Latest / Dad’s Bedtime Stories / The Underwater World - Spaceship #240 - A Bedtime Story
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: Hello, friends from across the nation and around the world.
- 0:08Speaker 1: I'm Martin, and you are listening to Dad's Bedtime Stories.
- 0:14Speaker 1: And tonight, we're headed back into the spaceship universe for
- 0:19Speaker 1: a very exciting episode inspired by this idea.
- 0:24Speaker 2: Um, I'm Allie, and I would like a spaceship episode
- 0:33Speaker 2: of About an underwater planet.
- 0:39Speaker 1: Great idea, Allie. I'm sure that somewhere we've done something
- 0:43Speaker 1: underwater before, but I couldn't find it. So we're going
- 0:47Speaker 1: to do an underwater planet. If you like the podcast,
- 0:52Speaker 1: don't forget to rate it and review it wherever it
- 0:56Speaker 1: is you're listening. Share with a friend. And if you
- 0:59Speaker 1: want to add free episodes, join us on Patreon. Speaking
- 1:05Speaker 1: of Patreon, I just want to shout out some of
- 1:08Speaker 1: my newest Patreon sponsors. So let me check here and
- 1:12Speaker 1: see who we have. That's right. Panos. Thank you, Panos.
- 1:19Speaker 1: Possibly Pano. Sometimes subscribers don't come with pronunciation guides. So, yeah.
- 1:29Speaker 1: Let me know if I got it right and I'll
- 1:31Speaker 1: correct it on the next episode if I need to.
- 1:34Speaker 1: Either way, I really do appreciate you sponsoring me on Patreon,
- 1:38Speaker 1: so thank you. And now, it's that time again. Time
- 1:43Speaker 1: to get as comfy as you can in that bed,
- 1:46Speaker 1: close your eyes, and imagine yourself doing what the kid
- 1:51Speaker 1: in the story does. Because in these stories, you, my friend,
- 1:58Speaker 1: are in fact the main character. You find yourself sitting
- 2:03Speaker 1: in one of the comfortable chairs inside Spaceship, staring out
- 2:08Speaker 1: the front window as you travel and super hyper drive. Interesting,
- 2:15Speaker 1: Spaceship says. What's interesting, you ask? I believe I have
- 2:23Speaker 1: found something. Something good? Potentially. Well, what did you find
- 2:32Speaker 1: spaceship brings a hologram up in the middle of the
- 2:36Speaker 1: room a blue planet appears almost completely blue you stare
- 2:44Speaker 1: at it for a moment that looks like a lot
- 2:49Speaker 1: of water it is how much water you ask Approximately
- 2:58Speaker 1: 100% of the surface area. You blink. So there isn't
- 3:07Speaker 1: any land? None that I can detect. At least not
- 3:13Speaker 1: above the surface. The hologram zooms closer. But that is
- 3:20Speaker 1: not the interesting part. Tiny lights begin appearing all over
- 3:26Speaker 1: the planet. Thousands of them, and then millions, and then
- 3:32Speaker 1: possibly billions. My long-range scanners are detecting an extraordinary amount
- 3:39Speaker 1: of life. Fish? Fish, plants, large aquatic creatures, and spaceship pauses,
- 3:52Speaker 1: and intelligent life. Now you're standing. Are you telling me
- 3:59Speaker 1: there's underwater people? Possibly merpeople? Apparently, spaceship answers. You walk
- 4:10Speaker 1: toward the hologram. A planet with no land at all.
- 4:17Speaker 1: An entire civilization that's never needed to live above water.
- 4:23Speaker 1: How far away is it? Not far at our current speed.
- 4:30Speaker 1: Then set a course. Understood. I assumed you would say that.
- 4:37Speaker 1: Spaceship curves a little bit to the left and continues
- 4:42Speaker 1: at super hyperdrive. Stars streak across the window and a
- 4:49Speaker 1: few moments later, You drop out of, well, Super Hyperdrive
- 4:55Speaker 1: and a blue planet fills almost the entire view screen.
