"The Kius Planet" follows Keith Benswick and his fiancée, Sharren Henna who are an interstellar pilot and co-pilot (respectively) and owners of a small charted shipping company. The two are flying a small group of scientist/explorers to a planet to survey for future colonization. An accident forces them to crash land on a different - equally uncharted planet with little hope of immediate rescue.

Tired of waiting for the pilots to fix the ship's communication systems enough to get a distress signal out, the scientists go off on their own only to disappear after a week of exploring. A frantic call for help over the short-wave radio is the last Keith and Sharren hear of their passengers. Their luck continues to run against them when they fail to repair their communication system and in doing so, destroy their only hope of calling for help. The two reluctantly decide to leave their ship to make their way in the wilds of this strange world - which is extremely dry and unforgiving. They find a cave to make as their dwelling.

One day the two go out hunting and come face to face with a viscous desert cat who decides they'd make a good meal. Keith tries to shoot it, but the cat is quicker and injures him badly. Sharren manages to distract it with a shot from her own gun and the two make a run for it; just barely reaching the shelter of a shallow cave before the cat overtakes them. The opening is too tight for the cat to squeeze through and there's no other way in or out.

They find that Sharren has lost her gun during their escape and Keith's had been knocked out of his hand when the cat attacked. Weaponless, the two can do nothing but wait and hope the cat gets bored of the stalemate.

Suddenly a spear flies from seemingly nowhere and the cat is killed. Into their narrow field of view bursts a group of tall, white-furred beings with four arms. Accompanying them is a pack of barking, big-eared dog-like creatures. The humans are rescued, but they're unsure as to whether they'll only be making their situation worse by going with these unusual beings with horse-like heads. Finally, out of desperation and an odd assurance from Sharren that everything would be okay, they decide to follow their rescuers to whatever destination they may be led to.

The follow is an excerpt of what happens next:

As they walked, Keith noticed the creatures had recovered the laser pistols and were examining them with intense curiosity.  Fortunately, the weapons were bio-imprinted to only Sharren and himself, and would only fire in their hands, but seeing these primitive beings carelessly fingering potentially dangerous weapons made him very nervous and he quickly gestured for them to give him the guns.

They were bright creatures and knew immediately what he was trying to convey, but were a little hesitant at first to give up such interesting finds.  The party’s leader saw the wordless exchange and said something to the hunters who then handed over the pistols with no further argument.

Much relieved, Keith handed Sharren her weapon and firmly holstered his own.  She was equally happy to have her gun back if for nothing else than to have the secure feeling of the weight of it on her hip.  Keith knew he felt better with a heavy holster, even though he had no intention of using his gun.  The scientists’ cries for help over the comm still rang through his head and he was a bit edgy.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the creatures had continued watching them curiously, perhaps hoping these two new people would explain the strange devices and their own presence here, but Keith certainly was not willing to oblige and Sharren didn’t even try to make an attempt.

The brown dog-creatures walked along the perimeter of the group quietly, no longer bounding around and playing.  One of the younger ones broke formation to walk beside Keith.  It nudged his leg gently to make its presence known.  At first Keith jumped at the unexpected contact, but looking down at the creature, he had an overwhelming desire to pet it – though both his hands were occupied at the moment.  The creature’s eyes were by far more like a cat’s than a dog’s, but it reminded him so much of the dog he had as a boy back on Terra.  He couldn’t help but smile down at it and it affectionately nuzzled his leg again.  For the first time, Keith didn’t feel that going with these creatures was such a risky choice.

He wasn’t sure how far they had walked, but just as he was about ready to call for a stop to rest, they crested a small hill upon which two old trees stood on either side.  On the other side of the hill, down in a little valley with a small river running through it, was a cluster of tall, round, stucco-covered houses and more of the creatures going about their daily tasks.  Keith and Sharren – forgetting their fatigue – stopped and stood in amazement. 
This definitely showed that the creatures were rather advanced as far as primitive cultures went.  Of course the fact that they had a language and weapons were strong evidence to the case, but these creatures had homes.  They weren’t nomadic but lived in one place.  That must mean they had some form of agriculture as well.  Yes, they did!  Looking at the trees on either side of them, they saw that both trees had ancient bean vines spiraling up the trunks and one of the trees had a varied assortment of plants growing at the base – not the tangled, random vegetative mess they were used to seeing, but an organized garden.  The base of the other tree was conspicuously bare. 

All of this fascinated Keith so much that he momentarily forgot his injury or that he was surrounded by tall, four-armed aliens and their big-eared pets.  He couldn’t help but think in the back of his mind, “So much for Jonathan’s plans of claiming this planet and parceling it out to the highest bidder.” 

The party leader noticed they had stopped and turned to them.  “Kea, kea,” he said a little impatiently.  As they descended the hill they realized the side facing the village had been shallowly terraced, creating steps.  The two marveled briefly at this before descending into the village proper.

