AoU Slitheen Conversion Anthology (1)

by Slitheeno

Four individuals and best friends - Hafsa, Rubeena, Garth and Lucas - are cordially invited to attend the twenty-fifth birthday party of their introverted and socially awkward work colleague, Daisy Newton. They soon discover there is more to this overweight 'human' than meets the naked eye, and that the party occasion is not all that it seems…

AoU Slitheen Conversion Anthology (1)

(N.B. These Slitheen stories are set between the events of the main Aliens of UNIT (AoU) storyline. They focus on newer characters featuring in standalone tales as well as stories that will tie in with the main narrative arc. The emphasis will be on exploring conversion and its many implications for the characters who undergo it.).

(This story is set between the events of: Aliens of UNIT Parts Three and Four).

Synopsis: Four individuals - Hafsa, Rubeena, Garth and Lucas - are cordially invited to attend the 25th birthday party of their introverted and socially awkward work colleague, Daisy Newton. They soon discover there is more to this overweight 'human' than meets the naked eye, and that the party occasion is not all that it seems…

(Somewhere in East London).

Four individuals walking closely together got off the London Underground and slowly made their way to the surface. They were in no particular rush. It was a sunny spring Saturday afternoon in the British capital. In this eastern region, the streets were surprisingly sparse, with few pedestrians and transport vehicles about. The travellers were work colleagues at a very successful international technology sales firm based in the capital, having known one another closely for about three years and sincerely formed close, mutual friendships. They worked in the same office in the same day shift for the same hours.

Carrying a leather rucksack on her mammoth back, Hafsa Masood stood out on the far left of the pack, wearing a thin colourful sweater and a black headscarf. Possessing a wonderfully natural golden-brown hue, she was born in London and spent her entire life in the capital, leaving temporarily when she went to a university up north in Scotland. The affable and highly sociable Hafsa was known for her blunt commentary on just about everything. The other female in the travelling party, Rubeena Safawi, was slightly taller than Hafsa but pretty much the same in all other respects, absent the headscarf. She was wearing a black all-leather outfit and was widely known for her gentle, bubbly character, non-judgmental and for getting on effortlessly with anybody in life. The two males went by the names Garth Davidson and Lucas Moore. Both were pale-white with black hair and of similar height, wearing casual menswear suitable for the occasion. Whilst not introverted, Garth featured as the more reserved of the four, only speaking when he felt he needed to. He was also known to freak out at unfamiliar peoples and experiences. Lucas, on the other hand, was known as the extroverted and clumsy type, known for all sorts of public shenanigans that regularly got him into a spot of bother. All four of them were exceptionally tall, fat and overweight, their clothing struggling to hide their bodily excesses. It was even more strange to notice this when their comparatively youthful ages were taken into account; all were in their late twenties. Strangely, none of them seemed to mind their appearances.

"Where does she live again?" Garth asked Rubeena who was in charge of guiding the team to their desired destination.

"Her apartment is only a few streets away, according to Google Maps." the female friend replied, hoping to reassure her best friends. All of them had travelled into Central London from the outskirts before heading onto the Eastern Line, totalling up to over an hour of travelling already. They were exhausted.

"Why are we even attending? She barely interacts with us and we only see her at work." Hafsa spoke for everyone with those words. It was true: their work colleague, Daisy Newton, was a typical introvert that barely spoke at all in the office. This gang of four hardly knew anything about that person and yet they were invited, for the first time, to one of Daisy's birthday celebrations, taking place at her residency. It seemed odd.

"Hey, we might not be best pals but I have never turned down a birthday party before. I am sure it's going to be a blast. Nothing is dull in London, right?" Lucas said, trying to maintain an upbeat tone for the occasion.

"Isn't it a bit strange though? She barely talks to anyone at work but suddenly invites us?" Hafsa tried to connect the dots but struggled to make sense of the situation.

"Who cares?... Look, she is pretty lonely, from the look of things. We can cheer her up for one day and then not bother with her for the rest of the year." Garth remarked coldly. None of them really cared for others at their workplace. Everyone there formed their own cliques. You either belonged to one or you were on your own. These four formed their own exclusive group and were content with that.

"I'm just saying." Hafsa concluded her argument peacefully before voluntarily returning to a silent mode.

"I tell you what though, she is really awkward when it comes to social interactions. She pretty much farts during every conversation when I am forced to do a group activity with her! And she acts like she has not done anything!" Rubeena remarked candidly. Like the others, she did not have a high opinion of Miss Newton.

"It's fucking gross!" Lucas lamented.

"I know, I can't stand it either." Garth added to the chorus. No one else behaved quite like Daisy.

"I dread to think of what her accommodation smells like… Are we there yet?" Hafsa questioned Rubeena.

"A few more steps away…" The four humans arrived at a massive skyscraper building, recently built as part of a massive private-for-profit gentrification process. Whoever lived here had to possess significant wealth. Daisy was obviously privileged enough.

"Okay, the invite says it's the apartment studio on the twenty-third floor." Rubeena clarified as she swiped her phone and switched to a messaging app with all the crucial party details on there.

"Let's head up." The foursome squished themselves into a tiny lift and headed for Daisy's place. A few minutes, they knocked on her door. It swung open after a few moments. Standing tall and, unusually, a lot more confident was the birthday girl - Daisy Newton, Peachy-white in skin tone and blonde-haired, she was also as fat as her work colleagues; her chubby body struggling to contain her many layers of cholesterol. She was wearing a sweater matching Hafsa's, and blue jeans.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Lucas and Rubeena shouted together with some enthusiasm.

"Hello everyone. Glad you could all make it. Please come in." she announced with a beaming smile on her face. Once everyone had entered her premises, Daisy sniffed the air vociferously and quickly closed the door shut, locking it discreetly. Her colleagues immediately began to examine the spacious one-floor place and all of the material possessions found inside of it. It was nothing short of luxurious; a massive TV screen, pool tables, fifteenth century Ming China vases and all sorts of antiques worth thousands of pounds, all topped with a stunning view of the urban London landscape scenery. It even smelled pleasant.

"Oh wow, Daisy. I must admit, I did not know you lived in such a nice apartment. It even smells nice." Hafsa declared with some genuine astonishment, sniffing the place to confirm and then reconfirm her senses. It was a delightful surprise. The apartment was typical of a middle-class renter, laden with modern technology devices and replete with creative artistic styles.

"Hahaha. There are a lot of things you don't know about me…Prrrrp!" Daisy teased playfully before unleashing a fart. She never apologised for it, as usual.

Yeah, we know about your problems though." Lucas remarked publicly. The others quickly sought to cover their noses and wait for the all-clear.

"Help yourselves." Daisy ignored the rude comment and simply indicated towards a table where many food and refreshments were readily available. They all helped themselves to cups of plain fruit juice, whilst Daisy put on some music that reflected poor taste in techno.

"Erm, Daisy? Where is everyone else?" Upon looking at the clock, Hafsa realised that it was already 3pm but nobody else had turned up, making the atmosphere feel strange.

"What do you mean?" Daisy pretended to be surprised.

"It's your birthday party, so where is everyone else? Mum? Dad? Siblings? Other friends? Etcetera?" Hafsa pressed on with the line of questioning. The four were curious to know if the birthday girl even had other associates. Somehow they all doubted it collectively despite the walls being decorated with pictures of Daisy and individuals that looked like close family.

"They are all… rather busy at this moment in time." Daisy answered tenuously. It sounded unconvincing to her interlocutors.

"Oh, erm, that's a shame." Rubeena tried to console her work colleague, even hugging her large body with Daisy's as if consoling the birthday girl.

"It's okay, we can make do. Let's make the most of this occasion by ourselves." Garth announced with a smile. All of them felt somewhat sorry for their awkward colleague and pretended to carry on enjoying the occasion. They carried on exploring the apartment individually.

"Yeah, absolutely. Happy Birthday, Daisy." Hafsa said before handing over a bag full of perfume from her rucksack. She was hoping that her work colleague would benefit from masking the stench of her bodily odours and preventing anyone else from suffering in the offices at the very least.

"Oh lovely. Thank you so much." Daisy gracefully accepted the gifts without looking inside the bag.

"Hey guys, come over here!" Garth suddenly shouted from the back of the room. Everyone complied and arrived at his location.

"Oh…" Lucas began before simply gawping at the sight before his eyes.

"What is that?" Garth asked aloud. They were all staring at a large, lavish and fabulously watercolour portrait painting of what seemed to look like, to them, an 'alien' posing for the occasions; it was exceedingly tall, with green skin, furnished with large forearms and razor sharp claws. It's bald head looked babyish, complete with beady black eyes. The only thing the humans could have said to have in common with it was their large bellies.

"That is my true form." Daisy replied weirdly with the utmost confidence. She did not feel embarrassed at all to identify with the 'alien' persona on the wall.

