Awobua, the king of a small rocky satellite of Mars, known as Mungongoh, had a life’s goal, and this was to rid Earth of all humans and transfer his subjects to it. All the top brains in Mungongoh had thus been concentrated in an institution meant for the development of ideas to conquer Earth, popularly known as the IRDI or Institute of Research for the Development of Ideas. This institution had surfaced with various diabolic ideas, hideous enough to make Lucifer jealous that he was not the author, but which apart from causing much sorrow on Earth had never actually proved efficient enough to rid Earth of all mankind. The king had regularly taken out his frustrations on his servant dwarfs, who were generally the ones in the way when his fists went flying. Apart from being used as side stools, the dwarfs served the king’s favorite drink, mukal. Mobuh, his flabby chief minister was his main liaison with the people of Mungongoh and paid total allegiance to him. Other prominent members of the IRDI, were Dr. Funkuin, Fulumfuchong, and Yivissi.
Prominent among the nonmembers of the IRDI worth noting was Ngess, a simple man who could assess correctly and deduce the right outcome, but like Cassandra in ancient Troy, his opinion, was always sought only after a seemingly impeccable idea had failed. Also worth noting was Nyamfuka, a handsome spy attached to Dr. Funkuin.
King Awobua kept ferocious lions as pets, and the mangled bodies of dwarfs that he often hammered to death as a result of his vicious outbursts of anger were provided as choice tidbits to the lions. Mungongoh citizens that were suspected of treason equally ended up here. A few of the members of the IRDI blamed for having failed to provide the king with the opportunity of taking over Earth also met with death through the champing jaws of the lions.
The last great idea developed by the IRDI was a massive offensive against Earth, and this involved the use of every pestilence available and the neutron bomb. To achieve this, agents had been dispatched in their numbers to Earth to smuggle out and take to Mungongoh, every material or item that would be used in this massive offensive. When some of these agents were apprehended and the disappearance of nuclear materials, samples of deadly viruses, etc. was discovered, there had been general panic.
A crisis meeting of the superpowers had been summoned by the president of America, where it was decided that there should be general alert and complete unity among nations. This meeting had been closely monitored by king Awobua, who discovered that although the earthlings were still fogged as to the origin of their problems, they were determined to fight back. Prodded by a suggestion from Dr. Kini, one of his academicians, the king had decided to suspend the offensive against Earth. All Mungongoh agents had been withdrawn from Earth, while all flying saucer expeditions ceased. King Awobua was waiting for the earthlings to become complacent and forget about the threat from outer space so that he could surprise them with a sudden strike.
On Earth, nations had improved upon their collaboration with each other and ceased all aggressive acts. North and South Korea were now operating on the most cordial terms. China had buried the war hatchet with Taiwan, and the Dalai Lama, who was now living in Tibet, visited China often. The Israeli were assisting Palestine through a lot of construction work and equally had embassies in all the Arab countries, while the Arabs were now speaking about Israel on the friendliest terms. Strategic factories for the production of weapons of mass destruction and other arms were transformed into giant factories for the production of household goods and other harmless but useful items. Even the Soviet Union had jettisoned totalitarianism and the various socialist republics that had existed within the union were now independent democratic countries.
A blissful situation had settled on Earth.
