Chapter 1: Landing in Brawnfield

If one were to ask any member of The Planetary Alliance of the Five Explored Galaxies if they had ever heard of a planet called Earth…their immediate response would be: “Earth?  I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that name.”  Even in the enormous planetary database known as the LPB (Library of Planet Bodies) on the planet of Zohan in the 5th Galaxy, no record of the world known as Earth existed.  This was not to say that the planet had not been catalogued, however, since it clearly existed within the boundaries of The Alliance.  It just plainly showed that the planetographers of The Alliance had not cared to research it enough to find out the name given to it by its natives, as was the case with many of the worlds on the outer arms of The Five Galaxies.  In fact, in the Library, Earth did not have a name but instead it had a number: Planet # 3376208372.  When looked up in the database (not that anyone ever would), they would find this definition:

Planet # 3376208372
Location: 3rd Galaxy, Outer Frontier
Native Name: Unknown
Alliance Status: Non-Member
Atmosphere type: Type 7 (presumed)
Inhabitants: Type 3 Humanoid: Dominant Species.  Details Unknown
Technology: Class C: Greatly Undeveloped
--No images available—
--No additional information available.  If you would like to arrange an expedition, please consult the closest Alliance Planetary Recreational Expedition Agency to obtain a permit.

That was it.  There were no images, no information on its location, and not even any reliable data on its inhabitants.  

It was because of this exact reason that a small, lone ship entered its upper atmosphere at approximately 10:45 pm on the night of September 10th, 1994 (Earth dates and times of course).


If it hadn’t been cloaked, many of those still awake at this time of the night would have reported seeing an object that had the appearance of a large, metallic turtle flying over the small farming community of Brawnfield, IL.  Because of its cloaking, and the fact that it was running on its silent engines only, it wasn’t noticed at all.  It did, however, create a slight disturbance in the air as it moved, like a swift moving cloud.  This caused a few people here and there to look up into the sky, but then return to doing whatever it was they were doing after they saw nothing.


The ship continued its way past the town and glided over the various squares of newly harvested corn and bean fields that darted the country side.  It was then that it suddenly began to decelerate and after a short time it came to a complete stop, hovering over a small wooded area with a large clearing in its center.  The ship then slowly descended towards the clearing, turning its engines downward so that when it finally landed it stirred a tremendous amount of dirt into the air.
  
If this had been during the day, many would have witnessed an extremely large dust cloud shooting out up into the air as if a small tornado had suddenly made its way across the country.  The majority of the local farmers, as well as some residents of the town, were suddenly woken up by the sound of their dogs barking frantically at what seemed like nothing.  Most went back to sleep, assuming one of the many varieties of wildlife had wondered into the vicinity and their dog had caught wind of it.  There were a few, however, who could have sworn they heard the faint sound of a jet engine going off in the distance.  But they, like the others, eventually went back to sleep.  


When the ship finally reached the ground, four large, robotic legs emerged on each side of it to absorb the impact as it set down with a thud.  Once it was safely landed, the engines shut of and the invisible vessel was quiet again.  Suddenly, the very air around it began to distort and shimmer as the ship’s cloaking device deactivated and it became visible for the first time since approaching Earth’s orbit.  The “metal turtle” was so smooth and reflective that at first glance one would think it was a giant mirror that reflected the trees around it.  This smoothness, however, didn’t last as a small entrance way on the side of the ship began to open up and a set of metal steps unfolded to the ground.  And then, out of this newly opened portal, two figures emerged.

The first was a tall, handsome man whom, in Earth years, appeared to be in his early forties.  He was, by all means, a normal looking Type 3 Humanoid; and would have fit in just fine with the citizens of the planet Earth had it not been for the silver uniform he was wearing.  It had a slight glimmer to it, and was mostly plain except for several odd symbols and markings around the chest area of his silver jacket, as well as a rather large symbol on the back of the jacket that consisted of five circles all joined together by a line that formed a pentagon of sorts.  As the man stepped out he looked around the area with a satisfied look on his face and smiled.  

Following right behind him was what can only be described as a little green man.  He was only about a foot and a half tall with green skin and a face that resembled something like a cross between that of a lizard’s and a monkey’s.  He was wearing a much smaller version of the silver uniform the man in front of him wore, and even though he didn’t look anything like a human one could easily see the displeasure in his face as he also looked around at his surroundings.

