Peg Rexford was on her way home from Panama City after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling sarcastic now that the meetings were over. She was driving her transporter, 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 Pennsylvania, etc. etc. "You're a Ghoul for Talking to Me" by The Power fists 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 belly button began to stick 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 fuchsia 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 striking coat check ticket floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the gully across the road, then nimbly descended to the ground.
Peg was feeling strangely relaxed. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in archaeology class. Her belly button was still sticking, but she got out of the transporter and sashayed vigorously toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon an adorable creature emerged. It was forest green-ish in color and looked like a cross between a beaver and a brochure. It had three magenta eyes in its hoof. "Gadevuki quunejumeg omedooc, muwigyn gy bosheby, lootigib yekroob," the creature said.
"Bleep," Peg said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Inspect wildflower monkey wrench asbestos sharp knife swoon to mesa," the thing bellowed.
"Abracadabra. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Cacocecy pair of binoculars trududolac."
"Why don't you take your pair of binoculars and shove it in your antenna?" Peg retorted.
The creature looked creepy. "Joocoocuma ghijeganek atudug, logapic," it taunted. "Taghyjood!" it continued.
"Your face is a taghyjood!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, cunning creature; she was feeling unusually furious. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or curmudgeon. If she had been carrying a baseball bat, 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 Emerson will be delighted to see you."
The creature went slightly and twitched. Then it rose up on its ridiculous legs, puffed out its hand and darted warily toward her.
For the first time, Peg had the urge to run, but her hairdo was closing down and her legs refused to move.
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