Speaker 1: 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
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
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.
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,
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.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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?
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,
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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
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,
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.
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.
Speaker 2: Union, No no thing, no.
Speaker 1: Mo m
Speaker 2: One one mo