“Commander,” said the little green man, “I cannot believe that out of thousands of non-member worlds in all the Five Galaxies you picked this one!”
“I think it’s a wonderful place.” said the Commander, still smiling, “Don’t you think so Trago?”
“No, I think it’s absolutely dreadful,” said Trago, still staring up at the Commander angrily, “You couldn’t have found a more barbaric, uncivilized world really.  I bet they don’t even bathe themselves…”
“Oh stop it, you’re exaggerating,” said the Commander, “They are at least somewhat civilized.  In fact we passed over a nice, quiet looking little settlement on the way here.”
“Yes, well, Volcadian Fire Beast colonies are also considered to be nice quiet little settlements…”
“Quit complaining, that’s an order,” said the Commander, looking serious now.
“Yes sir,” said Trago, saluting unenthusiastically.
“You know that I picked this planet because of its utter insignificance,” he said, “The Zarians would never even remotely think of searching a highly undeveloped planet such as this.”
“I suppose so,” Trago sighed, “Still wouldn’t have picked this place…”
“Speaking of which I wonder what is keeping Vodron,” said the Commander, starting to look around the clearing nervously.

Almost on cue the sound of leaves crashing and twigs snapping apart could be heard just ahead of them.  Then suddenly a lone, tall figure emerged from the wall of trees and strode toward the two.  It didn’t take them long to realize that he was completely made of metal, with two flashing lights for eyes and long, slender metallic arms and legs that looked like they could punch a whole through steel.

“Ah, there you are!” said the Commander, “We were just wondering what was keeping you so long.”
“My apologies Commander Galaxus,” said Vodron, “I had to take special precaution to keep from being seen, so naturally I traveled across the countryside.  I did, however, have a very unpleasant encounter where I was nearly charged down by a creature the natives call a Cow…quite fascinating animals, really.  They are source to many forms of sustenance for the humanoids living here, and I hear that they can…”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure they’re wonderful,” said the Commander, cutting the excited robot off, “What’s the situation here?  Have all the preparations been made?”
“Of course!” exclaimed Vodron, whose eyes were now flashing even faster, “The dwelling, the identification, the transportation…all have been built or fabricated according to the requirements of this planet.  Oh and of course we also constructed those…special…preparations beneath the house that you asked for.  I must say the Ocromocons are quite useful inventions!”
“Excellent,” said the Commander, “Thank them for me when you get the chance.”
“Oh!  Thank them yourself,” said Vodron, “Ocromocons!  You can come out now!”

Suddenly out of the trees there scuttled four small robots that had the appearance of oversized, metal beetles.  They then lined up in a straight line in front of the Commander and all saluted in at the same time with their little robotic arms.  Naturally, the Commander had to keep himself from laughing at the rather humorous sight.

“COMMANDER GALAXUS SIR!” they all said simultaneously, in squeaky mechanical voices “43rd OCROMOCON CONSTRUCTION AND RECON SQUAD, AT YOUR SERVICE!  IT’S A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU SIR!”
“The pleasure is all mine,” said the Commander, turning to Vodron, “Do they have to speak me all at once like that?”
“Ah!  Yes, well, Ocromocons work together as one entity,” said Vodron, “It’s what makes them so efficient.  So naturally they all speak as one too!  Quite a fascinating invention I must say!”
“Yes I’m sure,” said the Commander, turning back to the Ocromocons, “Thank you for all your hard work.  I trust you had no problems?”
“NO SIR!  NOT A PROBLEM SIR!”
“Very good,” said Commander Galaxus, “Vodron, I’m assuming no one…saw them?”

Oh of course not!” responded Vodron excitedly, whose eyes were flashing fast again, “I mainly used them to construct the ‘special facilities’ underground, in which they could not possibly be seen by anyone close by.  As for the dwelling and the transportation…I purchased them with the money fabricated by the Ocromocons, which by the way is another amazing ability of theirs.  Did you know that if I give them any form of wood that they can manufacture a fortune worth of currency on this planet?!  It doesn’t even have to be the same type of paper that the normal currency is made out of either!  Why, I could be the wealthiest person in this entire world if I wanted to.”
“Hmmph!” said Trago, leaning against the ship with a glum look on his face, “Big deal…”
“Just try not to draw too much attention to yourself,” said the Commander, ignoring Trago, “I’m also assuming that you’ve been using the holographic modifications when dealing with the people of this planet?”

“Indeed!” said Vodron, “I appear as a perfectly normal human being when I come in contact with the local residents.  Fortunately it wasn’t hard to learn their language either.  My linguistic functions managed to pick up on their patterns within a few moments.”
“Sounds like you have things under control then.”
“I try, sir,” said Vodron, “So, is our guest of honor here?”
“Yes, he’s sleeping,” said the Commander, “I had him in a stasis pod so the journey wouldn’t wake him.  I’ll bring him out now.”

Commander Galaxus then pulled out a small remote from the pocket of his uniform and pointed it towards the ship as he pressed down on one of the buttons.  Then, out of the open hatch, there floated a silver egg-shaped pod only about two feet long.  It floated with a slight humming sound over to where the Commander was standing and hovered silently in front of him.  Then, with another push of one of the remote buttons, the lid of the pod opened up to reveal its parcel.

