The Space Explorers - A Magic Library Adventure - A Bedtime Story

0:04 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 going to head back to a universe we haven't visited in a while unless you listen to the compilation episode on the weekend, of course, the Magic Library. I had a couple suggestions that made me think about this entire universe again, and that's why we're getting to it.

0:31 So let's check out the first one here.

0:34 Hi, my name is Hannah. I'm from Westminster, Colorado, and I'm eight years old, and I was like a story of suggestion for the Magic Library series, where did you go into a spacebook and you brought like a pencil and a raser with you and these alien guys they get your eraser from them from you, and they erase the pages of the story and then you have to stop them.

1:06 Bye.

1:06 I love your podcast.

1:08 Well, Hannah, thank you very much for that idea. I think it's a great one and a great reason to get back into this series that I really haven't done in a while. But I know a lot of people liked at the time. I also want to give a big shout out to somebody else who wrote in and made me kind of want to do this episode. Amala.

1:26 Amala wrote in asking for a spaceship episode where you go to a planet with books that kind of suck you in, and I thought that sounds a lot like the Magic Library. Why don't we just do a Magic Library episode? So, Amala, this one is for you as well. If you like the podcast and want it to continue, there's a lot of ways to support. Number one, rating and reviewing it goes a long way. Number two, sharing it with a friend, or even number three. You can join us on Patreon, where you can get ad free episodes, episodes free of like this possible one that helps support the podcast. 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. Now,

2:17 if you listen to the other Magic Library stories, then you already know how this works. Somewhere in your room, hidden in plain sight, is a very special key, a key that can open a doorway to a place full of endless books, endless adventures, and stories that don't just sit on the page. There, because in the Magic Library, the stories come to life. And tonight you're gonna step into one of them once again. You find yourself sitting in your very own room on a day that feels kind of slow. There's nothing wrong, exactly, but it's just one of those days where nothing seems exciting, the weather's not all that inviting, and you've already done most of the things you like doing. You look around your room

3:15 wondering what should come next, and then you see it, resting right where you left It is the old key, the key to the magic library. You'd almost forgotten about it. Immediately, your day starts to feel like it might be getting a little more interesting. You get up off of your bed, walk over to the key and pick it up in your hand. It feels cool and heavy, but important. You walk to a clear section of the wall in your room and hold the key out toward it. Just before the key touches the wall, a magical keyhole appears. Oh well, you say to yourself, that's still pretty amazing. You slide the key into the keyhole and turn it. There's a click, and at once a glowing outline of a door appears in the wall, along with a little doorknob. You grab

4:24 a hold of the doorknob, pull it open and reveal a secret passageway, one that you know leads to the library. You grin and step inside. Down the stairs through a long stone hallway until you finally come to a great wooden door at the end. You grab the handle, pull it open, and step inside the magic Library. It's just as incredible as ever. Books lide in the walls in every direction, stacked on shelves that reach upward floor after floor, winding staircases, cozy reading nooks, railings overlooking lower sections, and of course books floating through the air using their own covers like little magical wings. Welcome back, says a familiar voice, the voice of the librarian. You look around, though, of

5:30 course you know by now that you're not actually going to see anybody. The voice simply seems to come from the library itself, or maybe it is the voice of the library itself. Hey, you say, I was kind of hoping for another adventure. I had a feeling you might be, says the librarian. And tonight I believe I have just the thing. You begin walking down the stairs toward the large reading area in the middle of the library, a huge circle of couches and pillows and blankets. The comfiest place imaginable to read a book, in fact. But before you get to the reading area, something catches your eye.

6:21 On a small table. Beside one of the couches are two objects sitting side by side, a pencil and an eraser. You walk toward them. The pencil looks kind of normal at first glance, but when you get closer you can see a faint, little swirl of light moving underneath its surface, changing color every few seconds. The eraser is white, perfectly clean, and giving off a sort of little glow. You pause, What are these doing here? You ask, Those, says the librarian, are magical editing tools. The pencil can draw, restore, and rewrite parts of a story. The eraser can remove them.

