Alien Invasion (Bedtime Story)

Captain EJ has a special superpower...his incredible voice!

This is Part 2 of: Trip To The Moon

In this episode: Part 2 of this e-MOON-gency, we soar to the moon, only to encounter something beyond our wildest dreams—a UFO emitting strange lights and Warpino, a very mysterious Alien. As we navigate floating space rocks and puzzling cosmic phenomena, Warpino reveals himself as a friendly but electrifying presence. With space-hugs, unexpected discoveries, and a mission that keeps getting stranger, we realize we're in for much more than just a moon rescue!

Voices by: Captain EJ and Amanda Fobbos

Transcript

EJ911,

Captain speaking.

Mr.

Honeybee here.

This is an emergency mission of epic proportions.

It has already taken us to the moon,

And in this episode,

Part 2,

We have a bit more exploring to do before we head back to Earth,

With a little something special in tow.

If you want to listen to Part 1,

That episode is called To The Moon,

But if you want to pick up right where we left off,

With a UFO in our sights as we float in the emptiness of outer space,

Settle in for Part 2,

Now.

From the outside,

You'd never know that our sharp minds are hard at work while we float in playful shapes.

In our BattleBuzz helmet,

As in our hearts,

We always have everything we need,

Right here with us,

So we can relax into our problem solving,

Knowing that all will be right,

Sooner or later.

Sharing a mental wavelength like we always do,

As we spin in slow,

Upside-down circles,

Looking out for Roger's return,

We formulate a plan to get us closer to that UFO without the help of a very convenient,

Though highly distracted robot rocket.

These magnets are among the most powerful on Earth.

We are among some of the most powerful people on Earth.

Both of those truths must mean something for outer space,

Too.

Mr.

Honeybee attempts to float an idea past us,

But it turns into more of a butterfly swim and then a sort of frantic dog paddle.

When he does finally get to us,

We three arrive at the same exact thought.

We must combine our power with the magnet's power to get us to that UFO.

Mrs.

Honeybee and Melody Bee continue trying to get Roger's attention,

But he has been fully enveloped in the brilliance on the moon and shows no signs of returning any time soon.

We have to get there and make sure all is well with our flighty robot friend.

Every so often,

Another little balloon of celebration floats away,

So we know that whatever he found must be incredible,

Alien or otherwise.

Captain,

Hero,

I think we'll need your high-powered voices for this one.

Combined with the charge in those magnets,

It'll likely pull us directly to the UFO,

So we can turn that U into an I,

From unidentified to identified,

An I-F-O.

A little professional goal of mine,

To turn all UFOs into IFOs.

This will be the first.

No pressure there,

Team.

I know we've been practicing in the stronghold,

But you'll need to focus very intensely on these magnets,

Because we haven't tested the photovoltaic effect of your vocal waves in the vacuum of space.

Hero and I were just thinking the same thing.

We will need to take off our BattleBuds helmets for that,

Though.

Right?

Right.

Once the magnets are steady,

Floating in space,

We'll need to take a deep breath and shout all your vocal power directly at them.

I don't yet know how your voice does this,

Captain EJ,

But thanks to that BattleBuds helmet,

Both you and Hero can create light from sound waves,

And electricity from that light.

Speaking of,

Did the Elder Knucklers Dr.

Mrs.

And Dr.

Mr.

Knuckler ever get a hold of you?

I spoke with them earlier this week about getting into the lab.

You're gonna work with them?

And Hero?

Sure,

I will.

Do you think we shouldn't?

Oh,

I don't know.

Maybe because both of their sons kidnapped me,

Tried to flood the entire Honeybee neighborhood,

And are somehow stealing my prototype designs to this day?

That was in the past,

Mr.

H.

We have to be able to forgive and move forward at some point,

Don't you think?

Maybe we can hold my grudge for a teeny bit longer.

Fine.

At least until we get back down to Earth.

Deal.

But they have to earn my trust back.

That's fair.

Deal.

You ready,

Captain?

Ready.

Hero,

You ready?

We gently place the magnets we want to supercharge away from Mr.

Honeybee,

And far from Mrs.

Honeybee and Melody Bee,

Who are doing visual assessments of the flickering phenomenon through their solar filtration glasses,

And their somersaults,

And reporting back any anomalies.

Swimming through the nothingness,

Out over an expanse of bottomless nothingness,

We maneuver as if we are swimming against the strongest tide.

