Knuckles Martin was on his way home from Boulder after a five-day series of business meetings. He was feeling frantic now that the meetings were over. He was driving his Buick LeSabre, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only six drinks with dinner. The drone of the engine and tires was taking its toll, and he was having that familiar internal discussion about just having an hour more of driving, but he should really stop and rest, but it's not really safe to stop alongside the road in this remote part of New Mexico, etc. etc. "I'm a Freak for Suspending You" by The Pound of the chests was squawking on the radio. He was too tired to search for something better.
Suddenly, he was wide awake. He had seen something, or heard something, or felt something, and it startled him. He didn't know what it was, but his tail began to pop and his heart was pounding in his chest.
He wasn't consciously aware of stopping his vehicle, but found himself parked on the shoulder of the road, staring at a bright pulsing chocolate brown light in the sky. He was hearing a deep humming sound as well, but couldn't tell whether it was from the object above him or in his 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 loose baseball floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the mountaintop across the road, then briskly descended to the ground.
Knuckles was feeling strangely nervous. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in dance class. His tail was still popping, but he got out of the Buick LeSabre and bolted swiftly toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a tan creature emerged. It was olive drab-ish in color and looked like a cross between a prairie dog and a saddle. It had three polka dotted eyes in its thyroid gland. "Paboojety plecoobojoot odebem, jyyyleb ja gibrooce, luculyd sipryp," the creature said.
"Yoohoo," Knuckles said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Destroy fern roll of duct tape deer hide bare foot come back to stream," the thing declared.
"Nonsense. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Nalerooba urn drababetym."
"Why don't you take your urn and shove it in your antenna?" Knuckles retorted.
The creature looked excitable. "Nugijaja trepepodat ypacoc, merubop," it responded. "Cabracil!" it continued.
"Your face is a cabracil!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, demented creature; he was feeling unusually lazy. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or mediator. If he had been carrying a sickle, 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 Abbey will be delighted to see you."
The creature scurried slightly and typed. Then it rose up on its spongy legs, puffed out its ego and swung ignobly toward him.
For the first time, Knuckles had the urge to run, but his cheek was drooping and his legs refused to move.
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