There, sleeping soundly inside of it, was a human baby boy.  It was covered with a small blanket, and it curled up tightly as the air from the outside blew inside of the pod.
“Now there’s a cute child if I’ve ever seen one!” said Vodron, “He has your face sir.”
“Yes…except the eyes,” said the Commander suddenly looking very sad as he watched the sleeping child, “Those are his mother’s.  I can’t help but see her every time I look into his face.  If only she could be with us now…”
“You are not to blame sir,” said Trago, stepping up and placing his hand on the Commander’s knee, “She did not die in vain after all.”
“Yes, thanks to her…and you,” said Vodron, “Your child is safe in a place where the Zarians will never find him.”
“I know…” said the Commander, “And he will most surely be safe…because you’ll be watching over him.”
“What?!  Me?!” exclaimed Vodron, whose eyes started flashing more violently than ever, “Why sir, I…I am honored that you would pick me to partake in such a job…but I hardly think I am qualified for raising a child.  I’m programmed for education and service only.  I have no combat ability, so I would be rather lousy at protecting him.  And I…I…”
“Relax Vodron, you will do fine,” said the Commander, “You will make a fine mentor for the boy…and I know you will be kind to him.  That is why I chose you…”
“Thank…thank you sir,” said Vodron, whose eyes flashed a bit slower now.
“Besides,” added the Commander, “You’ll have a little help.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, you’ll have some company here,” he said.
“Ha!” laughed Trago, joining in on the conversation, “Who in their right mind would even consider living on a planet like this?”
Commander Galaxus only looked at him and smiled.
“Oh…oh no…” said Trago, suddenly coming to a dramatic realization, “You cannot be serious!”
“Why else would I have brought you along?” asked the Commander.
“But…but…this world is so primitive!” Trago complained, “You can’t possibly expect me to dwell in such a barbaric dump!  Besides, I doubt anyone here has ever seen one of my kind before.  What would they think if they saw me?!  They’d cut me open just to see how I work, and then they’d burn me alive, that’s what they’d do!”
“I thought of that…which is why I came up with this,” said the Commander, handing him a small device that immediately unfolded and emitted a holographic image of several pictures and data.”

“AHHHHHH!” screamed Trago as he threw down the viewing device onto the ground.  He then proceeded to run around in circles over and over again until finally coming to a stop and breathing heavily.  It was a well known fact that Trago’s race, the Tolorians, were an incredibly high strung people and often were seen practicing this tiring yet amusing ritual that allowed them to calm themselves down when they were incredibly stressed.  When he was done with his little “ritual”, he looked back up at the Commander, panting and glaring at him.
“You not only want me to live on this extremely underdeveloped planet,” he gasped, still out of breath.
“But…you want me…to change my genetic structure…to…become...THAT?!” he exclaimed, pointing at the image of the creature in the hologram.  The four Ocromocons quickly scuttled backward, startled by his outburst.  Vodron, however, had a slightly amused look on his robotic face.
“Oh come now,” said Commander Galaxus, “It’s a fairly common household animal on this planet…and this way you’ll fit right in.  Besides, you’ll be well taken care of I promise you.”
“Oh!  That makes me feel so much better!” said Trago, “To think that I, Trago Valtrelsius, Seventeenth Child of the Grand Duke of Southern Toloria, winner of the Alliance Medal for Outstanding Performance in Battle three times in a row…am going to be reduced to this…to this…animal!  Oh the anguish!  Oh the utter shame!”
“Relax Trago it’s not all that bad,” said the Commander, trying to stay calm, “It’s not like you’ll be all by yourself here.”
“Hah!  Oh yes course!” said Trago, “And who do I have as company; four glorified construction tools and an overexcited, dimwitted service robot?!”
“I beg your pardon!” said Vodron, whose eyes now flashed with red light…as many newer models of robots did when they got angry.
“What will I tell my family?  What will I say to my friends?” asked Trago, “Oh, I’ll be the laughing stock of the entire fleet!  I’ll never be able to show my face again!  I’ll be a disgrace!  I’ll be a…”

“Trago that is quite enough!” said the Commander, now starting to get angry as well, “I want you to listen carefully.  I am not ordering you to do this; I am asking you…not as a superior officer but as a friend.  You are right Trago.  You are the best warrior and one of the best pilots I know, and that is why I need you to look after my son.  I need you to keep him safe, and when the time comes…bring him back to me.  I asked you and Vodron to do this because you two are the only ones I know I can trust.  Not even the Alliance Council knows where I’m keeping him.  And so, I’ll ask you one more time Trago.  Please, do this for me.  Keep him out of harms way, and watch over him…so that I might have hopes of seeing him alive again one day.”

