The creature stirred as the bright headlights of the submarine flashed over his eyes. As the deep humming of the engine grew louder, he was finally pulled from his hundred-year-long slumber. 

The creature was an Eledone, an octopus-like alien with long tentacles spanning ten feet out from his cylindrical torso. His name was Aristo, the first and only son of Anita and Mars.

One hundred years ago, Aristo and his parents landed on Earth from their home planet Kepford O9 as visitors seeking help from humans for their dying planet. However, the Eledones were water-dwelling creatures and as soon as they exited their spacecraft, their bodies began to dry out and deteriorate. Before getting the chance to explain the purpose of their landing, the human population erupted into chaos and in their panic, began attacking the three Eledones. With no choice but to seek water and refuge, they flew their spaceship to the Pacific Ocean deep down into the Mariana Trench where they would be safe for the time being. The humans, however, were relentless and sent armed submarines into the ocean to continue their pursuit of the Eledones. In a final act of desperation to protect Aristo, Anita and Mars spent their last ounce of energy to erase the memories of their arrival from the minds of the humans. The humans suddenly found themselves standing in ruins and with no explanation for the destruction, the human government deemed it as a freak solar flare accident that had caused severe memory loss and led to their irrational behavior. Meanwhile, far below them, Aristo who was immune to his parent's abilities was put into a deep sleep in a cavern where, exactly one hundred years later, he would be awoken by the same people who had forced him into hiding.

 This time, the humans had not come as attackers and instead were mere scientists looking to collect samples from the ocean floor. The scientists were organizing their water column samplers when suddenly their sonar graph screen flashed with the alert that something other than the endless miles of rock, sand, and algae below them had been detected. The scientists rushed over to see what had been discovered, and upon studying the graph, they noticed an octopus-like shape just slightly visible in the ridges of the Earth’s crust. The scientists steered their submarine further down to get a better view when abruptly, the steady humming of the engine went deathly quiet, and the terrible screeching noise of metal being ripped apart echoed from the back of the submarine. Realization dawned upon the explorers, and through the small window in the back of the submarine, they watched as their engine slowly sank down into the darkness. 

Still hidden by the murky water, Aristo lay in the cavern entrance watching the scene unfold. Eledones were capable and intelligent creatures that did not require food to survive. He merely needed to be submerged in water to be content resting in the cavern for an eternity yet he knew that he had a purpose on this planet and he needed to get back to Kepford where only ten years had passed since his departure as time passed slower there. This responsibility was what led him to reach out a long tentacled arm and carefully pull away the engine attached to the submarine. 

Through the small window in the side of the submarine, Aristo watched as the explorers' mouths opened and closed as they shouted silent words into their emergency radio line and a part of him felt bad for putting them in such a frenzy yet he knew it was the only way to get their attention.

He waited a moment more before using two of his tentacles to reach out and carefully wrap them around the sides of the submarine. With a gentle tug, the submarine lurched forward into the entrance of the cavern.

Aristo had not wasted those one hundred years just sleeping. His mind had been pulling thoughts and images from the minds of the humans above the ocean’s surface over the years.  Slowly but surely, Aristo had mastered an array of languages and was prepared to try and ask the humans for help again. This time, they were miles below sea level where Aristo knew he had enough time to explain his situation before being attacked.

All Eledones were born with their own unique abilities. Both his parents were Erasures; Eledones with the ability to erase memory. Aristo had been born with telepathy and was able to transfer words and ideas from his own head into any one he chose. 

As he cradled the submarine in his tentacles, Aristo needed to figure out what language to use. He tried French first. No response. Maybe German? Still no response. Finally he tried English and this time the scientists reacted. Their faces became matching masks of confusion and panic through the small window and Aristo began to send his thoughts to them. He explained with his broken English that he was not going to hurt them and that he only wanted their help. This did nothing to calm the humans and Aristo decided that playing images would be easier. 

He showed them an image of Kepford O9, a blue orb twenty million light years away that had become murky and polluted. before finally replaying his family's arrival on Earth one hundred years ago. Finally having gained their complete attention, Aristo asked them the heavy question. 

Will you help me?

After a few moments of utter silence in the submarine, Aristo felt the scientist's response through the telepathic connection.

Yes.

In the years to come, humans would attempt to redeem themselves from their past actions by helping build Aristo a spacecraft and a new research program was launched called Project Return 274. Two years later, a spaceship was headed towards a wormhole and Aristo, armed with an anti-pollutant chemical, was on his way home.