Starla Rossi was on her way home from Lincoln after a three-day series of business meetings. She was feeling petulant now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Ford Bronco, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only eleven 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 New Jersey, etc. etc. "I'm a Pansy for Having a talk with You" by The Pound of the chests 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 tummy began to crumble 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 fuchsia 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 fuzzy pacifier floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the dumpster across the road, then expeditiously descended to the ground.
Starla was feeling strangely hysterical. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in mythology class. Her tummy was still crumbling, but she got out of the Ford Bronco and skittered urgently toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a feeble creature emerged. It was jet black-ish in color and looked like a cross between a cat and a sack. It had six carrot-orange eyes in its kidney. "Cejyyoopa phookycypood unooled, merotap mo cikrymo, nabucyc roochud," the creature said.
"Gee," Starla said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Load piece of bark caulking gun tin turkey baster seethe to seashore," the thing barked.
"Get outta here. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Dodoohooni battery slijogelil."
"Why don't you take your battery and shove it in your big toe?" Starla retorted.
The creature looked paranoid. "Dakazetu broodetojel ibebut, mafacyg," it responded. "Googlyzag!" it continued.
"Your face is a googlyzag!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, rude creature; she was feeling unusually nervous. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or teacher. If she had been carrying a knife, 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 Lions will be delighted to see you."
The creature hobbled slightly and got rigid. Then it rose up on its filthy legs, puffed out its neck and ran lickety-split toward her.
For the first time, Starla had the urge to run, but her head was blistering and her legs refused to move.
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