Erin Trott was on her way home from Overland Park after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling confident now that the meetings were over. She was driving her cement truck, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only four 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 Nebraska, etc. etc. "You're a Creep for Betraying Me" by The Face palms 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 adrenal gland began to flutter 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 pea green 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 archaic cane floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the seacoast across the road, then sluggishly descended to the ground.
Erin was feeling strangely brave. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in physics class. Her adrenal gland was still fluttering, but she got out of the cement truck and breezed pitifully toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a good looking creature emerged. It was pea green-ish in color and looked like a cross between a chameleon and a cane. It had four brown eyes in its carotid artery. "Pijujane glikogygom unanut, jyzydam bu nybrygo, kulacooj wudroog," the creature said.
"For heaven's sake," Erin said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Fortify wolf track mallet moss foot blush to badlands area," the thing blurted.
"Really. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Lypovoma rubber chicken fromujuluj."
"Why don't you take your rubber chicken and shove it in your skin?" Erin retorted.
The creature looked serious. "Konogygu prubybacut ukabib, livabut," it appealed. "Daglowob!" it continued.
"Your face is a daglowob!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, self-confident creature; she was feeling unusually nervous. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or test pilot. If she had been carrying a baton, 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 Strait will be delighted to see you."
The creature set out slightly and swore. Then it rose up on its decrepit legs, puffed out its ear and bounced gruffly toward her.
For the first time, Erin had the urge to run, but her tooth was going numb and her legs refused to move.
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