We swing alternate arms out in front of us with all our considerable strength.

Right arm,

Left arm,

Right arm,

Left arm.

Holding the all-purpose magnet in the puffy-gloved hand of the spacesuit,

Place the magnet itself in midair as if you're setting it down on an invisible table.

It stays put,

Just as weightless as you are and Captain EJ does the same.

Now,

The tricky part.

Take your slowest,

Deepest breath in through your nose.

Focus intently on the magnet as you slowly fill up with fresh air,

From the bottom of your belly,

To your chest,

All the way up to the very tip-top of your throat.

When you cannot take in any more delicious Earth air streaming in through your BattleBuzz helmet,

Press the mask release and breathe all the way out through your mouth with an audible sigh.

The invisible waves emanating from your vocal cords have the surreal look of a translucent wave,

Shooting from the open mask of the BattleBuzz helmet directly to the magnet,

Gliding through the emptiness of space like few other forces can.

These invisible waves are not able to be seen,

In and of themselves,

But their slight motion seems to bend time and space.

When the stray reflections of light flicker from the moon,

We can see the actual electricity emanating from our vocal sound waves by the wavy way they refract the light.

Though we're shouting with all our might,

We can't hear anything.

With the magnet sizzling,

We close up the mask and resume the glorious rhythm of our natural breathing,

Which goes unnoticed far too often.

We can tell our plan has worked because the metal of our BattleBuzz helmets are already making their way,

And our way,

Head first to the UFO.

We intercept and catch the magnet before it sticks to the BattleBuzz helmet,

And then feel a most peculiar wiggle.

We wiggle and jiggle in place for a quick moment,

And are then projected through space by our hands.

Mr.

Honeybee,

Mrs.

Honeybee,

And Melody Bee grab hold of our free hands and our feet as we fly by headlong toward the UFO.

They hold on to us for dear life as these supercharged,

Electrified magnets in our hands make their way of least resistance through the stars,

And closer and closer to that brilliant light.

As we approach,

The brilliance of the light overtakes us once again.

We have to squint slightly even from behind our solar filtration glasses,

And then all at once,

The lights go off,

The flickering stops,

And while we're flying through space,

Faster than our minds can process,

We suddenly see something approaching us.

It's bright blue and looks like a dart that someone aimed at an intergalactic dartboard.

If we were that dartboard.

What do you think you're doing?

That's enough of your little science experiments over here.

The blue dart darting towards us was actually Roger Robot,

Morphed into a… dart.

But he somehow was able to stop the magnetism that was whooshing us through space so powerfully just seconds ago.

Roger,

How did you do that?

You might be a superhero,

Captain EJ,

But I'm a superconductor.

And that means… His metal can block magnetic fields.

Superconductor mode engaged.

Roger.

That was a bit abrupt.

I saw all of you moving quickly,

And I had to report back to see what was going on over here.

Wait,

So that means you saw us floating aimlessly too,

When you left us.

When I risked my life and limb to go into the breach first and make sure it was safe for my friends?

Is that what you meant,

Melody Bee?

Sorta.

Well,

That brings me to something marvelous.

You will literally marvel at this news,

Everyone.

Gather round,

Gather round,

Gather round.

We're already gathered,

Roger.

We can't really move without gravity.

Perfect.

Guess.

Just try to guess what I found.

You found… You'll never guess.

This is world-altering,

Universe-shaking news.

The biggest news I'll likely ever break in my eternity's long life.

What is it,

Roger?

Okay,

Get ready.

This is gonna knock your socks clean off.

Everyone,

Listen up.

You found an alien?

Wow.

Yeah.

Wait,

Way to take the wind out of my sails,

Captain.

Sheesh.

You don't need wind in space anyways,

Roger.

Everyone except Captain E.

J.

,

Come with me.

Hey,

I was kidding.

Whoa.

Before Roger Roebuck can leave Captain E.

J.

In his windless dust,

You grab from my hand anything you can grasp of Roger's dart and we're all darted into the brightest,

Most magnificent light you've ever seen or felt.

It's a warmth you can hardly describe and the experience is otherworldly.

You don't know what to expect,

But you're moving so fast that you don't think about anything much.

You're squarely in this out-of-this-world moment and about to come face-to-face with.

.

.

Warping.

You can hear a disembodied voice whirling around you,

But you can't see much of anything else as the brilliant light flickers wildly.

