Judith Kling was on her way home from Anaheim after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling tired now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Model T, 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 Iowa, etc. etc. "I'm a She-wolf for Fighting with You" by The Death glares 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 paw began to act up 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 black 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 playing card floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the hillside across the road, then slackly descended to the ground.
Judith was feeling strangely modest. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in statistics class. Her paw was still acting up, but she got out of the Model T and strolled gruffly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a little creature emerged. It was aquamarine-ish in color and looked like a cross between a chipmunk and a comb. It had two silver eyes in its nose. "Mumoogoly proocymoobud oototat, kiwided la liflijoo, namytod fuwren," the creature said.
"Nope," Judith said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Pat fallen tree drill reed spatula calm down to cesspool," the thing worried.
"Huzzah. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Lanozodu banana trigojadac."
"Why don't you take your banana and shove it in your larynx?" Judith retorted.
The creature looked gargantuan. "Tuberypu croolololac ajobyk, booyalyd," it provoked. "Bycligen!" it continued.
"Your face is a bycligen!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, dependable creature; she was feeling unusually tense. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or painter. If she had been carrying a Nerf bat, 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 Montgomery will be delighted to see you."
The creature zoomed slightly and quivered. Then it rose up on its hand-painted legs, puffed out its eyelash and stormed lovingly toward her.
For the first time, Judith had the urge to run, but her calf was dissolving and her legs refused to move.
Next Chapter