Quantum and the 3D Printed Starship - Quantum #5 - A Sci-Fi Sleep Story for Kids

0:05 Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world. I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories. Tonight we're headed back into the Quantum Computer universe because I got a few ideas for it on my Google form. Tonight's episode comes to us from Asher, who wanted an episode where you continue to build up the underground base and build a spaceship. I think that's a great idea, Asher, So that's exactly what we're going to do today. If you have an idea for the Quantum Computer universe or any other universe, I love getting your ideas, even if I can't make all of them. You can record them on speak pipe, leaving your own voice, which I can play on the podcast, or you can fill out the

0:55 Google form, or you can just email me at Bedtime Stories at gmail dot com. If you've never listened to any episodes of the Quantum series, I think there's only four before this. I did a little compilation episode in another one. If you want to get caught up, or you really just have to understand, you're a kid who found a quantum computer that helps you build things using a three D printer. So now you're like going around collecting garbage to turn into new material, and yeah, it's pretty fun. Before we start, I just want to give a big shout out to my newest Patreon sponsors, Jessica and Valerie. I reached out to both of you via messages to see if there's anyone else you wanted me to shout out, so just let me know. As many

1:45 of you have probably heard before, making this podcast and keeping it going does take a pretty significant amount of effort, so I really appreciate any donations going to the show. It helps us keep the lights on around here. And the other thing that helps us keep lights on around here are advertisements. Now, I don't love having a ton of advertisements, and I never never will play one during the story or after the story here on Dad's Bedtime Stories, but we do have to fit in a few beforehand to make that work. Now it's time to close your eyes, get as comfy as you can in that bed, and imagine yourself doing what the kid in the story does.

2:34 As a quick recap from the last episode, you basically woke up to discover an underground base under your bed, and then Quantum sent you on a mission to collect garbage, clean up the ocean with a sort of self replicating garbage clean up fleet in the ocean. And yeah, that's where we left off. Also, I want you to remember that you are the main character. So I try to write these stories so you can fill in the blanks with your own imagination. And that's exactly where we're going to start today. Imagine yourself waking up in your very own bed. For a moment, everything feels normal, your room's quiet, sun's peeking in through the curtains, and then you remember Quantum, the underground base, the ocean clean up fleet, the hover coppter,

3:37 the giant secret hatch under your room. You sit up quickly. Good morning, Quantum says from your wrist. You lift your arm and see Quantum's little smiling face glowing on the watch screen. Good morning, You say, anything new happening while I was sleeping? Of course, Quantum replies, several thousand things. Oh, you say, that sounds like a lot of things. It was.

4:09 I have prepared a progress report, but I suspect you would rather see it for yourself. You grin and look toward the little red button on your nightstand. It's still sitting there waiting for you. You climb out of bed and press it for a second. Nothing happens. Then your bed begins to slide sideways across the floor with a smooth, sort of mechanical hum. The metal hatch underneath it appears glowing faintly blue around the edges. You grab the handle, pull the hatch open, and look down at the shiny metal slide curving into blue light below. You sit down, push off, and immediately shoot downward. The slide twists around a glowing tunnel, curving left right, then dropping sharply enough to make your stomach jump. Blue lights blur past you.

5:13 The smooth metal beneath you hum softly, and eventually you shoot out the bottom and come to a gradual stop in the middle of the underground base. Only now the base looks different. Before it was huge and mostly empty, but now it's filled in. The walls are still dark metal with glowing blue lines running through them, but there's different sections everywhere. A line of hover copters rests along one side of the launch bay, each one silver gray with blue white energy rings. Helper bots float around them, polishing panels, checking tang welding things together. On the other side of the base is a kitchen area with shiny counters, cabinets, and well a fridge beside it is a living room, a real living room. There's a large, soft looking couch,

6:21 a table, and an enormous entertainment screen that covers most of the wall. The screen is so clear it looks less like a screen and more like a window into another world. You built a living room, you ask, Yes, you are spending more time in the base. I determined that you might appreciate the comfort. That's probably true, you say, walking towards the couch and entertainment. This quantum television receives programs from all quantum realities. You stop walking. Ohit all quantum realities, Yes, every possible universe that is close enough to tune in. That sounds weird, Oh it is. Obviously you have to turn it on. You pick up a remote sitting on the table and press the power button.