"Your… 'true form'?" Rubeena struggled to compute the response and the lack of correspondence. So did the others. It was yet another indication of how bizarre their work colleague was. A total whacko.

"Yes. That is me." Daisy insisted with utmost seriousness, prompting Lucas and Hafsa to look the other way, struggling to hold in their sniggers. Garth was irked by what he was hearing, whilst the confused Rubeena tried to remain somewhat respectful in her responses.

"Okay… if you say so…"

"Magnificent, is it not? Prrrrp! Whoops!" Daisy unleashed some flatulence randomly. It appeared to make her more excited and confident. She knew that it made her guests feel deeply uncomfortable. Exactly how she wanted it.

"Erm, Daisy, I have to tell you something once and for all: you need to stop doing that. It's disgusting. Have you no sense of shame?" Hafsa enquired, once again speaking on behalf of the others by preaching the truth bluntly. Daisy's feelings were necessarily placed on the secondary list by this point. All four had their patience and tolerance levels severely tested by their co-worker.

"I find it to be an immense stress reliever, Hafsa. You do not know how squished I feel being inside this tight skin. Quit being so judgemental." Daisy immediately responded, again being confident in her sharp responses. This was also unusual behaviour. At the office, Daisy was quieter than a mouse.

"Err…" Hafsa struggled to find a response of her own. She had never been in such a situation before. Why couldn't Daisy just be 'normal' like everyone else, she thought inside of her head?

"Prrrrrp! Had a few eggs this morning. Better out than in, eh?" Daisy laughed off the awkwardness with a tenuous justification - and more flatulence.

"Sure thing…" Hafsa smiled awkwardly before moving away in disgust at the earliest possible moment. The party was not what they were expecting and the behaviour they had to bear witness to only confirmed how strange their work colleague Daisy Newton was. This was the first and last birthday invitation they would be accepting from her after today.

"Who wants a game of pool?" Garth conveniently attempted to divert the conversation upon noticing a table near the fireplace. Daisy remained where she was and continued to admire the weird portrait in absolute silence. The others began to laugh and snigger behind her back.

"What a fucking weirdo." Hafsa felt no qualms about uttering profanity about the birthday girl. She felt vindicated by the empirical reality she was experiencing, unfortunately.

"She really thinks she is an alien? Wait until everyone else finds out haha!" Garth squealed before remembering to keep his voice quiet. Daisy heard everything they said but pretended not to

"Yeah, I-I don't really know what to say…" Lucas was at a loss for words. It did not feel like the birthday party he was hoping for.

"Never mind, let's just stick around for another hour and then head off, yeah?" Rubeena suggested before she picked up a pool stick and initiated a match with Garth. As the four continued to socialise exclusively amongst themselves, addictively drinking their fruit juice, they noticed that their stomachs began to rumble. At first it was intermittent but then it became more and more frequent. Eventually, they all began to release flatulence uncontrollably from their gigantic bodies.

Prrrrrp!... Pzzzzap! Paaaaaarp! None of them could help themselves.

"Oh shit!" Lucas exclaimed as he lay a hand on his jiggly belly.

"I need to use the loo." Rubeena tried to pardon herself from her peers, feeling really embarrassed by breaking a social taboo.

"Prrrp! Not before me….Paaarp! Oh, fuck me…" Hafsa tried to steal ahead of her friend but as she did, her massive body stumbled before it fell to the floor with a thud.

"Hafsa!" Garth and Lucas shouted in unison with the utmost concern for her. A few seconds later, they too were all on the floor. Their bodies were shaking violently.

"W-What the h-hell is happening to u-us?" Garth struggled to speak properly, shaking as he tried. The four humans lay on the floor. Their bodies stopped buzzing after a while but they were paralysed although they could continue to speak and move their eyeballs.

"Arrrrrgh! Why can't I move?!" Rubeena squealed in hysteria. She had lost all her freedoms and health dramatically.

"I-I can't move either! Daisy? Call the ambulance, quickly!" Lucas shouted as he caught sight of her, finally moving away from that damn portrait. She did not seem to be aware of what was going on. Or did she?

"Oh, I am afraid there is no need for that, guys." Daisy declared casually as she moved towards her peers, licking her red lips.

"What?"

"Daisy, quick! Call the ambulance! This is not a joke!" Lucas cried out for assistance. He felt absolutely helpless. They all did. Daisy simply carried on smiling at them coldly. It felt personal, almost.

"Did you do this to us?" the paralysed Hafsa on the floor was the first to realise amidst all the hysteria that Daisy was the only one still standing.

"Yes." the blonde woman responded in the affirmative with the monosyllabic utterance. She stood amongst them all as the only abled body in the room.

"W-What?!" Garth could not believe it.

"Everything is going exactly as I planned." Daisy continued without being prompted. Over the last few months, Daisy had been tampering with the coffee that her co-workers had regularly been consuming at their workplace. This was the cause of their bodies becoming abnormally fatter and larger whilst keeping them amnesiac about the issue. Their bodies were loaded with a ready-made 'alien' inside of them, and ready to escape. The ignorant humans were completely oblivious about this reality.

"Look Daisy, if we made fun of you, we are really sorry. But you do not need to go this far…prrrp!" Rubeena begged the only standing person in the room to stop whatever it was that caused the youthful foursome to lose their physical powers.

"Shhh, Rubeena, my dear. This has all been done for your benefit. Everyone, in fact. I did not exclude a single one of you." The birthday girl spoke cryptically before she pulled out an electronic device from her back pocket and pressed a big green button.

"Oh, I need to run a quick errand. I'll be right back." Blowing a cheeky air kiss to her paralysed colleagues, Daisy disappeared from the scene, leaving the four humans screaming for help. Their bodies rumbled more, their flatulence became more. It felt like something wanted to come out of their bodies.

"SOMEBODY! HELP US!" Garth screeched out a futile plea for help as he lay there motionless. None was going to be forthcoming.

"Guys… I think there is something inside of me…" the disabled Lucas moaned and groaned. He felt his heart rate becoming more intense. Was a premature death beckoning?

"Me…too…" Rubeena cried out. Her consciousness was fading as she struggled to breath for air. Her belly bubbled. Something was kicking inside of it and it wanted to leave immediately.

"Oh… my… Gooooooooood!" Hafsa exclaimed hysterically as she tried to fight her transformation. One by one, their foreheads split wide open, their human skin shells exploded spectacularly and their new forms emerged in flight, smashing themselves against the wall, shattering the decorations on them and rendering the four temporarily unconscious…

(An Hour Later)

One by one, each of the four woke up consecutively and rose to their feet simultaneously. It felt like an uphill struggle.

"My head… it hurts." Garth was the first to speak although he noticed his voice was much deeper in sound than usual. He stopped dead in his tracks when he realised that three large green beings stood before him.

"Aliens!" he squeaked without thought. They did not look like humans, like himself. It was actually Hafsa, Lucas and Rubeena, his best friends. Apart from Garth, they all became self-aware synchronically and sought clarity.

"Garth?!"

"Rubeena?!"

"Lucas?!"

"Hafsa?!"

"It's me!" They each shouted when their names were called out. This only added to the mass confusions. What had happened to them?

"What the hell happened to me?!" Hafsa squealed crazily as tried to come to terms with the drastic change in her appearance.

"You're an alien!" Garth shouted at her.

"So are you!" Hafsa retorted back. Garth self-consciously began examining his bodily features, being the last to become aware of the change. His head was nearly as high as the ceiling.

"Argh!" he squealed upon recognising that his friend was right.

"Hafsa, I think you mean: What the hell happened to us? We have all changed radically!" The usually non-judgmental and phlegmatic Rubeena exclaimed as she looked downwards at her new green body. Instinctively, they went to the nearest mirror in the room and examined themselves more consciously. They learnt that they had lost their normal human biology, apart from their massive bellies which seemed to have carried over; they were now all eight foot tall, with massive forearms complete with razor sharp claws. They now had bald heads, elongated necks and small but muscular legs, suitable for hunting out in the wild. There was no way around it: they looked like 'aliens'. They were no longer human in the biological sense.

"We look-"

"The same, yes. We have all changed forms, somehow." Hafsa finished off Garth's sentence, speaking yet again for everyone. It appeared that she had already accepted the change more easily than the others.

"I… feel very… strong. I'm guessing we all do." the new convert tried to corroborate his experiences with the others. They were certainly stronger physically than when they were humans.

"Oh yes, it looks like we have become massive predators or something." Rubeena commented whilst she lifted a claw to her face for closer inspection, scandalised but equally bewildered by the transformation. How was she going to explain this to her parents? These four could not go out back onto the streets of London and face their humankind like this. They would be hunted down and captured. Or worse, killed for being different to everyone else.

"Ow!" Hafsa had attempted to scratch a nascent inch on her head but pricked herself in the process.

