Beth Baldwin was on her way home from Albuquerque after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling cunning now that the meetings were over. She was driving her GMC pickup, 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 Rhode Island, etc. etc. "You're a Barbarian for Splitting up with Me" by The Sighs 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 foot began to torment 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 periwinkle 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 fancy dollhouse floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the garden across the road, then apathetically descended to the ground.
Beth was feeling strangely self-assured. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in astronomy class. Her foot was still tormenting, but she got out of the GMC pickup and leapt sourly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a shapely creature emerged. It was orange-ish in color and looked like a cross between a buzzard and a ping-pong paddle. It had five ivory eyes in its appendix. "Goopezolo pregubogom oobijoog, gorimad ba puplipu, padegog gooploom," the creature said.
"Pshaw," Beth said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Crack twig mop tin melon baller jump to garden," the thing interrupted.
"Piffle. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Cicoosecoo urn slulajacim."
"Why don't you take your urn and shove it in your gall bladder?" Beth retorted.
The creature looked phlegmatic. "Legisago phalilaman icoogal, puzukug," it queried. "Tefrosyd!" it continued.
"Your face is a tefrosyd!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, cunning creature; she was feeling unusually timid. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or short order cook. If she had been carrying a crossbow, 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 Matthews will be delighted to see you."
The creature stormed slightly and inhaled. Then it rose up on its polished legs, puffed out its little toe and darted vacantly toward her.
For the first time, Beth had the urge to run, but her collarbone was dancing and her legs refused to move.
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