Ben focused on his new Sumo cards… he needed to assemble the ultimate deck so that when he finally talked Gwen into playing, he could devastate her at the game. He was lounging in one of the couches inside the Rustbucket, aka grandpa Max's Camper.

Grandpa Max, at the steering wheel, suddenly slammed on the breaks. The sudden stop threw Ben to the floor, his Sumo Slammer cards flying all over the place, and he just knew he would never find them all. Ben expected Gwen to laugh at his misfortune, but she was currently sitting under the dining table and her homework was now upside down in the chair opposite her.

Just as suddenly as he had stopped, Max put the RV in reverse, swinging it into a parking space.

Max stood up and made his way to the back of the camper. "Ben, you know better than to make a mess like this."

"But it wasn't my fault!" Ben protested, "this time."

Gwen managed to climb back into her seat, and looked out the window. "A car wash? Are we finally going to get this thing cleaned so it will be slightly less embarrassing to ride around in the Rustbucket?"

Max didn't seem to even hear me.

"It's not the dirt that's the embarrassment, its having to travel with you!" Ben said.

The two children turned to watch their grandpa max as he opened a secret panel and opened a safe that neither of the kids had seen before.

"What's in there? Plumber stuff?" Gwen asked.

"Huh? No, just some items that are valuable to me personally, that I didn't want Ben to accidently destroy."

"HEY!" Ben protested.

"Wait, are those… Records?"

"Yep, but only my absolute favorites. I have the 8-tracks of most of these albums too. I'm going out."

Gwen's face fell when he walked past the car wash to stare at some old van parked off to the side. "So much for getting it washed."

"Yeah, like your face!"

"That doesn't even make sense, Ben."

-0-

Max walked with an uncharacteristic spring in his step as he approached the white van. Once he got close enough, he walked around his invisible perimeter, looking for just the right angle. He held up the record jacket to compare.

The record jacket was solid white, but in the center was the very same van he was looking at now, complete with Mr. Universe written on the side. "I can't believe it! This is really it!"

The jacket went to Mr. Universe's first, self titled album. He had purchased it when it came out, and loved it. He had purchased every album the man had put out, but for some reason he hadn't released anything new in more than a decade. In many ways it was like Mr. Universe had simply dropped off the face of the Earth.

"Hey, are you here for a wash? We have 20% off waxing today," said a man who was bald on top, but the rest of his hair went all the way down to his bottom, and his tan lines didn't match the shirt he was wearing. Still, now that he had identified the van, Max could easily recognize the car wash attendant.

Max thrust the record jacket out at the attendant. "Can I get your autograph? Please?"

Gwen and Ben stepped out of the RV, their eyes were fixed on Max.

"I cant believe it," Ben said, "Grandpa is totally flipping out over that guy."

"Yeah." Gwen looked over at the van. "Who is Mr. Universe anyway?"

"Beats me."

"Hi, Connie. Sword practice again today?" Mr. Universe said to a dark skinned girl who was crossing the street while carrying a broadsword every bit as large as she was.

"Yes, Sir," she said.

"Don't poke your eye out," Mr. Universe said.

"That is some hefty weapons training," Max said, "So, why did you get out of the music business, Mr. Universe?"

"Call me Greg, please. And I never got out of the music business. I've been working on my next album… for the last… I don't know… close to 15 years now. I've got 98 songs for it so far… I guess I really should try to whittle them down."

"Do you think I could hear any of them?"

"Sure, anything for a fan."

"We're going to the beach," Ben said.

"Okay," Max said, "have fun, you two."

"And be careful," Greg said, "It's not always safe on the beach." He opened the back of his van and started pulling out his cd player and a bit stack full of cds.

"You really have that many songs? You could release several albums at once."'

"They're not all good… but I guess my music career did get sidelined after I fell in love. That's when everything changed."

"Believe me, I know the feeling."

"Now, I'm a single parent, trying to raise my son, with the help of his mom's friends."

"What happened to his mother?"

"She's not with us anymore… "

"I'm sorry about that. As for me, I'm taking two of my grandchildren on a road trip around the country. So far, our trip has proven to be more eventful than I had counted on."

"Isn't that how it goes with kids these days?"

Max chuckled, "I suppose it is."

"Listen to this one…. I call it Lapis Lazuli"

They listened to that song, then a few others.

"Some of these are duets. Who is the woman?"

"That was Rose."

"She was…? I'm sorry. I keep putting my foot in it."

"No, it's fine. Those were good times."

"Grandpa Max, Grandpa Max," Ben and Gwen shouted as they ran back from the beach.

"Looks like I'm needed," Max said, "I hope we can talk again before we leave town."

"Yeah, sure. Its nice talking to someone who appreciates my art."

Max met Ben and Gwen about half way. "Okay, kids, what is it?"

"Down on the beach," Ben said, "there is something you've got to see."

"It's alien tech, I'm sure of it," Gwen added.

"Let's go see."

Grandpa Max followed his two grandchildren down to a secluded beach. Max had almost given up on ever seeing a beach again that was not flooded with high-rise apartments. It looked like there could be some sort of temple down near the point, but Ben and Gwen led him in the other direction.

The beach had some odd topographical features that he would have loved to study if he had more time.

The kids had found an outcropping of rock that kept part of it hidden from the rest of the beach. Behind the rock was a washed up pile of strange metal objects.

"And look at this thing." Ben held up what looked like a knife handle with two metal rods jutting out, almost in the shape of a blade.

Max picked up a piece of metal and stuffed it in his pocket. "We can analyze this in the Rustbucket, that should tell us where it came from."

They walked back along the beach to where they came on to it. They noticed a house that had been built halfway up the side of a cliff, and two people were standing by the waters edge.

One of the two people was unusually tall with a square looking hairstyle, while the other one looked short and pudgy with really long hair.

"Let's see if they know anything about that junk," Gwen said.

Max thought for a moment. "Good idea, but be discrete. We don't want them to think we are too crazy."

"Wait…" the big one said, then "Now!"

The shorter one then lashed out at the waves with a whip, but when she snapped it back, a fish was entwined on the end. "Now, that's what I'm talking about! Do you want any?"

"No thank you."

"In that case, I won't bother cooking it." She tossed it up, and the entire thing disappeared in her mouth.

As Max and the other got closer, they started noticing more details, like the sunglasses the tall one wore, and her unusually red skin. The other girl seemed to be purple? It wasn't until he saw the glint off of the purple one's chest that he grabbed Ben and Gwen with a vice like grip. "We need to get out of here."

"But they might know—"

"Later," Max silenced the two kids with an unusual harshness to his voice. Truth be told, he didn't remember the last time he had felt so scared.