Growing up on Big Muddy

A stranded scout named Kaiser struggles to survive after his ship crashes on a rain-drenched planet, battling injury, fever, and fragmented memory while attempting to repair his crippled craft before the orbiting mother ship runs out of fuel. Intermittent, increasingly garbled communications from the mother ship's diagnostician alternate between clinical reports and puzzling baby-talk transmissions, complicating diagnosis. Kaiser observes and speculates about local seal-like inhabitants, contends with physical decline and recurrent dreams of his unhappy past, and must improvise repairs and seek resources in a hostile, humid environment to avoid being permanently marooned.