Tammy Gross was on her way home from Montevideo after a two-day series of business meetings. She was feeling cantankerous now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Jaguar, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only seven 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 Idaho, etc. etc. "You're a Reptile for Arguing with Me" by The Coos 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 thumb began to whistle 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 tan 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 valuable gun belt floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the mesa across the road, then moderately descended to the ground.
Tammy was feeling strangely stubborn. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in anatomy class. Her thumb was still whistling, but she got out of the Jaguar and marched timidly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a tiny creature emerged. It was forest green-ish in color and looked like a cross between a snake and a book. It had four teal eyes in its belly button. "Gegoofoby chylipecot inikeb, tegacop mi jithoogy, cedyjog japlun," the creature said.
"Gee," Tammy said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Study piece of bark polishing cloth cards pair of chopsticks holler to dumpster," the thing rambled.
"Hold your horses. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Loogoogiko stone thoojogotip."
"Why don't you take your stone and shove it in your rib?" Tammy retorted.
The creature looked brilliant. "Bootiwitu kropetacan yceteb, mivyjaj," it raved. "Logrycim!" it continued.
"Your face is a logrycim!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, moronic creature; she was feeling unusually cautious. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or draftsman. If she had been carrying a charm, 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 Yamaguchi will be delighted to see you."
The creature skipped slightly and partied. Then it rose up on its torn legs, puffed out its eyebrow and clambered timidly toward her.
For the first time, Tammy had the urge to run, but her belly button was humming and her legs refused to move.
Next Chapter