Everyone ready to finish this story off?

Mike: Yeah.

Micky: You bet!

Lauren: I am.

(We open on the beach in front of the Pad, just as the sun is sinking slowly into the sea. The twins, Katie, Leah, and Robbie play in the sand, Robbie and Leah sitting on a huge old comforter. Mike, Emma, Lauren, and Micky sit at the picnic table with drinks in plastic cups.)

Bob: Hey, gang. Gorgeous sunset, isn't it?

Mike: Yeah. It was too nice to hang out inside after we got in, so we grabbed the kids and went out with drinks and sand pails and shovels.

Bert: Did you enjoy your adventure in space?

Emma: Yeah. I'm glad we got to go this time. It was really interesting.

Mike: (Grins) Yeah. I got to drive a spaceship.

Emma: I can't believe I drove a spaceship. I can't even drive a regular car!

Mike: It was worth it just to play Ace of the Starfleet.

Lauren: I'm just glad we were able to help out Emilio and all of Zlotnick.

Bert: I hope Emilio got home ok.

Mike: (Shrugs) He knows how to drive, and it ain't like he's gonna run into traffic.

Micky: I'm sure he didn't have any trouble.

Emma: I'm sure he'll be fine. He has to get home and help Beth pick their kids up from camp, after all.

Bob: No wonder you liked this, Mike. You and Micky were both big heroes. You were the one who came up with that Maalox bottle.

Mike: (Shrugs) I saw how Sinestral reacted to gas. Thought some more gas would give him enough indigestion to at least distract him. Didn't count on blowing him to hell n' gone, though.

Emma: Micky enjoyed that.

Micky: You bet I did.

Bert: So, what was your favorite part?

Mike: I've already mentioned it - doggin' Sinestral's boys in space.

Emma: Getting to actually see other worlds.

Bert: Micky, Lauren, how about you?

Lauren: Just being able to help out friends.

Micky: Sinestral going bye-bye.

Bert: Speaking of Sinestral...where did you come up with that ending?

Emma: I'd been insinuating that he was too perfect-looking. I tried to figure out what to do with that. Making him a robot would have been too obvious...but what if he was a gross alien-thing that didn't want people to know he was a gross alien-thing?

Mike: I thought he was cool-looking.

Emma: I was going for pure comic sci-fi horror with that. You won't really see much horror in our stories because neither of us are really big horror fans...but that worked out well.

Micky: You get an A+.

Emma: A lot of this story was made up on the spot, though I will add it doesn't look it as badly as some of our recent stories did. I'm actually fairly proud of this one. We did pretty well.

Lauren: Yeah, we did.

Emma: We originally planned this one for February, but bumped it to the summer when Lauren came up with "Castaways," which fit Valentine's Day better.

Bob: Where did you come up with the idea for this one?

Emma: (Grins at Lauren) Lauren wanted another go-around with Emilio after his short appearance in "The Play Is the Thing" last November, and I wanted to do something "Star Wars"-esque.

Mike: It was nice to get together with the cabbies again, too. I like those guys, even though I question Rocco's drivin' skills.

Emma: We wanted a light story for this month, since we're going on vacation soon and we figured our minds would likely be on that.

Mike: (Grins at Micky) It's been a long time since we've played around with factory equipment, too. What did you do to that big machine to get it to spark like that?

Micky: *Shrugs* Just crossed a couple wires.

Mike: (Nods) That thing was pretty old. It wouldn't take too much more than that to make it blow.

Emma: That's another reason we wanted to do a comic action story. We're making up for a serious lack of romps lately.

Mike: So that's why every time I turned around, the music would start and people would chase each other.

Emma: I really got into the romps we did in this one. Lauren and I both came up with some great stuff.

Mike: I liked the mine car ride, too. (Grins) You know, this is the first story in ages that I've really gotten into. It's nice to not only be in one piece after one of these big action stories, but know that you've helped somebody do somethin' other than keep Devils and Demons off your ass.

Emma: And thanks to the sci-fi setting, we got to be more creative than we could with last month's Bake-Off story. That story came out pretty well, too, but it's fun to just go pure fantasy every now and then. We wanted this to be something we could do anything with, like Wackyland in the Porky Pig cartoons - "IT CAN HAPPEN HERE."

