Applause for the Damned

In the distant future, aliens have taken over earth and become top of the food chain. Humans have been reduced to a meer accesory, much like how we treated animals before.

But not every human-or animal for that matter-is equal.

Some humans are used as cheap gifts and treated like such. They have no formal education, communcating with animalistic grunts and groans to express their wants and desires. These humans are marketed as easy. All they need is food, water, and shelter to survive. There is enough of them that their is no need for the aliens to worry about their longetivity.

But other humans are more special. Used for entertainment on the wider scale.

Idols, they are called.

The appeal of idols has been around for centuries, a person who brings joy and a sense of otherworldy escape through music and dance. Today, there are many programs aiming to train the new generation of humans who will capture the hearts of the alien public. But there is a new rising contender in town: Alien stage.

The premise is simple: Children are raised together in an artfical, heavily montired, facility, where they train to become idols together. Once they reach adolosence they engage in a deadly bracket style competion, where they compete to see who the best idol is.

This year is particularly exicting. The handlers heard the backlash regarding the unfairness last years winner, the biologically enginered Idol Dionne. So they decided to bring in some new heat to spice things upp: Bereinger and Aruvia, ranked number 2 and 3 respectively on a global popularity scale. Fans are aching with curiosity, wondering how these two fan favorites are gonna fair against the ruthless Dionne.