The closer you get,

The dimmer the light becomes,

Or are our eyes adjusting somehow?

Unsure of anything,

We stay open in mind,

Heart,

And spirit and meet whatever alien creature with similarly open arms.

Another peculiar sound rings out as the lights darken,

Leaving us only shadows from the twinkling stars.

You know you're approaching the moon because you saw its gray cratered surface from far away,

But you wouldn't know it by looking straight ahead like you are,

Trailing behind Roger Roebuck as a bright blue dart who's traveling a lot slower now to navigate through the shadows.

What you see in front of you eclipses the moon in size and hovers in the shape of Saturn,

With a massive ring around it that is made up of smaller,

Crystallized particles.

Something that looks like chunks of silver,

Or that seem to be on fire on the inside,

If such a thing is possible.

The ring of this gargantuan UFO is partly what is causing the flickering phenomenon back down on Earth,

But what's causing the technology disruption?

This UFO is on its way to becoming an IFO if you and I have anything to say about it,

Hero.

We study every detail with a robot-level precision,

And stamp it in our memory banks as we dart towards it.

You can see every possible shade of green represented on the outer casting of this UFO,

With the most illustrious verdure's shine.

Sizzling electricity crackles and swirls around the ship.

Not only does this electrical current power the ship,

It seems to hold it together as well.

The silver fires within the individual chunks that make up the outer ring seem to be feeding the electricity in some way,

And that amount of static electricity could certainly disrupt our technology.

This alien must be huge,

Unlike any Earth-sized creature we've seen before,

Maybe even bigger than a blue whale or a dinosaur.

Roger Robot slows his dart down considerably to navigate us through the individual chunks of fiery silver that make up the outer ring.

We duck our heads and tuck up our feet to clear the scorching ice-hot silvery rocks as we pass them.

Up close,

These chunks look like shiny silver ice rocks with a blue-hot fire burning within each one,

And there are billions of these chunks in all different sizes.

The rocks crash into each other,

Vibrating intensely with immense energy stores and causing little explosions that make the buzzing electricity surge.

What kind of alien would need this much electricity and space?

Again,

As we make our way into the inner chamber of the UFO,

We wonder to ourselves how humongous this alien creature must be as a massive door opens from the bottom of the ship.

We can only imagine what kind of gigantic lumbering creature is about to emerge,

Gargantuan step by gargantuan step.

The most glorious pinkish-red hue shines from inside the UFO when the door opens.

It soothes our nerves with its color alone.

A smile comes to your face unconsciously as if the color itself is speaking sweetly to your physiology.

Your muscles relax more and more with each exhale,

And you float a little easier while you wait and watch for the footsteps with the rest of us.

Roger Robot calls out to this creature who goes by the name Warpino.

When no one responds,

He grabs hold of some kind of remote control device that not even Mr.

Honeybee has seen before.

He must have received this alien technology on his first jaunt over to this UFO.

Mr.

Honeybee's eyes widen behind his spacesuit helmet.

Roger tells us that per the extensive and instantaneous polyvalent conversations with Warpino in his alien language,

Which Roger machine-learned in seconds,

This device will emit a summons to the creature.

Depending on several instinctual and split-second decisions made remotely by Warpino himself,

The summons will be successful or it will fail.

Roger Robot is unsure of the calculus by which Warpino and his species of people decide upon these factors,

But all of that is for us to learn from our new friend.

Once we finally see him for ourselves,

Not only can you see Mr.

Honeybee's giddiness,

You can feel his pure joy radiate out to all of us even in the vacuum of space.

Now,

The summons.

It was successful.

We watch and we wait,

Spreading out amongst ourselves amidst the already expansive space just to give this enormous alien creature enough room to emerge.

And then,

With a bubbly sort of minuscule squeak,

A comparatively tiny alien bursts out from the ship,

Taking up a mere fraction of the space allotted to him through the open door.

We can only see his brilliantly whitish-blue outline,

But other than that,

We see right through him.

That is except for a silvery beating heart that seems to be on fire on the inside,

Just as the rocks we saw in the outer ring are.

It's that same fire which creates his outline.

When he's this close to us,

We can hear the peculiar beat of his heart,

Fueled as if it is by this fire.

Though he's mostly transparent,

We can see a depth of expression in his globular black eyes that blink much more rapidly than his rapid heartbeats.

