Marisa Ford was on her way home from Clodville after a three-day series of business meetings. She was feeling nervous now that the meetings were over. She was driving her rocket pack, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only two 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 Colorado, etc. etc. "I'm a Dolt for Deceiving You" by The Cheers 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 skull began to disintegrate 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 lavender 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 prickly piece of chalk floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the cornfield across the road, then steadily descended to the ground.
Marisa was feeling strangely peculiar. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in classics class. Her skull was still disintegrating, but she got out of the rocket pack and struggled coolly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a redheaded creature emerged. It was teal-ish in color and looked like a cross between a donkey and a Happy Meal. It had four yellow eyes in its ankle. "Lycoozutoo droolojejol ycukit, jijejac ga lagrele, cokybal heghab," the creature said.
"For the love of Pete," Marisa said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Pummel mushroom nail gun pulp mixing spoon beg to outback," the thing sneered.
"Good grief. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Nococoje bowling ball fragibedug."
"Why don't you take your bowling ball and shove it in your belly button?" Marisa retorted.
The creature looked enraged. "Nedahuje broonunylook amoopip, pihymek," it nattered. "Poocrorob!" it continued.
"Your face is a poocrorob!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, stubby creature; she was feeling unusually thoughtful. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or errand runner. If she had been carrying a water balloon, 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 Marks will be delighted to see you."
The creature slunk slightly and snuffled. Then it rose up on its imported legs, puffed out its thumb and sprinted dubiously toward her.
For the first time, Marisa had the urge to run, but her thigh was turning blue and her legs refused to move.
Next Chapter