Kimberly McDiggles was on her way home from Worcester after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling dumb now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Honda Civic, 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 New Mexico, etc. etc. "You're a Scamp for Thinking about Me" by The Bounds 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 nose began to wiggle 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 azure 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 waxy Bible floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the range across the road, then promptly descended to the ground.
Kimberly was feeling strangely muddled. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in social studies class. Her nose was still wiggling, but she got out of the Honda Civic and skipped again toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a bony creature emerged. It was olive drab-ish in color and looked like a cross between a crocodile and a pair of scissors. It had eight fuchsia eyes in its forehead. "Mabasyjo shenicoojic elooded, jecenyc pe doklymy, dopiped hogrym," the creature said.
"Alley oop," Kimberly said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Overturn wolf track piece of sandpaper Formica bare foot gasp to forest," the thing blubbered.
"Weird. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Kymarodo notebook quygigucil."
"Why don't you take your notebook and shove it in your spinal cord?" Kimberly retorted.
The creature looked shiftless. "Kitujupoo quegatadal ookikal, ceficym," it yawned. "Kychurag!" it continued.
"Your face is a kychurag!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, mindless creature; she was feeling unusually cunning. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or dermatologist. If she had been carrying a howitzer, 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 Halperin will be delighted to see you."
The creature hobbled slightly and screeched. Then it rose up on its flaky legs, puffed out its thorax and slumped glumly toward her.
For the first time, Kimberly had the urge to run, but her nose was cramping and her legs refused to move.
Next Chapter