Nelly Maxwell was on her way home from Managua after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling fiendish now that the meetings were over. She was driving her wheelchair, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only five 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 Ohio, etc. etc. "I'm a Bandicoot for Pushing You" by The Cringes 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 appendix began to flake off 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 sea green 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 mysterious pepper grinder floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the cave across the road, then like crazy descended to the ground.
Nelly was feeling strangely merry. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in mythology class. Her appendix was still flaking off, but she got out of the wheelchair and slipped firmly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon an undersized creature emerged. It was lime-green-ish in color and looked like a cross between a Doberman and a basketball. It had five olive drab eyes in its shoulder. "Pelacaji phoogemacoon ookalen, jeyimob bo powrate, bypedoop joplet," the creature said.
"Bravo," Nelly said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Squash sea shell punch block of ice food processor pant to veld," the thing called.
"Shoo. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Koonojuna crystal ball brakijubooc."
"Why don't you take your crystal ball and shove it in your eyelid?" Nelly retorted.
The creature looked sober. "Lekuvota ghypomoogob ynilit, neselud," it begged. "Lyglavoob!" it continued.
"Your face is a lyglavoob!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, weird creature; she was feeling unusually distressed. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or tour guide. If she had been carrying a scythe, 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 Vickers will be delighted to see you."
The creature proceeded slightly and showed up. Then it rose up on its thick legs, puffed out its heart and made a beeline quietly toward her.
For the first time, Nelly had the urge to run, but her foot was drooping and her legs refused to move.
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