I arrived with the select few hundred –
we chosen ones privileged to make the landing
after our craft had traversed the vast
illimitable distances of interstellar space.
We arrived under cover of darkness;
but the pitch black of this new world’s night
meant nothing to our elaborately-constructed eyes.
Silently we scattered across the terrain,
our goal to mingle with the Earthlings,
to become totally accepted by those humanoids,
to ingratiate ourselves among this inferior species,
to go out, then, and multiply until we became millions;
until we would gradually become their masters,
and the planet, their whole world, would be
subservient to our will.
Over millennia we carried out our plan,
infiltrating the homes and cities of countless cultures,
becoming, before the fools knew it, in total,
absolute control. Superior; exalted; sacrosanct.
They pandered to us, worshipped us, did our every bidding;
and always we were there to willingly accept and glory in
the utterness of their obeisance.
In certain of their kingdoms we became
revered as holy; totems to them; inviolate,
their paragons – their gods. Yes, gods we were
and gods shall evermore remain.
And when the hour comes when I must finally depart
my last allotted life – for we are programmed
for a ninefold term upon the approach of death
to revitalise, to resurrect, to replicate,
I will go imperiously before him whom
our human slaves mistakenly refer to as their ‘God’,
and I will let it be known, and quick indeed had he better be
to comprehend my meaning – that he is sitting in my chair.
For I am Cat.
From ‘Journeys in Time’
© 2023 Dafydd Hughes Lewis. All rights reserved. 
Brilliant! The ending came as a complete shock and made me smile. I love the elaborate preamble and then the answer to the riddle condensed into that all-powerful three letter word!
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Thank you, Jacydo! I love the way you’ve voiced your appreciation, here!
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It’s an incredibly clever piece of writing because, when one goes back, all the clues are there!
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Thank you, Jacydo. I love misleading people … 😀
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Love it. The lengthy description of the alien invasion in what would seem to be the start of an Arthur C. Clarke scenario, building the sense of the forthcoming total and unwitting subjugation of humanity then culminating in that glorious final brief line with all its laugh-aloud shock value.
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Thank you, Roma. I hate those pesky invaders … 😀
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Hah!
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Thank you for that briefest of comments, Cicymru – which says a great deal!
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How very clever you are. I was completely taken in until the very end. Great stuff, Daf! x
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Thank you, Vivienne! I’ve had time to study these extra-terrestrials; one of them has taken over my home.
😀
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This is brilliant! Reminds me of Gongxi and Hwaile, hehe!
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Thank you, Eira! Well, I’ve had plenty of time to study the habits of these extra-terrestrials; one of the species has taken over my home.
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I really loved the imagery and the way I was taken on that journey through it all. I think I felt myself questioning who the aliens were the more I read. What a nice surprise for the ending! It is such a nice opportunity to consider how a story sounds based on the perspective.
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Thank you, Shaquille! Yes, the perspective was certainly intended to mislead until the very end. So glad you liked it.
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Marvellous! This had me intrigued, then smiling, and then laughing. Great stuff indeed!
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Thank you, William. Glad it had that effect on you!
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