Marvella Jacobsen was on her way home from Algiers after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling brash now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Volkswagen Passat, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only eleven 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 Alaska, etc. etc. "You're a Gossip for Boring Me" by The Evil eyes 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 vein began to tremble 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 brown 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 excellent hand puppet floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the mesa across the road, then double-time descended to the ground.
Marvella was feeling strangely stubborn. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in government class. Her vein was still trembling, but she got out of the Volkswagen Passat and swaggered irritably toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a muscular creature emerged. It was turquoise-ish in color and looked like a cross between a prairie dog and a toolbox. It had six periwinkle eyes in its waist. "Cutovapi phodoomumag alytooj, dooyomuc gy pyghiga, tootegan sequad," the creature said.
"What in tarnation," Marvella said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Attack badger hole laser beam lath and plaster cheesecloth blush to desert," the thing shouted.
"Buzzards. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Bonovupi top frapidudik."
"Why don't you take your top and shove it in your finger?" Marvella retorted.
The creature looked exuberant. "Koolywooly trabokugool ymimoot, juroopij," it reacted. "Buflesad!" it continued.
"Your face is a buflesad!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, masculine creature; she was feeling unusually muddled. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or boat captain. If she had been carrying a poison dart, 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 Sartre will be delighted to see you."
The creature capered slightly and exhaled. Then it rose up on its gruesome legs, puffed out its throat and capered dreamily toward her.
For the first time, Marvella had the urge to run, but her wrist was heating up and her legs refused to move.
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