We can see his eyes so well because he comes extremely close to each one of us,

Individually,

Like a greeting of the most intimate kind.

Warpino comes as close as his sizzling electricity will allow,

As if he knows his electric touch might be incompatible with our human one.

With his face so close to ours,

He methodically approaches each one of us,

You first.

Something about your spirit must have called to him,

And he spends the most time gazing directly into your eyes,

Tilting his head from one side to the other slowly,

As if he is reading your life like a book.

You are not fearful.

You have no instinct to flee or disrupt this process.

You're totally in it.

He leans in close,

Tilting his tiny,

Oblong head downward toward his chin and staring at you with the most intense glare through fluttering eyelids.

We can see the excitement in his blinking and intuitively know that this is how Warpino expresses joy.

So we do what comes naturally to us.

You smile sweetly at first,

Just at the corners of your mouth.

Then,

The longer this goes on,

You start to smile bigger and bigger just like we do,

And then the smile grows to show your teeth just like ours do.

At the sudden appearance of six toothy grins,

Which appear to Warpino as brandished weapons,

His eyes open to become even bigger as they stay that way,

Stuck in unblinking fear for a split second.

Then,

Just as quickly as we had our first alien encounter,

Our new alien comrade disappears into the vast expanse of his spaceship.

Why?

What happened?

Roger leaps into action,

Leaving us to float in confusion once more while he bridges the schism between human and alien communication.

Roger Robot transforms back into his robot shape to rectify this rapidly devolving problem.

He floats into the opening of the UFO door and reaches out a mechanical hand towards what looks like empty space,

Backlit by the steady pinkish-red hue.

That's when we see where Warpino went off to,

Or rather,

The special way in which Warpino has adapted emotionally to his own world.

Warpino,

Who has not disappeared,

But has become extremely tiny as a response to fear,

In a language we do not understand but that Roger Robot is learning the contours of,

He speaks with Warpino about his own ability to transform and explains that teeth are just calcium and phosphorus deposits that settle inside the human mouth in funny shapes.

Roger admits this revelation was most strange to him as well when he saw his first human.

Slowly,

Warpino grows in size proportional to his growing trust in us not to eat him with our teeth,

Which is what he thought our smiles meant.

As we watch Roger Robot coax Warpino out of his reactive tininess,

Captain E.

J.

Whispers,

Only closed-mouthed smiles from now on,

Everyone.

Captain E.

J.

,

You're showing your teeth when you talk.

So we need to talk like this?

It seems so.

You guys.

.

.

You guys look so funny.

Roger looks at us with the annoyance of a librarian shushing rambunctious patrons as we each zip it,

Intensely wishing in this moment that we could shrink into disappearance when we're embarrassed or fearful.

But that seems to be a special ability of Warpino's kind,

And perhaps something we can learn from him.

So far we've learned that even joyful things like smiling and laughter frighten Warpino.

This is not what we expected from an alien encounter.

In the private laboratory of our own minds,

We each silently question all that we assume about ourselves and our human world While Roger Robot tries and tries again to coax Warpino back to us,

He once again uses the device to summon Warpino,

But this time.

.

.

It fails.

One more time.

Warpino,

It's me,

Roger.

Oh wait,

Let me try in his language.

There he is,

And in his normal size.

I promise we won't do anything to scare you,

At least not on purpose.

Now will we,

Everyone?

We won't,

We promise.

I explained to him what teeth and laughing are,

So you're good to show off your calcium deposits.

Warpino,

This is everyone.

Everyone,

This is Warpino,

The real-life alien.

Hi,

Warpino.

I'm Captain EJ,

And this is my best friend Hero,

And that's Mr.

Honeybee.

Hi there,

And Mrs.

Honeybee.

Hi,

Warpino.

And Melody Bee.

Hello,

Mr.

Warpino,

Sir.

It's so nice to meet you.

Can you switch to Earth language?

English mode for them?

They can't learn languages as quickly as.

.

.

I mean,

As we can.

Oh my gadgets,

I can't believe I just said that.

And tell them what you told me.

You won't believe it,

Everyone.

Warpino actually.

.

.

Let Warpino tell us,

Roger.

Oh,

Oh,

Oh,

Okay,

Okay.

I can't believe this day has finally come.

I am over the moon.

Literally.

Warpino!

Hi,

Everyone.

Blinks all around.

