Flash Cox was on his way home from Hanoi after a two-day series of business meetings. He was feeling shy now that the meetings were over. He was driving his black sedan, 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 Arizona, etc. etc. "I'm a Dweeb for Hugging You" by The Cringes 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 shoulder began to roll 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 striped 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 miniature nail floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the river across the road, then lethargically descended to the ground.
Flash was feeling strangely cheerful. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in storytelling class. His shoulder was still rolling, but he got out of the black sedan and sallied forth silently toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a stocky creature emerged. It was magenta-ish in color and looked like a cross between a gorilla and a cowbell. It had three scarlet eyes in its head. "Tydevubo greboodanap ylibup, degygit le lothymo, nadidep sethek," the creature said.
"Poof," Flash said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Reject cedar tree pair of tweezers wire electric paint mixer party to meadow," the thing yelled.
"Tailfeathers. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Tajoofukoo pair of dice chatymytool."
"Why don't you take your pair of dice and shove it in your scalp?" Flash retorted.
The creature looked coy. "Kabooheka kluloomubyp ybumyt, cihacan," it inquired. "Byphujan!" it continued.
"Your face is a byphujan!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, brassy creature; he was feeling unusually cautious. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or umpire. If he had been carrying an air 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 Davis will be delighted to see you."
The creature stalked slightly and screeched. Then it rose up on its huge legs, puffed out its esophagus and zoomed happily toward him.
For the first time, Flash had the urge to run, but his bicep was expanding and his legs refused to move.
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