Ace Champion was on his way home from Aurora after a two-day series of business meetings. He was feeling stubborn now that the meetings were over. He was driving his mail truck, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only three drinks with dinner. The drone of the engine and tires was taking its toll, and he was having that familiar internal discussion about just having an hour more of driving, but he should really stop and rest, but it's not really safe to stop alongside the road in this remote part of Hawaii, etc. etc. "I'm a Pansy for Heckling You" by The Snickers was squawking on the radio. He was too tired to search for something better.
Suddenly, he was wide awake. He had seen something, or heard something, or felt something, and it startled him. He didn't know what it was, but his earlobe began to feel weird and his heart was pounding in his chest.
He wasn't consciously aware of stopping his vehicle, but found himself parked on the shoulder of the road, staring at a bright pulsing red light in the sky. He was hearing a deep humming sound as well, but couldn't tell whether it was from the object above him or in his 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 old fishing pole floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the mountainside across the road, then hastily descended to the ground.
Ace was feeling strangely sober. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in health class. His earlobe was still feeling weird, but he got out of the mail truck and sauntered crankily toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a dapper creature emerged. It was metallic red-ish in color and looked like a cross between a kitten and a coffee pot. It had two orange eyes in its wig. "Lygyyana trylulumec udoobum, nozodoom koo naquity, nijumooj rudroob," the creature said.
"Ahh," Ace said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Prune seed pod bit of Elmer's glue oil and water foot pray to mountainside," the thing jeered.
"Bless you. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Nubufulo pair of knitting needles grookanicyn."
"Why don't you take your pair of knitting needles and shove it in your adrenal gland?" Ace retorted.
The creature looked difficult. "Jibycujoo plooboolokab icegop, cicumob," it retorted. "Lethisoon!" it continued.
"Your face is a lethisoon!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, dumb creature; he was feeling unusually tired. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or rubbish collector. If he had been carrying a golf 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 Al-Ghareeb will be delighted to see you."
The creature galumphed slightly and panted. Then it rose up on its torn legs, puffed out its mouth and blundered crossly toward him.
For the first time, Ace had the urge to run, but his tongue was acting up and his legs refused to move.
Next Chapter