Dennis tended to his garden. It was all he had left to do. It was all he ever had left to do. Another tally by the eggplant. Two hundred thirty-four days, alone on an alien planet.

 

Until today.

 

It happened while he was peeling a potato. A small creature, no bigger than a thumb, crawled up alongside him. The creature had six limbs. A series of hairs stood up on its back, each like a needle and sharp enough to prick a finger.

 

“Ow,” Dennis brought his finger to his lips and sucked the blood, an instinct he regretted as the world began to muddle around him. “What are you?” His mouth remained in a whistle as the last word overstayed its welcome.

 

The creature attempted to scuttle away, but Dennis snatched it between his fingers and placed it into a jar filled with potato skins. Nothing must go to waste, and dried potato skins are better than nothing.

 

“Contained... but... contaminater…. contaminate… contaminated...” he sealed the jar and set it down, his head bobbing back and forth, his gaze drifting in and out. He tried to get to his feet. The task proved impossible. The creature had infected his blood with a toxin of some sort, and it wasn't wasting any time poisoning him. With an outstretched hand, he crawled along the dirt-covered floor of his makeshift shelter. The wind outside howled, the likes of a dozen wolves eager to feast. The thin nylon walls of the shelter flapped in concert with the whips and whizzes of the weather.

 

He managed to reach his bucket, which when overturned, served as his chair. He gathered himself enough to sit atop it and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, the world muddling itself into an array of shapes in the darkness as he tried to compose himself.

 

The howling grew.

 

It wouldn’t be much longer until the rescue crew arrived. Ten days, by his count, assuming it was right. He had to make it only ten more days. A cry in the distance broke him from his daydreaming. The walls of the shelter shook. Dennis remained steadfast on his bucket. The door, or rather zipper, rattled. Then, without so much as an attempt to knock, a claw cut through the nylon of the shelter wall. The nylon sizzled as it spread apart.

 

In crawled a monster of a beast, bigger than a grizzly bear. It looked like the small creature he’d captured in the jar, only much… much bigger. The mother.

 

“Your child is safe,” said Dennis, the words falling out of his mouth in a jumbled mess. Did this monster speak English? “The jar.” He imagined himself getting up from the bucket and fetching the jar with her baby inside, but it was all he could muster. His legs were far too weary from the toxin to carry his weight. The monster approached. Acid dripped from its mandibles.

 

“Jaaaaaaaaar,” the monster seethed. It did know English.

 

“Your baby is in that jar with the potato skins,” he said. “I…” he bobbed back and forth, gripping the sides of the bucket so he wouldn’t topple over. “I didn’t know what to do. On Earth, it helps to have the thing that stung you or bit you or pricked you with poison… I’m not sure what good it’ll do me in this scenario, but I went ahead and captured your baby anyway. You wouldn’t happen to have a cure on you, would you? Boy oh boy, that’d sure be swell.” He’d heard some of what he was saying, and some of it came out in full words, other parts more in mumbled mush that vaguely resembled speech.

 

“Cuuuuuuuuuure?”

 

“Uh, an antidote? Your baby pricked me, and I’m getting woozier and woozier. That’s a fun word, isn’t it? Woozier.”

 

A sinister chuckle came from the beast. It shook its head and took another set of steps forward, each of its legs digging into the earth as it moved.

“I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. Or rather, foots… six foots. Feets. Point is, I’m not your enemy. And you’re not my enemy. Right? We can both be friends here and move along with our lives. I’m ten days away from being rescued. Isn’t that exciting?”

 

“Rescuuuuuuuuue.”

 

“You’re good at that. It’s absolutely terrifying in every way. If it weren’t for the toxin making me feel so loopy right now, you’d better believe I’d be screaming in terror. What do you say? Take the jar and leave me with the antidote?”

 

“Jaaaaaaaaar.”

 

“We’ve covered that one already. If we’re going to establish any kind of communication here, I’m going to need you to learn a few more words. Or, maybe this is an even better idea, what don’t you say a few words, and I’ll try my best to use context clues to tell what you’re saying?”

 

The monster ambled past him to the jar on the ground.

 

“That’s the jar,” said Dennis. “See, we’re already on our way. You know what a jar is.”

 

The monster turned back to him, its eyes emitting a haunting blue glow.

 

“I can see you’re angry,” said Dennis. “But like I said before, I needed to capture your baby so I could bring it to a doctor who isn’t here to make an antidote. It made a lot of sense in the moment. I guess you just had to be there.” The glow of the eyes grew brighter. “I’ll open it… give me a moment.”

Dennis tipped himself off the bucket and fell to the floor. He crawled along the ground until he reached the jar. It took every bit of strength he had left to open it. The small creature crawled out.

 

“Your baby is safe, see? Now, do you have an antidote?”

 

The monster nudged the baby with one of its legs.

 

“Do you?”

 

The monster and its offspring made their way toward the sizzling exit.

 

“Ten…more…”