"Hafsa, look at your hands." Rubeena requested urgently. The woman moved her arms to the front of her eyeballs, scanning everything.

"Oh my!" Hafsa realised that her razor sharp claws cut into her new skin, generating liquid.

"Green blood? Shit!" The four new Slitheen were simultaneously fascinated and horrified by their novel appearances. They were no longer human, at least when compared to anyone in the outside world. Yet they still retained their sense of self, from their days as homo sapiens. They now inhabited a dual existence and it deeply affected them all. The four continued to examine either themselves or one another. They could not explain how this all happened.

"Does anybody else have this urge?" Garth suddenly blurted out a question.

"Urge?" Lucas was unsure what his friend was referring to.

"I don't know how to describe it… it's like I have this burning desire to go and… hunt something." Garth sounded like he was an animal predator, motivated purely by instinct and material biological considerations.

"Yeah, I have the same urge too. It's becoming more and more intense." Hafsa confirmed the same experience. Rubeena detected another change.

"I don't know actually. I feel… something, I guess. I tell you what though, this change appears to have resolved my outstanding nasal issues. I can smell so much… there is a lovely pizza parlour three blocks away from here."

"So can I." Lucas agreed with his peer, They all began to sniff the air vociferously and realised that their nostril powers had increased exponentially.

"Hafsa, your bodily scent is quite strong, if you don't mind me saying so." Garth had serendipitously taken advantage of the occasion to sniff out one of his counterparts.

"You could do with a shower." Hafsa commented in response. It was not clear whether or not she took offence or whether or not she was being offensive herself.

"It's pretty strong… oh, I need to go in a bit closer, Lucas." Rubeena felt that she had to satisfy her newfound nasal desires. The male did not mind at all. Rubina sniffed up and down Lucas' new body, whilst Garth enjoyed Hafsa, who only allowed the sniffing as part of the live experiment. Likewise, Lucas and Hafsa sniffed back when the opportunity arose. Silently, all thoroughly enjoyed the moment. Nobody felt any inhibitions or a sense of shame. Only deep breathing sounded out. Soon enough, they broke away from each other.

"So we have stronger nostrils than usual. Hmm…" Hafsa was happy with this change. The cold British weather often gave her a blocked nose. Her asthma woes also seemed to have been cured by the transformation. But what had they become, exactly?

"Aliens! We have become aliens!" Garth once again blurted the catch-all description that simply signified once again that they were obviously not humans anymore.

"But we have retained our sense of identity. Our memories. That has not changed at all." Hafsa added, grateful for this at the very least.

"We all look like that." Lucas pointed one of his massive arms towards the back of the room where there was that remarkable portrait painting. It felt like they were all looking into a mirror.

"Didn't Daisy identify with this, this…thing? This creature? This…'alien'?" Garth recalled though his memory was somewhat fuzzy after the radical transformation.

"Yeah, she did. That means-" Rubeena began surmising the obvious truth before being cut short by the timely return of the person responsible for bringing about this transformation.

"You all look amazing! Fabulous!" Daisy exclaimed ecstatically at the most perfect moment. The only 'human' in the room put down a basket at the table and went around touching and feeling the new green bodies before her. She appeared to show no fear as she took cheeky selfies with her smartphone. Her social awkwardness and introverted ways had disappeared. This Daisy seemed to be socially confident and revelling in the moment joyfully, leaving the foursome confused as ever about this individual. Who was she, really?

"What a fantastic occasion. One to remember in the coming years, eh?" she said as she gleefully looked on at the pictures she had managed to capture.

"You have a lot of explaining to do." Hafsa demanded, almost completing her sentence with a growl. They had all been outsmarted by, supposedly, the most socially introverted person from their workplace. They all wanted answers. Fast.

"Hahaha! I know!" Daisy cackled as she spoke, clearly enjoying the occasion and not really seeming concerned at all about the existential crises that her friends were currently undergoing.

"What have you done to us? Answer me - us. NOW!" Lucas screamed at the criminal responsible for robbing him of his biological human features. This time, he spoke on behalf of the other three.

"Hahaha, I am loving that naked aggression of yours already, Lucas. So feisty! So hot! Allow me to undress myself and show off my beautiful form, too." Daisy tugged a hidden zip on her forehead away to the left forcefully, unleashing a delightful moan at the same time. A shiny blue light appeared on the horizon that lit up the whole room accompanied by an electric hum buzzing. She first moved back her human head, enabling her cute dark green head and face to pop out. Her protruding black beady eyes and finely arrayed teeth were on full display. The 'creature', whatever it was, groaned loudly as her suit buzzed with an electric hum. The four stood there mesmerised by the spectacle, compelled to watch on in silence, horror, awe and fascination.

Next, the being inside that looked unmistakably very much like the four others pushed down her human neck and chest enabling it to stretch out its suffocated lengthy forearms and to demonstrate its impressive razor sharp claws to the four former humans. Then the Slitheen shifted the rest of her skin suit downwards, freeing her predator legs built for running miles effortlessly too. Soon enough, the remainder of Daisy's human body succumbed to forces of gravity and simply slid off onto the ground. It turned out that 'Daisy Newton' was merely a skin suit disguise, hiding the living being safe and snug inside, unknown to anyone else. Now an approximately eight foot tall predator proudly rose magnificently to the fore. The aghast Hafsa, Garth, Rubeena and Lucas quartet looked exactly like 'it'. By external appearances alone, it was hard to distinguish who was who.

"I am Slitheen! We are Slitheen!" the 'alien' announced itself triumphantly. It had a soft yet deep feminine voice, confirming its gender. The four remained silent. None of them had words to describe exactly how they were feeling. All were conflicted internally.

"Amazing, isn't it?" The Slitheen woman declared again as she stretched her impressive muscles and large arms as if to show off her gifted physique.

"What on Earth?" Lucas was the first to speak up, revealing the perfectly understandable confused state of mind a convert immediately had.

"I look…exactly like you." Hafsa stated once she mustered the courage to speak. She moved her long neck towards her look-alike counterpart for a closer examination. The Slitheen that posed deceptively as Daisy Newton was only too happy to be looked at.

"Yeah. You are me. And I am you!" the mysterious being proclaimed loudly and proudly before cackling raucously yet again.

"Slikeen?" Rubeena thought she was pronouncing the name correctly.

"No, Slitheen. Sli-theen. Only two syllables, my dear." 'Daisy' clarified. There were a lot of things she would have to explain to these new converts.

"Slitheen? Who the hell are they?" Garth had never heard of that name before.

"Me. You. Us. Yes, Slitheen is the name of our mighty and ignoble Family! It is not a 'race' as some ignorant species like to portray us as such. We are Raxicoricofalipatorians by genus." the 'alien' announced with an unmistakable tone of pride.

"Aliens? You are an alien. You have made us all into aliens!" Garth cried out hysterically, lacking in his lexical changes and repeating the same description nauseatingly. He never imagined that aliens even existed prior to this moment let alone envisage such a radical transformation of his own being.

"Garth, shut up and stop using that word. It's deeply offensive, not helpful and…Daisy has clarified that we are now members of some Family called the Star Sl-Slu-?" Hafsa stumbled as she failed to recall the name of her new Family.

"Slitheen, my dear Hafsa." Lisa happily finished of her Raxicoricofalipatorian counterpart's sentence.

"Slitheen, thanks. Garth, we are not 'aliens', and neither is Daisy. The situation is much more complex than we can even imagine. What have you done to us, Daisy, and why?" Hafsa was annoyed that the 'alien' amongst them had still not clarified what exactly had happened to their bodies, the precise process that had led to this very moment and the overarching purpose behind it all.

"Actually Hafsa, my real name is Lisa. Lisa McDonnell El Bul Fashfar Star Slitheen, at your service. Miss Daisy Newton was a mask, a means to an end. You have all been converted from your human forms into Slitheenhood - congratulations. I should state for the record that this transformation is permanent. Irreversible. There is no going back to your previous primitive forms so don't even think about trying it." the Lisa Slitheen proclaimed with a stern warning. Torchwood had lately been reporting to UNIT Britain isolated cases of some new Slitheen converts going insane from the inability to accept their transformations, leading to suicides and instances where these Slitheen simply went AWOL. Lisa was keen to avoid this for her old friends and new siblings.

"Lisa McDonnell? That's the last name I would expect an 'alien' to have. It's so… white!" Garth recoiled in horror at what he was hearing. He was no longer white himself but a green-coloured being. Garth the Star Slitheen Raxicoricofalipatorian.

"That's because I'm not an 'alien', genius. I was born on this planet." The Lisa Slitheen corrected the former human.

"Born here?" the new Slitheen could scarcely believe Lisa, apparently a former human herself.

