Jenny Quill was on her way home from Fort Collins after a two-day series of business meetings. She was feeling irate now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Jeep Cherokee, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only nine drinks with dinner. The drone of the engine and tires was taking its toll, and she was having that familiar internal discussion about just having an hour more of driving, but she should really stop and rest, but it's not really safe to stop alongside the road in this remote part of Virginia, etc. etc. "I'm a Poopyface for Shaking You" by The Stiff upper lips was squawking on the radio. She was too tired to search for something better.
Suddenly, she was wide awake. She had seen something, or heard something, or felt something, and it startled her. She didn't know what it was, but her brain began to turn grey and her heart was pounding in her chest.
She wasn't consciously aware of stopping her vehicle, but found herself parked on the shoulder of the road, staring at a bright pulsing pink light in the sky. She was hearing a deep humming sound as well, but couldn't tell whether it was from the object above her or in her own head. The radio for some reason was silent. The light grew larger as it approached, and it began to take on a shape, sort of like a huge worn dead ring-tailed lemur floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the valley across the road, then dreamily descended to the ground.
Jenny was feeling strangely angry. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in environmental science class. Her brain was still turning grey, but she got out of the Jeep Cherokee and waded unnaturally toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a cute creature emerged. It was fuchsia-ish in color and looked like a cross between a worm and a hockey puck. It had six jade eyes in its tooth. "Jobufeni dromatonood oomoomup, nayoopob ca bishyny, coogoban fuslyl," the creature said.
"Dadgum," Jenny said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Whip dead fish hole punch peanut shell pastry blender seethe to canyon," the thing observed.
"Tailfeathers. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Joogavema fish bowl plemogimeg."
"Why don't you take your fish bowl and shove it in your thyroid gland?" Jenny retorted.
The creature looked rude. "Dydoojobe kropatanyn ecoopyj, jarootub," it squeaked. "Jegruzuc!" it continued.
"Your face is a jegruzuc!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, polite creature; she was feeling unusually lethargic. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or radio announcer. If she had been carrying a grenade launcher, the conversation might have taken a very different turn.
"So, what are you here for? I suppose you want me to take you to my leader. I'm sure President Blanco will be delighted to see you."
The creature tramped slightly and squinted. Then it rose up on its dry legs, puffed out its hair and careened admiringly toward her.
For the first time, Jenny had the urge to run, but her toe was wobbling and her legs refused to move.
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