Klaus Burke was on his way home from Aurora after a four-day series of business meetings. He was feeling affable now that the meetings were over. He was driving his Cougar, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only nine drinks with dinner. The drone of the engine and tires was taking its toll, and he was having that familiar internal discussion about just having an hour more of driving, but he 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 Weasel for Screaming at Me" by The Sniggers was squawking on the radio. He was too tired to search for something better.
Suddenly, he was wide awake. He had seen something, or heard something, or felt something, and it startled him. He didn't know what it was, but his eyebrow began to soften and his heart was pounding in his chest.
He wasn't consciously aware of stopping his vehicle, but found himself parked on the shoulder of the road, staring at a bright pulsing crimson light in the sky. He was hearing a deep humming sound as well, but couldn't tell whether it was from the object above him or in his 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 golden spider floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the rainforest across the road, then like mad descended to the ground.
Klaus was feeling strangely decisive. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in philosophy class. His eyebrow was still softening, but he got out of the Cougar and walked demurely toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a sorrowful creature emerged. It was yellow-ish in color and looked like a cross between a dinosaur and a fishing pole. It had four black eyes in its pride. "Madacudo trodolebal ulapool, gujoopum ge noofryti, noopookyc vuglood," the creature said.
"Grody to the max," Klaus said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Propel mulberry tree heat gun cardboard egg cutter snort to wasteland," the thing rationalized.
"Fribblenootums. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Noocuyilo button glajotekin."
"Why don't you take your button and shove it in your throat?" Klaus retorted.
The creature looked naïve. "Cymuripi quoledynool udojil, doyypool," it winked. "Tookloojyd!" it continued.
"Your face is a tookloojyd!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, selfish creature; he was feeling unusually calm. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or blogger. If he had been carrying a hatchet, 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 Yamamoto will be delighted to see you."
The creature set out slightly and howled. Then it rose up on its used legs, puffed out its calf and lurched stupidly toward him.
For the first time, Klaus had the urge to run, but his hand was coming off and his legs refused to move.
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