Nadine Murdoch was on her way home from Atlanta after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling merry now that the meetings were over. She was driving her shopping cart, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only three 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 New Jersey, etc. etc. "I'm a Hell-raiser for Rebuffing You" by The Pouts 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 foot began to wander 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 mauve 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 jagged microphone floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the creek across the road, then slackly descended to the ground.
Nadine was feeling strangely affable. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in reading class. Her foot was still wandering, but she got out of the shopping cart and padded queerly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a flabby creature emerged. It was jet black-ish in color and looked like a cross between a ring-tailed lemur and a stapler. It had six tan eyes in its hand. "Linofipo glojiminog ecoobed, jujacyb li keshoji, cynookag riclij," the creature said.
"Encore," Nadine said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Describe wolf track jigsaw cardboard potato masher wait to village," the thing revealed.
"Yippee. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Kojucity pipe chapikydook."
"Why don't you take your pipe and shove it in your cheek?" Nadine retorted.
The creature looked serious. "Mugicadi grodogimaj ooletooc, kajitid," it offered. "Bucloowud!" it continued.
"Your face is a bucloowud!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, furious creature; she was feeling unusually sarcastic. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or zoologist. 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 Springer will be delighted to see you."
The creature made a beeline slightly and cogitated. Then it rose up on its rusty legs, puffed out its knee and galloped hopelessly toward her.
For the first time, Nadine had the urge to run, but her scalp was warping and her legs refused to move.
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