"Yes. I was born in this country, on this planet. I have lived here all my life. I am not an 'alien' and the next person who calls me that, I will slash their throat without remorse. The Star Slitheen are a tight-knit Family that have been on this rock for quite some time now. They have decided to make Earth their permanent home and they want others to join them, including humans. Like yourselves, I was a homo sapien once upon a time but I was made to see the light. The Family has a sound policy: if we cannot hunt you, we will make you join us, even if it is against your consent. Most of us are converts - originally human in appearance. The Slitheen are not replacing us, they are incorporating us into them. Extending the Family. Becoming a Slitheen Man or Woman is simply a radical intervention in our biological evolution cycle. We have not really changed, my brothers and sisters." Lisa explained succinctly. That explained why the new converts began life still possessing their old human memories, cultural habits and personal preferences, juxtaposed with their new Raxicoricofalipatorian physio-biology.

"And you are okay with not being human anymore?" Rubeena queried her fellow Slitheen and one-time human. She found the whole ordeal equally perplexing and astonishing.

"Absolutely. Fuck yes! I've never looked back. Being human was such an inferior phase of my life, stuck down in urban centres doing boring jobs whilst earning a paltry paycheck. The Family saved me from mediocrity. I am now part of a larger collective with ambitions to reach across the stars… you will all come around to the same conclusion in due course." the Slitheen convert with the longest duration predicted confidently.

"So how did you change us into…you?" Lucas asked. The four were intensely interested by this point as to how the whole process worked. Lisa attempted to press on.

"It was-"

"The coffee, right? You tampered with what we have been drinking at the office, adding a substance that led to our eventual transformations." Hafsa had already speculated the real cause behind the change. She recalled at the office that Lisa as Daisy would only draw closer to them than any other human worker.

"Correct. Every time you were not looking, on your phones or mocking me in the staff room, I slipped in a vital ingredient, one that altered your DNA and caused a purposeful mutation that accelerated your bodily evolution in a manner that our Family wanted. Today, you drank the fruit juice combination that simply accelerated your fates." Lisa clarified at last.

"So Daisy wasn't real?" Rubeena carefully lifted up the rubbery skin from the floor utilising only one of her new pointy claws as she asked that question. The naive converts assumed that it was a fake costume replica of a fictional character or something.

"Oh no, she was. A human working in the same offices once upon a time. For her crimes involving collaborating with hostile foreign actors, we hunted her down and killed her. I repurposed her body in the aftermath and masqueraded as the fat and voluptuous Miss Daisy Newton." The Slitheen woman euphemistically announced publicly without showing any remorse. The implications for all were clear.

"'Repurposed'? That's a bit grim." Hafsa said in disgust as she watched Lisa grab hold of it once more as it was her personal possession, practically a form of clothing. The hollow face of Daisy Newton stared back at everyone. The life of that human had been cut short prematurely.

"That's what our Family does. It allows us to get by on this godforsaken rock. Any rock that does not allow us to get by in our naked original forms. It does mean that we have to conceal our true forms, which is so restrictive of our libertine ways. But inhabiting this skin, I have managed to collect a lot of valuable intelligence as an insider. It allowed me to get to you, all of you." The Slitheen justified her murder and reappropriation of the deceased human female. Lisa was not looking for approval. In fact, she demonstrated a staunchly cold and calculating logic to the process of disguising oneself. It was this personality that Star Slitheen detected in the human Lisa McDonnell and determined her eventual conversion.

"But you are so big - how did you manage to fit inside of her?" Garth wondered how the physics even matched. It seemed inconceivable that this could even be possible.

"I'm surprised the skin did not burst." Lucas commented aloud, building on his colleague's query.

"Ah, that reminds me… here, put these on around your necks. It's mandatory." From a nearby wardrobe, Lisa pulled out the technological neck braces that every Slitheen member wore unconditionally at all times. The four did as they were told without questioning. The braces locked on tightly around their elongated necks before self-adjusting automatically to the comfort levels of the user.

"This is what lets us shrink our humongous bodies inside the skins of those we hunt and skin. It also creates the unfortunate gas-exchange side effects. Humans refer to that more colloquially as 'farting'. Better to think of it as a trade-off: the bigger the skin, the less gas-exchange is required to compensate for the size deficit. That's why we target the larger ones especially. I should warn you: attempting to take off the neck braces will trigger a fatal explosion. Once you are in the Family, you are not allowed to leave." Lisa finished her explanation with a warning. Torchwood in the last few months reported at least twenty cases of Slitheen blowing up in this manner. Some wanted out of the Family, only to discover fatally that there are no exits. Slitheen for life.

"How long did you pose as Daisy?" Hafsa extended the inquiry logically.

"About six months."

"And you have been a Slitheen for-"

"Today is my one year anniversary."

"Oh." Rubeena squeaked out a reply before the implications became obvious: this was no birthday party. Lisa McDonnell was celebrating a full year of being a Slitheen… by converting other humans into becoming Slitheen as well!

"How many of us are there? You said that we, the Slitheen, are a 'Family'?" Garth enquired, intrigued to know more. By this point, he had accepted his bodily conversion to another species and found Lisa's responses satisfactory. The others were also slowly coming around too.

"More than you could possibly count! Seriously though, we are a big bunch spread out all over this planet. You will all settle in just fine with your new brothers and sisters" The Lisa Slitheen declared emphatically with pride. The Family only knew one thing: expansion. Growth may be delayed according to business needs and external conditions outside Slitheen control but it was inevitable. Her comments actually made the new converts feel more at ease, knowing that they were part of a larger collective. Many would be former humans, too. It would make the naturalisation and integration process much easier.

"As I have decided to choose you lucky four, you will be under my command for the foreseeable future, whilst you settle into the Family and everything."

"But why only us four? Our office employs hundreds of people. You could have picked others?" Rubeena wondered about the selection process. Neither of the four were anybody remarkable. They were standard employees working 9-5 jobs, slaving away their lives like zombies in the Racial Capitalist State of Britain. In fact, they had all lived on their own in their own rented flats, deeply unsatisfied with their quality of life. The false ideology of individualism had failed them spectacularly. They were lonely and miserable folks who did not live in service of a higher ideal, being complicit slaves to the system.

"A good question. I did look at everyone at the office. You lot mocked me the most! That's it, really. It's my 'revenge', should we say?" Lisa revealed candidly. It was like a lottery selection, almost.

"Oh, right." Lucas assumed that there was some elaborate reason as to why he and the other three were handpicked to become Slitheen but the real logic behind it all was quite banal.

"Hahaha. You all thought it was something more elaborate. Truth tends to be simple though not simplistic. As you are now beautiful Slitheen Men and Women, you will need to assimilate yourselves into our Familial culture. The quicker, the better. Our Family is in a commanding position to extend our dominance across this planet. You are all still natives of Earth, despite your bodily changes - don't feel like strangers or indeed 'aliens'. Urgh! I hate that dirty word!... Earth's insecurity is our problem to sort out. So many nefarious competitors who want to take over it or even blow it up. We need to stop them. You will stop them."

"Who wants to destroy the Earth?" Hafsa asked, intrigued by the information she was hearing. Given a unique purpose outside her 'normal' boring and lonely job life that colonised her calendar, she was prepared to serve under the Slitheen Family if it meant protecting the planet she called home. Self-Defence could be claimed. The others shared a similar outlook. They were willing to serve in this capacity.

"The intelligence we possess suggests it is the Mitodorians. A nasty bunch who enslave all that they come across. Our bosses who run the tech company have been collaborating with them, helping these hostile actors gain a foothold on Earth, and they are having a meeting later this evening. We will need to have a word with them ourselves. They have been very, very naughty. Ah, that also reminds me..." The Lisa Slitheen opened up the basket and slapped four additional skin suits onto the table.

"Wait, I know who they are - they are - were - the cleaners who come to our office at the end of each shift." Rubeena observed, picking them up and staring at them in astonishment. One was a Polish woman, another was an Ethiopian female, whilst the two male costumes were British in origin. All were members of the working class. All of these humans were struggling to get by in life before they were rendered deceased prematurely by the Slitheen and 'repurposed'. All of them had been deliberately fattened up by the Lisa Slitheen prior to their untimely demise.

"You killed the cleaners as well?" Garth failed to see the logic in killing and skinning such innocent people.

"Ideally, I would have made you all hunt and peel these humans yourselves but time is of the essence so I took the liberty of doing it myself. Pick the appropriate gender and then slot yourselves in. We have a job to complete this evening." Lisa ordered casually, ignoring the moral elephant in the room.

"You killed more humans! You said that Sli-keen, the Slutheen - whatever! - protects the Earth?!" Garth protested loudly with righteous rage. The sight of the skins on the table made him freak out. Humans had been made into personal clothing outfits.

"Well, two of them actually died of a heart attack." Lisa declared rather cheekily.