7:23 It's obviously the power button because it's a large red button. The screen lights up, showing what looks like a traditional sitcom living room, except everyone in it looks like they're half person and half technology. A man that looks like he has a toaster built into his chest for some reason, begins to speak Honey, I accidentally downloaded the neighbor again.

7:54 The audience laughs. A woman with wheels instead of feet rolls into the living room and says, not again, Carrie. Last time he got stuck in the dishwasher dimension. The audience laughs even harder. You just stare at the screen. Quantum, what is this? It appears to be a comedy program from a reality where humans and technology have merged together, though they have retained bad television writing. This is terrible, you say, yes, however, there are channels from all different realities.

8:38 There is certainly something good on there. All right, Well, maybe I'll check that out later, you say, turning off the TV and putting down the remote. You walk further into the base, still amazed by everything. The giant printer is even larger than it was before. There are stored rooms, nail robot docking stations, what look like vehicle bays, a large circular empty area in the middle of the base that looks very important, though you're not sure why, so you ask what happened with the ocean cleanup fleet. Quantum's face appears not only on your watch, but also on the giant screen mounted to the wall. The screen changes to a map of Earth with glowing dots spread across the Pacific Ocean. The ocean cleanup fleet has been largely successful,

9:36 Quantum says. The mother sub has continued self replication. It has printed additional collectible submersibles, floating debris skimmers, river mouth interceptors, and transport drones. The operation is expanding at a sustainable rate. That's amazing. So it's just cleaning the ocean by itsself. Heal now, correct, of course, with supervision. I am still monitoring it. The seagulls remain suspicious. It's understandable, you say, we did spray them with water that low pressure. Still though they probably didn't appreciate that. Quantum Screen returns to his smiling face. Now he says, what would you like to build next? Oh? What are the choices? You ask? Well, since I am programmed with knowledge from almost every quantum reality,

10:37 I should be able to create anything. You can think of anything, you say, pretty much, even like a spaceship, like a real one that can traveled different planets and things like that. Quantum is silent for almost a whole second. That is an excellent choice. The giant screen changes again. A glowing blue print appears in the air. Above the floor, lines of light form the outline of a ship. At first, it's small and simple, and then Quantum keeps adding details.

11:18 The ship grows longer and sleeker. A cockpit forms at the front, A rear fabrication chamber appears, storage tanks lock, and a place along the sides. Engines glow at the back. A living room or living quarter area forms in the middle. Then the whole design spins slowly in the air on the computer screen. You stare up at it with your mouth open. That, Quantum says, is a compact interplanetary and limited interstellar exploration vessel. It uses anti gravity engines within the Solar system and can create a warp field to travel to other soldier systems. That's incredible, thank you. This ship will contain built in accommodations, a high capacity three D printer, a de atomizer, energy storage systems, repair drones,

12:18 matter collection tools, and long range navigation, as well as some defensive capabilities in case we run into aggressive alien species so we can actually go to space. Yes, you look at the glowing ship design. Can you build it? Yes, Quantum says, but it will be matter heavy. Oh, of course, it will require a large variety of materials, including precious metals, rare earth elements, conductive materials, advanced ceramic plastics, carbon structures, and energy storage materials. Technically, I can reorganize atoms into different materials, but doing so requires additional energy and time.

13:15 It is more efficient to begin with a large variety of matter, so we need more garbage, correct preferably useful garbage. The screen changes to show several locations. There are many nearby sources, Quantum explains. Electronic waste deposits contain precious metals and circuitry. Battery graveyards contain lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, and other useful materials. Old landfill sites contain mixed matter and in some cases leach unpleasant substances into the groundwater. We can both build a spaceship and clean up the planet.

