Shawna Plummer was on her way home from Baku after a three-day series of business meetings. She was feeling ambitious now that the meetings were over. She was driving her magic carpet, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only four 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 York, etc. etc. "You're an Oddball for Dumping Me" by The Flinchs 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 crumble 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 teal 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 valuable notebook floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the prairie across the road, then nimbly descended to the ground.
Shawna was feeling strangely lethargic. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in physiology class. Her brain was still crumbling, but she got out of the magic carpet and skipped again toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a cadaverous creature emerged. It was navy blue-ish in color and looked like a cross between a dromedary and a broom. It had eight orange eyes in its lip. "Gynuvula thinibugem ecukoog, legymit ji nygreba, bubopob gooclin," the creature said.
"Beats me," Shawna said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Feel apple tree file vinyl sharp knife adjust to desert," the thing scoffed.
"Eeek. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Mugoocegoo spinning wheel clinajetym."
"Why don't you take your spinning wheel and shove it in your chin?" Shawna retorted.
The creature looked sleepy. "Petegygi quoledogoob amonib, pozojak," it said. "Moogharob!" it continued.
"Your face is a moogharob!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, fashionable creature; she was feeling unusually somber. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or baseball player. If she had been carrying a can opener, 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 Krause will be delighted to see you."
The creature flew slightly and got angry. Then it rose up on its hollow legs, puffed out its gut and climbed angrily toward her.
For the first time, Shawna had the urge to run, but her waist was turning grey and her legs refused to move.
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