The Tales of Boodnoiz Gduvay

In a distant solar system on the edge of a beautiful elliptical galaxy, a small spaceship landed on the planet of Boodnoiz Gduvay. It hosted the galaxy’s best amusement parks, arcades, carnivals, fairs, markets, and more. 

The spaceship doors opened, and out walked four friends. First was the famous and fearless intergalactic space photographer, Captain Finnian. Next was his trusty and quirky co-captain, Quixly. After him was Quixly’s beautiful and athletic girlfriend, Xankandria. Finally, out walked their once enemy, now friend, the tough yet gentle Bronxin.

What follows are snippets of their day, or in other words, The Tales of Boodnoiz Gduvay.

Captain Finnian

“3….2….1…. FLY!”

Captain Finnian sped forward with the other racers. He’d always loved hover-cart racing, especially as a teenager who’d aspired to one day be captain of his own ship. Now that he was a captain (and a dang good one too, in his opinion), he felt that he should have no trouble destroying his competition and winning the hover-cart race.

The track was long, with lots of twists and turns, but the most challenging part would be the Field of Dangers. That’s where the track opened up and had fake asteroids, lasers, comets, and other moving obstacles. Captain Finnian had no doubt that he could get through it all flawlessly though, and with the race lasting three laps, he was confident that all the other racers would struggle through that part at least once, giving him an easy win.

The first lap was where the competitive racers split from the rest. By the time Captain Finnian got to the Field of Dangers he was in a group of about ten racers. Half of them ran into obstacles though, so Captain Finnian was in the top five by the time the first lap ended.

Entering the Field of Dangers on the second lap, the Captain chuckled to himself as he easily avoided everything that came at him, leaving the field with just one other racer, the rest having been slowed down by obstacles. Captain Finnian turned and looked at the racer who was still with him. He was a teenager, probably about 14 years old. The kid looked like he was in it to win it though, and he obviously had skills. Captain Finnian still felt completely confident that he would win, but he was glad to have at least one real competitor. It would make the last lap that much more fun.

On the third lap, Captain Finnian and his young rival entered the Field of Dangers together. At one point Captain Finnian barely managed to get around a giant comet that was flying across the track, but the other racer didn’t. He hit it at an angle which slowed him down and gave Captain Finnian the lead. The Captain laughed and turned around to get one more look at his rival, when all the sudden his own hover-cart stopped moving.

“No!” Captain Finnian yelled, realizing that in his pride he had gotten clumsy and had been hit with a laser. That would disable his vehicle for five seconds before he could continue to race. He watched in agony as the teenager quickly recovered and caught up to him, passing him right as power came back to his hover-cart. Captain Finnian pushed the throttle to full speed, still determined to win.

As they sped around the last few turns, Captain Finnian saw an opportunity. With the nose of his hover-cart right next to the back of the boy’s, he’d be able to turn sharply and send the kid spinning out of control. Right before doing so though, Captain Finnian looked at the boy’s face. What he saw surprised him. Rather than seeing a prideful, spoiled teenager, he saw a face full of joy, passion and determination. It was like looking at his former self. He remembered racing this same track at that age, always having fun and trying to improve, win or lose. In that spilt second, Captain Finnian realized that his skill had turned to pride, and he didn’t like it. He decided he’d still race his best, but he wouldn’t do his dirty trick to win. This kid was a good racer, and Captain Finnian knew he would feel much more joy by racing fairly and losing than by crushing the spirits of a young teenager just to satisfy his pride.

The last two turns went by quickly, and Captain Finnian came in second place. The teenager jumped out of his cart at the end to celebrate, and Captain Finnian walked over to congratulate him.

“Well done, kid, you’re quite the racer.”

The boy smiled, embarrassed at the praise. “Thanks. It’s just hover-cart racing though. It’s not like I’m a spaceship captain. That would be awesome, but I doubt I’ll ever be skilled enough to do that.”

“I dunno, kid. You just beat a real spaceship captain.” He showed the boy his captain’s license. “If you put as much work into spaceship flying as you have into hover-cart racing, I have a feeling you’ll be a captain in no time.”

The boy’s jaw dropped when he realized that he had just beaten an actual spaceship captain. He looked up at Captain Finnian with admiration. “Thank you, sir! Wow! Thank you!” He then saw his parents in the crowd and ran off towards them. “Mom! Dad! You’ll never believe what just happened!”

Captain Finnian exited the track, but even several minutes later he couldn’t manage to wipe the smile off his face. Even though he got second place, knew he’d always remember that as his favorite hover-cart race ever.

