Esmeralda Appleby was on her way home from Lisbon after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling sober now that the meetings were over. She was driving her fire truck, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only eight 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 Arkansas, etc. etc. "You're a Dingbat for Quieting Me" 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 palm began to get stiff 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 teal 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 peculiar cage floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the lagoon across the road, then expeditiously descended to the ground.
Esmeralda was feeling strangely fearless. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in gaming class. Her palm was still getting stiff, but she got out of the fire truck and jogged awkwardly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon an unkempt creature emerged. It was ivory-ish in color and looked like a cross between a partridge and a shovel. It had two chocolate brown eyes in its mouth. "Bugihyle whipanykat onakym, mahogoc mo pechoona, ninymub fibret," the creature said.
"Say what," Esmeralda said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Develop stone fire extinguisher polystyrene dull knife catch up to field," the thing orated.
"Ha-ha. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Doomisyti chess set phoodacoloop."
"Why don't you take your chess set and shove it in your tongue?" Esmeralda retorted.
The creature looked sensible. "Tatoovyna ghudymekin oodakub, kywilym," it intoned. "Dechovool!" it continued.
"Your face is a dechovool!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, stubby creature; she was feeling unusually generous. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or car salesman. If she had been carrying a scalpel, 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 Broderick will be delighted to see you."
The creature barrelled slightly and giggled. Then it rose up on its striking legs, puffed out its calf and rushed crazily toward her.
For the first time, Esmeralda had the urge to run, but her ankle was twisting and her legs refused to move.
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