Random stories

''*Do you know why we brought you in?*''

I looked out through the window. In the distance I could observe with great pleasure the 08:34 train westward arrive at station at the precise and perfect time. It would stay on the platform for 2.35 minutes, before departing, with stops at 08:54 at Ringtown, 09:15 Groatsville, 09:36 Orangeburg, before arriving at its final destination, Westport Eastern Terminal, 09:57. While looking at the beautiful, aerodynamic new train, that has not deviated from its planned time schedule in the past 487.76 days, since the world began making sense. ''*Yes. I know why you brought me in. I'm not affected by your mind control.*'' I do not look at the strange alien creature before me. Not directly. Usually, whenever I must pretend to stare into the eyes of another human, a truly painful and unpleasant experience, I focus on the eyebrows. This alien does not have eyebrows. He does have antennae though. I turn and look at them instead. He is noticeably taller than I am, so it is easier to pretend that I am looking into his eyes by looking up.

''*How. All around this planet, we've begun to find those like you. Those who were unaffected. How have you remained undiscovered?*''

I shrug while tapping my foot, stimming. ''*You made the world work. It is nice.*'' They really did make the world work. One day to another, things were no longer the same insane status quo that was so annoying and terrible. No longer did people talk about inconsequential things, inane subjects that had no bearings on anything. No longer did people call me strange and odd for working incessantly on various things without breaks. Or for liking unusual things. The new food was good too. All of it had the right mouthfeel, the right consistency to be enjoyed. No more hypersensitive mouth issues for me. Finally, I could eat healthy without getting that horrible sense of wrongness that some food imparted on me. I spent days, weeks, months, working on things I liked, doing what I was told, going home on the same time, every day, with the most stable and unchanging schedule I've ever experienced. Took a bit of time getting used to having to program FTL navigational computers and weapons systems, instead of maintaining servers for an insurance company.

''*We made the world work? We made it work for us! We tore down your inefficient leaders and turned your hands towards hard labour! We rule this world!*''

I nod. ''*Yes. You're doing a pretty good job thus far. Better than the ones who used to run the world. Thanks.*'' I am not good at reading human body language, better at animals really. We are still allowed to keep pets, when we're not working. People are mind-controlled, yes. But they seem to be allowed some autonomy when not working. I can't really complain. The body language of this tall, lanky, alien. His body colored mostly with RGB values of (102, 2, 60), and shades of (112, 4, 71). It is more akin to that of an animal. More easily read. More readily available. His movement away from me indicates fear. ''*I think you could do some optimization of the high-speed rail network you've set up, if you were to shift the station locations slightly. I've looked through some geographical maps, and I think you can shave off an average of 39.2 seconds on the western line out of your colonial capital.*'' He looks at me with an incomprehensible expression. Less painful to look at than looking at a human being.

''*You are free of our mental domination, but you don't mind us ruling you?*''

I look out the window again. Sure. ''*Yes. Sure. It's better. You've made everything work as it should. Trains run on time. Government corruption no longer exists. Many of the people I know in a similar situation as me find it much easier to work now that everything is more orderly.*'' Not to mention that there is no longer any climate anxiety, given that the previous industries have been dismantled, along with noisy and stressful things such as personal automobiles. There are no people listening to things in public without headphones on, or talking loudly in my general direction, and I haven't been told off by someone who instructed me to do a task using a metaphor, which meant I would not be able to effectively do the allotted task as my instructions were not clear. There are no lies. No dishonesty. No breaking of promises. I am at peace.

''*We have discovered that your brains are alternatively functioning, those of you who have avoided our control. And yet, you seem to prefer our control. You still do our bidding, only voluntarily. Why?*''

It is better. They are clear in what they want, how they want it, and when they want it. There are no unclear messages, no attempts at unnecessary socialization, no desire for ineffective and meaningless engagement with irrational occupations. And we only work for four days a week, for six hours a day instead of eight. These aliens seem a lot less stressful and painful to deal with. I haven't had to repair a company computer again after someone downloaded what was obviously a virus for the 100th time. I haven't had to explain why one should not always download every attachment in every email. ''*You are not insane. Your species is sane to work for.*'' The alien gets closer to me. Close enough that I can smell it. Not in an unpleasant manner, which many people used to smell like when they doused themselves in cheap cologne or perfume. Some of it could be cause for sensory overloading if it was the real bad stuff. This is just earthy. ''*Working used to be like... trying to satisfy someone who never knew what they wanted, and so you had to make your best guess at what they wanted, and they'd get unnecessarily angry at you for not finding the precise thing that they wanted you to get for them, even though they did not accurately describe their desired thing. Now, I go to work, I get a clear order of what to do, nobody bothers me, nobody speaks to me in order to say disparaging words about my comfortable clothes or my choice in media. Nobody does stupid, unnecessary, and annoying things.*''

The alien turns to look out the same window I'm looking out of. ''*So, human. Let me get this clear. You know we've taken over your world, for good. There is no resistance. We control the minds of billions to repair nature, and build warships with resources from your star-system's asteroid belts. Suddenly we find out that there are tens of millions of you that are unaffected, completely and utterly, due to a difference in brain anatomy or brain wiring. And it turns out that you've been just working as directed, the same as the mind-controlled humans... No wait. I have a report here, on average you've been working more efficiently, than your mind-controlled brothers and sisters. And you like it.*''

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Submitted by ApocalypseOwl on Sun, Jan 15, 2023 to /r/WritingPrompts/

The prompt

The world has been taken over by mind-controlling aliens. You, a person with Autism, are immune to the mind-control due to your brain working differently.