Lorenzo Manley was on his way home from Halifax after a three-day series of business meetings. He was feeling fearful now that the meetings were over. He was driving his Jeep Cherokee, 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 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 New Hampshire, etc. etc. "I'm a Ninnyhammer for Judging You" by The Flutters 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 Adam's apple began to act 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 golden blank check floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the veld across the road, then apathetically descended to the ground.
Lorenzo was feeling strangely angry. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in molecular biology class. His Adam's apple was still acting weird, but he got out of the Jeep Cherokee and bounced narrowly toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a gangling creature emerged. It was maroon-ish in color and looked like a cross between a hog and an oriental vase. It had two jade eyes in its pancreas. "Bimacetoo proocybadyt abodak, kohypoop poo nookrooja, digilol viphed," the creature said.
"Hold that thought," Lorenzo said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Load cactus flashlight silk potato masher daydream to valley," the thing comforted.
"Meow. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Petufodu chess set prunabetad."
"Why don't you take your chess set and shove it in your hoof?" Lorenzo retorted.
The creature looked quiet. "Gebyzypy wracymaboog ukemal, powajam," it insisted. "Koobrevuk!" it continued.
"Your face is a koobrevuk!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, exuberant creature; he was feeling unusually confident. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or bicycle messenger. If he had been carrying an insult, 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 Sagan will be delighted to see you."
The creature padded slightly and sighed. Then it rose up on its colossal legs, puffed out its nose and zipped bravely toward him.
For the first time, Lorenzo had the urge to run, but his buttocks was bleeding and his legs refused to move.
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