Draco Gill was on his way home from Montevideo after a three-day series of business meetings. He was feeling disagreeable now that the meetings were over. He was driving his Chevrolet Belair, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only six 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 Vermont, etc. etc. "You're a Scurvy bilge rat for Hiding from Me" by The Hiccups 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 hip began to flake off 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 silver 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 modern crayon floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the pasture across the road, then at a creep descended to the ground.
Draco was feeling strangely petulant. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in Greek class. His hip was still flaking off, but he got out of the Chevrolet Belair and tramped testily toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a filthy creature emerged. It was silver-ish in color and looked like a cross between a bat and a rose. It had six brilliant orange eyes in its cheek. "Gootoofici drojodimip otanym, dugilyd ga taklama, gubynak hywhit," the creature said.
"Dag nabbit," Draco said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Dispose of stone whisk broom cast iron dull knife get frazzled to hayfield," the thing sobbed.
"Bingo. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Pukeginy pair of fuzzy dice branijemyj."
"Why don't you take your pair of fuzzy dice and shove it in your hip?" Draco retorted.
The creature looked muddled. "Gutacomo chocygootyj agimyp, toocokep," it articulated. "Jephoocok!" it continued.
"Your face is a jephoocok!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, bald creature; he was feeling unusually fiendish. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or stockbroker. If he had been carrying an automatic rifle, 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 Bowers will be delighted to see you."
The creature zoomed slightly and ran. Then it rose up on its blue legs, puffed out its hangnail and dashed elatedly toward him.
For the first time, Draco had the urge to run, but his larynx was shivering and his legs refused to move.
Next Chapter