
Part 1
Part 2
A weary space captain records his own downfall after a disastrous mission leaves him stranded on an alien world. Stripped of command and abandoned by his crew, he awakens on a humid, nitrogen‑rich shore with only a handful of tools—a mortality capsule, a tiny telescope, a language guide, and a stack of curiosities—to keep his mind occupied. The planet’s landscape is oddly familiar, yet its inhabitants are far from ordinary.
The native beings communicate in guttural roars and frantic chatter, some lumbering quadrupeds that barely notice him, others tiny, chatty flyers that offer half‑understood anecdotes. As the captain grapples with isolation, he catalogues their habits, their lack of ambition, and the bizarre social hierarchy that places a massive, partially covered creature at the top. His journal becomes a blend of survival log, philosophical puzzle, and uneasy dialogue with a world that seems both absurd and hauntingly real.
Language
en
Duration
~31 minutes (30K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2016-04-17
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1914–2002
Best known for wildly imaginative science fiction and fantasy, this late-blooming American writer became a cult favorite for stories that feel both playful and profound. His work is loved for its odd humor, tall-tale energy, and complete refusal to sound like anyone else.
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