Franklin Everett was on his way home from Tijuana after a four-day series of business meetings. He was feeling nervous now that the meetings were over. He was driving his Pontiac Firebird, 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 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 Minnesota, etc. etc. "I'm a Demon for Disparaging You" by The Gasps 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 eyelash began to burble 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 lavender 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 overgrown soccer ball floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the forest across the road, then steadily descended to the ground.
Franklin was feeling strangely petulant. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in obedience class. His eyelash was still burbling, but he got out of the Pontiac Firebird and scooted steadily toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a dinky creature emerged. It was brilliant orange-ish in color and looked like a cross between a unicorn and a cotton ball. It had two salmon eyes in its tail. "Jykusela wreladutoob ugybog, parejol bu mooghoomo, jecoopat yigleg," the creature said.
"Excuse me," Franklin said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Swipe fern grease gun epoxy piece of cheesecloth wink to cave," the thing tittered.
"Grody to the max. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Lolarami bilge pump bruledukop."
"Why don't you take your bilge pump and shove it in your adrenal gland?" Franklin retorted.
The creature looked adorable. "Tilijyba wrocibakoob agamuk, gujebyp," it protested. "Gooshoogag!" it continued.
"Your face is a gooshoogag!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, awkward creature; he was feeling unusually maniacal. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or cook. If he had been carrying a smoke bomb, 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 Brock will be delighted to see you."
The creature darted slightly and treaded water. Then it rose up on its autographed legs, puffed out its thumb and strode tensely toward him.
For the first time, Franklin had the urge to run, but his gall bladder was getting fuzzy and his legs refused to move.
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