“Police state, that’s what this bloody place is becoming!” Arthur complained, looking up at the mandible poking incongruously from beneath a peaked cap.
The policeman’s protruding eyes swivelled down at him and Arthur noticed the creature’s diaphanous folded wings twitch.
“Look out! Mantra.” said Stan, his companion.
“We are honest, we love the king,” they chanted mentally, feeling the familiar burning sensation as their minds were read.
The policeman seemed satisfied and his towering figure turned away.
“I wish they’d buzz off back to their own planet,” muttered Stan.
“They say they were ‘invited’ here, that’s the problem.”
“Interplanetary immigrants!”
–