Quixly

Quixly looked at all the shops and food vendors surrounding him. Xankandria was busy playing a silly arcade game that he wasn’t interested in, so he figured he’d spend the time to find a little gift for her.

While looking, a large, enthusiastic man approached him. “Hello!” the man said. “You look like you’re the type of guy who enjoys good food! How would you like to come eat some Thwimmpid Pops for free?”

“Wowza! For free? I’d love to!” Quixly replied. Thwimmpid Pops were little, savory balls of goodness that Quixly loved. He couldn’t believe his luck in getting some for free. Besides, he’d surely have time to get that gift for Xankandria after eating.

“Great!” The big man laughed. “All you need to do is sign this form and follow me.” He handed Quixly a paper with lots of very fine writing on it. Quixly shrugged his shoulders, signed it, and followed the man. What could go wrong?

The man led Quixly to a long table and had him sit down. Quixly looked at the other people on the table. They were all on the same side as him, with a huge crowd standing on the other side watching. The man who brought him to the table then put a huge bucket full of Thwimmpid Pops in front of each of them and turned to the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen, aliens of all ages! Welcome to the annual Thwimmpid Pop eating competition! Watch as our competitors make themselves sick eating 500 Thwimmpid Pops! The first one to finish wins the famous Thwimmpid Pop trophy, but no one is allowed to leave the table until they’ve finished eating. Are you ready!?”

The crowd and the other competitors cheered, but Quixly looked around nervously. He liked good food as much as the next guy, but 500 Thwimmpid Pops was a ton. And it sounded like he wasn’t allowed to leave until he ate them all. He started to regret signing that paper so hastily. But, the Thwimmpid Pops smelled good, and he was hungry, so he figured he might as well enjoy himself. He didn’t care to win, but if he ate fast enough, he’d hopefully still have time to pick up a gift for Xankandra before she finished her arcade game.

“Ready, set, eat!” the large man yelled, and everyone started eating their Thwimmpid Pops as fast as they could. Quixly started at a much slower pace but was shocked by the amazing flavor. They were the best Thwimmpid Pops he’d ever had! “Wowza, these are delicious!” He said to the man next to him, who made no response and just continued to eat dangerously fast.

Quixly continued to eat his Thwimmpid Pops at a steady pace. He adored the savory, umami, spiced flavor of them. It was so good, and he wasn’t used to this much free food, so he enjoyed every moment of eating.

As time went on, the other contestants started to slow down. They had started too fast and couldn’t eat any more until they took some time to digest. They groaned and looked miserable, all of them still with over 100 Thwimmpid Pops to go. Quixly didn’t notice any of that as he slowly, steadily, and happily ate. Before he knew it, he ate the last one, and everyone cheered. He looked around confused. Did someone win? He then reached into his bucket to get more, and realized it was empty. Oh, he must have won. What fun!

“I didn’t see that one coming!” said the large man with a chuckle as he gave him a giant golden trophy.

“Gee wizzy dizzy, I can’t believe I won!” Quixly replied happily. He took a moment to look around at the cheering crowds, but in the process, he noticed the angle of the sun and panicked. He had to go meet up with Xankandria, her game was surely almost over! He pushed through the crowd and started to run to the arcade.

“Shoot, I didn’t give myself any time to get Xankandria a gift.” He said to himself as he ran. “Well, I hope she likes trophies!”

Xankandria

“Back up, boys, it’s my turn.” Xankandra said as she walked up to the arcade machine. It was a video game simulation of her favorite sport, Zroobothan. The arcade game had five levels of difficulty, and she had just watched this group of guys all attempt and fail. One of them got to the fourth level, but most of them got out on the second or third level.

“Oh, yeah, like a girl could play better than we did.” Said one of the guys who had just lost. Xankandria just gave him a smile. He’d see soon enough.

Xankandria started playing, and she got through the first level with ease. She noticed with some satisfaction that none of the guys had left yet. They all wanted to see if she actually had what it took to win. She wanted to see too. The boys obviously had a lot of videogaming experience, but she understood Zroobothan strategy better than anyone she knew. She hoped that would give her the edge in this little game.

The boys around her started to chat excitedly as she easily passed the second level. The third level was more of a challenge, but she surprised herself and everyone else with how fast she beat it. At this point the crowd around her was growing bigger. No one had beat the fourth level yet.

It took all her concentration, but she also managed to beat the fourth level, only by a couple points though. Everyone around her cheered. They were well over their initial pride and were now all incredibly attracted to the beautiful girl who could beat them all in a sports video game. They wanted her to win!