We blink when we're happy,

But it seems that you Earthlings do something called laugh.

Can I practice what you call laughing with you?

Then I'll need a refresher of your names because that was a lot of Earthling all at one day.

Ha,

Ha.

Did I laugh right?

Ha,

Ha.

You were close.

It's more of a natural thing.

Something you don't have to think about consciously.

All you gotta do is think about something funny and then it just happens.

Yeah,

Like when I try to wink,

But can't.

I try to close just one eye.

Ha,

Ha,

Ha.

And then,

Inevitably,

She holds her other eye open with her fingers.

Ha,

Ha.

And then there go both eyes.

Closed.

Like I said,

Melody B,

If you wink with both eyes,

It's a double wink.

Twice as fun.

Whew.

Winking isn't very hard,

But humans do it all the time.

Roger,

Can you wink?

Too much can be said with a wink.

I like my language precise.

I can.

.

.

Wink.

Wink.

Melody B,

I think it'll help if you say it while you do it.

Focuses the earthling mind.

I just realized.

I'm an earthling.

How exciting.

Let me see if that helps.

I did it.

Is it really easier to wink if you say it while you do it?

Wink?

Oh,

Wow.

It does help.

Try a wink with each eye.

One right after the other.

Wink,

Wink.

Wink,

Wink.

Wink,

Wink.

Wink,

Wink,

Wink.

Wink,

Wink,

Wink.

Wink,

Wink,

Wink.

Wink,

Wink,

Wink.

Wink,

Wink,

Wink.

Ha,

Ha,

Ha.

Ha,

Ha,

Ha.

Ha,

Me.

That's right,

Warpino.

This is pretty funny.

Laughing will probably be something you get to practice a lot with all of us,

Especially if you visit us in the Honeybee neighborhood.

I'll get to visit?

Of course.

How else will we be able to exchange ideas and eventually take over the whole universe?

That's enough about us.

Warpino,

We want to hear about your intelligence.

Where is your brain?

Do you have a microchip?

Hard drive?

It looks like your voice comes directly from your throat.

Whoa.

Please start at the beginning and speak quickly.

Roger the Robot,

Did you say Honeybee neighborhood?

Is this Earthling by any chance Hero the Honeybee?

And you,

EJ the Captain?

Yeah,

That's Hero.

And I'm Captain EJ.

And that's where we came from,

Where we all live.

The Honeybee neighborhood?

The one and only?

The one and only.

Have you heard of the Honeybee neighborhood all the way out here?

Have I heard?

Roger the Robot,

My friend,

Do humans always ask these silly questions?

Literally,

Always.

Of course,

I've heard about the Honeybee neighborhood.

Who hasn't?

Nobody from my planet thinks you really exist.

I set out on a quest to prove them wrong,

Though,

All by myself with my ship.

That's my ship.

I created my own flashlights and lined the ship with them so I could see across several galaxies at once while I fly.

I knew you all were real.

And here you are,

Really real.

You must be Honeybee the Mr.

And you,

Honeybee the Mrs.

And Melody the Bee.

And I get to stand right beside you?

I,

Warpino the.

.

.

I'm standing here with everyone.

Blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink Blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink blink A surprisingly big hug for such a small creature.

He scoops both of us up into one big squeezing hug blinkinging and sizzling with excited electricity,

As if his arms can extend themselves far beyond his tiny size.

Before he even realizes what's happening,

You are quite literally shocked by such friendliness from our new friend.

In his excitement,

He forgot how sensitive the outer layer of most earthlings is,

Even through our spacesuits.

He pulls back from us,

Horrified at such an oversight.

His once rapid blinkinging has slowed to a heavy,

Sullen stare,

And we can clearly see how the rate of Warpino's blinking is directly proportional to his emotional state.

Warpino is upset that he's accidentally shocked us,

And he freezes in that sadness momentarily,

Unable to take in new information,

Just stuck.

Black eyes wide open,

And though they don't look any different,

They feel empty.

Between the two of us,

We finally convince him that we're okay and that it was just an accident.

With time,

His blinking slowly comes back,

Little by little,

Until all of the enthusiasm returns.

After much trial and error,

With Roger Robot assisting with precise measurements and ratios,

We figure out a space-hugging method that works for all of us,

But it works differently for Warpino than it does for us.

We can't get closer than 5.

379 inches to Warpino's electrical outline,

For even a millisecond longer than 8.

