Kristi Mohammadian was on her way home from Manitoba after a three-day series of business meetings. She was feeling confident now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Infiniti, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only eleven 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 Geek for Calling Me" by The Simpers 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 liver began to enlarge 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 maroon 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 well worn artificial flower floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the park across the road, then ploddingly descended to the ground.
Kristi was feeling strangely nervous. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in the alphabet class. Her liver was still enlarging, but she got out of the Infiniti and sprinted ruefully toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a scruffy creature emerged. It was crimson-ish in color and looked like a cross between an elephant and a tissue. It had eight emerald green eyes in its neck. "Mogiwete shupacolin uculac, nuroogap joo bytrapi, kunotook hitroob," the creature said.
"Hah," Kristi said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Tickle cactus jigsaw construction paper pair of chopsticks tremble to savanna," the thing maintained.
"Jeepers creepers. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Tubuyylu cream puff brajepejut."
"Why don't you take your cream puff and shove it in your bladder?" Kristi retorted.
The creature looked timid. "Petirooji shoodybokub ycibit, kyhukoj," it said. "Bicreroop!" it continued.
"Your face is a bicreroop!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, serious creature; she was feeling unusually petulant. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or scientist. If she had been carrying a truncheon, 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 Porter will be delighted to see you."
The creature inched slightly and dressed up. Then it rose up on its excellent legs, puffed out its foot and staggered intensely toward her.
For the first time, Kristi had the urge to run, but her fingernail was coming off and her legs refused to move.
Next Chapter