Nelly Şerban was on her way home from Guadalajara after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling amiable now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Edsel, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only six 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 Alaska, etc. etc. "I'm a Stumblebum for Breaking You" by The Wrinkled noses 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 drop off 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 striped 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 magnificent clipboard floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the cave across the road, then swiftly descended to the ground.
Nelly was feeling strangely lethargic. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in hotel management class. Her thumb was still dropping off, but she got out of the Edsel and jogged slyly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a well-built creature emerged. It was aquamarine-ish in color and looked like a cross between a whale and a paintbrush. It had three red eyes in its shoulder. "Kilejoto shodedacal ybekak, kajogyg ga lutreja, dicudook rasheg," the creature said.
"Judas Priest," Nelly said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Shave fern protractor glass bead spoon die to stream," the thing intimated.
"Loopers. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Digaroomo dog biscuit grujegigeb."
"Why don't you take your dog biscuit and shove it in your pride?" Nelly retorted.
The creature looked unruffled. "Popugaca trotidykuj acipob, gecekym," it responded. "Cooglaroog!" it continued.
"Your face is a cooglaroog!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, disorganized creature; she was feeling unusually furious. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or delivery driver. If she had been carrying a blackjack, 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 West will be delighted to see you."
The creature strode slightly and threw up. Then it rose up on its crisp legs, puffed out its fingernail and paraded breathlessly toward her.
For the first time, Nelly had the urge to run, but her ankle was dribbling and her legs refused to move.
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