History Recap / AreYouAfraidOfTheDarkSeason5TheTaleOfTheUnexpectedVisitor

** Although it’s an actual bodily language rather than a coded signal, communication by musical notes with aliens somewhat recalls ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', as, somewhat, do the ominous glimpses of ethereal yellow light.

* SomeKindOfForceField: The tubes which contain Montana, Bobby and Perch, seem, rather than material, to be continually generated.

From the hall calls the voices of Bobby, whose discretion Jeff secures with a banana split. Meanwhile, Perch, having found the instructions for the Peabody Project, enters "Peabody." Outside, the satellite dish swivels. Onscreen, the blinking numbers are replaced by a digitised image of the Milky Way. A box invites Perch to enter coordinates. He enters some random numbers. Asked to enter a message, Perch plays several notes of his and Jeff’s recently composed song. He presses enter. The screen flashes with a warning of "INCOMING MESSAGE". Suddenly, the speakers of a nearby piece of computing equipment thunder a sequence of synthesised notes. Jeff leaves Bobby to his sundae, and hurries back to the office. Has Perch had a close encounter?

Outside, a car horn sounds. Jeff hastily switches off the monitor.

In the hall, Jeff’s parents see right through his and Perch's forced calm. Bobby wanders into the hall with a chocolate sauce beard. With a stern look, Jeff and Bobby’s mother warns against giving Bobby ice cream before bed.

Late that night, Montana the golden retriever sleeps by Jeff’s bed. In the night sky outside the window, a sideways-tilted disc of dazzling white light glides towards the distant trees. Montana, with his ball, happily wanders outside into the woods, and into a clearing. From above, a web-shaped net, whose strands glow brilliant yellow, falls onto the dog.

Next day, Jeff and Perch wonder what to write about. Jeff suggests a love song. Perch wants to write about a life of adventure on the road. However, in each field, they both lack experience. Jeff’s mother bustles past, and announces her departure for a forgotten work banquet. She reminds Jeff to make sure Bobby eats, and to look for Montana, who seems to have wandered off.

That evening, while he and Perch search the woods, Jeff directs Bobby to stay on the lawn and play t-ball, in case the dog returns.

With a torch, Jeff and Perch search the woods.

Bobby whacks the ball into the woods. On retrieving it, he hears, through the trees behind him, a sequence of synthesised notes. From the forest floor behind him, a web-shaped, yellow-glowing net slithers independently into an erect position, and spreads between two trees. He nervously retreats, and walks straight into it. Stuck in place, he sees something approach from behind.

Jeff calls for his dog. Through the nearby trees floats a clear, synthetically echoing recording of Jeff’s voice. Unnerved, Jeff strides forward - and abruptly halts, mere inches before a yellow-glowing web-net.

From nearby sounds a fluting sequence of chimes. Rightward, before the trees, stands a seven foot tall silver rectangular frame. Within its hollow shines a brilliantly glowing yellowish white glowing mist. From the frame's base rises a mechanical panel, which, with a hiss and a click, closes the doorway.

The boys approach the weird object. Perch nervously confesses the similarity of the chimes to the transmission he heard last night. They step round the back of the frame, and find it to be flat, less than a foot thick. Back around its front is a mounted, yellowish-white glowing dome. Jeff lightly grips the dome. The door slides down. Into the whitish yellow blaze, Jeff flings Montana’s ball. Could it have been vaporised? The hatch slides back down. With a faint whoosh, the ball is flung back at Jeff. The boys run.

In the empty kitchen, Perch calls for Bobby, and is greeted by a nearby, synthetically echoing copy of his voice. Suddenly, behind him is a yellow-glowing web-net. Perch backs into it, and finds himself stuck.

Jeff runs into the front room. With Perch nowhere in sight, he finds the web. No longer aglow, its pale, limp fabric is partially scorched.

Jeff grabs a big stick; runs into the woods, and back to the detached mechanical door. Into its soft blaze of whitish yellow light, he eases the stick, and retrieves it intact. He cautiously eases in his hand. He braces himself, and leaps over the threshold. Behind him, the hatch hisses closed.

With a soft chime, the stick bounces lightly off it. The tubes, says Perch, are made of sound - is d-sharp is played, they'll open.

From the taller figure issues a softly echoing female voice, which speaks in French, Spanish, and then English. She explains herself to have come to take her son home - he came to this planet when he heard a message. There sounds a playing of what Jeff now realises to be his and Perch’s song. In the language of the Visitors, the sequence means "we are toys." The Mother Visitor then sounds the chimes of the response message - which means "I’ve come to play." She apologises for the misunderstanding. And with that, mother and son fade into their yellow radiance, which dematerialises.