“Sir…I…I don’t know what to say…I am sorry” said Trago, looking down at the ground in shame.
C
ommander Galaxus hated to put Trago through such a guilt trip, but he knew time was running short.  For many years Trago and had been a trusted member of the Commander’s crew, and a trusted friend.  He knew that this little alien was the only person that he could trust with his son’s whereabouts other than Vodron, and that regardless of his complaining, he would do anything for the Commander.

“Ugh, I know I’m going to regret this ,” said Trago, picking up the viewing device off the ground, “So I suppose the equipment for such an operation is already here?”
“Yes, I had it arranged!” said Vodron.
“Oh lovely,” said Trago, sarcastically, “Glad to know you’re on top of things.”
“Thank you Trago…” said the Commander, looking almost sad.
“Oh no need to get mushy on me, Commander,” said Trago, “I’m only doing this because you’ve helped me out countless times and I suppose I owe you one.”
“Well, whatever the reason, I thank you,” said the Commander.
Trago only smiled back up at him.

“Alright,” said the Commander, “I suppose the time has come for me to make my departure.  May I…have a moment alone with my son?”
“Of course,” said Trago and Voldron together, who then began to walk away.
“YES SIR!” said the Ocromocons, saluting Commander Galaxus one more time and then scuttling off behind the other two companions.  This now left the Commander staring down at his son with sadness in his eyes once more.  He gently picked up the sleeping baby from the pod and slowly cradled him in his arms, never taking his eyes off of him.
“I wish things could have been different, my son,” he whispered, “I hope someday, when you come to know the truth of things, that you will understand why I did this.  I wanted, more than anything, to be a father to you…and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me one day.  This was what your mother would have wanted…and I will honor her last wish.  I will not let them get a hold of you, I promised her that.  Vodron and Trago will take good care of you…I know it!”
“Just remember that I will always love you,” he said, kissing the baby on the forehead and putting it back into the pod, fighting off his tears the entire time, “We will see each other again, when the time comes.”

He motioned towards the others waiting at the far end of the clearing that it was alright to approach now, and they slowly began to make their way back towards the Commander.  He still never took his eyes off the baby, wondering deep down if what he said was true.  Would he ever see his son again?
“Well, my friends, it seems as if everything that can be done has been done,” he said, turning to them, “I must now make my way back to the Gallathian, and inform the Alliance Council of my success…without letting them know his location of course.”
“I’m sure The Council will understand,” said Trago, “Ah, the Gallathian…I’m going to miss that ship…”
“It won’t be the same without the both of you there,” said Commander Galaxus.
“Oh!  I almost forgot!” said Voldron excitedly, “I wanted to show you something Commander.”
“And what is that?”
“Here, take a look at this,” said Voldron, handing him a large piece of paper, “It’s this planets form of birth registration that I had the Ocromocons make for me.  I know you had wanted to name the child after your father, Gaurdane Galaxus, so I took the liberty of finding an Earth name as similar to Gaurdane as I could.”
“Gordon,” said the Commander looking at the name on the paper, “Gordon Galaxus.”
“Please forgive me sir,” said Voldron, “I know it wasn’t my place to name your son, but I…”
“It’s fine, Vodron,” said the Commander, “Gordon is a good name.”
“Thank you sir!”
“Well then, I suppose I must be off,” said the Commander, “My son…Gordon…is now in your care.”
“Umm…sir…” said Trago uneasily.
“Yes?”
“Please don’t tell the crew of the Gallathian that I’m…well…you know,” he said, “Going to be changed.”
“Not to worry Trago!” the Commander laughed, “I’ll just tell them that you and Vodron have been sent on a…special mission…top secret.”

Commander Galaxus then started to approach his small landing craft once more when he stopped and looked own at his hand.  There, on his finger, was the Galaxus family ring.  It was highly decorative, with many small jewels in a circle around the Galaxus family insignia in the middle.  He then took the ring off of his finger and turned back to Trago.
“Here,” he said, handing the ring to the little man, “I want you to give this to Gordon…when he’s old enough.”
“How will I know sir?”
“You’ll know,” said the Commander, “When the time is right.”
Trago could only remain silent as he took the ring from his commander.

And with that the Commander once again entered the small ship in front of him.  As he went through the open hatch he looked back at his son one last time, still wondering if he would ever see him again.  Goodbye my friends, he thought to himself.  Goodbye…Gordon.

He then finally closed the hatch behind him and the ship once again resembled a smooth, mirror-like, metal turtle.  Vodron and Trago watched sadly as the ship shimmered out of existence when the cloaking device engaged once more.  They heard the rumble of the engines as the robotic legs retracted into the ship and it rose up out of the clearing and then, suddenly, it shot up into the heavens.

