I stared in disbelief, my mouth wide open. Two alien governors deboarded a Concorde jet. Their eyes were covered with thick black sunglasses, though I had no idea why, since they had melted the moon and thickened the Earth’s atmosphere with so much of the plasma that it was eternally twilight. They were just trying to look “cool.” The assholes.

The governors paused (for effect) and waived at the adoring audience. You would have thought Elvis had just walked down a golden stairway from heaven flanked by John Lennon and George Harrison. The crowd screamed with delight. The governors smiled and nodded, the deep yellow tint of their teeth visible even on my small television.

My face reddened, “Goddammit, Eva, what the hell is the matter with these people? Fucking sheep!”

The clone shrugged.

“Fucking sheep!” I yelled at the television.

“Maybe they are happy because the governors have had a safe trip,” the clone suggested, subtly rolling her R’s.

Her innocence was maddeningly endearing. Two thick strands of her curled, platinum blonde hair framed her face. Her blue eyes sparkled even in the eternal twilight. My mouth drew up into a smile. I couldn’t control it.

“See? You are happy too,” her German accent gave me butterflies.

I put my arms around her and caught only the slightest hint of her naked womanhood before the phone rang.

“Fuckers.”

I scooted away from the clone and picked up the phone, “Yeah?”

It was Diamond Dave.

“What? Why do you always have to call me at the wrong time?”

“Hey, anytime is the wrong time. You’re always slobbering over that clone.”

I blushed. He had a point there, “Okay, so what do you want?”

“The governors want to meet with you today. At the Den.”

I sighed. Now what? “When?”

“Can you be here in an hour?”

I shook my head, “Yeah, later.”

“Why are you unhappy, now,” the clone asked, as I dropped the phone back on it’s cradle.

“I have to go to the Den to meet the governors. You stay here.”

The clone smiled as I pecked her on the cheek. She turned back to the television.

My anger sharpened as I drove to the Den, thinking of the clone sitting on the silky material that wrapped our sofa. I imagined her perfect form, perpetually naked as was the trend these days, pressing against my trembling body. My adrenaline flowed. My fingers felt charged with energy. My mind wandered into that twilight zone that awaits anyone willing to let themselves go while driving on the highway.

The Den was the location where the aliens made their “headquarters.” They organized into a tiered governance, with each successive level taking on finer and finer control of smaller and smaller areas. The Den was the lowest tier and controlled the smallest area. It was a given that when referring to the “Den,” one was referring to the Den which happened to control whatever area one was in.

The twenty minute drive seemed to last five minutes and I got out of the car. I had been sweating badly from the anger, the adrenaline and the climate. I was, as far as I knew, the only human left who still wore clothing. I approached the building, flat on one side and round on the other – a giant cylinder cut in half. I approached the rounded side, where the entrance was located. I saw Diamond Dave and two alien governors – one older than the other – waiting for me.

As I approached, Dave looked with some interest at my reddened face, “Calm down,” he winked.

I didn’t reply and walked past him. The governors led me inside to an office. Dave followed, somewhat nervously.

We all sat at a round table, Dave and I on one side, facing the two governors. One of the governors pushed a bottle of blue cheese dressing toward me. I looked at the bottle with disdain as the governors and Dave took large gulps from their own containers of dressing.

“What, you’re gonna serve me a salad?”

The governors laughed hysterically, spewing dressing all over the table. I could see years of dressing caked around their gums and between their large yellowed teeth. I gagged. Dave nudged me under the table and I scooted away from him.

The older governor looked sternly at me with his yellow cat-like eyes. The pupils constricted as he seemed to concentrate harder on my own eyes, “We understand that you recently made a trip to Germany.”

The deep bass of the alien’s voice vibrated through my chest. I crossed my arms across my abdomen, “Yes?”

“We know that you saw an alien on the side of the highway during your trip.”

I looked at Dave. How the hell did they know that? The clone didn’t even know about that and she was with me. I tried to remain collected.

“This alien is a fugitive,” the older governor continued, “we know that he will be visiting you in a few days. We desire your cooperation.”

I squinted. What was going on here? “What do you want from me?”

The governors smiled at each other, confident they had their patsy.