The circles on Ppnlak's skin glowed purple and he looked at Thur. He asked, Can you hide?

"It's no use." Thur hit a button on the door of the escape pod, activating another passcode. "I've changed the code for the pod. This will temporarily stop them, but you have to leave soon."

What will happen to you?

"I'm hoping they spare me."

"Why would I do that?" the hissing voice of Captain Karach intoned.

Ppnlak turned back to the monitor and started frantically pressing buttons. One tentacle held the paper in front of him and another pressed the buttons. Ppnlak's accuracy decreased dramatically, but he didn’t have time to dwell on that. Behind him, Ppnlak could hear the familiar sound of a ESpeR being shot and then a dull thud as a body hit the ground. That was promising for Thur. The captain could have shot him with a bullet. 

Karach reached the door and entered a series of numbers into the electronic lock. The door flashed red, informing her that she didn’t enter the correct code. She growled and slammed her hands against the glass. She asked, "Who are you?"

Ppnlak ignored her, focusing on the coordinates in front of him. He put in the last number and tapped the left box. He was sent to another interface. Ppnlak did exactly as Thur instructed, and was led to the final message.

Karach slammed on the glass again and shouted, "Who are you?"

Ppnlak. The janitor.

Ppnlak pushed the eject button and was jettisoned into space. His escape pod hurtled towards its destination at high speeds. Ppnlak wanted to check the coordinates he put in, but he didn’t want to risk messing the dashboard up. He sat down in the pod's solitary chair and relaxed. He didn’t know how long it would take to get to Vasreimor and he needed to conserve his energy. The purple glow that surrounded him once more faded to blue. Ppnlak closed his eyes and went to sleep.

He awoke hours later to the sound of beeping. He blinked his eyes, looking for the source of the sound. The monitor on the dashboard had a red flashing message. Ppnlak got up and investigated it, but he couldn’t figure out what it said. He peered out the window and understood. He was entering the atmosphere of a planet.

He rushed back to the dashboard and tapped buttons randomly. Thur hadn’t explained to him how to land the escape pod. His tentacles were a writhing mass behind him, keyed up in his frustration. Being unable to read Common was proving to be quite the hinderance. He kept tapping buttons until the flashing message went away, leaving him with a dark screen.

At this point, there was little Ppnlak could do, so he fastened himself to his seat and accepted his fate. The air around him seemed to grow heavier and it pressed him into his seat. Breathing was difficult, and Ppnlak had to force the air into his lungs. Outside the window, a red tint surrounded the pod. Ppnlak felt the pod jerk when the parachute was deployed and his descent into the atmosphere was slowed.

Ppnlak jerked in his seat again when his pod crashed into something. He was jostled back and forth between the unknown objects until his escape pod hit the ground with a final thump. Ppnlak waited a second before releasing his seatbelt and standing up. He wobbled, losing his balance, and his tentacles pressed against the wall to help him regain it.

He walked to the door and hit the release button. He stepped out of the pod and looked around at the planet. Ginormous trees stretched into the purple and yellow sky, decorated with colorful and large leaves. Vines hung lazily, crisscrossed between branches. The dense jungle floor boasted even more vegetation. Ppnlak could see small animals nesting in the trees and tiny insects littered the ground.

The trees behind him had their tops broken, and the mangled branches swung from their broken perches. Ppnlak must have hit the trees during landing. The parachute attached to the escape pod was tangled in the canopy. The hot and humid air made Ppnlak's already tight spacesuit cling to his body more.

The planet's sun painted a heavy silhouette in the sky, and Ppnlak couldn’t see any moons. Wherever he was, it certainly wasn’t Vasreimor. A heavy breath escaped Ppnlak, fogging up the visor of his helmet. He probably shouldn’t have rushed putting in the coordinates. From here on out, he decided, numbers and letters were his enemy.

