It was a warm and sunny day on the island in the South Pacific and this morning Gilligan was fishing in the lagoon as he often was. He had been slowly moving his pole and rod in the water for quite a while now and he still hadn't caught anything. He was just beginning to think of giving up when suddenly he felt the end of his hook catch onto something big and heavy deep beneath the water.
"Wow! I got a bite! I got a bit!" he exclaimed as he began trying to reel in whatever it was he had caught. It was so heavy it strained his muscles terribly and he began to fear he would let it go any moment.
"Hey Skipper! Skipper! Help me!" he called out desperately to his captain.
"Little buddy what did you catch?" exclaimed the Skipper as he came running and saw Gilligan looking like he was about to lose his balance as he continued his struggle.
"I don't know, Skipper!" Gilligan cried. "But it sure isn't wanting to be caught!"
The Skipper quickly got behind Gilligan just as he was about to fall off his feet and using all his strength in his large muscular body he pulled Gilligan forward as Gilligan pulled his catch forward from the lagoon.
After a few minutes of hard struggling the thing which had been caught was pulled out of the water and onto the sandy shore. It was a about five feet in length and a dark purplish color and seemed to have no shape. The Skipper and Gilligan bent down before it and examined it closely.
"Why Gilligan!" the Skipper exclaimed in astonishment with a note of disappointment. "It's an octopus! You've caught a giant octopus!"
"I have Skipper? Wow!" exclaimed Gilligan in amazement. "What's an octopus?"
The Skipper frowned. "It's like a squid only much bigger," he explained. "It's arms seem to be tucked into it like its holding onto something," the Skipper observed. "Let's see what it is?"
So they carefully turned the great sea creature over onto its other side. When it was facing them from the front they saw its eight long thick tentacles were wrapped tightly around a small creature half its size. It was dark brown in color with a bulging blob like body and tiny feet supported by very short legs and very long arms which were tucked in front of him as he was clutching at his chest. His head was oblong shaped and his were huge and bulbous and closed as it laid completely still in the octopus's tight embrace.
"What in the world is this thing?" Gilligan exclaimed as he stared wide-eyed at the completely nondescript creature.
"I don't know, Gilligan," admitted the Skipper who had seen everything in his lifetime. "We better let the Professor see it!"
So the two of them carried the creature still wrapped in the octopus to the Professor's hut. Along the way Ginger and Mary Ann saw them and so did Mr. And Mrs. Howell.
"Gilligan! What on Earth did you catch?" exclaimed Mary Ann when she saw it.
"I don't know," answered Gilligan. "We're hoping the Professor will know."
They entered the Professor's hut and as soon as they did he looked up and saw them carrying the octopus with its captive.
"Oh my goodness! What have you got here?" he said as he came up them.
"It's an octopus," replied Gilligan. "But we don't know what the thing it's holding is. We were hoping you would know."
So the Professor quickly cleared off his laboratory table and then took hold of the octopus. "First we must release it from the octopus's hold or it may squeeze the life out of it," he said.
So they began carefully prying off the octopus's extra long tentacles which were so tightly grasping the little creature's chest and abdomen. When they finally had pulled the last one free of it the creature remained perfectly still and motionless with its eyes closed.
"Is... it... dead?" asked Gilligan.
"It's hard to say," replied the Professor. He laid his hand against the creature's face and the other one against its chest. "Though I seem to detect no respirations or heartbeat it may yet still be alive and just be in need of resuscitation."
"I know CPR!" Ginger said with enthusiasm. Then she took a look at the creature's frog like countenance. "But let's save that for a last minute resort," she added quickly.
The Professor smiled understandingly. Then he held the creature up carefully and began patting its back gently but strongly while at the same time rubbing and patting its chest.
Gilligan looked extremely worried. "If it is dead... will we have to bury it here?" he asked gloomily.
"I suppose so, little buddy," replied the Skipper solemnly. "After all, all creatures deserve our respect."
"But what is it anyway?" asked Gilligan curiously.
"Well," the Skipper pondered. "It came out from the sea and it has a face like a turtle."
"So it's a turtle without its shell!" exclaimed Gilligan as though they had made a brilliant discovery.
"Nonsense, my boy!" declared Mr. Howell. "The creature has more the body shape and face of a primate if I do say so myself!"
"So it's a bald water monkey!" exclaimed Gilligan as enthusiastic as ever.
"Gilligan, will you be quiet!" yelled the Skipper as he swatted at Gilligan with his hat.
Just then the Professor gave the unconscious creature a hard pat on the back and it's mouth opened and it coughed and sputtered and began spitting up large amounts of water.
"It's alive!" exclaimed the Professor in relief.
"It lives, little buddy! It lives! It lives!" exclaimed the Skipper in delight as he took Gilligan's hands and jumped up and down with him.
"Settle down everyone!" the Professor cautioned. "This poor creature may well be in shock from the trauma it has undergone."
They all realized the Professor was right and so they all remained quiet as the creature regained its breath and opened its eyes which were revealed to be as blue as the deep ocean itself.
When it had finally calmed itself down it sat on the table and looked around the room in wide-eyed curiosity and looked at them with an astonishment equal to their own for him.
"Where am I?" it exclaimed."What happened? Where are the others? Who are all of you?" It began trembling violently as in fear.
"It talks!" exclaimed the Skipper in disbelief.
"Now, now, take it easy and calm yourself," the Professor said soothingly to it. "You are on an island in the South Pacific, and we are all human beings and you needn't fear us for we just rescued you. What we would like to know is who you are and where you come from?"
The little creature breathed deeply for a moment before it began. "I am an intergalactic botanist from the Planet Aserbis, also known as the Green Planet. Me and my fellow botanists came to this part of the Earth to collect samples of underwater plants to bring back to our world so that they might be preserved. Our mission was going fine until this big ugly thing with many limbs snuck up on us and the last thing I remember was my captain calling to me to come quickly because they were heading back to the ship and then that many armed thing grabbed and held me so tight I couldn't breath and then everything went black."
"Well, it seems he is an extra-terrestrial," stated the Professor.
"Gee, and here I was thinking he was an alien," said Gilligan.
"They're the same thing," replied the Professor. "He is from another galaxy and he is a botanist who came to study plant life and it seems when he was attacked by that octopus his companions abandoned him when they ran back to the safety of their spaceship."
"What? My companions have left?" asked the extra-terrestrial incredulously.
"They must have," said Gilligan. "Or I would have seen a spaceship by the lagoon and I didn't see one."
"Oh no! This is terrible!" cried the extra-terrestrial. "If I can't get back home I will soon perish on this inhospitable planet!"
"What did he say, Professor?" asked Gilligan.
"I'm afraid he said if he stays here he will die because our planet's atmosphere is fatal to his health," said the Professor with much concern.
"Oh no! We can't let that happen, Professor! We just can't!" exclaimed Gilligan in horror.
"Then we must somehow reach out a signal to his spaceship companions so they will return and take him home," said the Professor seriously.
"But how are we going to do that?" asked Gilligan.
"I am afraid I do not know right now," admitted the Professor.. "But I'm sure if we all put our heads together we can think of something. In the meantime we should try to keep him as comfortable and healthy as possible."
"You got it, Professor!" agreed Gilligan. "By the way, what should I do with this octo..." he held up the octopus and it promptly smacked him in the face with one of its tentacles and then wrapped it tightly around his neck.
"Gilligan, just throw it back into the sea, and quickly!" exclaimed the Skipper.