Space voyaging was never part of my dream. My intentions were glued on earth, where I dreamt of inventing the cure for cancer and stashing away all glory. Unfortunately plans have a habit of going south. Thankfully I did not end up with a bottle under my mentum. Instead, I got a chance to see the universe through space exploration.
Thanks to all genial races that were scattered across the galaxy, I could roam wherever I wished to. My jolly travels did not last much beyond a year though. I was heading for Jupiter when I encountered an asteroid belt.
Adventurous as I was, I dared gliding past the forbidding line of rocks and took my space jet to the limit. Halfway towards success, the jet gored wing first into a huge chunk of matter and the impact shuddered the whole jet and me to a greater extent. My monitors informed me the jet was suffering critical damage, unable to fly further. I hurriedly went for my emergency escape pod, but it seemed on my last landing it had been stolen. Wretched Martians!
The jet twisted and rolled and within an instant I felt dizzy and confused. Another asteroid hit the engine and this time I collapsed upon collision.
I could have sworn I was in heaven if I had not woke up trapped in the jet. I was alive, and it seemed like I had landed. I hurried to get off the jet, you never knew when machines tended to explode. I was glad I had suffered only a few bruises. I busted my way out after equipping a laser gun and my space watch.
The place was unlike any I had visited. It appeared I had crashed on the edges of a jungle. The place had all sorts of colors and trees, most of which bore strange fruit that tempted my jaws. I strode forth into the dense thicket to explore a bit while I pondered on my present situation. Nothing was normal about the jungle, but my curiosity was short lived as I saw some rustling movement among the bushes. One thing I had learned clearly was that any native race would either sedate you and lock you up, or simply eat you and take your belongings. I took flight back to the jet, but I turned too late. The natives were already all over the place. I pulled out my laser gun, but as the creatures drew closer, I noted they had no malicious intention.
They looked like humans, only that they had pointed ears and a golden yellow skin. The females had long golden hair that ran down to their knees. More to that, the tallest I could see only rose to my elbow. All of them wore woven fabric that varied in pattern, though nothing seemed any different from our usual eathly clothing.
The alien group slowly drew closer to me and went down on their knees before my eyes. At first I thought they had knelt in fear of the gun I was holding, but my perspective shifted when they beckoned me to their village. I saw no reason not to follow. Like any tribal hamlet, their miniature houses were nicely arranged in a linear order that ran upstreet amidst the vast jungle. Here the aliens left their odd activities to look at me and my escorts. They spoke in a language I could not understand, thus my efforts to know what was stirring were nullifed. Though the houses were not proportional to my size, I later discovered I could fit in comfortably when the strange beings invited me in what looked like their gathering hall. I noticed some kind of mud bricks were used to construct the buildings. Though still primitive, the aliens were certainly civilized.
I was urged to sit as more and more of the aliens filled the hall. I sat on the far end wall so that each and every member who got inside bowed before me. Then abruptly they all rose and went back to resume their activities. All that was left were three who brought me some strange looking slushy cocoction I supposed was food. I shamelessly tackled the dish and the aliens actually sniggered at my poor eating manners. The food tasted pleasant. As soon as I finished, I saw the whole place swirl around me and the next moment I reeled to the floor.
I woke up another day, feeling much relaxed. Already my space clothing and everything had been put away and I was clothed in a native garb. The room I occupied was like any other typical bedroom, except that the material that made everything had the attribute of making all things look unreal.
I later learnt this was my coronation day. Though the language barrier still existed, I was not reluctant to oblige. After all, I was neither locked up nor eaten.
What puzzled me as the bright day in the tropical sun progressed was that I kept forgetting each and every one of the aliens. They seemed to be ever changing. At one point I swore a small girl served me an apple-like fruit late in the afternoon while we took a tour in a jungle section and her hair was very golden and shiny. When we returned to the village at sundown, she handed me another fruit, but now her hair was white!
It took me several weeks to study the aliens' way of life. Their hospitality was unquestionably good but that did not prevent me from thinking of a strategy to run away and leave the planet as soon as a chance showed up. As days turned into weeks, I drew closer to the people and understood them more. I observed that my day was approximately three years to them. And the toughest of them, according to their counting, lived for two hundred years, which was almost my regular two months.
My fire to leave the planet slowly dimmed out. I even started learning the alien tongue, but I started speaking perfectly four years later.None of the first people who had found me existed by then. I toured across the lands, where more of the race was scattered, and everywhere I was worshipped. I can say besides a bad conscience I sometimes felt, I loved every moment of it. On my sixth year I was even able to spin their fabric and weave it into clothing. I knew every animal that existed within their homes and forests. I became one of them. They called their home teca, so I called them Tecans. On my seventh and final year I gave one last shot at my old jet, and it embraced my wish to see home again.
I told my subjects I was going to find them a cure to live more like I did and I left off with two pretty Tecans to experiment on if I got to earth in time.