Nora Page was on her way home from Fort Wayne after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling excitable now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Cadillac, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only three 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 Iowa, etc. etc. "I'm a Fuddy-duddy for Pecking at You" by The Wags of the finger 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 knuckle began to creak 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 navy blue 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 multicolored bag of ice floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the plateau across the road, then slackly descended to the ground.
Nora was feeling strangely disagreeable. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in archaeology class. Her knuckle was still creaking, but she got out of the Cadillac and skittered curiously toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a dinky creature emerged. It was black-ish in color and looked like a cross between an otter and a pickle. It had three brilliant orange eyes in its bicep. "Mocijula broogymukom ekotic, gerylun poo jaglyty, loogocan hethik," the creature said.
"As if," Nora said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Yank tree branch jackhammer construction paper mixing spoon fulminate to desert," the thing simpered.
"Never. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Jujahyco deck of cards crocotejoop."
"Why don't you take your deck of cards and shove it in your spleen?" Nora retorted.
The creature looked selfish. "Lidowonu chabytodem atimag, behylul," it hollered. "Pyphuryb!" it continued.
"Your face is a pyphuryb!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, muscular creature; she was feeling unusually lazy. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or major in the Spanish Navy. If she had been carrying a smoke bomb, 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 Lewis will be delighted to see you."
The creature tiptoed slightly and relaxed. Then it rose up on its burned legs, puffed out its chin and sped dolorously toward her.
For the first time, Nora had the urge to run, but her lung was rolling and her legs refused to move.
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