A heavy weight dropped onto Ppnlak's head, startling him. One of his tentacles reached up and plucked the mass off him. A terrifying sight greeted him. A short, stout, and feathered beast squirmed in his hold. It squawked its disapproval at the situation it was in and flashed Ppnlak its rows of razor-sharp teeth. Before the monstrosity could take a bite out of the tentacle holding it, Ppnlak brushed his mind against its.

The creature froze and cocked its head. Ppnlak opened a channel and said, Hello.

Through the channel, the feathered eyesore let its thoughts run through him like an ESpeR blast. An unrelenting feeling of hunger filled his mind. Ppnlak asked, Do you happen to know where I am?

An image of what Ppnlak believed was the thing's food was his response. Ppnlak supposed he was hoping for too much. There was no reason why the creature should know Common or have any language ability at all. He needed to think on the fiend's level. He pushed his own feeling of hunger through the channel.

The beast bobbed its head and understanding swept through the link. It relaxed in his hold and pushed the image of food again, but with a question attached to it. Ppnlak showed it his own version of food. It bobbed its head once more, and sent him a feeling he interpreted as wanting to be free.

Ppnlak released it, and the thing flew to sit on his helmet. Ppnlak removed it, but it flew right back up as soon as he let go. They played that game for about five minutes before Ppnlak succumbed to his fate. The fiend would be staying with him.

I know you don't understand me, he said, But I don't know how this arrangement will work.

Hunger filtered to his mind. Ppnlak continued, If you're staying with me, I'll need to come up with a name. Any suggestions?

It adjusted itself on the top of his helmet. Ppnlak laughed, I see. How about Ugly?

It let out a deafening squawk and Ppnlak winced. The eyesore didn’t like that name. Do you like Feiru?

Another squawk. Ppnlak and it argued for what felt like hours before they decided on a reasonable and inoffensive name for the beast. Ppnlak had migrated to sit against the fallen escape pod and Isiuta preened itself while he sat there.

Ppnlak wouldn’t be leaving the planet anytime soon, so he would have to get used to the peculiarities. He went inside the pod and grabbed a sealable container, jamming it into his suit's pocket. Ppnlak had to find food and water before starvation and dehydration gripped him. Taking advantage of his new companion, Ppnlak pushed an image of water to Isiuta. It chirped and leapt off his helmet, hovering in front of him. Once Isiuta was sure it had Ppnlak's attention, it flew away a few units. It stopped and turned back to him, pausing to allow him time to catch up.

Ppnlak followed Isiuta until they reached a shore. The liquid lapping at the rocky beach stretched far beyond the horizon. The dark and murky waters obscured his vision of the seafloor and hid the ocean's depth. Suddenly, a giant catapulted itself out of the liquid. Ppnlak's circles glowed a deep violet in response to the giant's arrival. Then, much to Ppnlak's horror, an even larger creature breached the water and swallowed the first one whole.

The resulting wave from the monster's crash back into the ocean hit Ppnlak and covered him with the liquid. The wave threatened to sweep him into the ocean, but Ppnlak used one of his tentacles to grasp onto a nearby tree and pull himself out of danger. Isiuta flew high into the sky to escape the deluge.

Ppnlak fished the container out of his suit and walked back to the ocean's edge. He dipped the container into the liquid and gathered as much of it as he could. Once it was full, he snapped the lid onto it and retreated to the safety of the trees. He inspected the gray fluid and hoped that it wouldn’t immediately kill him if he drank it. He pocketed the container once more and started the trek back to his pod. Isiuta settled onto its spot on his helmet.

At the pod, he withdrew the liquid. His helmet allowed for drinking without having to remove it, so he opened the lid of the container and took a hearty gulp. The liquid tasted of something he had never experienced, and Ppnlak couldn’t decide whether it was pleasant or not. Luckily, immediate death didn’t greet him, but Ppnlak wanted to wait a day before he declared it safe.

He exited the pod and was welcomed by Isiuta, who landed on his helmet. Ppnlak was happy to say that he was able to survive for several hours. Although he wasn’t sure how long his survival would last, he felt this was a special moment. Day one of his unexpected arrival on an alien planet.