Peg Mason was on her way home from Little Big Horn after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling calm now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Fiat, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only four 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 Mexico, etc. etc. "You're a Snoop for Grilling Me" by The Grins 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 adrenal gland began to go numb 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 orange 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 sleek key floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the forest across the road, then leadenly descended to the ground.
Peg was feeling strangely stubborn. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in poetry class. Her adrenal gland was still going numb, but she got out of the Fiat and made a beeline firmly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a frumpy creature emerged. It was rose-ish in color and looked like a cross between a beagle and a basketball. It had seven white eyes in its heart. "Doolywooja whipebytub onadol, puvekap dy boplooni, lycynood goghej," the creature said.
"Cripes," Peg said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Chop tree stump vacuum cleaner seaweed egg cutter rest to veld," the thing lamented.
"Voilà. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Koomucooja stone cricopejul."
"Why don't you take your stone and shove it in your spleen?" Peg retorted.
The creature looked timid. "Laluryty whubumoogic apujid, pyvepoob," it blathered. "Mapravut!" it continued.
"Your face is a mapravut!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, hirsute creature; she was feeling unusually distressed. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or guitarist. If she had been carrying an aspersion, 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 Logan will be delighted to see you."
The creature scampered slightly and yawned. Then it rose up on its striped legs, puffed out its front tooth and dashed threateningly toward her.
For the first time, Peg had the urge to run, but her aorta was turning around and her legs refused to move.
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