938 seconds or else he will unintentionally sizzle us.

Instead,

We stand at safe distances and give space hugs whenever Warpino needs them,

And from what we can tell,

People from his planet are big time huggers,

But something about it is peculiar.

When he stands in front of us for a space hug,

He squeezes the nothingness of outer space as if he were squeezing us,

And somehow,

The electromagnetic force he carries wraps the empty air around us as if it were a hug.

There's more to Warpino than meets the eye,

And this initial encounter is a happy testament of what's to come when we hopefully tow him and his UFO back to the Honeybee neighborhood with us.

When he accidentally gets too close during one of his many,

Many space hugs,

Which happen very randomly during conversations,

Even to the interruption of his own sentences,

We notice yet another peculiarity of Warpino's presence and its effects on us.

After Mr.

Honeybee invites him back to Command Center,

And you and I assure him that there is plenty of room at my house and your house for him to stay as long as he wants,

Warpino is overcome with joyful blinks and wraps all three of us,

You,

Me,

And Mr.

Honeybee,

Into a huge space hug that gets just a tad too close before Roger Robot can transform into a ruler and separate us sufficiently.

A shock of static electricity,

More noticeable than the others before it,

Pops against our spacesuits and within milliseconds,

All three of us shrink and disappear.

You can feel the electricity coursing through us like the most potent energy.

We already felt microscopic compared to the infinite expanse of outer space,

But now we can float next to a single speck of space dust and see it as a massive boulder.

Warpino immediately realized what has happened and shrinks right along with us.

Roger Robot,

Confused and unsure of how to even be in a confused state due to his limitless knowledge,

Whips his metallic head back and forth looking for us with the utmost panic.

Mrs.

Honeybee and Melodybee swim all around where we were just standing and no matter how much we wave our hands and shout out to them,

We are too teeny tiny for them to see.

We are essentially invisible.

You and Mr.

Honeybee rightly point out that this will be extremely useful in stealth missions of all sorts,

And I have to explain what stealth missions are and even what a mission is to our new friend Warpino.

He is delighted to help in any shocking or not-so-shocking way he can and accepts our invitation back to Earth without hesitation.

But we can't get there while we're this size.

The trip was long enough at our usual size,

So we need to figure out how to reverse this.

By the time we're in problem-solving mode,

Wishing our problem-solving robot friend Roger could see us and be here to help,

He arrives on the scene as tiny as can be.

Warpino!

My size-shifting brethren!

You were able to transmit this intelligence?

Humans are hopelessly stuck in their general size for their whole lives.

It's so sad.

What happens when they are frightened?

They just stay the same size?

Or when they're overjoyed?

They cannot grow to contain all the happiness and joy of that feeling?

I don't know about all that,

But they're one-sizers.

You said you grow when you feel happy?

Can you make us grow too?

Yeah.

But first,

You have to feel happy-happy,

With a big smile that shows all of your weapons.

Weapons?

Warpino,

Humans call those teeth,

Remember?

Even though they're technically weapons,

They don't think of them like that.

Teeth!

Happy teeth!

Have happy teeth,

And then we can grow big.

While Warpino waits for us to feel the joy needed to grow,

He playfully jumps from one speck of space dust to another,

Trying to skip two at a time but falling into a float.

Roger Robot studies Warpino,

Trying to learn all that he can about him,

And in doing so,

Succumbs to his most competitive spirit.

When Warpino tries to skip two specks of space dust,

Roger Robot tries for three,

And a competition ensues.

We,

On the other hand,

Are trying to get our size back,

Since this emergency mission has,

For the most part,

Been resolved.

There's so much more to learn about Warpino and his ship and his home planet,

But we can do so much more of that back at Command Center,

Back home.

So we focus on our personal growth,

Like always.

Place both hands over your heart,

One on top of the other,

And take your slowest,

Deepest breath in through your nose.

Feel the sensation of your heart beating both within your chest and against your hands,

And allow yourself to sink into the space created by your heart.

That space is infinite,

And goes well beyond our one-size-human bodies.

Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth.

And just as you do,

Warpino flashes over to us for a small shock,

And we grow,

And grow,

And grow.

We grow well beyond the size of Warpino's enormous spaceship,

And Warpino grows to a size fitting of his ship.

Roger Robot has never shapeshifted to something this huge.

He's bigger than the moon.

We all are.