“Well,” said Vodron, several moments later, after there was no sign of the ship in the sky anymore “That’s that.”
“Indeed,” said Trago, still looking up at the sky.
“I guess we should get to work on getting you your new body,” said Vodron.
“Wonderful,” said Trago, “Can’t wait.”
“And you,” said Vodron, picking up the baby from the pod and holding it in his metal arms, “I guess you’re with us now Gordon.”

And with that, Trago, the Ocromocons (whom now carried the pod on their backs), and Vodron, with Gordon in his arms, began to make their way out of the clearing.  Little did they know that this marked the beginning of what would become one of the greatest adventures in the history of The Five Galaxies.  Thus begins the tale of Gordon Galaxus…


Chapter 2: The Boy Who Was Different


It is a well known fact among the members of The Alliance that the education systems established on many of the underdeveloped planets are, by all means, primitive and in some cases downright amusing.  So amusing, in fact, that many races have a habit of entertaining themselves by observing a planet’s methods of education and making an infinite amount of jokes about what they witnessed afterwards.  Then, of course, there are those worlds that are considered so primitive and insignificant that they aren’t even considered to be worth a general observation let alone a closer look at their schooling.


It was on one of these insignificant planets, inside a small classroom at Brawnfield Middle School, that an 11 year old boy sat in the very back of the room with his face buried in a book.  He had read this one before, as he had with many of his space novels, but he couldn’t help but enjoy it all over again.  He read with interest as the hero of the story battled it out against twenty giant space monsters with only one ship at his disposal.  Of course the boy knew that the hero would win eventually…they always did, but he couldn’t help but get a little excited at the suspense of the situation.  With all hope lost, the hero of the story activated the ship’s primary laser weapons and fired them in a frenzy at the surrounding creatures.  There was a tremendous flash of light and suddenly…
“Gordon!” shouted a voice above the boy, “Gordon Galaxus are you paying attention?!”

Gordon looked up and saw the face of his teacher, Mrs. Harris, staring down at him angrily.  She was a short, pudgy woman who always kept her graying hair tied back tightly behind her head, and whose thick glasses always seemed to intensify her glare…which made her rather intimidating despite her size.  Unfortunately for Gordon, he now had to endure the full brunt of Mrs. Harris’s glare along with the staring and laughing faces of all of his classmates.
“What is that you’re reading?” she asked, looking down at the book.
“N...Nothing,” he said nervously.
“I’m sure it is!” she said, snatching the book from him.
“Gordon,” she continued, “This is a class of mathematics, not science fiction!”
“Yes Mrs. Harris…” he said glumly.
“I’ll be confiscating this filth!” she said, putting the book in her pocket, “You must realize that you will not know how to do this assignment if you do not pay attention!”
“Actually, I already finished the assignment,” he said with a rather pleased look on his face.
“What?!  That’s impossible!” she said, “We haven’t even finished the lesson yet!”
“I know, but I thought it was pretty easy…” he said.
“Where is it?” she asked, “I want to see it!”

He reached into his math folder and took out couple sheets of paper that were stapled together neatly.  Mrs. Harris immediately snatched the assignment out of his hand before he even got a chance to give it to her.  She then proceeded to look it over carefully, all the while growing angrier and angrier.
“Nonsense!” she shouted, slamming the assignment back on his desk, “You must understand that cheating will NOT be tolerated in this classroom!”
“But I didn’t cheat!” he said, glaring back at her.
“Don’t talk back to me!” she exclaimed, “No one could have completed this ahead of time…I don’t care if you did skip two grades.  I’m giving you an F on this assignment.”
“I told you I didn’t cheat!” he exclaimed, “I swear I didn’t!”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she said with a grin, “Go to the principal’s office right now!”
“What?!”
“I said go!”
“But I…”
“GO!”

Gordon realized it was useless to argue, and grabbed his folder and backpack and began to make his way out of the classroom.  The unthinkable happened, however, when one student, a rather large boy whose name was Ricky Morrison, stuck his foot out abruptly to trip Gordon as he passed by.  He managed to stick his arms out just in time to keep himself from falling down flat on his face.  But, unfortunately, this little incident still caused an uproar of laughter from the class.  Not wanting anyone to see his embarrassment, he quickly got up and made his way out of the classroom.

Not long after, the meeting with the principal went exactly as Gordon expected.  He basically found himself sitting in the office and enduring a long lecture about cheating from Principal Wheeler, a tall, skinny man who was obviously going bald and had a long nose that gave his face the appearance of that of a bird’s.  Naturally, after all the talking, the principal was forced to let him go because once again they had no proof on the matter.  As usual, Gordon was excused from the principal’s office just in time for school to get out.  This, unfortunately, was not the first time Gordon had had to endure this type of problem, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Such was the life of Gordon Galaxus.  For as long as he could remember, Gordon had always been treated as if he was different.  From the moment he started school at age 5, both the students around him and his teachers could tell that he was by far smarter than the rest…and they hated him for it.  By the end of Kindergarten, Gordon had already proved to be just as smart, if not smarter than those that were several grades ahead of him.  Because of this, he was immediately bumped up two grades.  The teachers claimed they were doing this because they had Gordon’s best interests in mind.  However, everyone knew that they were actually doing it because they hoped to finally see the great Gordon Galaxus crack under the pressures of the more advanced schoolwork of the upper grades.

