Some days seem dull, like nothing new is happening and nothing new or exciting will happen for a very long time. But then it turns out that’s wrong. Suddenly a surprise appears from somewhere out of this world.
My Far Away Messages file is where I store emails coming in from outside of Zelen’s solar system. It’s full of boring council meeting minutes, project statuses, and intergalactic law updates. Obviously, I don’t check something as dull as this file very often. I was finally glancing through the holographic list, with email topics glowing in the air in front of me, and quickly swatting away correspondence into the computer’s trash bin.
I paused. Unexpectedly I had found something interesting.
I came across a Garden Planet Competition taking place in our sector. Any gnome would have perked up instantly at this type of contest, and I certainly did.
The Garden Planet Competition Committee was looking for the most beautiful and natural planet within our part of the galaxy. Their goal was to preserve the winning planet’s pristine landscapes and to increase tourism. The prize was construction of any type of tourist-specific improvement that we wanted to add. Fortunately, the contest deadline hadn’t passed yet.
What perfect timing! I had just been complaining to anyone who would listen that I was worried about our planet Zelen. I was afraid it was getting built up with too many humanoids in too many villages, with markets and even small home businesses. Zelen was in danger of losing its natural beauty.
If we could win this contest we would become a titled Garden Planet. Zelen would then be bound by strict conservation rules. There would be limits to the population and their related projects.
It’s true that we would be required to allow a much-increased number of tourists every year, but we would receive funds to set up the tourist infrastructure we needed. Hotels or fancy restaurants wouldn’t be required, since the humanoids could stay on their own spaceships and consume most of their meals there. Small grocery stores and cafes plus a few rough cabins and camping places are all that would be needed. The increased spaceship traffic would be worth the trouble in order to secure Zelen’s future.
If you recall, Zelen was designed according to the rocky world template that had been developed on planet Earth. This meant that Earth’s most scenic ideas had already been included. Zelen is an exceptionally lovely planet overflowing with mountains, glaciers, forests, deserts, tropical areas, beaches and a large ocean. There are a dozen full time gnomes living here, helping to guide the magnificent landscapes that are still being completed in line with the planet’s master plan.
I thought that, really, all we needed to do was to submit an application full of pictures of wildlife posed in natural scenery. We could easily snap an assortment of photos, holographic images and short videos. Voila, done. Of course we can win this!
I knew every living being on Zelen would rally to the cause if I could just organize it before the deadline. I got busy and gathered my fellow Zelenistas. I simply coached the amateur photographers to make sure their photo subjects were not stiff and posed but were relaxed and happy. That was really all they needed to know to experiment and do a good job.
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Everything went well.
To start with, the gnomes volunteered to step into every type of isolated natural area to take photos. All sorts of animal parents were coaxed to pose with their adorable offspring. Deer families with spotted fawns posed against cool misty forests and dew-laden ferns. Moose families on the shores of Long Lake were attractive and majestic. Sweet little bunnies with soft fur and twitching noses could not be cuter standing on their hind legs in flowered meadows.
Even the ravens were happy to pose in the Grove of the Ancients, with the stately old trees giving off a surprisingly malevolent air to match the brooding birds. Truly, every type of bird and animal in every type of habitat was included.
The gnomes even managed to pull together some peaceable kingdom type compositions, with predator and prey sitting relaxed and apparently happy together. They simply fed every animal a big meal and waited until they were digesting but not yet asleep. The animals were too full to cause mischief.
The planet’s diminutive fairies got involved, too. I set up a camera for them to take close-up photos of any tiny natural specimens they wanted, like plants or insects. Fairies cast their own glow, so I didn’t even need to set up lighting. A fairy simply needed to jump on the camera shutter button after setting up their scenic elements.
Of course, with Phyler in charge there had to be a fair share of pictures with fairies in funny poses, and many group shots. I was a little surprised that the easily distracted group members came up with interesting photos. The images of fairies opening their shimmering silver wings against small white rose blooms were mesmerizing.
Some of our humanoid friends also got in on the photographic action. These regular visitors were happy to take pictures while they voyaged slowly around the planet in space cruisers, carefully turning their cameras to record sunny views of wide blue ocean, fluffy white clouds, and interesting geological features. These turned out to be beautiful video images, some with the planet juxtaposed against cold empty outer space.
In fact, it turned out that we had far too many images for the limit of 200 photos, holograms or short videos that we were allowed to submit. Choosing the final pictures was agony. We tried deciding by committee, but that didn’t go well. Everybody had their favorites which were not the same as anybody else.
Finally I just chose my favorite selections and sent off the packet via instant message delivery. Then we waited…and waited. It felt like we waited forever.
While we waited, the gnomes enthusiastically decided on planetary improvements. We agreed on a long mulch path, running all the way from our already famous rose garden, past the massive trees in the Grove of the Ancients, along the dry side of the low meadow, and ending at an open area in front of Long Lake. That was a perfect area for simple pavilions and picnic tables. It was also a perfect junction for smaller paths to split off and run along the lake for a few miles. Wildlife viewing patios and bird watching blinds would mark the end of the developed areas.
I just loved the plans. I felt they were simple, easy to maintain, yet very functional. The hiking areas would be interesting enough to keep nature tourists busy and happy for an entire day, but easy enough not to get them lost in the woods. If everything went well, we would decide on other projects to be constructed across Zelen at a later date.
Now we merely had to win.
I am sure by now you’ve guessed what finally happened. We won! Zelen won the designation of Garden Planet with all the accompanying benefits. We were delirious with joy. Zelen would remain mostly wild and undeveloped.
As an extra bonus, I got to work with my wife Jaal on the construction of our paths and buildings. Now I understand why Jaal enjoys being a landscape designer. It’s great fun to set up plans for other people to complete. What a joy it was to make decisions about an area and have off-planet workers come in to do the actual construction. This was the first project where I didn’t need to do any of the hard work myself. I’ll definitely be seeing if I can do that again, or more accurately not do that again, in the future. And try to find a project to complete with Jaal again.