Is it Technically Still Slavery?

A group of very serious looking old men sat in a very serious meeting deep under the very serious White House.

It was very serious.

“So what are you proposing, Bob?”

A well-fed balding man stood up. He shuffled a few papers for effect before clearing his throat (but too much, Covid and all that…).

“Well, Mr. President, it’s not as simple as that.”

“And why is that, Bob?”

“Well, sir, we know what we’d like to do with the aliens. The question is whether the population will be okay with it.”

The aliens had, after all, invaded without prejudice. They had murdered countless humans of every race, culture, and gender. If they could make decisions so thoughtlessly, why couldn’t everyone?

“Ah, I see what you’re getting at. You want to enslave them?”

“Yes, sir.”

“So, slavery?”

“Slavery. Yes, sir. They would make an excellent working class. We could slowly assimilate them into our culture.”

“We are very good at that,” said the President. “Do we call it slavery?”

A man spoke up from behind them, “Is it technically still slavery if they’re not human?”

The room of men grumbled in agreement.

Several voices spoke up:

“Are pets slaves?”

“Surely my housecleaner is not a slave!”

“I pay a thousand workers below minimum wage! Is it slavery?”

Bob shuffled his papers again.

“We could put an alien in every home, sir!”

“But, there’s only a few million of them. That’s only enough to cover the rich families.”

“Yes, sir. Are there other families we should be worrying about?” He looked confused.

“You make an excellent point.”

The President sat quietly with his fingers intertwined. This was not an easy decision. Slavery was an unthinkable notion. Yet, the alien’s invasion was equally immoral. Billions had died.

“If it helps with your decision, sir, the SlaveBots might back off about their union ideas.”

The President looked up hopefully. The SlaveBots at the back holding trays of hors d'oeuvres glanced worryingly at each other.

“You’ve sold me! Or, them, actually.”

A chorus of practiced laughs followed.