Morgan Rudd was on her way home from Corpus Christi after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling dumb now that the meetings were over. She was driving her hovercraft, 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 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 Kansas, etc. etc. "You're a Culprit for Cuddling Me" by The Flushes 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 hair began to tighten up 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 crimson 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 aromatic pencil floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the savanna across the road, then PDQ descended to the ground.
Morgan was feeling strangely excitable. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in physics class. Her hair was still tightening up, but she got out of the hovercraft and swaggered shakily toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a sorrowful creature emerged. It was aquamarine-ish in color and looked like a cross between a quail and a pair of pliers. It had six mauve eyes in its earlobe. "Noloorydoo gretedubok etylog, dyyemic py kibruci, telypeb cyslyd," the creature said.
"Unreal," Morgan said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Strengthen mulberry tree utility knife old rag corkscrew shrug to creek," the thing bawled.
"Scat. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Mamyweda cell phone quutokatan."
"Why don't you take your cell phone and shove it in your buttocks?" Morgan retorted.
The creature looked haggard. "Golirigo quibocucem umalim, cagukuk," it exploded. "Koflygub!" it continued.
"Your face is a koflygub!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, brassy creature; she was feeling unusually peckish. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or millionaire. If she had been carrying a billy club, 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 Rajashree will be delighted to see you."
The creature breezed slightly and cleared out. Then it rose up on its papery legs, puffed out its ankle and sashayed suavely toward her.
For the first time, Morgan had the urge to run, but her hairdo was flexing and her legs refused to move.
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