- 5:01Speaker 1: It's beautiful. Bright white clouds spiral above an ocean that
- 5:08Speaker 1: seems to stretch on forever because, well, because it does.
- 5:14Speaker 1: You search for an island or a tiny rock or
- 5:19Speaker 1: anything at all, but There's nothing. That's so weird. It
- 5:26Speaker 1: certainly makes waterfront property less valuable, Spaceship remarks. You just
- 5:33Speaker 1: stare at him awkwardly. Entering Atmosphere The ship begins to
- 5:40Speaker 1: shake as you pass through the atmosphere. Fire rolls across
- 5:45Speaker 1: the windows as you blast downward, and then it disappears.
- 5:52Speaker 1: You drop below the clouds, and the ocean gets closer
- 5:57Speaker 1: and closer. You glance around.
- 6:01Speaker 2: Uh, spaceship?
- 6:03Speaker 1: Yes. We seem to be going pretty fast towards the surface,
- 6:09Speaker 1: you say. I am aware. Uh, the water is coming
- 6:15Speaker 1: up pretty fast, spaceship. I am also aware of that.
- 6:21Speaker 1: The ocean rushes towards you. Spaceship? The entire inside of
- 6:28Speaker 1: the ship suddenly shifts. Panels slide across the windows. The
- 6:34Speaker 1: wings outside fold backward. The engine rotates. And you feel
- 6:41Speaker 1: spaceship shape changing around you. Submersible configuration initiated. The nose
- 6:49Speaker 1: of the ship becomes... Longer and narrower. Small fins extend
- 6:55Speaker 1: from the sides. Brace yourself. Splash. Spaceship smashes through the
- 7:03Speaker 1: surface and water explodes around you. For a few seconds,
- 7:09Speaker 1: everything outside is just, well, bubbles. Then the bubbles clear
- 7:16Speaker 1: and your mouth falls open. Whoa.
- 7:20Speaker 2: Whoa.
- 7:22Speaker 1: The ocean is glowing. Not literally everywhere, but enough creatures
- 7:30Speaker 1: and plants produce light that the water seems filled with color.
- 7:36Speaker 1: Schools of tiny silver fish move past you like clouds. Long,
- 7:43Speaker 1: ribbon-like creatures curl through the water. A gigantic animal shaped
- 7:49Speaker 1: almost like a Monterey passes overhead. Its wings, or swimming
- 7:55Speaker 1: wings or whatever you call them, covered in blue patterns.
- 7:59Speaker 1: Below you, enormous plants arise from the ocean floor. Some
- 8:05Speaker 1: of them look like trees, while others just look like
- 8:08Speaker 1: giant flowers. Bright fish dart between them. Spaceship slows down.
- 8:17Speaker 1: You're right, you say. I usually am. Then, something moves
- 8:25Speaker 1: beside one of the huge plants. At first, you think
- 8:30Speaker 1: it's another fish, but then it turns. A person. Well,
- 8:38Speaker 1: almost a person. They have a head, arms, and a
- 8:42Speaker 1: body like yours, but their skin is kind of Pale, greenish-blue,
- 8:49Speaker 1: small fins extend behind their forearms, and instead of legs,
- 8:55Speaker 1: they have a long, powerful tail. You point. There. I
- 9:03Speaker 1: see them. Another swims past, then another, then dozens. Some
- 9:12Speaker 1: have different colored tails. Some have scales running across their
- 9:17Speaker 1: shoulders or down their arms. Others have strange fins extending
- 9:22Speaker 1: from the sides of their heads. They are, well, mermaids.
- 9:29Speaker 1: Or mer-people, I should say. Sort of, anyways. But clearly
- 9:36Speaker 1: not exactly the same as the stories from Earth. Spaceship
- 9:42Speaker 1: continues to travel through the underwater world, over top of
- 9:48Speaker 1: an underwater ridge, and you see what lies beyond it.
- 9:54Speaker 2: Whoa.
- 9:57Speaker 1: An enormous city stretches across the ocean floor. Towers made
- 10:03Speaker 1: from white stone rise hundreds of feet into the water.