Gordon, to their dismay, quickly proved them wrong once again by easily making grades so high that he was top of the class in a class full of students over two years older than himself.  Naturally, the teachers continued to feel threatened by him and did everything in their power to try and make things rough for the boy.  Let it be noted, however, that not all of the teachers were mean to him.  Just like there are good and bad people in the world, there were good and bad teachers at Brawnfield.  For instance, Gordon’s third grade teacher, Mrs. Norton, was probably the kindest woman he had ever met…and constantly praised him for his academic achievements.  It was sad day for Gordon Galaxus when he finally graduated the third grade, knowing that he would probably never have a teacher like that again.  And of course, there were other teachers along the line that were impressed rather than threatened by the boy and often enjoyed talking to him and encouraging him to continue his advancement.

Unfortunately for Gordon, neither situation with the teachers improved his relations with his fellow students.  The majority of the students in his class already envied him because he was younger than they were and still managed to get the best grades.  So, naturally, if they saw that a teacher hated him they would do everything that they could think of to get Gordon in trouble with that teacher or at least make him look like a fool.  On the other hand, if the students saw that a teacher liked Gordon, they would make his life all the more miserable by constantly tormenting him and making fun of him on a regular basis.  Of course, his name didn’t help matters much either.  He had to admit that the last name of Galaxus was a fairly odd name but he just assumed it was of some strange, foreign descent.  

Sadly enough, as they all got older many of the students tried to pick fights with him, making comments that they knew hurt his feelings.  Although Gordon usually didn’t give them the pleasure of a fight, they could tell that their insults hurt him and that was enough for them.  

As one can imagine, Gordon did not have a very happy childhood.  Fortunately though, despite his isolation from his peers and his elders alike, Gordon Galaxus still miraculously turned out to be a normal child for the most part.  This was due to two things.  The first was Gordon’s vast collection of books.  Regardless of what he had to put up with at school, he could always go home and get away from it all as he immersed himself in one of his adventures.  No matter what the problem was, it would always melt away as he would find himself journeying into the vast depths of the ocean, into the fantasy worlds full of dragons and wizards, or to another planet entirely.  These books were what kept his mind at ease, and what helped him deal with the problems that occurred on a regular basis.


The other factor (and probably the most important one) that helped Gordon make it through the first eleven years of his life was the affection and encouragement of his Uncle Vincent, whom had raised him by himself since he was an infant.  Uncle Vincent, by all means, was probably the silliest and most positive person Gordon had ever known...and that was exactly what Gordon needed in his otherwise dull and unhappy childhood.  Whenever Gordon would come home feeling down, he would always find his uncle waiting for him with a smile on his face.

Uncle Vincent always had a positive outlook on things, and always seemed to be fascinated with every little bit of new information that came his way.  Just the thought of his uncle usually made Gordon laugh, although this was only partially due to his behavior and more so due to his looks.  While his personality was silly enough, Vincent was in fact a goofy looking person in general.  He was a tall, gangly man who always seemed to walk in a stiff manner despite his flexible appearance.  To top that off he had a tendency to blink his eyes very quickly when he got over excited about something (which he did a lot).

But, despite his rather ridiculous attributes, Uncle Vincent had always been there for Gordon.  And, because of his mentorship, Vincent had always helped and encouraged Gordon to excel at his studies.  In fact, part of the reason Gordon managed to stay ahead of the game in all of his classes was due to the fact that when he would get home his uncle would give him private lessons that taught him things about mathematics and science that were far above and beyond what the local school system had available.  All in all, Vincent was not only a good mentor but as close to a good father as he could get.

Gordon did, however, often wonder about his real parents.  All he knew about them was what his uncle had told him.  According to Uncle Vincent, his mother, Dania Galaxus, was an extremely beautiful woman who had the same eyes and hair as Gordon…but had tragically passed away when giving birth to Gordon.  His father, as Uncle Vincent described him, was man named Garon Galaxus, who was a Colonel in the military with whom Vincent had served for many years.  Apparently Garon had met Gordon’s mother while he was in the service, and they had instantly fell in love and gotten married not long after.  Unfortunately though, not long after Dania’s death, Garon Galaxus was killed in action off in a faraway country (Vincent never actually specified where).  Vincent, of course, was not actually the blood uncle to Gordon, but was a trusted friend of his father’s.  And so, as was requested by Garon should something happen to him, Vincent was there to take care of his son.

