Pogo Planet

A boastful space pioneer crash-lands through an opaque outer layer onto a hidden, sunlit world with green, cracked clay plains and treacherous swamps. He ceremonially claims the land and trudges toward distant hills that emit smoky vapors, negotiating endless fissures that force repeated leaping and suggest unusual modes of travel. Sparse, desertlike vegetation dots the terrain before he reaches a small frame structure beside a puzzling nine-foot metal cylinder fitted with a hoop and a rubbery base; he inspects it and seats himself on the device as he approaches the nearby settlement. The tale unfolds as a light, humorous exploration of discovery and adaptation to a peculiar planet.