14:01 You make a face at the thought of the groundwater. Gross, yes, but useful, and on the plus side, no one is likely to miss any of it. What about the Ocean cleanup fleet? Couldn't we just use the matter from that? We could, Quantum says, But the fleet is currently self replicating and expanding. If we take matter from it now, we slow down the cleanup operation. I believe it is better to let it continue. That makes sense, you say, all right, battery graveyard first, I guess excellent choice. One of the hover copters powers up in the launch bay and slides over to the side. Its side hatch folds open.

14:54 You climb inside and sit in the pilot's seat. The controls glow life around you. Quantum's face appears on the screen in front of you. The huge launch hatch opens above the base and sunlight pours in. You pull up on the hover lever, and the hover copter rises smoothly into the air, lifting out of the underground base and up into the yard. You take it higher and higher as the hatch closes beneath you, hiding the base again as if it was never there. Once you're high enough, you shift into flight mode. The steering wheel folds out, the engines hum louder. You place one hand on the wheel, one hand on the throttle, and you push forward. The hover copter blasts ahead. A sonic boom cracks behind you.

15:54 As the world blurs beneath your window. You soar over forests, rivers, roads, fields, and towns, following the little glowing path on the navigation screen. Before long, dark smoke appears in the distance. Uh, Quantum, I see it, he says. Thermal scans indicate a battery fire at the facility. The fire is spreading toward the nearby forest. You grip the controls tighter as the smoke grows larger. Below you see a huge yard filled with old batteries, containers, broken equipment, and storage piles. Flames roar from one section. Bright flashes pop inside the smoke as more batteries ignite. You pull back on the throttle and switch to hover mode once again. Beyond the facility is a thick green forest, and the fire is moving towards it.

17:00 Can we stop that? Yes? Scanning forest now. A display appears on the screen showing outlines of animals moving along the trees. There are deer, foxes, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, birds, frogs, snakes, insects, and several nesting areas within the risk zone. Quantum says, if the fire reaches the forest, many animals will be displaced, some may not survive. You feel your stomach, Titan, Then we have to stop it, agreed, Quantum continues. Luckily, the hover copter includes several emergency systems I have not yet explained, such as such as a freeze ray. A freeze ray you say yes, adapted from designs collected from highly advanced quantum versions of Earth. The freeze ray can instantly lower the temperature of anything it hits, making it much more

18:06 effective than water, particularly on a battery fire. Would you like me to activate it now? Yeah? You respond? A panel opens beside your seat and a joystick rises out of it. The screen changes to a sort of aiming display with glowing hash marks and a bright blue crosshair. It looks like it's showing a view directly from the freeze ray. Use the joystick to aim, quantum says, and the trigger to fire. You grab the joystick and guide the crosshairs towards the edge of the forest, between the trees and the approaching flames. Fire When ready, You pull the trigger and a brilliant blue light blasts from the front of the hover copter. It hits the ground with a flash of sort of icy mist. The ground freezes

19:09 and frost begins to spread across the grass and dirt, rising up into a thick wall of ice. Whoa excellent continue You guide the beam carefully sweeping it along the edge of the forest. Ice bursts up wherever the beam touches. You create a sort of shiny, frozen barrier between the fire and the trees. Then you shift your aim to the fire itself. As the beam hits it, it almost instantly stops. You move the beam back and forth across the ground, across ball of the ground that's currently on fire, until the fire is completely out. I believe the forest has been protected. Now we should deal with the battery piles before they continue to burn. More fires may start. Uh, how do we do that? You ask, the same way

20:17 we do everything, We absorb them. You turn the hover copter towards the burning battery yard, hover just above, and flick the button to activate the suction device. The atom vacuum, or whatever you call it. A cone of energy shoots downward. Broken batteries, melted casings, wires, metal scraps, and all sorts of other debris begins to rise into the beam. As it rises, it transforms into energy and gets sucked into the bottom of the ship. You start with the section of the yard that was on fire, and once that's taken care of, you move to other parts of the yard as well. Congratulations, Quantum says you have performed very well.