7:16 You narrow your eyes at the eraser. That sounds useful, you say, it can be in the right hands, of course, the librarian responds. You think back to some of your earlier adventures in the librarian. How things have well had a bit of a tendency to get a bit out of control when books are left open, Well, you say, maybe I should bring them with me, just in case.

7:46 A cautious choice. The librarian says, I approve.

7:54 You pick up the.

7:55 Pencil and tuck it safely into one pocket. Then you pick up the erase, sir, and place it in another. There, you say, prepared, hopefully, says the librarian. You continue down into the reading area and settle into one of the big cozy couches. Then a book begins to float over towards you. It glides downwards, turns neatly, and lands in your hands. The title on the cover reads Star Explorers.

8:30 The cover art shows a sleek silver starship drifting among bright stars and colorful planets. Near the ship, flashes of blue and red light suggest laser fire. Something like it ow looks cool, you say.

8:49 It is one of our Betta space adventures. A future where humanity has solved many of the old troubles and now tuns its attention to the star discovery, diplomacy, danger, exploration, and lots of lies of battles, all the good things.

9:10 Any dragons, You ask, No, not in this case, Eh, still sounds pretty cool. You open up the book. Instead of ordinary pages, a swirling blue portal shimmers just inside the cover. You take a breath, clutch the book, and then lean toward the portal. At once you feel the familiar pulling sensation as your whole body is being gently sucked through the tunnel made of light. Then you're somewhere else.

9:46 When you open your eyes, you're standing on the bridge of an enormous starship. Lights glow softly from the walls. A giant front window reveals the stars spread out before you, like built diamonds across black velvet. Crew Members in sleek futuristic uniforms move quickly around the room, pressing all sorts of buttons that you can't really determine the purpose of, but they look very important and official doing it, And directly in front of you is a large captain's chair.

10:22 You look down at yourself and see that you're no longer wearing your regular clothes. Instead, you're dressed in a sharp, dark uniform with silver details and some sort of glowing insignia on the chest. The starship Horizon, says the voice of the librarian, now narrating the story. All around you one of humanity's proudest exploration vessels, a ship built not for war but for discovery, and tonight it's captain was about to have a very difficult evening. You blink, Captain.

11:08 A crew member turns toward you immediately. Captain, the unidentified vessel is still on approach. He says, no response to our signals. Another voice calls out from across the room. Energy spike detected. Then a loud alarm begins to sound. Red lights flash, and through the front window you see it, a dark alien ship swinging around from behind an asteroid field, its jagged metal hull lit by strange red markings. The entire bridge seems to turn toward you at once, waiting for orders. A calm, robotic voice overhead announces battle stations, Battle stations. You grip the arms of the captain's for just a second, and then something clicks into place inside your mind. Just like in the other books, you suddenly

12:08 know things you didn't know before. You know how the ship works. You know what the glowing display means. You know what it means when an officer says the shields are charging or the engines are spooling for a turn. You move toward the captain's chair, sit down and look out at the stars. Status report. You say, clicking in to your role. The words come out firmly and confidently, like you are, in fact the captain of the ship unknown vest rocking weapons. Captain, their shields are up, their engines are unstable, but they're closing in fast. Another officer glances down at a bright blue display. Our long range scans suggest pack construction. Their ship appears damaged in several places, like it's been repaired over and over again. A third

13:10 crew member turns in her chair, hailing frequencies remain unanswered. Captain, You narrow your eyes and stare out at the alien ship. It looks dangerous, malls, sharp bangles, and like little glowing red cracks along its hull. Raised shields. You order at once. A faint shimmer passes over the front window. She helds online.

