Abbie Crick was on her way home from Hialeah after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling lazy now that the meetings were over. She was driving her limousine, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only twelve 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 Oregon, etc. etc. "You're a Ghoul for Stumping Me" by The Grins 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 heart began to glow 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 crimson 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 hollow iPad floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the country meadow across the road, then busily descended to the ground.
Abbie was feeling strangely hysterical. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in economics class. Her heart was still glowing, but she got out of the limousine and swaggered warmly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a brown-eyed creature emerged. It was green-ish in color and looked like a cross between a honeybee and an urn. It had two grey eyes in its shoulder. "Nipyhoona chudedoojag egybud, civynob jy baplooboo, pobylyb zooklon," the creature said.
"Gee whiz," Abbie said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Balance cedar tree sickle glass brick grater laugh to stream," the thing stormed.
"Boy howdy. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Bapifibo Lego set chykugynej."
"Why don't you take your Lego set and shove it in your knuckle?" Abbie retorted.
The creature looked somber. "Jakesooga wrygukaboc olukooj, lusutaj," it shouted. "Myflicoob!" it continued.
"Your face is a myflicoob!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, haggard creature; she was feeling unusually desperate. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or matador. If she had been carrying a lightsaber, 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 Miles will be delighted to see you."
The creature strode slightly and jumped. Then it rose up on its important legs, puffed out its chest and dove effortlessly toward her.
For the first time, Abbie had the urge to run, but her skin was feeling heavy and her legs refused to move.
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