Crin and the Compounders

I was spiraling downwards.

My ship had been shot down by the Imperial Navy, and I was ejected from it before it exploded. I could barely see anything through my helmet's cracked visor, but I knew that the ground was coming up to meet me at a frighteningly high rate of speed.

If I lived through this fall, I would be in big trouble with the Empire. Not only had they just put a bounty on my head, they'd probably kill me if they caught me. But I had no other options now; my ship was gone and there was nothing else left for me to do but pray I survived long enough to find a way to get off this planet.

As my feet made contact with the rocky surface of the planet, I lost my balance and fell hard onto my right side. At least that meant that my left arm was no longer exposed to the cold vacuum of space - something that would have surely resulted in a loss of it to frostbite. As it is, all the trauma from being exposed to the elements had led to the skin on my left arm dying and falling off in patches, exposing white bone underneath. My body hurt, but at least I was still alive.

I looked around as best as I could and saw mountains in every direction around me. Fortunately, the wreckage of my ship had landed atop a large boulder which blocked sight of me from anyone who might be flying around in space above me - hopefully saving me from being vaporized again by laser fire or worse. The only thing between me and death was a rocky hillside that seemed like it went on forever towards the horizon. It wasn't much, but if I followed it far enough then maybe someone would find me?

I pulled myself up off the ground and began walking towards what seemed like an inviting gap within the rock face before me. If nothing else, it would offer some protection from small meteorites and allow for some degree of concealment from anyone who might fly overhead looking for me. Walking on this planet proved more difficult than anticipated; every step felt like an eternity with seemingly no progress being made. Every so often I would turn around expecting to see some sign of help approaching me, but each time all I saw were miles upon miles of rocks stretching out into infinity beyond what seemed like an impossible distance away behind me. It felt like an eternity passed as I trudged along, wondering if this march would ever end until eventually...

*BOOM*

I braced myself for another possible impact by another asteroid or piece of debris when suddenly I felt something yank at my leg causing both myself and whatever grabbed hold of me to tumble forward together into a nearby crevice inside one of the rocks we were standing next too. When things finally settled down after our brief tumble, I found myself face-to-face with...well...a rock? A human-shaped rock? Wait...maybe not just a rock after all! The rock shifted its position slightly revealing itself to be an actual person! Except he wasn't wearing any clothes! And he didn't seem to have any hair! And his skin was grayish-greenish! And he didn't make any noise during our tumble! And he was made entirely out of stone! Suddenly all these things began making sense when the man-rock spoke:

"Hello there!" He said with a bright smile while extending his hand in greeting towards mine as we stared into each other's eyes with confusion written across each of our faces simultaneously. "I'm Crin!"

"How did you know?" He asked after seeing my confused look at his statement above him asking how he knew someone's name despite having never met them before right now in this moment right here now right now right NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooowwww.... "Oh wait." He said while realizing his mistake and correcting himself while pointing his index finger upwards towards what looked like a small cave opening high above us that allowed light from outside to shine down upon us as we sat facing one another inside this little crevice inside this huge boulder where we just happened to end up tumbling inside together thanks to a chain reaction involving rocks rolling down hillsides and tripping over boulders and finding ourselves sitting face-to-face together inside this tiny little crevice here together now inside here together now now now now here together now here together here now inside here together now....right....NOW....right here....together......now......here.......together........now..inside..........this.........crevice.........heeeeere.......TOGETHER RIGHT HERE INSIDE HERE TOGETHER WITH OUR FACES JUST LIKE THIS STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STILL STLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL........STILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!