Backlash

A charismatic but unsettling encounter sets the tone when an alien refugee from Sirius—known to humans simply as Johnson—steps into a corporate office, offering a seemingly generous proposition. The newcomers, called Ollies, have become eager, almost subservient, fixtures in Earth’s society, providing custom‑built domestic helpers that promise to erase the labor that once required love and money. Their polite deference masks a deeper dependence, and the narrator, a savvy manufacturer of household gadgets, is drawn into a negotiation that could reshape the balance between humanity and its extraterrestrial guests.

Through witty dialogue and vivid world‑building, the story explores how gratitude can be weaponised and what happens when a civilization that prizes freedom begins to outsource its dignity. As the Ollies seek a way to repay a lost space‑drive, the narrator must decide whether to barter technology for a debt that may cost more than cash, hinting at the fragile line between hospitality and exploitation.