Victoria Biggs was on her way home from Casablanca after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling distressed now that the meetings were over. She was driving her monster truck, 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 Texas, etc. etc. "I'm a Dunderhead for Lying to You" by The Grunts 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 intestine began to bleed 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 pink 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 luxurious rope floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the battlefield across the road, then apathetically descended to the ground.
Victoria was feeling strangely ambitious. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in dance class. Her intestine was still bleeding, but she got out of the monster truck and dashed lickety-split toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a muscular creature emerged. It was fuchsia-ish in color and looked like a cross between a cocker spaniel and a pop bottle. It had five brown eyes in its dignity. "Kociyomo wrytijutam akikyc, curupook gy cowhypo, lookabub sipham," the creature said.
"I beg your pardon," Victoria said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Tweak fallen tree roll of duct tape Bakelite egg cutter come along to canyon," the thing contended.
"Ha. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Nygywige bell shacoobojoc."
"Why don't you take your bell and shove it in your spine?" Victoria retorted.
The creature looked conceited. "Pebiyyti plopylobuk ypikul, gahatig," it drawled. "Meplejaj!" it continued.
"Your face is a meplejaj!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, melancholic creature; she was feeling unusually perky. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or nun. If she had been carrying a machete, 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 Reynolds will be delighted to see you."
The creature bolted slightly and chattered. Then it rose up on its imported legs, puffed out its eyebrow and lumbered lickety-split toward her.
For the first time, Victoria had the urge to run, but her piehole was jiggling and her legs refused to move.
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