21:17 The chance of future battery fires has been greatly diminished, at least for the time being, and I believe your animal friends will be safe. Oh good, well, it looks like the tanks are already half full. Uh where to next? The next closest destination is a nearby landfill. It was previously used for humans to dump their garbage into a giant pile before being abandoned. However, the garbage continues to decay and large amounts are leeching into the ground, contaminating ground in the nearby town. That doesn't sound good. No, it is in fact quite gross. The substance is called leech eight and it is not ideal. Can we clean it up? Absolutely? As the next destination appears on the screen, you activate flight mode and blast forward at incredible speed.

22:27 You once again shift to hover mode and activate the collector again. A beam begins to pull up old garbage from the dump below, breaking it down and absorbing it into the energy tanks. Drones release themselves from the hover copter as well and begin collecting their own little tiny piles of garbage and ceiling contaminated patches. You built in many robots into the hover copter. You ask, of course, is there anything you didn't build into the hover copter?

23:09 You ask, yes, there are many millions of things that I did not build into the hover copter. Ok, Okay, yeah, obviously it was kind of more of a figure's speech. Material capacity reached, Quantum says, we should return to base. You lift into the sky, switch back to flight mode, and push the throttle forward. The hover copter booms through the air, once again, racing back over the landscape towards your home. When you reach a more familiar environment, you shift the thing back into hover mode, aim at right over the giant patch of ground beside your house, and begin to lower it down. As a hatch in the yard opens up, You carefully lower the hover copter into the underground base and land gently in the launch bay. Immediately,

24:12 helper robots swarm the craft. They detach the glowing tanks and carry them to the giant printer. Quantum's main screen lights up. Golden energy flows through transparent tubes and into the fabrication system. Then the printer begins. It prints huge curved panels first, then beams, then engine parts, then well glass that looks like it's probably for the cockpit, then storage tanks, doors, walls, wires, chairs, control panels, and strange glowing pieces that you have no idea what they'refore. Helper robots grab each piece as soon as it's finished and fly it to the open circular area in the middle of the base. Soon, the spaceship begins to take place right there in your underground base. You watch for a

25:12 while before getting a little bit bored, so instead you sit down on the couch and turn on the Quantum TV. At first, the strange sitcom with the half human half robot people appears, but you begin to flip the channel to all sorts of different programs. Some seem completely alien in others well, others look like they were probably made on your own Earth. You sit on the couch, watching, laughing and generally being entertained while the helper robots assemble your ship, until eventually Quantum speaks from the wall screen the starship is complete. You jump off the couch. It's done. Yes, would you like to see it? Obviously? You run across the base. The ship stands in the center of the launch bay, sleek and silver with glowing blue lines along

26:19 its side. It's not enormous, but it's pretty big. The rear hatch opens, you walk over and step inside. The first room you enter is a sort of building and storage area. A smaller copy of a three D printer sits against one wall, connected to storage tanks and a deatomizer. Tools are locked neatly into place. Helper bots line the walls and docking stations, and they're small open areas for well future projects. This area allows us to build parts, repair damage, and ibricate equipment while traveling, Quantum explains. A door opens and you step into the next area. It's the living quarters. There are bunk beds built into the wall, a little couch, a tiny kitchen area, storage cabinets, and another Quantum TV. It sort of looks like the inside

27:23 of a futuristic RV. You put a Quantum TV in the spaceship two. Of course, long voyages can be boring fair enough. Finally, you enter the last door, the control area, or the cockpit. It has two seats, a wide front window, glowing control panels, and a center console. Quantum's face appears on the main screen. I have transferred control to the ship's computer. He says. The controls are similar or to the hover copter. However, the ship also includes advanced autopilot.