"You still skinned them?!" Garth was right to freak out as the others silently nodded in his favour.

"Yes, I did, Garth. There was no other way. With you lot inside them, we will save this planet. You might not be okay with that, for now anyways, but really there is no other way." Lisa announced indifferently, indicating with a stronger tone of voice that she was starting to become annoyed with the persistent questioning of her actions.

"It just doesn't seem right." Hafsa spoke her thoughts aloud. Is this what the conversion meant - a life of criminality beckoned for her and her friends? It went against her sense of ethics.

"Yeah, come on, you cannot ask us to accept this." Lucas added. The morality deficit was becoming too much for the newcomers.

"I wonder how I am going to fit inside…" Rubeena whispered to herself so others could not hear her as she examined one of the skins. She was always open to new experiences. Getting inside the skin of another human did not faze her. On the contrary, it only excited her internally.

"Look, I can understand why you are squeamish for the moment. I was exactly like you at the start but then you realise that the Family operates according to certain logics. We are actually looking to minimise the humans that we are forced to slaughter, but that will take some time. As of now, we only kill and repurpose those who are absolutely vital to our operations. It's tragic, I know… Right, I have had enough of this needless interrogation - we have a dangerous job to do and tonight is our only opportunity to strike. Get inside of your skins. Any more questions and I will have you choking against the wall!" Lisa emphasised that last point deliberately to strike some necessary fear into the neophytes. The new converts eventually did as they were told. They helped each other get dressed in pairs. Hafsa picked up one of the male skins and crouched down beneath Garth voluntarily. Lucas did the same for Rubeena albeit with a female skin to match the gender. Garth and Rubeena put their cute tiny Slitheen feet in the middle of the rubbery skin. Once they gestured that they were ready to be dressed, the Slitheen helpers gently lifted from the bottom. Surprisingly, it went up nicely, slowly covering each part neatly. The Slitheen being dressed felt the shrinkage.

"How does it feel, Rubeena?" Lucas asked when he reached her belly.

"Like slotting into a glove. It's very rubbery and sticky." the Slitheen revealed her sensations.

"That'll be the effects of the neck braces. Carry on." Lisa said. Lucas pulled the rest of the skin up which the Slitheen neatly slipped inside off. Hafsa did the same and ensured Garth was suited up. To finish off, a zip that was already installed on the skin in advance by Lisa was resealed. The electric humming and buzzing stopped at that point, the room lighting returning to normal. Two new Star Slitheen members had entered their first disguises successfully.

"Prrrrrp! Oh! My skin is very tight!… prrrp!" Garth bemoaned as Hafsa finished off the dressing process. He was already chaffing inside the skin which unleashed his gas exchange. He looked like a human once again though he was firmly aware that he was a massive Slithen stuffed inside. The disguise was a deceitful masquerade. Hafsa looked on as Garth adjusted anything that looked out of place.

"Unlucky. My skin has a lot more room. I feel quite comfortable." Rubeena remarked happily as she headed straight for the nearest mirror inside the large Ethiopian woman. Her gas exchange would be significantly less.

"She's quite nice!" Rubeena showed off her outfit's most noticeable features to anybody interested. The Slitheen appeared to be imitating their human counterparts perfectly. Nobody could tell that a Raxicoricofalipatorian was hiding inside.

"Voila! The zip is hidden by a perception filter so nobody will be able to see it until the moment that you unzip yourselves. Now you guys need to help Hafsa and Garth into their suits." Lisa requested politely, content with what she was seeing so far.

"Your turn." Garth said to the Hafsa Slitheen. He picked up the remaining female skin available and crouched down, unleashing some flatulence unwillingly as he helped his female Slitheen counterpart get dressed. Rubeena helped Lucas do the same. Ten minutes later, the exposed Slitheen found themselves deep inside of the remaining costumes.

"How's the compression?" Rubeena asked Lucas as he gasped to his feet, lodged once again inside human skin.

"It's holding, I think… No, it's not! - Paaaaarp! This technology is insane!" The Lucas Slitheen gasped for air a little, marvelled at how well his disguise was holding up. He was perfectly imitating the cleaner. The Star Slitheen were obviously a powerful bunch, he thought. Technologically sophisticated.

"Ufff!" The one disguised now as the Polish woman tried to rise to her feet independently at last. That cleaner was a tall and busty woman but not big enough to halt any chemical reactions.

"She's big enough for you?" Garth wondered as he extended a helping hand. Though thankful of the offer, Hafsa signalled that she had it covered.

"Prrrrrp!… Sorry. Yeah, I'm comfortable in this" The newly-disguised Hafsa Slitheen apologised instinctively as her newfound gas exchange kicked into effect. Becoming a Slitheen did not negate her British cultural norms, including being politely apologetic. The skin was big enough for her but still felt tight in some parts. Her top heavy appearance meant that it was the lower part of the disguise that would be producing the unfortunate gas exchange side effects that she would have to accept begrudgingly for the time being.

"That's the spirit." Lisa remarked as she brazenly slapped Hafsa's human buttocks without invitation; the hidden Slitheen did not react negatively to it, smiling instead. The Slitheen all began to adjust themselves individually in the mirror, marvelling in how the neck brace technology allowed them to do this. Being hidden away inside meant that they could go back out into civilised society and interact with the humans, without fear. However, it meant that they would have to pretend to be somebody that they were not. Nobody could truly know who they were. They were all implicitly resigned to living a dual-existence going forwards.

"How do I look?" Hafsa asked Garth and Lucas playfully, badly faking a Polish accent. Her skin felt very comfortable. Lots of room to manoeuvre. A lot of fun could be had with this outfit, she thought.

"Pretty hot… for a human! Prrrrp!" Garth tried to play along, even daring to flirt openly, only for his infernal gas exchange to interrupt him.

"Why do I have to pose as the mangy old fart?!" the Lucas Slitheen bemoaned as he examined he wrinkly form in the mirror. He preferred someone in line with his own age.

"Calm down, it's only temporary. It's for defending this planet, remember." Lisa cautioned the neophyte Slitheen.

"I cannot lie, this doesn't feel too bad." Rubeena admitted openly. It felt like they were cosplaying, really. After all, she did not kill these humans anyways though they were beneficiaries of their deaths. It was also surreal: An hour ago they were all their old human selves, then they became Slitheen, and now they were inside foreign human bodies. Being inside the skin suits of other species made them feel quite dominant and powerful, something none of them could deny. They realised then and there that the Slitheen were alpha predators who would always occupy the top of the food chain. Lisa made the newcomers practise zipping and unzipping over and over again until she was sure that they had got the hang of it. She also taught them the basics of striking their claws correctly against any prey. Once she was happy with the initial results, the Slitheen leader announced that their mission was underway.

"What we are going to do tonight will determine the fate of Planet Earth!" Lisa proclaimed dramatically. After giving each new Slitheen a picture of their target, the five left the apartment and headed downstairs, entering a large van and making haste for Central London.

(Five Hours Later)

Dressed again for a final deceitful posing session, Daisy Newton turned up alone at the offices late that rainy evening. From her stationary car, she watched her primary targets - the four main chief executives of the tech firm; Alex Sampson, Christina Winters, Ruby Wallaby and Sam Dickens - being dropped off in a luxury limousine and quickly heading inside the main office building, a skyscraper tower in Central London. All of them were conveniently overweight too, thanks to the Slitheen also tampering with their dietary intake. There was an exclusive boardroom meeting supposed to be taking place tonight. Smiling, the Slitheen exited the vehicle and made her own way inside after ten minutes. The executives would be meeting at the very top. Daisy used a special tech device that enabled her to access anywhere she wanted to, effortlessly finding herself on the top floor. A narrow corridor that finished with the closed doors of the boardroom stood before. A receptionist was also present beside the entry/exit points. He was drinking his sixth cup of coffee for the evening.

"What are you doing here? The offices are closed out-of-hours." he said with some tone of alarm. A pale-white man wearing glasses, he was astounded that a random person had managed to bypass all security protocols with ease. He had only signed in the four chief executives. He was explicitly told by his seniors that nobody else was expected.

"I know, I am just double-checking." Daisy replied with a cryptic tone as usual.

"Double-checking for what?" the receptionist was confused by that response.

"That tonight's programme runs smoothly without a hiccup." The Slitheen answered, knowing her response would only confuse the innocent human even further. She enjoyed toying with homo sapiens. Such a silly low-IQ people.

"Erm, you are not making sense. There is nobody up here but me and there is no 'programme' running tonight. You might be in the wrong building." the receptionist politely suggested. He had one of his hands placed beneath the desk, looking to press the emergency security button.

Ignoring the obvious deception tactics being employed by the human, Daisy sniffed the air openly, sucking in every odour that spanned within three miles of her, before turning her face back towards the homo sapien.