Xankandria shook out her arms to prepare for the final level, and then got into it with fierce determination. She quickly realized that she didn’t have the videogaming skill to maneuver her players with the speed and accuracy that she needed to win the fifth level. However, she also noticed a strange pattern from the computer players. In Zroobothan there are three teams, six goals, and ten balls. The goals she could score in and the balls she could score with changed throughout the game. The computer players would go for their goals up the very second they changed, and then they’d go for their new goals. A better strategy would be to aim for the next goals a few seconds before they switched. Then there wouldn’t be as much defense, and if she timed it right, she could score several points right as the goals switched.

She put her all into her strategy, and it started to work. The computer players would slowly pull ahead, but then she’d time it perfectly and get a large number of points right when the goals switched and the computers weren’t ready to defend the new goals. This pattern continued right up to the end. One of the other teams had 99 points (the game ended once a team got 100 points), and she had 85. The crowd around her was holding their breath in anticipation. But that was right when the goals switched, and she scored with three balls in both of her new goals, reaching exactly 100 points. She won!

The crowd of boys around her went wild. They jumped up and down, cheered and laughed, and they all started chanting her name. She enjoyed the attention for a bit, but once it died down, they all started asking for her number and if she wanted to go out with them or spend more time with them. Luckily, right then she saw Quixly on the outside of the crowd, smiling at her and holding up a trophy.

Xankandria couldn’t help but fall even more in love with her goofy yet adoring boyfriend. She turned to the crowd around her and said, “Sorry boys, but I’m already taken.” She then walked right over to Quixly, who gave her the trophy. She gave him a big kiss on the mouth, and they joyfully walked out of the arcade together.

Bronxin

Bronxin looked at the world around him. The weather was perfect, the plants were beautiful, and the people all looked delighted spending their day on Boodnoiz Gduvay with family and friends.

For the past several years Bronxin had been stuck on a massive space station serving the evil Master Zvonix. Thanks to Captain Finnian and Quixly, and their shared love of photography, Bronxin was now safe from his previous evil master and was able to live his life again. He felt that his time on the space station had given him perspective and an appreciation of the little things in life, so instead of playing games or doing competitions like his friends, he wanted to spend his time on Boodnoiz Gduvay enjoying the gardens and the people around him.

The gardens on this planet were amazing, and they had plants from across the galaxy. Bronxin had already walked through them and had taken many pictures. Now, sitting on a bench to take a break, he noticed a little girl walking through the gardens with her mom.

The little girl oohed and awed at all the pretty plants. She didn’t care so much for the big, exotic plants, but for the small, beautiful, colorful ones. Bronxin smiled as he watched her. Kids were exceptional at living in the moment and finding joy in the little things. Bronxin was striving to become more like that himself. Even with all the money and power Master Zvonix had had, he was never happy. But this girl at the gardens was overjoyed by just looking at flowers. True joy came from appreciating the little things, not from greed or power.

Bronxin watched as the little girl spent an especially long time looking at a very small, simple, purple flower. She then looked around, and when she thought no one was watching, she tried to pick it. Luckily, her mom stopped her just in time and told her she wasn’t allowed to pick the flowers. The girl’s lip started to tremble, and then she started to softly cry. She told her mom that she loved the flower, and she wanted it so badly! But her mom wouldn’t let her take it.

Before he knew what he was doing, Bronxin found himself walking towards them. “Excuse me,” he said, “I think I might be able to help.”

Both the mom and the girl initially looked nervous. Bronxin was a large man with many scars and tattoos from previous evil years. But now he was very different, and they soon took comfort in his kind, gentle demeanor.

Bronxin knelt down next to the girl, and pulled out his ARV-3500 camera, an older version that would print out pictures as soon as he took them. He showed the little girl how to hold the camera and how to take a picture, and he helped her snap a photo of the flower she loved. Her eyes lit up with delight as she saw the picture print. Bronxin gave her the picture with a smile, and she gave it a big hug.

“Fank you, sir!” she said in an adorable little voice.

“You’re welcome.” Bronxin said. “You know, you have a special talent of finding joy in the little things, like this beautiful flower. Being greedy and selfish will slowly take away your joy and your talent. Now that you have this picture you can always find joy in this flower, and you can find joy in knowing you did the right thing by leaving the flower here so other people can find joy in it too.”

The little girl’s eyes got big as she realized that now other people would also be able to see the flower since she didn’t pick it. “Fank you, fank you!” She said and gave Bronxin a big hug.

He stood up and the mom smiled at him. “Thank you. My daughter is going to keep that picture and that lesson for a long time.” They then wished him goodbye and continued walking through the garden, and Bronxin walked back to his bench. He sat down, looked around, and smiled again. What a beautiful world.