Salvatore Chen was on his way home from Bangkok after a three-day series of business meetings. He was feeling irate now that the meetings were over. He was driving his bicycle, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only twelve 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 Indiana, etc. etc. "You're a Pighead for Dancing with Me" by The Bows 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 belly button began to torment 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 scarlet 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 gigantic cardboard box floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the plain across the road, then at a dawdle descended to the ground.
Salvatore was feeling strangely drowsy. He briefly wished he had paid better attention in programming class. His belly button was still tormenting, but he got out of the bicycle and careened nimbly toward the object.
As he watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a chubby creature emerged. It was camouflage-ish in color and looked like a cross between an ostrich and a flash drive. It had four teal eyes in its thorax. "Kamocyku trejynibook enidoom, mivapood noo tepreda, bepamac zooslug," the creature said.
"Righto," Salvatore said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Ignore leaf pair of pliers slime oven mitt sniff to peninsula," the thing implored.
"Yikes. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Kociceda dead chicken drudibumil."
"Why don't you take your dead chicken and shove it in your forehead?" Salvatore retorted.
The creature looked daring. "Dojovygy krakococed imamob, gyganood," it stated. "Dudrevut!" it continued.
"Your face is a dudrevut!"
He didn't know why he was being so mouthy to the strange, spunky creature; he was feeling unusually confident. He tended to deal with the unknown the way he would deal with an annoying salesman or postmaster. If he had been carrying an angry glare, 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 Poole will be delighted to see you."
The creature paraded slightly and grunted. Then it rose up on its rancid legs, puffed out its chin and tumbled vigorously toward him.
For the first time, Salvatore had the urge to run, but his arm was getting wonky and his legs refused to move.
Next Chapter