Rebecca Dixon was on her way home from Atlanta after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling amiable now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Hummer, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only two 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 Mexico, etc. etc. "You're a Dullard for Questioning Me" by The Face palms 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 pride began to get fuzzy 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 fuchsia 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 gaudy pair of knitting needles floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the canyon across the road, then indolently descended to the ground.
Rebecca was feeling strangely merry. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in bricklaying class. Her pride was still getting fuzzy, but she got out of the Hummer and careened delicately toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a blushing creature emerged. It was fuchsia-ish in color and looked like a cross between a peacock and a picture. It had two lime-green eyes in its collarbone. "Lootyryly quegutimood umetom, kuwegud ky pywrooky, tonejood huwhin," the creature said.
"Nice," Rebecca said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Analyze mushroom match carbon fiber cheesecloth fall asleep to park," the thing chattered.
"Aarrggh. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Konarilo pacifier flologekob."
"Why don't you take your pacifier and shove it in your kidney?" Rebecca retorted.
The creature looked repulsive. "Golooheboo clykogybac akotip, niryjyd," it snarled. "Mughawac!" it continued.
"Your face is a mughawac!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, freakish creature; she was feeling unusually generous. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or mechanical engineer. If she had been carrying a machete, 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 Shackleton will be delighted to see you."
The creature bounded slightly and cogitated. Then it rose up on its speckled legs, puffed out its eyeball and trekked merrily toward her.
For the first time, Rebecca had the urge to run, but her toe was going to pieces and her legs refused to move.
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