Buttoned Sky

What if the aliens came not to conquer, but to manage? Strange tentacled Orbs descend wrapped in light, pressing glowing buttons into human hands. These buttons are now the only way to get anything done: food, shelter, work, survival itself. The Orbs are efficient, even kind. They run things better than humans ever did. But something is deeply wrong about being managed, about having every need met by something that is not quite God and not quite master. The buttons work perfectly. That's the horror. Robert W. Krepps wrote this as a sharp, unsettling parable about submission and purpose, about whether humanity wants freedom or comfort more. It sits comfortably beside the best mid-century science fiction that asked: what happens when someone else figures out how to run your life, and runs it well? For readers who like their aliens quiet and their questions loud.