28:06 Spaceflight can become uneventful over long distances. You mean it can get boring, Yes, extremely boring, flying straight through empty space for days upon days. You sit in the pilot seat. Would you like to take it for a test spin? Quantum masks, yes, you say. The launch hatch above the base begins to open, the same one used for the hover copters, only it sort of feels like there's barely enough room to make it through. You pull up on the hover control and the Quantum Starship lifts smoothly out of the base. It rises through the hatch, up past your house and into open air. As the hatch closes below Oh, then you press the button and enter flight mode.

29:06 Only this time you pull back on the steering wheel and aim straight up. As you press forward on the throttle, the ship blasts upward. The ground drops away beneath it as clouds rush past. The sky starts to turn darker and darker, Quantum explains calmly as the ship climbs. We are primarily using anti gravity flight. This allows us to move without relying on traditional rocket propulsion inside the atmosphere. Good, you say, because rockets seem kind of wasteful. The blue sky fades into black. Stars appear, and then you're in space.

29:56 Earth curves below you, glowing blue and white and beautiful. For a moment, you're just in awe. Quantum, we're actually in space, Yes, Quantum says, we are. You stare down at the planet somewhere below, our motions being cleaned by your fleet, forests that didn't burn down because you helped them. Oh what now, you ask, I suggest testing the matter gathering system on an asteroid. A map appears, showing a glowing path toward the asteroid belt. Let's do it, you say.

30:44 Quantum engages long range flight, and the ship surges forward, even faster than it did before. Earth shrinks behind you. The Moon slides past in the distance. You pass Mars as a rusty red world glowing against the black, and then ahead, countless rocks appear in space the asteroid belt. Quantum highlights one asteroid on the screen, targets selected, many precious metals present. Begin attachment protocol. You slow the ship and carefully guide it toward the spinning rock. Hash Marks appear on the screen, helping you line up with the surface easy, Quantum says, we must match rotation speed and engage clamps. You follow his instruction. The ship turns gently, matching the asteroids spin. As you press the clamp button,

31:49 there's a deep metallic thunk, and the ship is suddenly pulled straight down and attaches itself to the asteroid. We are success fully attached, Quantum says. The front of the ship opens up. A gigantic needle like device extends from the nose of the ship, then pushes forward slowly and lunges itself into the asteroid. The asteroid lights up with glowing blue lines spread from the point of contact. Matter gathering device engaged, Quantum says. The ship powers up as storage tanks in the back begin to fill. You watch the display climb higher and higher as the ship gathers useful materials from inside the asteroid metals, mineral stone, and well elements that will help you build things you haven't

32:50 even imagined yet. This is incredible, you say, Yes, Quantum says, asteroids are highly useful. Also, people do not complain when they go missing. The tanks reach full capacity, test successful, Quantum announces. Prepare for detach with another sort of metallic thunk. The ship detaches from the asteroid and you pull it up and out of the area. Autopilot engages and guides you home across the dark, star filled space. Soon Earth glows large again. You descend through the atmosphere, surrounded by a soft glow as the ship's shielding protects you. Clouds rush past. Your home appears on the navigation map. The giant hatch opens beside your house. You lower the starship carefully into the underground base as the hatch closes above you,

34:00 hiding the sky. The ship lands with a soft hiss, and you climb out, very tired, but in the best possible way. I think that was a big enough day. You say, time for bed. You walk to the new living quarters inside the base, where Quantum is already prepared a bed for you. It's built into the wall, but it looks very soft and cozy. You climb inside and pull the covers up over top of yourself. The base hums quietly around you. Helper robots move gently in the distance, and somewhere near by, your new starship rests in the launch bay, full of asteroid matter and ready to build whatever comes next good night, Quantum. You say good night, Quantum answers. Tomorrow the universe will be ours to explore.

35:11 You close your eyes. With each breath, your body feels heavier and softer, your arms relax, your legs sink into the bed, and your thoughts begin to drift off to dreams of new adventures, new planets, and new things to build. Good Night, everyone in New yor.

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