- 10:07Speaker 1: Huge domes are covered in colorful coral. Bridges connect different
- 10:14Speaker 1: parts of the city. even though nobody really needs bridges
- 10:18Speaker 1: because everybody can swim, so that's strange. Giant glowing crystals
- 10:24Speaker 1: light the streets. Hundreds of underwater people move through the city.
- 10:32Speaker 1: Fish people. Thousands of them. Spaceship slows almost completely. I
- 10:40Speaker 1: believe it is prudent to activate invisibility. I do not
- 10:46Speaker 1: wish to scare the native inhabitants of this planet. The
- 10:53Speaker 1: outside of the ship flickers, then disappears. You can see
- 11:00Speaker 1: everything around you through the windows, but nobody outside can
- 11:05Speaker 1: see Spaceship. You drift silently above the city, and the
- 11:12Speaker 1: longer you watch, the stranger it gets. A giant turtle-like
- 11:18Speaker 1: creature swims below you carrying enormous slabs of stone strapped
- 11:23Speaker 1: to its shell. Several fish people guide it towards a
- 11:28Speaker 1: construction site. Nearby, creatures that look like giant seahorses pull
- 11:35Speaker 1: carts full of glowing plants and other materials. You point
- 11:42Speaker 1: toward another area. What are those? You ask. Several workers
- 11:49Speaker 1: are gathered around an unfinished building. One of them raises
- 11:54Speaker 1: both hands, and the ground begins to shake. Stone rises
- 12:01Speaker 1: directly out of the ocean floor. Your eyes widen. The
- 12:06Speaker 1: worker twists his hands. The stone bends. Actually, bends. made
- 12:14Speaker 1: curls upward and forms part of a wall. Did he just... Yes,
- 12:22Speaker 1: I believe so, spaceship answers. Another worker swims forward. She
- 12:29Speaker 1: spreads her arms, and water begins spinning around her. A
- 12:34Speaker 1: powerful current forms, carrying loose sand and debris away from
- 12:40Speaker 1: the construction site. Then... You notice someone else swimming beside
- 12:45Speaker 1: a huge shark-like creature. The fish person touches the shark's head.
- 12:53Speaker 1: The shark turns. The person points towards several crates. And
- 12:59Speaker 1: the animal calmly swims over, takes one of the crates
- 13:03Speaker 1: in its mouth, and carries it away. You stare. They
- 13:10Speaker 1: have powers?
- 13:11Speaker 2: Powers?
- 13:13Speaker 1: It would appear that some of them do. Magic? you ask. Possibly.
- 13:21Speaker 1: Spaceship pauses. However, my preliminary scans indicate something unusual in
- 13:29Speaker 1: their genetic structure. You turn toward the ceiling. What kind
- 13:35Speaker 1: of unusual? I would need a closer scan to be certain.
- 13:40Speaker 1: but parts of their DNA appear to have adapted far
- 13:45Speaker 1: beyond what I would expect from natural underwater evolution. So
- 13:52Speaker 1: what does that mean? It means, a hologram appears showing
- 13:57Speaker 1: twisting strands of DNA, that different members of this species
- 14:03Speaker 1: may possess genetic mutations allowing them to interact with particular
- 14:09Speaker 1: parts of the environment. You look back out the windows.
- 14:16Speaker 1: One fish person controlling stone, one controlling water, another speaking
- 14:23Speaker 1: to animals. So they evolved superpowers. That is extremely simplified,
- 14:31Speaker 1: but basically correct. This planet is awesome. You say? I
- 14:40Speaker 1: was afraid you might say that. Why, you ask? Because
- 14:48Speaker 1: I recognize that expression. You point towards the city. Spaceship,
- 14:57Speaker 1: we need to go down there. Spaceship sighs. I thought
- 15:03Speaker 1: you would say that. If you are determined to go
- 15:08Speaker 1: down there, I would prefer that you do not immediately
- 15:12Speaker 1: announce to an entire alien civilization that you are from
- 15:17Speaker 1: another planet. I am unsure if the people of this
- 15:22Speaker 1: planet have encountered those from other planets before. Good point,
- 15:30Speaker 1: you say. You look around at the underwater people swimming
- 15:35Speaker 1: between the buildings and Can the transmorphophyser copy one of them?
