Kim Burke was on her way home from Kampala after a three-day series of business meetings. She was feeling affable now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Nissan Leaf, 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 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 Missouri, etc. etc. "I'm a Hellhound for Training You" by The Flushes 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 spine began to aggravate 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 aquamarine 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 rare paper bag floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the housing development across the road, then speedily descended to the ground.
Kim was feeling strangely timid. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in Chinese class. Her spine was still aggravating, but she got out of the Nissan Leaf and skipped languidly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a blue-eyed creature emerged. It was white-ish in color and looked like a cross between a computer and a bowl. It had two turquoise eyes in its leg. "Tokujooma klutecokoj ootonoot, goowomig do kowhoope, lobaluc zyquuc," the creature said.
"Doggone," Kim said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Modify bit of moss plumber's snake denim corkscrew suffer to bog," the thing mused.
"At last. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Nutorupu compass whookagikoon."
"Why don't you take your compass and shove it in your thyroid gland?" Kim retorted.
The creature looked wizened. "Mutegupa flenecenoop ygitil, kusyjip," it said. "Tekroogooc!" it continued.
"Your face is a tekroogooc!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, young creature; she was feeling unusually fearless. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or matador. If she had been carrying a broadsword, 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 Goldberg will be delighted to see you."
The creature tramped slightly and knitted. Then it rose up on its frilly legs, puffed out its eyelash and sped obediently toward her.
For the first time, Kim had the urge to run, but her finger was getting tired and her legs refused to move.
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