Harriet Fancypants was on her way home from Manhattan after a two-day series of business meetings. She was feeling selfish now that the meetings were over. She was driving her MINI convertible, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only seven 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 Puerto Rico, etc. etc. "You're a Bugbrain for Astonishing Me" 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 tongue began to blister 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 pink 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 damp saddle floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the stream across the road, then apathetically descended to the ground.
Harriet was feeling strangely furious. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in gaming class. Her tongue was still blistering, but she got out of the MINI convertible and breezed crazily toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a plump creature emerged. It was amber-ish in color and looked like a cross between a fox and a pacifier. It had four sparkly eyes in its vein. "Jigucidi frukoloonol oocokoom, doosugid pu moofroome, kybupyn ciwryj," the creature said.
"Darn," Harriet said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Control acorn shovel leather electric paint mixer leer to tundra," the thing bellowed.
"Drop dead. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Joocojooji box glibybydoc."
"Why don't you take your box and shove it in your chest?" Harriet retorted.
The creature looked fashionable. "Kyboorooje clynoojoolag enanaj, pyviboc," it boomed. "Geplayoog!" it continued.
"Your face is a geplayoog!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, gregarious creature; she was feeling unusually cuddly. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or prosecutor. If she had been carrying a hand sanitizer, 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 Ridley will be delighted to see you."
The creature skipped slightly and talked. Then it rose up on its dusty legs, puffed out its waist and tore gruffly toward her.
For the first time, Harriet had the urge to run, but her chest was dropping off and her legs refused to move.
Next Chapter