- 15:42Speaker 1: I believe so, Spaceship answers. Spaceship slowly moves closer to
- 15:48Speaker 1: the city. You point toward one of the fish people
- 15:52Speaker 1: who's swimming near a fountain. He stretches out one hand,
- 15:56Speaker 1: and the water around him twists into a spiral. That one,
- 16:02Speaker 1: you say? Understood. Scanning now. A beam that luckily can't
- 16:09Speaker 1: be seen by the fish people passes through the water,
- 16:14Speaker 1: and a second later, Spaceship announces, Genetic profile acquired. You
- 16:21Speaker 1: raise your watch. The transmorphophizer appears above it as a
- 16:27Speaker 1: little holographic symbol.
- 16:30Speaker 2: Ready?
- 16:31Speaker 1: You ask.
- 16:32Speaker 2: Ready.
- 16:33Speaker 1: You press the button... and immediately your whole body tingles.
- 16:39Speaker 1: Your legs pull together, scales spread across your skin. Your
- 16:45Speaker 1: feet disappear completely as your body stretches into a long
- 16:50Speaker 1: blue-green tail. Small fins appear along your arms. You look
- 16:56Speaker 1: down at yourself. Okay, that's weird. Spaceship moves away from
- 17:04Speaker 1: the city. and settles behind a huge underwater rock formation.
- 17:10Speaker 1: I have found a location where I should remain undetected.
- 17:16Speaker 1: The back section of the ship suddenly starts to glow.
- 17:21Speaker 1: Panels slide around, fly through the air, and it starts
- 17:26Speaker 1: to change shape. A doorway appears behind you, one that
- 17:32Speaker 1: wasn't there before. What's that, you ask? An aquatic transition
- 17:39Speaker 1: chamber and decompressor. You step inside. The door closes behind you.
- 17:49Speaker 1: Spaceship's voice comes through the speaker. Beginning pressure equalization. Water
- 17:57Speaker 1: starts pouring into the chamber. It rises past your tail,
- 18:02Speaker 1: your waist, Your chest. You instinctively hold your breath. Do
- 18:08Speaker 1: not hold your breath, spaceship announces. You are a merperson.
- 18:15Speaker 1: You should be able to breathe underwater. Easy for him
- 18:21Speaker 1: to say. You watch the water as it reaches your neck,
- 18:25Speaker 1: then your mouth, then your nose. You squeeze your eyes shut.
- 18:32Speaker 1: The chamber fills completely, and eventually, you have no other choice.
- 18:40Speaker 1: You breathe in. Water rushes into your mouth, and nothing happens.
- 18:48Speaker 1: In fact, it feels perfectly natural, like you're breathing air.
- 18:54Speaker 1: You open your eyes. I can breathe, you say. although
- 19:01Speaker 1: it obviously comes out kind of gurgled, your transformed body
- 19:07Speaker 1: is extracting oxygen directly from the water. But that's not
- 19:12Speaker 1: the only strange thing. You feel something else. The water
- 19:18Speaker 1: around you feels strange. Not wet, not heavy, almost like
- 19:26Speaker 1: it's a part of you. You move your hand. The
- 19:32Speaker 1: water follows it. You twist your fingers. A little ball
- 19:37Speaker 1: of water spins between your palms.
- 19:41Speaker 2: Whoa.
- 19:43Speaker 1: It appears your copied genetic abilities are functioning well. You
- 19:48Speaker 1: push both hands forward. and there's a whoosh. A blast
- 19:54Speaker 1: of water slams against the far wall. Maybe don't do
- 19:59Speaker 1: that while you are inside, Spaceship says. Oh, yeah, sorry.