Because his uncle had no pictures of his parents, Gordon would often find himself staring into the mirror at his features and using that to imagine what they may have looked like.  He would look at his blonde hair and blue eyes and imagine a beautiful woman with the same long, flowing blonde hair and eyes that seemed to exert a feeling of calmness when they looked at you.  And when he looked at his own broad, handsome face he would often imagine his father with a much older and more worn version of that face.

Still, although he longed to see his parents, he knew and accepted the fact that they were gone and he would never see them again during his lifetime.  Besides, he loved his Uncle Vincent as much as any parent.  And, despite any problems that he had to endure, he still managed to stay happy for the most part.



All of these thoughts and more swirled around Gordon’s head as he stared blankly out the window of the school bus as it slowly drove away from his “primitive education establishment”.  It was a dreary day outside, with clouds covering the sky as far as the eye could see.  Little droplets of rain splashed the window occasionally as he continued to watch the countryside roll past his vision as the bus continued its routes.  It wasn’t long after that he found himself in a daze, once again picturing the great spaces battles he had previously been reading about in his head.  The teacher may have taken away his book, but that did nothing to stop his imagination.

He looked up at the gray sky, knowing that beyond that veil of clouds and atmosphere there existed the vast ocean of space.  Oh how he wished he was up there right now!  He often imagined himself sitting right next the heroes that lived in his books…fighting alongside them, commanding fleets of warships, eliminating alien invaders, and even getting captured and somehow coming up with a clever means of escape!

But, alas, he knew that they were only dreams, and that the real world didn’t work that way.  Still, he couldn’t help but get lost in his thoughts as he continued to look out of his little window.  Tomorrow was his 12th birthday after all, and he wasn’t going to let his problems get him down.  


His thoughts, however, were immediately interrupted as the bus came to a screeching halt.  It took him a few seconds to realize that the bus driver, an old, scruffy-looking man that had been driving this same bus for decades, was glaring back at him.  When Gordon looked out the window opposite of him he came to see the reason for the angry look.  There, beyond the bus, stood a lone, brick house in the middle of a large yard surrounded by cornfields on all sides.  This was Gordon’s home, and the bus driver was impatiently waiting for him to exit the vehicle.

Embarrassed, Gordon quickly grabbed his backpack and made his way down the aisle of the bus and out the door.  He didn’t look back as it drove away, but he knew several of the remaining kids on the bus were laughing at him silently.  But, as before, he didn’t let it bother him.  His birthday was less than a day away, and tomorrow was Saturday as well, so no school.  Yes, tomorrow would be a good day and nothing they said or did would ruin it for him.


He walked slowly down the long, gravel driveway that led to front of his house, kicking up rocks as he went.  The rain had now tapered off to a slight drizzle, and he could feel the small bits of moisture hitting his forehead as he walked.  He looked up to the sky once more and regarded the gloominess of it with a slight frown.  He would not be able to see the stars tonight, and regardless of his efforts to keep himself in a good mood he could help but feel a little down, for going out every night and watching the star-filled sky was one of his favorite things to do.

Then, suddenly, Gordon’s eyes were turned downward as a small, black and white object streaked past his feet nearly causing him to lose his balance until he steadied himself just in time.  This was all in vain, however, for not one second later an even larger, brown, furry object charged right at him and caused him to stumble backward and fall flat on his back.  


When he finally came to his senses, he realized what had happened.  There, clinging to a branch on one of the small oak trees that lined their driveway, was Gordon’s cat Tommy.  And there, below the tree, was a rather large German Shepard running around in circles and barking madly.  He recognized the animal instantly as Rusty, a rather obnoxious dog that belonged to the family that lived down the road.  Over the past few months Rusty had discovered the joys of coming into Gordon’s yard each day and chasing poor Tommy around until the cat finally found himself a tree to climb up.

The dog continued to circle the tree and bark loudly while Tommy only could cling to the branch and hiss.  While this spectacle was somewhat amusing Gordon had seen it many times before and couldn’t bear to see his cat be tormented any longer.  So, with that in mind, he picked up a stick from the yard and ran at the dog swinging it in the air and shouting “GET OUT OF HERE!”  And, as it always did, his tactic worked and the dog quickly turned its attention away from the besieged cat and bolted in the direction of its home.

Gordon then turned around and gently reached up onto the branch and took Tommy into his arms.  This only lasted a second, unfortunately, for the cat was still extremely on edge from all of the excitement of the previous events and it immediately jumped out of his arms and landed gracefully on the ground.  It then proceeded to run around in circles over and over again for the next few moments.  It was something Tommy always seemed to do when he got stressed or was on the edge about something (which seemed to be a state that he was in the majority of the time).  Most people would find this behavior rather odd for a cat (even the strangest ones), but Gordon had literally grown up with this animal and had long ago gotten used to its rather peculiar way of acting.  

