He must have passed out. Human had no recollection of how he got here, but he was lying on a table in a round room bathed in very bright tan light.
The creature he had met outside was beside him, along with five other similar-looking beings, all peering at him with those pink eyes. They were sternly conversing in the strange language he had heard earlier.
He was feeling no fear; in fact, he felt nothing. He was just watching everything, like those out-of-body experiences he had read about.
"Trinabooluc ykypen," one said. "Gooceseme," another replied. They timidly raised up two strange metallic devices above his thumb, plunged the tips of them in, and removed it. They boiled the thumb, then put it in a fuzzy sea green container that was hovering beside them. They then did the same with his head, and his eyelash. It all seemed very strange, mostly because he was aware he should be feeling very befuddled, but actually was simply observing.
The beings continued their bad conversation, while he lay there, with the curious thought that he probably shouldn't try to get up while his thumb, head, and eyelash were missing. Meanwhile, one of the aliens lightly touched the side of the container, and his body parts were automatically whisked away and out of sight. "Shoo," he thought to himself, "I guess that's that."
The other aliens continued conversing and prodding what was left of his body. "Nuniretaa," one divulged. "Migogog," another responded.
"Bipiwopo?" he said abruptly, surprising himself — and, evidently, everyone.
The room was suddenly full of animated alien conversation. "Japoojul?" "Doomoorucu gucysady gotowily." "Kipycalu." "Tobywal!"
The most eccentric of the aliens then moved busily to his side. "I hope we have not inconvenienced you," it harangued, in perfect robotic English. "We come in peace. We will return you to your Ford Falcon when we are finished."
He actually felt pretty inconvenienced, insofar as someone without feeling could feel. "Jopohuny," he orated. "May I have my thumb back? And my head and eyelash?"
He realized that there was no language being used to communicate. All were understanding each other without the need to translate.
"They are currently in the lab, being darkened. We will return them shortly."
"That's good to know," he replied, with only a little irony. "I am waiting gingerly."
"Thank you for your cooperation."
"Yeah, well, I'll just lie here and cooperate until I get my head back," he recited.
The poking and prodding and conversation continued. The words were just background sound unless they were directed toward him. The tan light bathed him in a peaceful feeling, and he was oblivious to the passage of time.
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