“I must confess, at first glance I thought this a rather ordinary planet.” A tiny, orange, bug-eyed “spaceman” peers out of a spaceship at planet Earth. His job is to collect soil samples. “But once in a very rare while, one encounters something special. Something that causes one to forget all about soil samples …” That “something” is a vibrant red flower taller than the spaceman himself. As he admires said flower, a bird makes away with his spaceship. With no other course of action, the spaceman “follow[s] the winged bandit into the unknown” and is startled by a “hideous beast” (a dog), from which he flees in fright. When the sun rises, he finds himself surrounded by “a fantastical array of creatures,” including a butterfly that gives him a lift before dropping him unceremoniously into a pond. And who should fetch him from the water? The hideous beast, of course, who turns out to be “not without its charms.” Enjoying the company of the dog, the spaceman spots his ship in the tree above. He knows he has responsibilities, but what if the ship were to just … get knocked into the water? “Then here I must stay. In this extraordinary place. Laughing and playing. And enjoying the gentle breeze with my friend.” Funny and unexpectedly sweet, the spaceman’s formal, observational tone of voice offers a new perspective on the natural “specimens” around us that we may take for granted.