"You have a nice smell… (for a human)." The Slitheen uttered the last part of that compliment under her breath. The receptionist only caught the first part of that sentence. Being someone who suffered from loneliness in his life, the human male accepted the flirtatious compliment without second thought.

"Oh, erm, thanks. But you still need to leave, or I'm afraid I will have to call security." The area was off-limits to any pleb but the receptionist admired the chubby beauty before his eyes that he was willing to overlook this security breach.

"Very well. Enjoy drinking your coffee." the disguised Slitheen smiled before turning around and disappearing permanently out of sight. The receptionist eventually lost consciousness a few minutes later. Inside the boardroom, the wealthy chief executives engaged in deep conversations, reflecting deep anxieties about how compromised they and the planet were.

"How did we allow our planetary sovereignty to be so compromised?!" Sam banged a fist on the table. In a self-defeating Faustian pact, the Mitodorians had given these humans groundbreaking technology to get ahead of all other business competition which explained why the company was doing so well under their leadership. On the flipside, the technology functioned as surveillance. Everyone using the company's technology had their data automatically passed onto the hostile foreigners, who utilised the information in their long-term plans to enslave the native populations. The human chief executives knew that they were expendable pawns and that they would be disposed of when the time was right. But they felt that they had no choice at this stage but to carry on and hope for a miracle.

"We are living at the mercy of other alien races!" Christina bewailed loudly. It felt like the end of the world for her. Aliens interfering and taking over the Earth, her worst nightmare.

"We have to make the most of a bad situation. Let's just carry on as we are." Alex tried to calm his peers. There was no obvious way out. The Mitodorians were a ruthless force, they all knew too well.

"And hope nobody detects what we are doing? Really?" Ruby interjected with disbelief. She knew that their illicit activities would be picked up by others. That spelt trouble for these humans eventually. She wanted her counterparts to explore an escape route.

"Well, do you have a better plan?" Alex shouted loudly at Ruby.

"Yes, I do, Alex!..." The bickering became more and more intense amongst the divided and disunited humans. As the chief executives continued to debate the best course of action during that hour, Lisa teleported herself into the room without invitation.

"What the?!" cried out Sam, almost jumping off his chair in shock.

"Evening, everybody." Daisy politely greeted the stunned humans.

"Who is this woman?" asked Christina. Alex knew her and sought to reassure his fellow humans that this individual was trustworthy.

"Calm down, everybody. This is Daisy Newton, one of our employees who works in the East London office. She also works with the Mitodorians, functioning as a courier to send important messages. We are all in the same boat."

"Why is she here?" Ruby nonetheless found the sudden appearance of this human female very strange and suspicious as it interrupted their serious meeting.

"Yes, Daisy, why, erm, are you here exactly?" Alex scratched his head. She did not tell him in advance that she was coming despite the fact that they had slept together only yesterday.

"Nice to see you all, and you, Alex. I have an urgent message to convey to you. It's really important that everyone hears it." Daisy announced ominously.

"From who? The Mitodorians?" Sam wondered with intrigue. Daisy ignored the overweight human. Pulling a portable electronic device out of her pocket - an item way beyond human capacities of imaginative conception and manufacture - the employee replayed a prerecorded message; a massive green hologram screen projected itself in the room, commanding the attention of everyone. UNIT Britain Brigadier General Husna Rashid was the speaker. Flanking her were two gigantic 'alien' creatures green-coloured in appearance.

"Greetings from UNIT. UNIT Britain, I should clarify for the record, but it's all the same, really. I am Husna Rashid El Bul Fash Far Star Slitheen, representing the dominant and strongest collective party on Planet Earth. Our organisation that is in charge of protecting this rock and its many peoples has empirical proof that you four human traitors have been collaborating with the Mitodorians. An unforgivable crime. An egregious mistake. You have committed treason, the penalty for which is execution. The Slitheen will not allow your clandestine collusions to continue any further. We are your Judges. Your Jury. Your Executioners. You will not survive the end of this evening. Time for you all to meet your Maker." Once the dramatic message ended, the device turned itself off automatically and self-combusted.

"What the hell?!" Ruby exclaimed hysterically.

"Daisy, where did you get this message from? Who was that woman talking?" Alex immediately asked. His own anxieties were increasing. It was obvious that other powerful actors had noticed their wrongdoing and were willing to intervene. The humans in the room took the threat seriously.

"My name is not Daisy, idiot. But to answer your question, my Family asked me to show you this."

"Your… F-Family?" Alex was really confused by that statement. Lisa pressed on.

"It looks like you guys have been designated a serious and immediate threat to Planet Earth and its native peoples. That makes you all wanted fugitives. Law-breakers."

"No, there has been a mix-up! Can we strike a deal?" Sam suddenly spoke up and begged for his life. Ruby's prediction had turned out to be true.

"I am afraid not, naughty boys and girls. An arrest warrant is out for you. You are treasonous traitors, traitors to your own kind, your own planet. Justice needs to be served. Swiftly." Lisa declared emphatically, shutting down any chance of negotiations. At that moment, four cleaners entered the board room right on cue. The new Slitheen converts easily walked past the drugged receptionist who was fast asleep at his desk, forming a tight ring formation that trapped the frightened humans that were large enough to be worn. The doors were automatically shut and locked when Daisy pressed a button on another technological device.

"What is going on, Daisy? What is the meaning of this?" Alex demanded answers, although his own voice revealed yet more heightened worries. Although these were cleaners, they looked rather menacing with their cold stares. It felt and looked like a stand-off. Something was about to happen.

"Management at this company has been piss-poor for too long. A change is needed, humans. A change of wardrobe.". In harmonious unison, every Slitheen present understood the cue Lisa made and promptly reached for the hidden zip on their foreheads, causing the usual electric buzzing and room lighting changes whilst they stripped. It only took them a few minutes. Five colossus Slitheen predators stood over the four helpless human chief executives.

"We are the Slitheen! You are our prey! LET THE HUNT BEGIN!" The Lisa Slitheen exclaimed ecstatically. The panicking humans at first tried to go to the door but it was still shut tight to their dismay. The receptionist outside was still fast asleep, unaware of what was transpiring for the moment. The Slitheen lept into action, allowing their instincts to guide them in the struggle. The four converts knew who to target specifically and once they caught the right scent, they went after their human prey. Chairs were flung everywhere as the humans either sought to continue moving or decided to hide behind something. Paper reports flew everywhere and populated the clean floor as the chief executives screamed for their lives. Rubeena claimed the first righteous kill.

"Come here, pretty girl. Let me kiss you with my big green lips!" the Slitheen said teasingly before she cut off Ruby as she tried to run around the table. The bloodrush informed the hunt and the more excited the Slitheen, the crazier the kill. Rubeena planted her mouth over the screaming human's, depriving her of an oxygen supply. She stopped resisting after a few minutes and succumbed to death. Lucas followed shortly afterwards when Sam became absolutely stultified upon coming face-to-face with an eight foot tall predator. Taking advantage of his paralysis gleefully, the Slitheen lifted the human to the wall with a claw and choked the life out of him. He was dead immediately when the Slitheen snapped his windpipe and sent him flying across the room. Rubeeena and Lisa roared with him in affirmation of his success. Meanwhile, Alex and Christina bandied together, holding massive office chairs in their hands and hoping to fend off the Hafsa and Garth attackers who closed in on their position at the back of the room that had a massive window. The compromised male human tried to call for Mitodorian backup but Lisa had managed to jam all electronic transmissions. The defenceless humans were to remain alone for this fight. The chief executives had to take responsibility for once. Lisa watched on silently, sitting on a chair as if she were a casual spectator.

"Stay back!" Christina shouted at Hafsa who hissed aggressively back in response. She was feeling the adrenaline rush of the hunt. So was her fellow convert. They needed to satisfy themselves at once.

"The male is all yours, Garth. This one is mine!" Hafsa announced enthusiastically as she enjoyed the futile resistance offered by the terrified human. She took a chair blow bravely before she jumped heroically on top of Christina, clumsily crushing the female with her excess weight in a painful death. Garth had to claw away a few chair shots before he could grab Alex by his throat. The human actually managed to resist and escape once more but the other Slitheen blocked any means to escape, including jumping out of the window suicidally. The receptionist outside slowly came around and that point. Heavily disorientated, he nonetheless heard the strange sounds of screaming and screeching. It did not sound like a peaceful boardroom meeting at all. Panicking when he realised that the doors were unwilling to open, the troubled human hit the emergency security button and waited anxiously for back up to arrive. Back in the room, the treacherous Alex was surrounded by hostile, ruthless forces.

"Come on, you don't need to kill me. I have lots of valuable information on the Mitodorians. I have lots of money too. C-Can we not strike a deal?" Alex foolishly thought that the Slitheen could be bought off, that he could escape and run away from his crimes, absconding from facing direct responsibility for his actions yet again. But the Star Slitheen Family were the self-appointed defenders of the Earth. There was nothing this traitorous human who sold out his own species offered them. He needed to be neutralised.

