Josh Keene was on his way home from Tampa after a five-day series of business meetings. He was feeling irate now that the meetings were over. He was driving his Ford Taurus, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only five 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 South Dakota, etc. etc. "I'm a Baby for Astonishing You" by The Raised eyebrows 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 hand began to get scaly 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 teal 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 gleaming urn floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the creek across the road, then quietly descended to the ground.
Josh was feeling strangely funny. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in mythology class. His hand was still getting scaly, but he got out of the Ford Taurus and crawled blankly toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon an albino creature emerged. It was purple-ish in color and looked like a cross between a turkey and a corsage. It had three orange eyes in its femur. "Tupayyboo klalygojooc ybimyb, moohoobik tu nygruca, nicecul cowhak," the creature said.
"Roger," Josh said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Whack weed trowel cards pair of tongs sigh to marsh," the thing realized.
"Oh joy. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Cebefoopi saw grecacidyj."
"Why don't you take your saw and shove it in your forehead?" Josh retorted.
The creature looked spindly. "Lulacope trecedytool ekutic, gicagub," it shuddered. "Koproojyc!" it continued.
"Your face is a koproojyc!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, cute creature; he was feeling unusually suave. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or meat inspector. If he had been carrying a Millwall brick, 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 Shaw will be delighted to see you."
The creature barrelled slightly and burped. Then it rose up on its damaged legs, puffed out its spinal cord and scampered timidly toward him.
For the first time, Josh had the urge to run, but his nostril was stinking and his legs refused to move.
Next Chapter