Madrak has the most ideal climate any of us, BX-Mokin can hope for. Heavily populated and with a booming economy that attracts more and more humans to this tiny, humid district, it is akin to paradise for us.

Alas, with the changeover coming any time now, there is no guarantee that I will be reassigned to this place.

Granted, that my accommodations by fresh-water-fish standards are pretty abysmal, and some intelligent and compassionate humans might find my quarters rather cruel, I am not what I look like. I am not a goldfish trapped inside a suffocatingly small one-gallon fishbowl that is rarely filtered and cleaned.

I am a commander, a listener, to be specific. I, W1101, am in charge of listening to all the BX-Mokin, that have infiltrated Earth's water bodies, where they have been customizing their surroundings (converting and modifying the indigenous life forms) to our needs.

I, along with General A0001, Commander G1101, Gatherer B10111, and Surveyor D2701, arrived on Earth (it would be better to say that we hitchhiked on Vostok 1, thanks to a terrestrial being named Yuri) almost sixty human years ago. When we noticed Vostok 1, Earthlings' first successful attempt at space travel, we saw it for what it was, an opportunity.

We tele-linked our supreme commander on BXMo-23, our home planet, thirty light-years away from Earth, about the find, and after getting a go-ahead from him, we latched on to the space vehicle and stealthily entered the Earth's atmosphere.

I reckon that humanity's first step out of their space benefited us more than it did them.

Imagine our excitement when we noticed that Earth was the kind of planet we had been searching for.

The first and only mistake General A0001 ever made was the result of fear of getting trampled on by intelligent and unintelligent indigenous species alike, for we were one-tenth the size of a grain of sand. Thus, upon arriving, the General decided we make ourselves home on a (what I now know was a eucalyptus) tree. 

As it turned out, the tree released oils that could disorient us and make us nauseous. Thankfully, before it could kill us, quick thinking on ground commander G1101's part saved us. He suggested we use our macroscopic limbs, which could cover long distances in a matter of a second, to transport us to a partially abandoned place.

This place was our home for the next twenty-five human hours. We investigated the surroundings and the behavior of all lifeforms we came in contact with.

What we found astonished us further.

The basic building blocks of life of the various species we came across during that period made us realize that we could, with minimal effort, modify it to accommodate us.

We started with unintelligent lifeforms and made our way up the proverbial food chain.

And now we are here, not far (physically) from where we had started, but closer to our goal than we have ever been.

It's not easy to take over an entire planet with civilizations dating back thousands of years without their so-called intelligent beings noticing. It requires proper planning and execution.

Unlike other alien races, we are peaceful. When we take over, we only eliminate the intelligent lifeforms. It's all done in the most humane way one could imagine. It's basically painless. Mr. Bkdom, D2701's (code name: Gordon) homeroom teacher, who our head Gatherer, B10111 (code name: Gretat) gathered not too long ago, can vouch for it.

Ms. Gretat is eighty-nine human years old, but you would never be able to guess. The real Ms. Gretat was rescued and gathered when she was twenty-nine. The humans in the premises where she works as a nurse often invite her to copulate with them. She declines, of course, for if she were to indulge in that act, B10111 could accidentally tag them, then even if they don't suit our requirement, she would have to rescue them.

Rescuing can't be done randomly. If a defective piece is rescued, it could lead to exposure. That would be terrible for us.

We believe in the human concept (which the humans love to preach but don't follow): recycle, reduce and reuse.

What B10111 does falls in the recycle and reuse category. The 'reduce' part of it is in the works. The subjects that could impede our mission for the complete takeover have been identified and placed in the 'for reduction' category.

The Pentagon is looking at the skies, expecting an alien invasion; it is preparing for a war that they might have to fight in the distant future. They should be looking on the inside, among the ordinary, the regular.

Alas, even if they do, they would never succeed, for our general is hiding inside a human contraption called the hourglass. He looks no different than a grain of sand. Who would be able to guess that he is controlling our brethren, floating in public places like malls, hospitals, cinemas, parks, and schools?

We escape, undetected. They think us harmless.

Meanwhile, Ground Commander G1101 has been stationed at the same patch of land since 1961. Disguised as a garden gnome, sitting at the foot of the porch stairs partially hidden behind the rose and jasmine bushes, he is aware of all that the BX-Mokin have been up to under the ground.

We have intertwined ourselves with the DNAs of the rescued so perfectly and hidden in or as such insignificant things that no terrestrial life form, intelligent or otherwise, would be able to know where to start looking to find us.

With everything in place, all we have to do now is wait. And wait, we shall and enjoy all that Madrak has to offer.

Ah! Now here comes our Ms. Gretat, whose home is our base, holding in her two fair hands a treat we have been waiting for all day long: salt.

{Word count: 995}