13:36 Someone says, full power to defensive systems. You say, defensive systems at maximum. The alien ship suddenly flashes red. Incoming shouts one of the officers. A beam of crackling energy streaks across space and slams into your ship. The whole bridge shakes, consoles flicker. A few crew members grab hold of their stations. Shields holding at ninety two percent, says the tactical officer. You sit forward, return fire target their weapons, leave their life support alone, Hi, Captain. Two bright blue laser beams fire from the front of your ship, flashing across the darkness and striking the alien vessel sparks leap from its outer hull. The alien ship banks hard to the side, then releases a spread of glowing projectiles. Multipu

14:38 torpedoes incoming. One of the officers announces you point toward the main screen evasive pattern three. Roll us below them. The helmsman moves both hands over a glowing control surface. The stars outside the front window tilt sharply as the entire ship dips down word and rolls onto what looks like it's back. The torpedoes streak overhead and explode. A few crew members cheer. A little bit nice flying, You say, thank you, Captain. The alien ship swings back around and accelerates.

15:19 They're trying to get behind us, says the tactical officer. Not happening, you reply, cut main engines for two seconds, then boost hard to port. The helmsman obeys instantly. Your ship slows for a moment. The alien ship over shoots slightly, expecting you to keep moving forward. Then your ship bursts sideways in a big curve, putting you at the exact right place for another blast of weapons. Now you say, firing twin laser blast slammed the alien ship again, followed by a bright silver torque that streaks across the darkness and bursts near its engine direct hit. The tactical officer says, the engine's off failing. The alien ship lurches badly, spinning once before stabilizing. Captain says the science officer. Their weapons

16:21 are still powered, but only barely take them offline. You order another shut and the last visible cannon on the alien ship sputters and goes dark. Tactical update, you ask, Mannie, me, vessel is disabled, shields collapsing, weapons offline, Life signs still present. Good. That puts an end to that. Any idea why they attacked?

16:52 You ask, No clear answer, Captain says the science officer. But their ship's power systems are unstable and I'm detecting strange energy fluctuations. Hail them again, you say. The communications officer presses a glowing panel and waits no response. You think for a moment, well, if they won't talk from over here, maybe we go ask them in person. You want to board the alien vessel, Captain, I do you say we disable to shift. We're not just gonna leave it here floating in space. Your first officer nods once.

17:37 That is a very captainy thing to say. Thank you. You reply, Prepare an away team right away, secure docking clamps. Prepare short range transport link scanning for safe entry points. Sir, you stand from the captain's chair, and somebody please tell me there's a cool armor suit on this ship or something like that. The first officer gives you a smile.

18:08 There always as captain. A few minutes later, you're walking through a sleek metallic cordor it towards the boarding bay. The first officer beside you, along with two security officers and a science specialist carrying some sort of scanning device. The walls glow with soft white lines. Ahead, a pair of doors slide open. You walk into a room full of high tech equipment. Armor suits and laser rifles line the walls, each one with glowing blue edges. Oh this is excellent, you say. I thought you might enjoy it, says the first officer. You step toward one of the armor suits. As soon as you stand on the circular platform, the suit activates. Pieces of light metal fold around your legs, your arms, your chest, your shoulders. The armor locks into

19:13 place with soft clicks. A helmet rises, folds around your head and seals with a little hissing sound. A blue display appears across the inside of the visor. You flex your fingers, your arms, your legs. The suit fits perfectly. A stun blaster is placed in your hands, sleek and silver and humming with energy. This weapon is set to stun only, says your first officer, high setting if needed perfect You say, no unaliving, just stopping. The science officer picks up a portable scanner. The first officer arms herself as well, and then you remember something. You reach into your regular pocket area beneath the armor and make sure the magic pencil and a racer are still there. Luckily both are just in case. The first officer notices Captain

20:19 Ah just checking my emergency supplies, you say. The doors at the far end of the room open up, revealing a short docking corridor. Away team. You say, let's go see what's going on. You move across the docking corridor and through the airlock into the alien ship. Immediately everything feels different. The inside of this vessel is dim and well lit with red. The walls are uneven and patched together.