As they approached, villagers came out to greet the hunters.  When they noticed Keith and Sharren, they gathered in a loose circle to catch a glimpse of these odd looking strangers.  The two humans stood uncomfortably among the inquiring natives, not really sure what to do or where to go.  The creatures didn’t give any indication of being hostile, but their close presence made Keith nervous; even Sharren seemed a little more wary than she had earlier. 

The crowd suddenly parted to allow through a group of five.  This seemed to be a formal “welcoming committee” for they were in a formation.  The one in the center looked quite old, but he stood very straight and carried himself with an air of authority and wisdom.  He wore a necklace with some kind of symbol hanging off it made from thin, woven strips of wood – a circle within a diamond and a triangle in the very center.  He was not adorned in any other way.  Keith figured this man was some kind of leader or chief.  A young girl stood close to the chief’s side, she had unusually pale blue eyes and many small trinkets tied in her hair.  She looked at the strangers with youthful bashfulness. 

The three others stood protectively around the two – one on the left, one on the right and one behind.  Those three each wore a band around their waists, looped across the crest and over the shoulder like some of the hunters, but these bands were more ornate and a wider variety of weapons hung from them.  It was quite obvious by their weapons and stance that these three were bodyguards to the chief and young girl and it looked like they took their job very seriously from the suspicious looks they were giving to the two visitors.  This was contrary to everyone else’s reaction though, which was of curious interest.

The lead hunter went up to the chief and appeared to explain Keith’s injury.  The chief nodded and motioned for Keith and Sharren to follow him.  He led them through the group of gathered people, who moved out of their way easily as they approached, continuing to chatter unintelligibly. 

They were taken to, what could only be the chief’s house.  It basically looked the same as all the rest – cylindrical with a domed roof, about twenty feet high, and it had many windows – but this house looked much older than the rest.  Set within the outer stucco coating was a mosaic of many-colored shards of glazed clay arranged in a woven, Celtic-like pattern which decorated the arch of the door and lower windows.  None of the other twenty or so houses were decorated in such a way. 

At the entrance to the chief’s home, there was a short argument between the guards and the chief.  It appeared the guards didn’t feel the need for the chief to extend his hospitality to these strangers by allowing them into his home.  The chief argued his case in a slow, deep voice, pointing frequently to Keith’s bleeding arm.  The guards reluctantly subsided and took station outside the door, eyeing Keith and Sharren warningly.  The chief seemed completely unconcerned by the guards’ open displeasure and gestured for the visitors to enter his home and take a seat.  Keith was grateful to at last be able to get off his feet and he practically collapsed to the floor – whatever that hunter had done to him in the cave was just now starting to wear off and his knees had been starting to get shaky. 

Now that he didn’t have to concentrate on staying upright, Keith noticed a small fire burning in a shallow pit in the middle of the single room, but here inside the house the air was cool compared to the blazing heat outside.  The thin smoke from the fire drifted out a hole in the center of the roof.  Supported over the fire by a tripod was a wide, glazed clay bowl which seemed to contain nothing but gently boiling water. 

Many shelves were built into the curved walls containing little items, some of which could easily be identify – various sized jars made of stone, wood, bone and clay, leather and rough-cloth pouches filled with who-knew-what, carved bone and wooden trinkets, dried herbs and the like.  There was a second door at the opposite end of the house with an animal skin secured tightly over it.  There appeared to be writing along with other various symbols painted on the door covering.  Along the bottom of the wall were neatly stacked rows of clay tablets with different colors painted on the edges.

The creature walked over to Keith, bringing his attention back to the matter at hand.  He was carrying a small wood bowl that contained a clear liquid.  When he knelt down beside Keith, he got a whiff of what it was: a crude form of alcohol.  Keith remembered that before tissue regenerators, it was necessary to clean a wound.  Alcohol made a good disinfectant.  So, these creatures also knew a little first aid as well.

The creature unwrapped the sleeve bandage and examined the arm.  He soaked a white cloth in the alcohol and held it over the wounds, hesitating for a moment.  He met Keith eyes and gave him a small smile of reassurance but it was easy to read, “This is going to hurt”.  He then squeezed the liquid firmly into the cuts.

It hurt, it hurt a lot.  Keith winced, the cuts burned and felt warm.  After soaking and applying the cloth two more times, the creature again examined the arm.  He then called over his shoulder to the young girl who was standing ready to do whatever was asked of her.  She got a clay jar and a small bowl from the wide assortment on the shelves as well as a small bundle of herbs.  After ladling a tiny amount of hot water into the bowl, she brought the items to the older one who took everything in his four hands.

Carefully he mashed the herbs in the water; swirling and churning them until they were the consistency of a thick paste that smelled pungently astringent.  This paste he gently applied to the wounds.  He then opened the jar and took out what looked like a thin cloth.  The cloth was big enough to wrap Keith’s arm twice.  As the cloth came in contact with the moist paste, it constricted, pulling the cuts together.  An interesting form of wound closure, Keith thought.

“Hal zeon va hana,” he said to Keith.

“Thank you,” Keith said and the two creatures moved away from them.