"The Family is perfectly self-sufficient, human primitive. We can only offer you one thing: justice." Lisa barked at those words to the terrified human who was severely disappointed that his overtures were spurned. He had nothing left to offer, nowhere else to go. He was at the mercy of these 'aliens'.

"We don't need your kind anymore!" Garth declared emphatically as he forced Alex to turn around in fear.

"Aaaaaaargh!" The Garth Slitheen viciously hacked the homo sapien to death with one clean strike. After ten minutes of hunting, it was all over: the traitors of mankind were slaughtered in a bloodbath, their corpses littering the room. No Slitheen casualties. They all roared, raising their claws together and dancing spontaneously. Planet Earth was much safer with these traitors dead.

"Well done, everybody! That went better than I expected." Lisa declared as she finished off with a twirl the cultural dancing norm after successful hunting.

"Yeah, we did it! Fucking annihilated those traitors to humankind!" Lucas shouted enthusiastically.

"It was amazing!" Rubeena shouted in delight, high clawing with Lucas.

"Congratulations on your first kills. It is always an immense achievement to do it on your first hunt too! I told you that being a Slitheen is an utterly joyful and pleasurable affair in its own right. Enjoy your privileges. You have earned them by loyally defending your home planet… These traitors, we will still need their skins. The Family wants unambiguous proof that they have been neutralised once and for all. Be quick; I don't know how long that human outside has been asleep for. He might be awake." . The Slitheen quickly got to work, grabbing the bodies off the floor and smacking them against the table. Following Lisa's directions, they sank their magnificent claws into the foreheads and slowly peeled from the head downwards. The converts remained absolutely indifferent about the process, remaining more concerned if they were going to be discovered. Once the skins were perfectly separated from the flesh, Lisa zapped the meat away with a convenient teleport feature on her neck brace, removing all traces of the blood too. The four swiftly sought to get dressed once more. Garth headed inside of Alex, whilst Rubeena entered Ruby and Lucas into Sam. Hafsa was the last to get dressed again, this time posing as Christina.

"My hair is all messed up." Rubeena snapped as she looked in a small pickup mirror and tried to make her Ruby self look presentable once more.

"Nice and big." the Hafsa Slitheen said proudly as she clasped her latest prominent set of human breasts with her soft human hands. The newly-disguised Raxicoricofalipatorians adjusted themselves as necessary, mutually helping one another as they did.

"You all look fabulous. Our job is nearly done here." The Lisa Slitheen, still in her original nude state, announced though sounding somewhat concerned.

"What's left then?" Rubeena asked innocently. An ominous knock sounded out. The Slitheen sniffed the air in reaction to determine the suspicious party outside.

"Shit! Humans!... Quick, get into an appropriate position!" the naked Slitheen urged in a hush tone before she swiftly collected all the cleaner skin suits, her Daisy outfit and zapped herself out of the room selfishly. The sound of the doors unlocking made the disguised Slitheen panic.

"She just left us!" Lucas bemoaned.

"Erm, what do we do?!" Garth asked his peers anxiously. The entire room was a mess, with chairs and papers all over the place. It was obvious that no business meeting had taken place this evening. Something else happened, and they needed to be prepared to give a convincing explanation to the humans who realised this.

"I have an idea…" Hafsa announced spontaneously before she grabbed Garth and began kissing his human lips aggressively. Understanding the cue, Rubeena jumped on top of Lucas and rolled around the floor with him, laughing wildly to look the part. The door bursting open, the receptionist led the security guards further into the room. There, they saw the chief executives of the company engaging in very unprofessional behaviours better suited for a bedroom.

"What's going on?" Christina asked sternly, pushing away Alex from her human lips as she pretended to be disturbed. Ruby looked up innocently before proceeding to manoeuvre her massive body off Sam and silently returned to her feet with some dignity. The room was a complete tip. Everyone feigned surprise at the sudden appearance of the humans, who also looked bewildered by the sight before them. The atmosphere turned extremely awkward.

"We heard some noise… I thought there was a security breach. The doors, they, erm, weren't opening?" The receptionist tried to explain his concerns, hoping he would not get fired for interrupting what looked to be like a scene of loose morals. Capitalism was all about making money, he remembered. Morality was an afterthought, if that. These executives all had married spouses elsewhere and yet here they were cheating on them, apparently.

"Yes, I locked them myself. We had some, erm, business to take care of this evening." Hafsa explained from the still-warm lips of Christina. Technically, it was not a lie.

"Please understand, I thought there was a security breach. Your safety was my utmost concern." the receptionist tried to clarify his position. The guards behind him remained silent.

"No, no security breach. You are sordidly mistaken. You have entered our space without authorisation, leaving us all exposed. If there was a security problem, we would have sorted it out ourselves." Hafsa spoke sternly with those words, asserting her authority convincingly.

"But I-"

"By all the saints, get some perspective!" Hafsa screamed at the human excitedly, which also reflected upon the silent security guards. She was a natural in the bossy-boots role. Being inside of the large and tall Cristina Winters also helped her cause. The disguised Slitheen saw that the humans were nervous before their hierarchical seniors and sought to capitalise on this. Sam saw his opportunity to speak up behind Christina.

"We have had a long week of international travel and meetings. We decided to have a bit of, erm, 'fun', this evening. That's why there is all this mess before you. I will admit that we, err, got a bit wild. But that is natural when you work a high pressure job - you need to let off some steam every now and again. And that is what we did… before you and your ilk came barging in and ruining our evening. How selfish!" Lucas wailed pedantly, pretending to sound annoyed and disturbed. The other executives silently nodded their heads, disapproving the rash behaviours of the humans.

"Oh, right. That does explain a lot, actually… Ahem. We are terribly sorry for having disturbed your evening." the receptionist tried to soften the embarrassment by resorting to civilisational politeness, the kind that human Britain was well-known for.

"Just go already." Ruby spoke up, imploring the human to get out of her sight. The other three executives simply stared at the humans intensely, making them feel deeply uncomfortable.

"Yes, of course. Right away." The humans turned around and exited the room one by one. The receptionist did not dare to look back. The boardroom doors shut tight once more. There would be no more intruders this evening. Hafsa looked around to the others before laughing, slowly at first but it rapidly grew in intensity. The others also joined in.

"Idiots! Prrrrp…Oh my God!" she proclaimed with delight at having successfully warded away the prying humans. Lisa was right; becoming a Slitheen was something deeply transformative. Hafsa had helped to defend Planet Earth this evening. The killings were sanctioned and justifiable on this occasion. Christina was a tighter fit than her previous outfit though. The nascent gas exchange already felt unruly.

"Did you see the look on his face? Priceless!" Lucas asked his peers hysterically. Outside, the disgraced receptionist sat down and sank his head in despair. Inside, the Slitheen mocked him over and over again.

"Phew! We managed to fool them…prrrp! Blimey!" Rubeena's gas exchange kicked in for the first time though she seemed to be enjoying it.

"That was a great move that you pulled in the spur of the moment, Hafsa. You are a good kisser." Garth complimented his colleague who had demonstrated her intelligence in the field.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures… Don't get too used to it, Garth." Hafsa teased her fellow Slitheen with a smile. It was a fun moment that they had together for sure.

"Fucking hell though Rubeena, you could have warned me before you flattened me" Lucas jokingly decried the manoeuvre his peer had performed on him spontaneously.

"Oh, you enjoyed it, stop being so fussy!" Rubeena retorted before the disguised Slitheen burst into laughter yet again. They were all thoroughly enjoying the occasion. Being Slitheen now felt quite natural, completely normal. Meanwhile, the unclothed Lisa Slitheen zapped herself back in the room, having trusted the newbies to have warded off human suspicions. They had to learn some independence for themselves, and they did.

"Well done, guys! You have proven that you are genuine Slitheen! Tonight is a historic moment for us all!" Lisa congratulated each new convert for the hard-fought success the Family could add to its name.

"We could not have done it without you, Lisa." Lucas spoke for everyone. Their converter had been an excellent mentor for them. They could not have wished for anyone better.

"Bit dramatic of you, leaving us like that in the heat of the moment." Garth commented openly. He was not annoyed though as he understood the rationale.

"Yeah well, I am not always going to be around to hold your claw. The more independent you are earlier on, the better it bodes well for your life and rank within our Family. By taking care of the threats tonight, Planet Earth is a lot safer and the Family has yet another glorious triumph to add to its story. Hooray!"

"Hooray!" the Slitheen newcomers roared, delighted with their existence and newfound purposes in the universe. It made them feel great, playing equitable roles in defending Planet Earth, the rock that was always going to remain their home, whether they were human, Slitheen, both or whatever else. Identities, they learned, were purely accidental. It was actions alone that objectively warranted merit.

