It was 1993, the day the alien conquerors came. They came in great ships, blocking out the sun as they always did in television shows and in films. They had but one thing to say, and it was this:

"You have been conquered."

It was a war in which not a single shot was fired. They came quickly, severing communication networks, jamming weapons and shutting down missile installations, all without a single fatality on either side. Except Old Mrs. Henderson, but she died of a heart attack.

The invaders had but one demand, and it was this:

"You will be our food source."

A simple enough demand, but one that swept across the globe. Along with that, the aliens told us just a few things about themselves. They liked their food fresh, for one. And they didn't mind taking their food by force, either. Any bits of information or answers to questions would come after we capitulated. The governments of Earth acquiesced almost immediately, seeking to gain favor, and realizing that they could finally deal with the problems of overpopulation, crime, and homelessness once and for all.

So ended the Era of Man, and began the Era of the Grubnathi.

Fast forward one hundred and twenty years, and here we are. Conqueror and conquered. They were a friendly enough bunch, once you got past the entire invasion thing. We gave them food, they gave us technology, fusion power, medicines - everything we could ever want. And of course, like all good hosts, they sometimes invited humans to their dinners, though if one accepted, you had to be sure that you had quite the strong stomach, or at the very least kept a vomit bag handy.

At first, it wasn't something you spoke about in polite conversation. Over time, it simply became status quo. Now, we barely even notice. Of course, the earth governments (or at least their remnants) are still in shock about one thing.

You see, the Grubnathi are a very hungry race, a voracious race, but that didn't solve the problem of overpopulation. If anything, they made things worse by tripling the human lifespan, ensuring us long and healthy lives. For a conquered people, we lived the life of luxury, and for what price? A little bit of dignity. Apparently, there was a bit of a cock-up in their language department. There was a mistranslation in their original demand - they had never wanted to eat us.

So what did the Grubnathi want from us?

Lets just say that their politicians wear the same shit-eating grin that ours always did… and on the plus side, our sewers have never been cleaner!