Ellen Novak was on her way home from Long Beach after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling tense now that the meetings were over. She was driving her cement truck, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only ten 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 Tennessee, etc. etc. "I'm a Demon for Disinfecting You" by The Blushes 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 collarbone began to come undone 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 carrot-orange 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 golden bird cage floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the badlands area across the road, then swiftly descended to the ground.
Ellen was feeling strangely self-assured. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in mechanical engineering class. Her collarbone was still coming undone, but she got out of the cement truck and set out needlessly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a lanky creature emerged. It was magenta-ish in color and looked like a cross between an otter and a mousetrap. It had two crimson eyes in its big toe. "Digehamy croobykakyp alicap, jufepob ti logruge, joonabul jishyl," the creature said.
"Hallelujah," Ellen said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Study mushroom bit of Elmer's glue wood paring knife back up to cliff," the thing stormed.
"Zowie. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Lanijaga pom-pom quejunicij."
"Why don't you take your pom-pom and shove it in your tongue?" Ellen retorted.
The creature looked shifty. "Mapawogy ploomopelij ytucag, gagoojik," it observed. "Pykloosum!" it continued.
"Your face is a pykloosum!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, talkative creature; she was feeling unusually disagreeable. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or journalist. If she had been carrying a butcher knife, 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 Gleason will be delighted to see you."
The creature ran slightly and peeped. Then it rose up on its frilly legs, puffed out its ankle and whirled uselessly toward her.
For the first time, Ellen had the urge to run, but her forehead was twirling and her legs refused to move.
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