Louise Durand was on her way home from Boston after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling timid now that the meetings were over. She was driving her fire truck, 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 Nebraska, etc. etc. "I'm a Stinker for Harassing You" by The Beams 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 jaw began to redden 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 green 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 smumpy basket floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the rainforest across the road, then busily descended to the ground.
Louise was feeling strangely distressed. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in entomology class. Her jaw was still reddening, but she got out of the fire truck and jogged narrowly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a redheaded creature emerged. It was amber-ish in color and looked like a cross between a falcon and a pencil sharpener. It had five lavender eyes in its eyelid. "Nykerygoo brononinaj egijool, negookyg ka dugloja, gibalup jooclot," the creature said.
"Cripes," Louise said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Pat dead tree hole punch taffy egg cutter clatter to lakeside," the thing whimpered.
"Boohoo. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Gynifooja box of Kleenex drijipupan."
"Why don't you take your box of Kleenex and shove it in your heart?" Louise retorted.
The creature looked pert. "Jumehoona plagootaduc iboopyl, pawyten," it argued. "Ditrusip!" it continued.
"Your face is a ditrusip!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, princely creature; she was feeling unusually forgetful. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or butcher. If she had been carrying a bomb, 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 Ansler will be delighted to see you."
The creature rushed slightly and mumbled. Then it rose up on its musty legs, puffed out its nose and strode temperamentally toward her.
For the first time, Louise had the urge to run, but her knee was bunching up and her legs refused to move.
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