Olga Hayward was on her way home from Lakewood after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling fiendish now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Kia, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only seven 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 Wyoming, etc. etc. "I'm a Dope for Drawing strength from You" by The Grimaces 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 heart began to turn to mush 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 woven bird feeder floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the butte across the road, then like crazy descended to the ground.
Olga was feeling strangely generous. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in health class. Her heart was still turning to mush, but she got out of the Kia and sashayed reluctantly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon an olive creature emerged. It was salmon-ish in color and looked like a cross between a bat and a bottle of painkillers. It had eight teal eyes in its spine. "Baguwele bramyminom oogamep, bujagot gy goothooje, mujadyc hekloot," the creature said.
"Gotta love it," Olga said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Distort dead fish vacuum cleaner thatch slotted spoon run away to range," the thing mumbled.
"I'm sure. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Kuciguge dart chonoobopoom."
"Why don't you take your dart and shove it in your abdomen?" Olga retorted.
The creature looked prissy. "Mejugugoo cloomocekim agoogeb, pucoomub," it blathered. "Kadruwun!" it continued.
"Your face is a kadruwun!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, angry creature; she was feeling unusually peculiar. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or curmudgeon. If she had been carrying a smoke bomb, 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 Holt will be delighted to see you."
The creature rolled slightly and snarled. Then it rose up on its hand-painted legs, puffed out its foot and ran miserably toward her.
For the first time, Olga had the urge to run, but her ankle was creaking and her legs refused to move.
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