20:51 For mismatched metal pieces. Pipes run along the ceiling, some of them are sparking. The doors slopes lightly in places. It looks like it's been put together out of other ships at a scrap yard. You lead your team down the corridor. At first, while you hear is the sound of your own boots, and then a blast of red energy slams into the wall beside you. Contact, says one of the officers. You dive behind a thick support beam as another shot passes overhead, not noticing something slipping out of your pocket. The corridor fills with bright, flashing beams of light. At the far end, you catch your first clear look at the aliens. They're tall and narrow, with smooth gray blue skin and large eyes. Their armor looks

21:47 like it was also pieced together out of scavenged parts. Advance, you shout, Your team responds. One security officer leans out and fires a blue pulse. It strikes the wall near one of the aliens and sparks fly out. You pop out next, fire once and hit an alien square in the chest. Its armor flashes and it drops to the floor, stunned. Nice, you say. More aliens appear further down the corridor more red flashes of light. There are more coming from the side passage. Your first officer says, you turn fire twice and force two aliens back behind a corridor. Captain, if we can reach the command section, we may be able to shut down the ship and end the fight. You charge forward through the corridor. Aliens pop out, one after

22:43 the other, and they meet blasts of blue laser fire. Stun after stun, the aliens go down until you arrive at the other side of the corridor. A large door opens and you find standing on the bridge of the alien ship. The aliens, noticing you've just made it onto their bridge, turn and begin firing. You dive off to the side behind a control panel, firing your blaster as you go through the air, hitting one of the aliens square in the chest, causing them to pass out. Your first officer takes out another, and the two security officers roll in behind, firing blue laser beams again and again until the entire bridge is clear. All right, somebody give me a report about what's going on. The science officer

23:43 begins scanning the bridge. When the door opens behind you once again, two aliens are standing there, and one of them seems to be holding you're a racer. Oh no. The alien turns the strange white object over in his fingers and then gestures down towards a crate on the bridge. Instantly, there's a flash of white light in the crate disappears.

24:15 It doesn't break or burn, It just disappears, turning into floating white dust and then nothing at all. The alien holding the eraser freezes and then stares at it in amazement. Realizing that he's holding a very powerful weapon. He points it at you and unleashes another blast. This time it hits your ray gun, which immediately disappears from existence. He continues to blast the bridge around you, and well. Things continue to disappear. Consoles evaporate, floor panels disappear into white nothingness.

24:59 When we have to get out here here quick, you say. Your first officer blasts at the aliens, causing them to duck for cover, and at the same time you run for the door. You pick up one of the alien blasters as you run, and you begin firing at the two aliens keeping them under cover. Everyone get out, you yell.

25:24 You continue to fire as your away team slips out behind you and through the door. When they're all safely through. You turn and run as well down the corridor and back to your ship as quickly as you can. There's no telling what kind of damage they can do with that eraser. You look behind and the two aliens pop back out into the corridor, pointing the eraser towards you. Down.

25:52 You yell just in time as the eraser beam blasts above you and takes out the ceiling of the corridor. You scramble back to your feet and run through onto your ship. You attempt to close the doors as quickly as you can right alert, everyone, go, go go. The doors close on time, and you and the crew continues to run through your own ship and up to the bridge.

26:22 A voice from one of your bridge officers appears on your intercom. Captain, you seem to be losing sections of the ship quickly. What exactly is going.

26:33 On down there?

26:36 Nothing? Just a bit of a problem. Get us out of here quick, I can't Captain. It seems the right engine has disappeared, right, I can see how that would be a problem. All right, well, plan B. You stop running towards the bridge and turn around once again, and realizing that the only way out of this is well to take the eraser back bridge, give me a report on what sections of the ship are being disappeared, or whatever you command. Yes, captain, they are coming up your corridor now, all right, then we hold here, you say, gesturing for the rest of the away team to tuck over into one of the corridors that goes in another direction.

27:32 You press your back up against the wall and wait. You peek around the corridor, back in the direction you came from, and you see them, the aliens, making their way through the ship and erasing everything behind them. Luckily for you, it's not simply erasing it into space. It's just erasing everything into white, nothing new. You gesture over to your first officer, using hand signals to indicate that you will go low and they should go high. You count down using your fingers three, two, one, and at once you dive out into the corridor along the ground.

