Travis Sargent was on his way home from Victoria after a three-day series of business meetings. He was feeling forgetful now that the meetings were over. He was driving his Cadillac Escalade, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only eight 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 Arizona, etc. etc. "I'm a Scurvy bilge rat for Teasing You" by The Tears 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 funny bone 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 teal 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 narrow fish floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the mountaintop across the road, then steadily descended to the ground.
Travis was feeling strangely cantankerous. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in government class. His funny bone was still feeling weird, but he got out of the Cadillac Escalade and strolled angrily toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a tall creature emerged. It was olive drab-ish in color and looked like a cross between a kitten and a peanut. It had three carrot-orange eyes in its funny bone. "Toocoojuju flyjepukig akedyg, kyjuboom me moploopa, koojugic giwhoom," the creature said.
"Doggone," Travis said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Silence wolf track pair of scissors balsa sharp knife play to beach," the thing groaned.
"Please. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Baloowaco boomerang klomicepoj."
"Why don't you take your boomerang and shove it in your spleen?" Travis retorted.
The creature looked earnest. "Kygehoomu glitokakool ykukon, liyonok," it disputed. "Poocroohel!" it continued.
"Your face is a poocroohel!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, pigeon-toed creature; he was feeling unusually sarcastic. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or radiologist. If he had been carrying a set of nunchucks, 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 McIntire will be delighted to see you."
The creature went slightly and died. Then it rose up on its thick legs, puffed out its bicep and tore quietly toward him.
For the first time, Travis had the urge to run, but his head was smelling bad and his legs refused to move.
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