Jeff and Perch didn’t get in trouble, closes Kiki, because Jeff’s dad was so happy to find that the Peabody Project worked. Meanwhile, they found themselves inspired to write a new song - which they played to a very special audience. With her story well-received, Kiki asks around if anyone has a spare couch for tonight - but Sam’s parents are painting, Betty Anne’s cousin is already sleeping over, and Gary and Tucker’s dad is himself a legendary snorer. Stig approaches Kiki with a playful smirk...

* StarfishLanguage: The Visitors, whose ephemeral bodies can produce a seemingly limitless variety of sound, communicate in musical notes.

In the stone chair, Kiki dozes. Stig has the idea of easing her hand into the bucket, whose water is nice and warm, but Gary forbids it. Kiki wakes. For the last three days, the snores of her Aunt Stephanie have kept her awake. However, the ordeal has inspired a story about house guests. Visits can be fun. But if you invite someone over, you better know what you’re getting into: even a cool visitor can overstay their welcome. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, she calls this story “The Tale of the Unexpected Visitor.”

One evening, in a house on the edge of a forest, young musicians Jeff and Perch exchange ideas. With Perch on electric guitar and Jeff on keyboard, they can’t seem to reach an agreement.

Jeff’s alarm clock buzzes ten o’clock. With his parents out, and younger brother Bobby upstairs with a video game, Jeff, to his dad’s office, leads Perch.

Jeff switches on the office light. The large room is set with illuminated star photos and a central ring of five desk-mounted computer monitors. To an impressed Perch, Jeff explains his dad to be a researcher at work on a secret test of satellite software - which, Jeff announces, will provide free access to tonight’s broadcast of momentous concert World War Four.

Outside on the lawn, a tall, mounted satellite dish swivels…

Jeff nimbly taps at a keyboard, and uplinks to the satellite. This software, he realises, could access any satellite in the sky, or even contact the space shuttle.

Perch looks through Jeff’s dad’s notes. Curious, he asks about the Peabody Project. Jeff hastily snatches the notes, and warns of severe retribution should they be discovered.

-->'''Jeff:''' It’s dad’s big project. Something about deep space communication.

-->'''Perch:''' Deep space? You mean like, we could dial up [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Kirk]]?\

From the hall calls the voices of Bobby. Aghast, Jeff leaves to avoid detection, and warns Perch not to touch anything. Perch waits for Jeff to leave, and looks mischievously at the monitor…

Bobby, with Montana the golden retriever, reminds Jeff that their dad’s office is off limits. Jeff entreats Bobby’s discretion.

-->'''Bobby:''' You know… I’m kinda feeling like a banana split…
-->'''Jeff:''' Great… blackmailed by a nine-year-old.

Meanwhile, Perch, having found the instructions for the Peabody Project, types “Peabody” into a monitor. In response, nearby computing equipment whirrs to life. The monitor screens beep rapidly, and flood with binary code. Outside, the satellite dish swivels rightward. Onscreen, the blinking numbers are replaced by a digitised image of the Milky Way, in whose bottom corner sits a small circle marked “Earth.”

Meanwhile, for his banana split, Bobby requests chocolate sauce.

… Onscreen, a box invites Perch to enter coordinates. He enters some random numbers. Outside, the satellite dish swivels upwards…

Invited to enter a message, Perch reclines in the chair, and stretches indecisively. His hand bumps Jeff’s dad’s electric keyboard. Inspired, Perch plays several notes of his and Jeff’s recently composed song. Invited onscreen to send this message, he presses “Enter.”

Instantly, the image of the galaxy is replaced by a red screen. Outside, a bulb in the centre of the satellite dish, with a soft beeping, flashes yellow. An onscreen caption announces Perch’s message to have been received.

… In the kitchen, Jeff squirts on some chocolate sauce. Bobby promises discretion - in exchange for the further garnishing of cherries.

… As Perch wonders how to turn off the satellite software, the screen flashes with a warning of "INCOMING MESSAGE". Incredulous, Perch types rapidly. Suddenly, the screen goes blank. Suddenly, the speakers of a nearby piece of computing equipment thunder a sequence of synthesised notes.

Jeff leaves Bobby to his sundae, and hurries to the office. Flustered, he bounds over to Perch’s monitor, and types desperately.