Finally Tommy began to calm down and it then trotted over to the front door and sat down in front of it.  Gordon knew this meant it wanted to be let inside and he proceeded to open the door and let the somewhat calm cat in, and then entered the house himself.  He then went into the living room and quickly plopped himself down in the closest recliner he could find.  It sure felt good to be home.
“Ah!  Gordon, that’s you, I hope!” exclaimed a high-pitched voice from the kitchen.

From around the corner came Uncle Vincent, with the usual ridiculous smile on his face and eyes blinking wildly.  The smile suddenly turned to a look of surprise, though, when a loud shrieking sound came from beneath Vincent’s feet.  Gordon then looked down to see that Vincent, in his excitement, had accidentally stepped on Tommy’s tail.
“Oh!” said Vincent, “I’m so terribly sorry Tommy I didn’t see you there!”

Tommy responded by making a very defiant hiss and then running up the stares, out of sight, into Gordon’s room.  The boy and his cat had always gotten along just fine, but for as long as he could remember Tommy had always seemed to dislike his Uncle Vincent for some reason.  There also times that Gordon could see that Vincent might not possibly like the little black and white feline either, but it was hard to tell with his uncle’s constant cheery disposition.  

“So, Gordon,” said Uncle Vincent, turning is attention back to the boy, “How was school?”
“Same as always,” he responded glumly.
“Ahh, well that’s …umm…good,” said Vincent, who couldn’t think of anything else to say, “How does it feel to be almost twelve years old?”
“Good, I guess,” said Gordon, still very unenthusiastic.
“Alright, come on now, what’s the matter?” asked Vincent, suddenly very serious.
“Nothing,” said Gordon, “It’s nothing…”
“Very well, if you say so,” said Vincent, who then started to turn away to leave the living room “I’ll be in the kitchen finishing up dinner if you want to talk about it.”
“Wait!” said Gordon, looking up at his uncle.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry, I…I didn’t mean to act so rude,” said Gordon, “I got accused of cheating again today.”
“What?!  Again?!” exclaimed Vincent, “I swear, I don’t know what these Earth…err, I mean people are thinking!  You?  Cheat?  Preposterous!”
“I know…” said Gordon.
“I’m going to have to go in and have a word with them!” he said.
“Don’t bother,” said Gordon, “It probably wouldn’t make a difference anyway…”
“Yes…I…I guess you’re right,” said Vincent, “I just wish there was something I could do about it.”
“Yes I know, it’s ok” said Gordon, “I just don’t understand it Vincent.  I don’t realize why everyone treats me the way that they do.  Sure I get better grades than they do, but that’s partially due to the home teaching you’ve been giving me when I’m not at school.  I don’t see why they should think I’m that different from everyone else.”
“As I have told you before, Gordon, it is human nature to feel threatened by things one cannot understand,” said Vincent, looking at Gordon sympathetically, “They don’t understand how you can be so much smarter than them, so they feel hostile towards you.”

“Yes, I guess I can understand in some ways,” said Gordon, “But I guess what’s really bothering me is that I’m just wondering if this is how it’s going to be forever.  I’m wondering if things will never change and people will always feel the way they do.”
“No!  Of course not!” said Vincent excitedly.
“How can you be so sure?” asked Gordon.
“Because I am!” said Vincent, kneeling down so that he was at eye level with Gordon, “Listen Gordon, as hard as it is for you right now, I want you to know that things will get better…and soon, too.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I know so!” said Vincent.
“Thank you Vincent” said Gordon, giving his uncle a hug, “I know I’m being silly, acting like this.”
“Nonsense!  Everything is fine!” said Vincent, obviously back in his cheerful disposition once more, “Now cheer up!  Tomorrow is your birthday after all and I won’t have you being in a bad mood!”
“You’re right Uncle Vincent!” said Gordon, “Thanks again, I am definitely in a much better mood now.”
“Excellent!” said Vincent, “Well, I am off to finish preparing dinner.  I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
“Alright,” said Gordon with a smile.

And with that Uncle Vincent turned away and set off for the kitchen once more.  Meanwhile, Gordon decided to leave his comfy recliner and go upstairs to his room, to find another book to read, perhaps.

When he finally entered his room he found Tommy there, curled up on his bed.  He then sat down next to the cat and began to gently stroke the back of its head, all the while thinking about everything he and his uncle had talked about.  He was angry that he had let himself get in a bad mood again, and knew that he shouldn’t have let the events of the day get to him.  

Luckily though, he was doing much better now.  His talks with his Uncle always made him feel better, and he knew that things weren’t all that bad.  Though, he still couldn’t help but wonder if what his uncle said was true.  Would things get better?  Would things finally change?  Gordon could only hope.

Little did he know that things were about to change far more than he could ever have imagined…