrugged and said, “From all the dimensions we have visited, Earth seemed like the most moldable.”

 Unfortunately, this blessing started to turn into a disaster. With all these advances also came more power to the Verasyllians on Earth. More and more human heads of government were replaced. This alarmed people around the world. Tensions between humans and Verasyllians grew. Revolutions and violence broke the world. The humans wanted their Earth back. The Verasyllians defended themselves. They had brought advances to Earth and now they were acting unappreciative.

 It’s not that the Verasyllians hated humans. In fact, Verasylle thought that humans were good at building machinery cheaply. Still, for some reason, they felt the need to teach the humans a lesson. They teleported – zapped – humans back to Verasylle to work as menial workers. They brainwashed the humans to docility and put them to work as maids, farmers, and other work the Verasyllians didn’t want to do. They commissioned a special league to hunt down any rogue humans. 

 What was left of the Earth was decimated. All the progress created by Verasylle was destroyed by the Verasyllians themselves. 

 The remaining humans fought back harder. Even the futile attempts at overthrowing the Verasyllians managed to uncover downsides to their weapons. Verasyllian technology could only work around advanced technology like itself. This meant that rural areas were the only relatively safe area away from certain washing.

 Humans escaped to forests, abandoned towns and caves. The Verasyllians laughed at the humans. The said, “How long can they survive without us?” Humans developed primitive tools (at least compared to the Vearsyllian’s) that were passed on from person to person. Cloaks that hid them from the zapper’s sensors, modified dimensional grenades and clothes that counteracted the zapper’s stun rays at least gave the humans a small fighting chance.