Taking up this much space in space makes Earth look a lot closer and a lot smaller.

We marvel at the change in perspective,

But Warpino and Roger Robot have turned to more competitive pursuits.

They race each other to get bigger and smaller,

Quicker and quicker,

Shrinking into disappearance and growing even beyond the size of the moon.

Oh,

What this must look like down on Earth.

But Roger isn't marveling anymore,

And he isn't even giddy to have a new alien friend.

He's dumbfounded by Warpino's dexterity over his size.

Emphasis on dumb.

Roger Robot,

For the first time in his life,

Doesn't feel like the smartest,

Most technologically advanced creature in the room.

And no matter what maneuvering Roger tries,

Warpino is always just a few milliseconds quicker.

And that is a new experience of our robot friend.

Quite alien to him,

If you will.

Much to our surprise,

Like everything in this mission,

The size change wears off naturally,

Just like all emotions eventually do if you let them.

When we appear back to Melody Bee and Mrs.

Honey Bee,

Our typical sizes,

They are overjoyed.

And when Warpino happens to brush against their arms in one of his size races with Roger,

They too get to experience being the size of the moon.

That is a remarkable experience for Melody Bee,

The talking bee who gardens by the moonlight most nights.

She's the one who waves to us each night as you and I set off on the neighborhood watch overnight shifts,

And she is enamored with being face to face with the face of the moon.

Mrs.

Honey Bee is soaking it all in,

In the silent contemplative way she does.

Her inspiration is soaring and who knows how many stories will come from this mission turned adventure.

When everyone and everything naturally winds back down,

Back to their typical size,

And back to a state of calm baseline,

We all find ourselves floating and looking back toward Earth,

Toward our home.

It's time to go back and we're excited to bring Warpino along.

Roger Robot transforms into a rocket,

The same rocket that got us here,

But Warpino is reluctant.

He can't breathe air.

His home planet's air has lots of radiation in it,

And that's what he needs to keep his heart fire burning.

Roger Robot and Mr.

Honey Bee put their heads together to figure out how to create more electromagnetism for Warpino,

But nothing compares to what he suggests.

Warpino invites us into his spaceship,

Which can't rightfully be called a UFO any longer.

Though we don't know yet what Warpino is made of or how to accommodate his physiological needs,

He knows almost everything about us.

Warpino explains that in his pursuit to prove we were real and not just legends known around the cosmos by our stories,

He began a long and intensive study of Earth and its Earthlings.

He knows evolutionary biology.

He knows our history.

He even knows our philosophy,

The way we muse about things unseen and wonder about things unknowable.

Through the use of advanced radio signals,

He knows our music and our news.

He knows us so thoroughly and we can't help but feel how much that knowledge translates into love and admiration.

The one thing he might not yet know is how excited we are to have him accompany us,

To get to know him,

And to show him what the Honeybee neighborhood is really made of.

Friends and neighbors and lots and lots of laughs.

We float our way over to his spaceship,

Facing the brilliant magenta light that washes over us.

It feels otherworldly just being at the door of this alien mode of transportation,

But the electricity is so thick and dense that it transmutes into pulsating vibrations.

Imperceptible theta waves calm every aspect of us and put us in a dreamlike state as we walk with ease up into the ship from the bottom.

Right foot,

Left foot,

Right foot,

Left foot.

We learn that the color of the light changes based on the collective mood of everyone inside.

We learn that the green we saw before was curiosity,

When Warpino first saw us and was curious about us.

That magenta hue is the kind of easy feeling that comes after a lot of other feelings,

Catharsis,

Resolution,

Rest.

We're happy to relax after such an out-of-this-world mission,

And when the spaceship takes off,

Our bodies feel heavy in our seats,

Heavy with relaxation and peace and comfort.

Warpino makes us all feel more at home than we sometimes even feel at home,

And we relax into the many driver's seats of this IFO,

This newly identified flying object.

He accommodates our every need,

Even Roger Robots when he asks to take a detour to check on his secret satellite.

We still have no clue what that robot is doing with the secret stash of satellites,

But we're so tired that even Mr.

Honeybee leaves the issue for another day,

And another mission.

We instead enjoy the spaceship ride back home at warp speeds,

Talking to our new friend,

Who can hardly contain his delight at traveling to the magical,

Mythical place he knew was true,

And finally prove to himself that it was our home,

The Honeybee neighborhood.