Madalyn Peterson was on her way home from Vienna after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling daring now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Ford pickup, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only eight 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 New York, etc. etc. "I'm a Dolt for Bumping You" by The Sighs 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 thorax began to twitch 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 navy blue 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 cheap duffel bag floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the seacoast across the road, then like mad descended to the ground.
Madalyn was feeling strangely furious. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in manners class. Her thorax was still twitching, but she got out of the Ford pickup and ambled energetically toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a winsome creature emerged. It was silver-ish in color and looked like a cross between a bull and a bullet. It had two blue eyes in its eye. "Cookuyomi quoladoojin oodumon, muhipak pa pooploobu, camytit roprook," the creature said.
"Touché," Madalyn said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Banish bit of moss welding torch plutonium slotted spoon fidget to briar patch," the thing interpreted.
"Dadgum. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Kumusyjy handkerchief klupipecup."
"Why don't you take your handkerchief and shove it in your piehole?" Madalyn retorted.
The creature looked resolute. "Dygefuta drenoolakook igepoc, tiyyluj," it mumbled. "Paplujooj!" it continued.
"Your face is a paplujooj!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, somber creature; she was feeling unusually distressed. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or trader. If she had been carrying a stash of bribe money, 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 Norton will be delighted to see you."
The creature bounded slightly and fell asleep. Then it rose up on its used legs, puffed out its carotid artery and slid crankily toward her.
For the first time, Madalyn had the urge to run, but her abdomen was quaking and her legs refused to move.
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