'Mid Pleasures and Palaces

A lone astronaut named William Kirk steps onto a remote, wind‑swept planet that feels more like a barren gorge than a hopeful new world. The landscape is hostile, with thorny bushes that conceal movement and a strange, almost sentient feeling that something unseen could crush him at any moment. As he steadies himself beside his empty rocket, the weight of his mission and his uneasy superstitions press like a boulder on his mind.

Before long, a tall, sun‑blackened figure emerges from the brush, introducing himself politely as Harry Loren despite the gleam of a knife in his hand. A sudden, brutal clash forces Kirk to choose between fire‑power and restraint, leaving the stranger dead and an alien scar that hints at a creature far beyond human. The encounter leaves the explorer questioning whether the planet holds only hostile fauna or a deeper, hidden civilization.