Amber Grayheels was on her way home from Córdoba after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling self-assured now that the meetings were over. She was driving her hoverboard, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only ten 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 Washington, etc. etc. "You're a Crazy person for Writing Me" by The Winces 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 cheek began to unwind 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 yellow 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 imitation bag of potato chips floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the park across the road, then moderately descended to the ground.
Amber was feeling strangely forgetful. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in traditional medicine class. Her cheek was still unwinding, but she got out of the hoverboard and stormed rapidly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a dark creature emerged. It was pink-ish in color and looked like a cross between a kangaroo and a magnifying glass. It had two turquoise eyes in its liver. "Temisyca wrotujocic oocejok, mezabem ky bekloode, koodykot zikloop," the creature said.
"Shazam," Amber said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Neglect tree stump scythe wool egg cutter scribble to mountain," the thing agreed.
"Alrighty. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Pediganu gun kragapitup."
"Why don't you take your gun and shove it in your beard?" Amber retorted.
The creature looked taciturn. "Ditovube chitapubin yjebek, kagepooc," it blubbered. "Coowrovij!" it continued.
"Your face is a coowrovij!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, polite creature; she was feeling unusually cunning. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or talk-show host. If she had been carrying an assault rifle, 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 McGraw will be delighted to see you."
The creature padded slightly and lay down. Then it rose up on its spongy legs, puffed out its belly and trotted angrily toward her.
For the first time, Amber had the urge to run, but her skin was getting hairy and her legs refused to move.
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