David Yoshida was on his way home from Manchester after a two-day series of business meetings. He was feeling modest now that the meetings were over. He was driving his Cougar, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only five drinks with dinner. The drone of the engine and tires was taking its toll, and he was having that familiar internal discussion about just having an hour more of driving, but he should really stop and rest, but it's not really safe to stop alongside the road in this remote part of Virgin Islands, etc. etc. "I'm a Dip for Frightening You" by The Coos was squawking on the radio. He was too tired to search for something better.
Suddenly, he was wide awake. He had seen something, or heard something, or felt something, and it startled him. He didn't know what it was, but his tooth began to get wonky and his heart was pounding in his chest.
He wasn't consciously aware of stopping his vehicle, but found himself parked on the shoulder of the road, staring at a bright pulsing yellow light in the sky. He was hearing a deep humming sound as well, but couldn't tell whether it was from the object above him or in his 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 ragged umbrella floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the hillside across the road, then swiftly descended to the ground.
David was feeling strangely lazy. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in biology class. His tooth was still getting wonky, but he got out of the Cougar and staggered diligently toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a spindly creature emerged. It was purple-ish in color and looked like a cross between a snipe and a clipboard. It had five chocolate brown eyes in its jaw. "Gapoociga whipoolylyg imacol, gowujuc tu kiklici, lybytog gokram," the creature said.
"Fribblenootums," David said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Scratch tree feather duster walnut bare foot preach to veld," the thing voiced.
"Bada bing bada boom. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Jubehalu hot potato glamymyduk."
"Why don't you take your hot potato and shove it in your pancreas?" David retorted.
The creature looked dumb. "Bipehonu froconynol ogatac, dicynem," it offered. "Kiploozul!" it continued.
"Your face is a kiploozul!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, modest creature; he was feeling unusually distressed. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or chimney sweep. If he had been carrying a peacemaker, 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 Nighthawk will be delighted to see you."
The creature slumped slightly and gazed. Then it rose up on its spongy legs, puffed out its claw and slid greedily toward him.
For the first time, David had the urge to run, but his pinky was getting hot and his legs refused to move.
Next Chapter