- 20:05Speaker 1: The back hatch opens. The ocean awaits. You swim forward,
- 20:12Speaker 1: which comes rather naturally. Your tail moves automatically and you
- 20:18Speaker 1: shoot through the water straight towards the city. Within minutes,
- 20:25Speaker 1: you reach it. You swim past markets filled with strange
- 20:31Speaker 1: glowing fruits. People trade using colorful shells, possibly the currency
- 20:38Speaker 1: around here. Children chase tiny fish between buildings. A massive
- 20:45Speaker 1: octopus uses several arms at once to help workers repair
- 20:49Speaker 1: a roof. You swim deeper into the city, and then
- 20:56Speaker 1: you hear shouting. Down a narrow alley, three rough-looking fish
- 21:02Speaker 1: people have surrounded someone smaller. A young girl. Give us
- 21:08Speaker 1: the shells! One of them says. She clutches a little
- 21:13Speaker 1: pouch against her chest. No, she shouts. One of them
- 21:18Speaker 1: grabs it. You swim forward instinctively. Hey, you say, and
- 21:25Speaker 1: the others turn. The biggest one looks you up and down.
- 21:31Speaker 1: Get lost, kid. You cross your arms. I don't think so.
- 21:39Speaker 1: He swims closer. You want us to show you why
- 21:44Speaker 1: people don't mess with us? You look at the scared girl,
- 21:49Speaker 1: then back at him. No, I want you to give
- 21:54Speaker 1: her the shells back. He swings at you. You react
- 21:59Speaker 1: without thinking. Your hand shoots forward, the water explodes, and
- 22:05Speaker 1: with a boom... A powerful blast sends him spinning across
- 22:10Speaker 1: the alley. The other two charge. You sweep both arms sideways.
- 22:16Speaker 1: The current bends around you. One attacker gets thrown into
- 22:21Speaker 1: a wall, and the other almost reaches you. You clap
- 22:25Speaker 1: your hands together. The water around his arms instantly freezes.
- 22:32Speaker 1: Ice locks them against his sides. He looks down.
- 22:37Speaker 2: What?
- 22:38Speaker 1: You grin. The first attacker comes rushing back. You spin,
- 22:44Speaker 1: causing a whirlpool to form around him. He twists helplessly
- 22:50Speaker 1: in circles before you release him straight into his friends.
- 22:57Speaker 1: They all fall over and then stare at you. None
- 23:03Speaker 1: of them seem to have any powers like you do. What,
- 23:08Speaker 1: want some more? you ask. They all shake their heads
- 23:13Speaker 1: and drop the pouch of shells. You crack your fingers
- 23:19Speaker 1: as they swim away as quickly as they can. The
- 23:23Speaker 1: girl picks up her pouch. Thank you, she says. No problem.
- 23:30Speaker 1: She hesitates and then smiles again. I suppose I should
- 23:36Speaker 1: tell you who I really am. You weren't really thinking
- 23:41Speaker 1: she was pretending to be someone else. She pulls a
- 23:44Speaker 1: small piece of cloth away from her head, and a
- 23:48Speaker 1: golden crest underneath it catches the light. I'm Allie. You wait,
- 23:59Speaker 1: and she laughs. Princess Allie? Your eyes widen. Princess? You
- 24:09Speaker 1: start to get the impression that she might be kind
- 24:11Speaker 1: of a big deal around these parts and that, well,
- 24:16Speaker 1: people would normally know her name. I wanted to see
- 24:22Speaker 1: the city without guards following me everywhere. She looks down
- 24:27Speaker 1: the alley. Clearly, not my best idea. Probably... better if
- 24:33Speaker 1: I get back to the palace. Want to join me?
- 24:38Speaker 1: The palace? Yeah, the palace, come on, she says, waving
- 24:45Speaker 1: for you to follow. You shrug your shoulders and decide
- 24:49Speaker 1: to go along with it. Before long, you arrive at
- 24:54Speaker 1: the palace. It's absolutely enormous. White towers twist upward like
- 25:02Speaker 1: shells and Streams of glowing fish swim through the gardens.