Micky: *Smirks* Despite being pissed for most of it, I did end up having fun with the Bake-Off.

Emma: I still get called for interviews about that.

Mike: (Rubs Emma's shoulders) That's m'darlin'.

Emma: Maybe you'll make it next year, Micky.

Micky: *Nods* And perhaps I'll try to be more traditional. *shrugs* I was going too far into the "different" direction and not far enough in the "tastes good" direction.

Emma: (Nods, with a slight smile) You're a smart guy. I'm sure you'll find something that tastes great AND is original.

Lauren: Mick just wants another war of words.

Micky: *Grins* Well, yeah, that too.

Mike: Leave poor Al alone, Mick. Bad enough you drove him crazy at the Bake-Off.

Micky: Oh, all right.

Emma: We're going to give you plenty to do next month Micky, speaking of Al. Next month is the idea we were originally going to use this month. We're going to hit the open ocean again.

Mike: Does this mean we're gonna get another boat?

Emma: No. We're never owning another boat as long as we live. This will be on a rented one.

Mike: Darn.

Emma: My original idea for this story was for us to be space pirates. We finally decided that we liked the pirate idea, but wanted to do something less dire with our sci-fi story, so the pirates were moved to September. (Her smile gets a little evil) And this is going to be a Devil story.

Mike: Shit. We're dead already.

Micky: *Not enthusiastic* Oh yay.

Emma: We're still working on this idea. We'll probably work on it while on vacation. It will be a darker story than the last few, but still action.

Mike: We are soooooo toast.

Lauren: It'll be fun.

Mike: Didn't we already do a pirate story?

Emma: That was as part of a play. This is for real. (Frowns) And timely, too, since real-life modern pirates were in the news back in the winter.

Mike: This can't be good. Tell me no one ends up dead. :

Emma: We don't know yet. (Smirks) But we do know a few people are going to lose their souls.

Lauren: Uh huh.

Mike: (Clamps a hand over his chest) I happen to like mine!

Micky: Uh, yeah, I like mine, too!

Emma: You'll see, boys.

Mike: Now I'm scared. She always says that when somethin' really nasty's gonna happen.

Emma: (Shrugs) That's all I can say without giving anything away.

Mike: (Shrugs) Maybe dealing with pirates won't be that bad. That musical was almost kinda fun.

Emma: And it's a pure devil story this time. Belavarg really is gone for a while.

Lauren: Right.

Mike: Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. The Devils are bad enough.

Emma: We won't be seeing Belavarg again for a long time, probably next year.

Mike: (Mutters) I'd be happy if he vanished off the face of the planet.

Emma: We don't really know what happened to him, honey. He just...disappeared.

Mike: He's probably workin' on another business venture, like Sheila did between the time of her uncle's defeat and her reappearance.

Bert: Where's Peter and Davy? How come they didn't come on this one?

Mike: They were watchin' the kids. (Shrugs) We really didn't need them on this one. Had enough with the cabbies as it was.

Emma: We didn't want to overdose on characters, which we tend to do from time to time.

Mike: (Looks at the sky; the sun is nearly finished it's dip behind the ocean) I think it's time we got the kids inside.

Emma: (Nods and picks up Robbie, whose eyes are half-closed) This little boy looks like he's ready for bed.

Robbie: (Mutters) Nuh-uh!

Emma: Would you like to finish this month, Baby?

Mike: Sure, darlin'. (Turns to the camera) You can find more sci-fi and fantasy stories, along with books about real-life space exploration, online and in your local library. We here at Dream World hopes everyone in the US enjoys their Labor Day and the rest of ya'll have fun durin' these last few weeks of summer. See ya next month!

Emma: (She makes the sleepy Robbie wave) Bye bye!

Katie: (She waves, even as she yawns) Bye everybody!

(The gang takes the kids up to the house as the last rays of the setting sun creates weird shadows on the beach. Mike sends Katie along with her mother and turns around to take one last look at the sky, waving to a familiar bit of light dancing over the waves that almost looks like a familiar tiny spaceship flying off into the horizon....)

(And the setting sun fades out and into the end credits. "Bye Bye Baby Bye Bye" plays over scenes from the "production." We end with a still of Mike, Micky, Emma, Lauren, Emilio, and the cabbies in the mine cars, coming out of the tunnel and waving to the camera with the words "A Raybert Production" over it.)