28:20 As your first officer jumps out above you, and the two security officers pop around the corner. At once, you all unleash blasts of laser, three blue beams and one red beam coming from your weapon. Of course, the beams luckily surprise the intruders, hitting both of them square in the chest and causing them to fall to the floor.

28:47 You quickly run over to the two passed out aliens and look out into the white nothingness beyond them. A captain, what exactly has haden? And here they ask you grab the eraser out of the alien's hand. Ah, well, kind of hard to explain, but I think I might be able to fix it, you say, reaching into your pocket and pulling out the pencil. Librarian, A little help here, understood, the librarian says, and a glowing portal appears besides you once again. You jump through the portal and find yourself sitting on the comfortable couch back in the library once again.

29:41 Any ideas how I can fix this book, you ask. As you flip through the pages, you see that large portions of the pictures and even the story you've gone missing. Well, I recommend just using your imagination, the librarian responds, and so you do. You begin filling in the pictures. Lines flow out of the pencil, almost magically, filling in the empty spaces with whatever you can imagine, much better than you'd normally be able to draw. You read through the missing words and you start to make up the rest, filling in the blanks about how the ship was returned to the Galactic Police Federation, you guess, and how the crew was praised and lived happily ever after. With the words back on the page and well the pictures filled

30:45 in to the best of your ability, you announce to the librarian, I think I'm ready to go back in. Understood, Just find the pot where you left off and you can fit the story. You flip through the pages to near the end, after the away mission had successfully figured out what had gone on, and a portal appears. You leaned towards it and you're instantly sucked inside, finding yourself on the bridge again. But now everything is calm, the ship is fully restored, and all of the people seem to have forgotten about the whole eraser thing. Captain says the first officer. The Galactic Police Federation ships are arriving.

31:38 Now you look through the front window. Three patrol cruisers glide into view from warp. They look sleek and elegant, but a little more like traditional police cars than well they may have been in the first place. You did your best to imagine what Galactic Police Federation vehicles would look like. After all, most of them were erased. They're hailing us. Put them on screen, you say. A face appears on the viewscreen. It's an officer from the Galactic Police Federation, wearing a very crisp looking uniform and an expression that looks as though rules are one of his favorite things in the universe. Captain of the Horizon, he says, this is Commander Veil of the Galactic Police Federation. We understand your vessel disabled the unidentified radar craft and is

32:34 preventing father danger in the section. Ah, that's right, you say. We also understand that you manage the situation without unnecessary destruction, and for that you have our thanks. You smile, happy to help, you say, we will take custody of the alien crew and escort their vessel for full investigation and assistance.

33:00 Your report suggests this may have been an act of desperation rather than conquest.

33:06 Uh.

33:07 Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, you say. A wise conclusion, says Vail. The galaxy would be better if ships had more captains like you. The screen shifts off. Nicely done, Captain. The first officer says, Aunt lucks like the alien vessel is being towed away awaiting your orders. Captain, you step toward the captain's chair. But before you said you take one last look out at the stars. Set a course for the next unexplored sector, you say. The helmsman grins.

33:47 I Captain.

33:49 The engines hum more deeply. The stars brighten, and you suddenly jump to warp speed. A portal appears in front of you, once again, indicating that this particular story is over. You look around you and step through the portal until you're instantly transported back to the very comfortable couch inside the magic library. Welcome back, the librarian says. Your new ending certainly went well. Is there anything else I could find you to read? He asks? H No, but I really could use a sleep, understood, Feel free to lay your head down right there. You lift your legs up onto the very comfortable couch. A blanket flies down over top of you and pulls itself up to your chin.

35:00 All at once, the lights in the library dim down to just the perfect amount of illumination, and you close your eyes. With each breath. Your body relaxes a little bit more and sinks down into the couch, and your mind begins to wander off to thoughts of new dreams and new adventures. To come good night everyone.

38:33 In New Yor no more Union, no mo of thing.

43:12 Mo.

45:23 M m long one on many