- 25:07Speaker 1: Huge statues stand outside the entrance. Allie brings you through
- 25:13Speaker 1: giant golden doors. At the far end of the throne
- 25:18Speaker 1: room sits her father, the king. He's absolutely enormous. A
- 25:27Speaker 1: crown rests on his head. In one hand, he holds
- 25:31Speaker 1: a huge three-pronged staff that looks almost like a giant
- 25:37Speaker 1: magical fork, which seems a little cliché to be honest,
- 25:42Speaker 1: but also pretty cool. Allie tells him everything. The king rises.
- 25:51Speaker 1: You protected my daughter when you believed her to be
- 25:57Speaker 1: an ordinary citizen. He lowers his staff. That tells me
- 26:05Speaker 1: more about you than any title ever could. An attendant
- 26:12Speaker 1: swims forward carrying a smaller trident. Blue electricity crackles between
- 26:19Speaker 1: its points. The king takes it.
- 26:24Speaker 2: Kneel.
- 26:26Speaker 1: You decide to go along with it since he is
- 26:29Speaker 1: the king and sounds rather commanding. I name you Thane
- 26:36Speaker 1: of the Underwater Kingdom. He places the trident in your hands.
- 26:43Speaker 1: This weapon carries the power of the storms. May it
- 26:49Speaker 1: serve you when you have need of it. Electricity dances
- 26:54Speaker 1: across the metal. You stare at it. This is incredible. Eventually,
- 27:02Speaker 1: you start to notice how dark the water outside has become.
- 27:08Speaker 1: I should probably get going, though. Getting late, after all,
- 27:13Speaker 1: you say. Allie smiles. Come back some day. I will, maybe,
- 27:20Speaker 1: you respond. You swim out of the kingdom. The guards
- 27:26Speaker 1: open the doors for you. And a few moments later,
- 27:32Speaker 1: Spaceship's invisible hatch opens in front of you, revealing the
- 27:38Speaker 1: inside of a ship that you can't see the outside of.
- 27:43Speaker 1: You swim inside. The doors seal behind. BEGINNING DECOMPRESSION, SPACESHIP ANNOUNCES,
- 27:52Speaker 1: AND THE WATER SLOWLY DRAINS AWAY. AIR FILLS THE CHAMBER.
- 27:59Speaker 1: THE INNER DOORS OPEN. AND ON THE OTHER SIDE, CHANGER,
- 28:04Speaker 1: YOUR SHAPESHIFTING DOG, IS WAITING HAPPILY. YOU PRESS THE BUTTON
- 28:12Speaker 1: ON YOUR WATCH. YOU FEEL A STRANGE TINGLING SENSATION. As
- 28:18Speaker 1: your tail disappears, your legs return. Soon, you find yourself
- 28:26Speaker 1: fully human again. You walk over to the wall where
- 28:32Speaker 1: you keep most of your trophies, magic staffs, super powerful cards,
- 28:38Speaker 1: that sort of thing. You carefully hang the electrical trident
- 28:43Speaker 1: beside the other strange things you've collected on your adventures.
- 28:48Speaker 1: Blue sparks flicker between its points, and you smile. Do
- 28:55Speaker 1: you believe we will ever need that? Spaceship pauses. Considering
- 29:02Speaker 1: our unusual adventures, we just might. Then you head towards
- 29:10Speaker 1: your own room. Behind you, the Trident gives one last
- 29:15Speaker 1: little crackle of electricity. You quickly climb into your bed,
- 29:22Speaker 1: pull the covers up to your chin, close your eyes,
- 29:26Speaker 1: and with each breath, you begin to, well, sink down
- 29:34Speaker 1: into the mattress a little bit more. You let go
- 29:40Speaker 1: of the tension from your arms, then your legs, then
- 29:45Speaker 1: your shoulders, your neck, your head, your face. And with
- 29:52Speaker 1: each breath, you sink a little bit deeper, and your
- 29:57Speaker 1: mind begins to wander off to thoughts of new dreams
- 30:02Speaker 1: and new adventures to come. Good night, everyone. Amen. Thank you.
- 32:46Speaker 1: Thank you.
- 33:38Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 34:19Speaker 1: You Thank you.
- 37:12Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you.
- 41:26Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.
- 43:28Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you.
- 45:00Speaker 1: Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
- 50:35Speaker 2: You Thank you. you Thank you.