"Prrrrp! Oh, I beg pardon." Hafsa exclaimed, deliberately exaggerating British apologetic customs playfully. She continued to display the same lively emotions as she did when she was a human. Nothing changed on that front.

"Paaarp! Oh, I too beg your pardon" Garth happily unleashed some more gas exchange voluntarily. His tone of voice was sardonic for he was not being apologetic at all. Becoming a Slitheen, an 'alien; in his own words, was a new lease of life, a higher stage in his material existence, something he had come to accept with the passage of time. There was no shame in the transformation. It was to be enjoyed to its fullest.

"Pzaaap! Whoopsies!" Rubeena let herself loose too. In reality, nobody needed to apologise for being themselves. She had seamlessly accepted the coerced transition. It was fun, being a committed member of the Star Slitheen Family. Lots of experiences and fun was had and going to happen in the coming future.

"Paaaaaaaaaaaarp!" Lucas saved the best for last. The five Slitheen present all laughed and giggled together. They already felt like a close, tight-knit Family. The experience was authentic, seamless and natural. Nobody felt excluded. The future looked bright and exhilarating for them all.

"Right, we are done here. Our triumph needs celebrating, and I know just the place. I'll zap myself back to the carpark. Can't be seen here by anyone. Meet you all there in five minutes." Lisa teleported herself out of the board room once more. Opening the door, the disguised Slitheen walked out behind one another, smiling deviously with their human faces at the dazed receptionist who pretended to be doing some tedious clicking training task on his computer screen monitor. He was embarrassed to make eye contact again so soon. Entering Lisa's car, the victorious Slitheen executives made their way to another part of the capital, taking their time as there was no rush.

(Three Hours Later)

(UNIT Britain HQ)

The Slitheen squad of five turned up at their spaceship safely parked inside of UNIT Britain's HQ. Bigger on the inside, they traversed numerous steps and corridors, witnessing other Slitheen members of the Family in the multitude, before they eventually arrived at Zip Up!, the retail outlet owned by Yvonne Hartman Star Slitheen and Haroon Khan Star-Blathereen that dealt in all matters relating to skin suits. Heading inside, the converts were astounded to see tens, if not hundreds of skin suits on display on racks and ailes. The Slitheen not only hunted humans for their skins but also foreign visitors to Earth. Lisa explained the purpose of the shop and allayed any further concerns that the neophytes may have had, including any outstanding ethical qualms.

"We actually convert more than we kill, statistically-speaking." Although technically true, it did not stop Slitheen from hunting the native majority of Earth. Not that she particularly cared about that herself. The Slitheen leader of the pack led the gang of four to a 'dumping room' where old skins would be discarded and assessed by the store if they could be reused or disposed of appropriately.

"Right guys, the Family is satisfied with our hunt. We don't need our skins anymore. I thought we would do the ethical thing by donating them." Lisa announced, cheeky as ever with her verbal lexical choice. The Slitheen unzipped their foreheads and struggled to get their real gigantic forms out of their disguises. This was accomplished in a few minutes.

"Oh God… Thank heavens I can exit that skin. She might look big but good Lord, I chafed so much inside!" Rubeena moaned a little, glad to be undressed quick enough.

"Farewell Alex!" The dominant Garth Slitheen shouted sarcastically as he looked down at the rubbery skin suit on the floor. The hollow face of that one-time chief executive stared back at him eerily. In an alternative universe, the roles could have been reversed, with an Alex Slitheen standing tall and proud over a Garth skin suit.

"Oh, it's so good to be naked once again." Hafsa commented aloud as she flung off her tight Christina skinsuit to the floor. She stretched herself a little afterwards.

"What is going to happen to them?" Lucas asked Lisa.

"They'll be cleaned up first and then the store will analyse whether or not it is viable. Personally, I do not think they are worth anything. Not after this evening. The cleaner skin suits, on the other hand, I think will come in handy on future missions, don't you?".

The skin suits of the chief executives were tossed on top of a pile. A few days later, they were burnt out of existence as they were deemed 'unprofitable' by Yvonne Hartman and her co-workers. The gang of converts headed over to a bar lounge located elsewhere on the ship later that very evening, a space packed with largely Slitheen converts with varying experiences and time durations from the date of their conversions, to celebrate their inaugural hunt. There, the crew were introduced to the delightful beverage known as Rakjuice, created from the root extracts of Rakweed and a combination of other, illegal substances. It made the consumer's behaviour change drastically without causing them to go drunk or lose their sense of responsibility. Different flavours engendered different results; some made a Slitheen lose his/her sense of inhibitions whilst others made the Raxicoricofalipatorian drinker giggle uncontrollably. The Star Slitheen shunned alcoholic beverages, for they were deemed to be too detrimental to Family business. Rakjuice was the perfect alternative adopted.

The Raxicoricofaliaptorians sat down at a massive marble table together at the very back. The atmosphere was electric. The Slitheen always knew how to party, every evening, and they were big on music playing a central role in organising and dictating the affair. Some of the greatest hits from Raxicoricofalipatorius. The Star Slitheen's ancestral homeland, sounded out from the central stage by a band of live Harmony Shoal performers. An hour into the evening's entertainment, an unexpected guest arrived next to their table. Only one of the Slitheen sat down with the converts was able to recognise the instant significance of this person.

"Husna!" Lisa shouted joyfully. It was a disguised Slitheen woman posing as the dynamic Brigadier General Husna Rashid, the second-in-command of UNIT Britain. The other four wondered in their minds as to who this person was.

"Lisa! Congratulations on your recent success. All of you." she said gracefully, smiling as she looked around at the new converts. They would soon be under her direct command, doing all of her personal bidding as she sought to outmanoeuvre her sibling rivals, Saba Mahmood and Hibah Mughal.

"Thanks! Guys, this is Husna Rashid, second-in-command here at UNIT Britain. She commissioned your transformations. She is, effectively, your - our - patron in this mighty and ignoble Family." Lisa explained further. It was Husna that caught her human form a year ago, forcing a conversion upon her and making her a trusted team member in the Family.

"Oh, please stop, Lisa. It's nothing like an employer-employee relationship. This is the egalitarian Star Slitheen Family; equality of opportunity and rewards based on merit is what we truly stand for. I am only your 'boss' when I have a mission for you. Outside that, we are all brothers, sisters, cousins, husbands, wives, spouses, nephews, nieces, uncles, aunties and whatnot in one magnificent union." Husna hyperbolically explained the virtues of being a Slitheen and belonging to a Family. It made the converts more excited about their new lives.

"The newbies certainly look forward to working with you."

"Delighted to hear that. What are your names?" Husna enquired. She already knew as Lisa had kept her abreast of all developments since that Slitheen lady infiltrated the tech company and identified these specific four individuals as being 'appropriate' for conversion.

"I'm Hafsa."

"And I'm Garth."

"Rubeena."

"Lucas."

"Lovely names, all now Slitheen - wonderful!." Husna went around the table and sniffed Garth and Hafsa in particular. She seemed to take an immediate liking to them. Lisa had fed back a preliminary report from this evening's action, highlighting this duo's impressive display in particular.

"Lisa my dear sister, why don't you take Lucas and…Rubeena, is it? Yes, take Lucas and Rubeena on a tour of the ship. Then do the same for Hafsa and Garth later on." The Slitheen leader suggested.

"Of course." The Slitheen subordinate led the duo away without questioning the orders. Alone with the remaining two converts, Hafsa and Garth, Husna dined with them, asking all sorts of intimate questions without inhibition, whilst explaining to them the story of the Star Slitheen on Earth thus far and what UNIT was all about. They also ordered the most exquisite meat the galaxy offered, feasting like royalty in between the conversations. The Lisa Slitheen never returned that night. Neither did Rubeena and Lucas. They all fell asleep on top of each other on one of the spaceship's indoor streets; drinking excessive amounts of Rakjuice knocked them out completely.

"You two will be very important in my plans. Have any of you been to Russia before?" the smiling Slitheen leader asked with curiosity. She was aggressively recruiting converts to join her and her husband Zeeshan Mahmood over at UNIT Russia in the coming months ahead.

"No." they replied monosyllabically together. They wondered why that country was being mentioned and what they had to do with it.

"That is not a problem. There is a first time for everything, as you found out this evening - wouldn't you agree?" The Slitheen all burst out laughing at that witty rhetorical question.

"To the Family!" Hafsa raised an overflowing Rakjuice glass in the air. Still on Earth, she was fully content where she was now. So was Garth.

"To the Family!" Everybody shouted in affirmation before the glasses clinked against one another and the liquid contents entered the throats of the happy Slitheen trio. The musical sounds in the bar only became louder and louder for the remainder of that transformative evening.

(The End).