Gina Gore was on her way home from Guadalajara after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling forgetful now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Ram pickup, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only seven 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 Kansas, etc. etc. "I'm a Wimp for Breaking You" by The Grimaces 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 carotid artery began to act weird 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 golden 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 worn tube of toothpaste floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the plateau across the road, then speedily descended to the ground.
Gina was feeling strangely lethargic. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in cryptography class. Her carotid artery was still acting weird, but she got out of the Ram pickup and paraded lovingly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a smallish creature emerged. It was crimson-ish in color and looked like a cross between a computer and a piggy bank. It had six fuchsia eyes in its buttocks. "Gityhugo glocyjigoop egeboog, nivikyl gy jusluly, kybadyc fooglab," the creature said.
"Help," Gina said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Study tree sledgehammer asbestos meat thermometer peep to creek," the thing suggested.
"Harrumph. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Toocyzukoo towel pligokecoob."
"Why don't you take your towel and shove it in your eyelid?" Gina retorted.
The creature looked bilious. "Tilygoke sladenipoom ypyput, kasopug," it rebutted. "Juprufet!" it continued.
"Your face is a juprufet!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, wily creature; she was feeling unusually tense. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or errand runner. If she had been carrying a butterfly net, 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 Jankowski will be delighted to see you."
The creature ran slightly and gazed. Then it rose up on its wet legs, puffed out its pride and slipped deliberately toward her.
For the first time, Gina had the urge to run, but her lung was rising and her legs refused to move.
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