Kendra Gagné was on her way home from Aurora after a three-day series of business meetings. She was feeling peculiar now that the meetings were over. She was driving her UFO, 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 Indiana, etc. etc. "I'm a Troglodyte for Injuring You" by The Hoots 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 hand began to shiver 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 aqua 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 brightly-colored wastebasket floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the savanna across the road, then quickly descended to the ground.
Kendra was feeling strangely tense. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in statistics class. Her hand was still shivering, but she got out of the UFO and sallied forth patiently toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a spry creature emerged. It was amber-ish in color and looked like a cross between an ant and a twig. It had four rose eyes in its claw. "Tynifemy clocedodool ugykel, nuyebac to jyclica, ditoopad wuwryt," the creature said.
"Well," Kendra said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Photograph raspberry bush match Portland cement melon baller snarl to park," the thing interrupted.
"Incredible. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Belajipa avocado shojygoomec."
"Why don't you take your avocado and shove it in your nose?" Kendra retorted.
The creature looked presumptuous. "Pacucooti plepootijak ilupid, juzycak," it orated. "Koothagac!" it continued.
"Your face is a koothagac!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, beautiful creature; she was feeling unusually angry. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or gravedigger. If she had been carrying a knife, 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 Allen will be delighted to see you."
The creature proceeded slightly and expectorated. Then it rose up on its bent legs, puffed out its thorax and climbed trustingly toward her.
For the first time, Kendra had the urge to run, but her knuckle was widening and her legs refused to move.
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