-->'''Perch:''' I made a call, man! Across the universe! And somebody answered back!
-->'''Jeff:''' I told you not to touch anything!
-->'''Perch:''' I didn’t think it would work! You think… like… I had a close encounter?
-->'''Jeff:''' No. It was probably… an echo off an asteroid, or something.

In the hall, Jeff’s parents greet Jeff and Perch, and see right through their forced calmness. Defeated, Jeff begins an apology. Just then, Bobby wanders into the hall with a chocolate sauce beard. With a stern look, Jeff and Bobby’s mother warns against giving Bobby ice cream before bed.

Late that night, the trees by the house are lit by a distantly overhead white light. As Montana sleeps by Jeff’s bed, through the night sky outside the window, a sideways-tilted disc of dazzling white light glides towards the distant trees.

Roused, Montana, with his ball, happily wanders outside into the woods. He wanders into a clearing. ‘’In the undergrowth, something rustles’’. From above, a web-shaped net, whose strands glow brilliant yellow, falls onto the dog. Montana barks at his approaching captor…

Next day, Jeff and Perch approach Jeff’s house, and wonder what to write about. Jeff suggests a love song. Perch wants to write about a life of adventure on the road. However, in each field, they both lack experience.

Jeff’s mother merrily bustles past, and announces her departure for a forgotten work banquet. She reminds Jeff to make sure Bobby eats, and to look for Montana, who seems to have wandered off.

That evening, Jeff, Perch and Bobby troop onto the lawn. Bobby calls for Montana. While he and Perch search the woods, Jeff directs Bobby to stay put and play t-ball, in case the dog returns.

With a torch, Jeff and Perch search the woods, and lament lack of musical inspiration.

Bobby whacks the ball into the woods…

Jeff and Perch find Montana’s ball…

As Bobby retrieves his ball, he hears, through the trees behind him, a rising and falling sequence of synthesised notes. Curious, he turns, and walks further into the trees, From the forest floor behind him, a web-shaped, yellow-glowing net slithers independently into an erect position, and spreads between two trees. He nervously retreats, and walks straight into the otherworldly net. Stuck in place, he sees something approach from behind. He cries out in fear…

As Jeff starts to worry, he and Perch reach a clearing, and hear a rustle. Jeff calls for his dog. Through the nearby trees floats a clear, synthetically echoing recording of Jeff’s voice. Unnerved, Jeff strides forward - and abruptly halts, mere inches before a yellow-glowing web-net.

-->'''Perch:''' You got some serious spiders here.\

From nearby sounds a fluting, high-pitched sequence of chimes. Rightward, before the trees, stands a seven foot tall silver rectangular frame. From its hollow wafts a jet of yellowish white glowing vapour. From the floor of the frame rises a mechanical panel, which, with a hiss and a click, closes the doorway and obscures the dazzling mist.

Perplexed, the boys approach for a closer look, and peer at the weird object. Perch nervously confesses the similarity of the chimes to the transmission he heard last night. They step round the back of the frame, and find it to be flat, less than a foot thick.

Back around its front, they notice, halfway up on the right, a mounted, yellowish-white glowing dome. They share a look of cautious agreement. Jeff lightly grips the dome. With a soft whistle and a hiss, the panel slides halfway down. Into the whitish yellow blaze, Jeff flings Montana’s ball. The hatch closes.

Jeff looks around the back of the frame. In alarm, he reports the ball to be gone.

-->'''Perch:''' Maybe it was like… vaporised?

The hatch slides back down. With a faint whoosh, the ball is flung back at Jeff. The boys run for it.

As they reach the lawn, Jeff frantically calls for Bobby, who is nowhere in sight. The nearby satellite dish then swivels. Supposing his dad to be home, Jeff leads Perch inside.

They hurry to the office, but Jeff’s dad isn’t there. However, the monitors seem to have been turned on automatically. Each screen shows the digitised image of the galaxy. Perch points out the region of the galaxy to which he sent the message. A beeping caption announces five messages to have been received. Jeff taps in a command.

Across the galaxy, each with a beep of sequential notes, appear four line-joined circles. From the final circle, Earth, came the fifth message.

-->'''Perch:''' Whatever it is… it’s here.\

While he prepares to call his dad, Jeff directs Perch to find Bobby.

In the empty kitchen, Perch calls for Bobby, and is greeted by a nearby, synthetically echoing copy of his voice.

As Jeff tries to contact his dad, the monitor screen announces an incoming message.

Perch searches the front room. Suddenly, behind him is a yellow-glowing web-net...

Jeff stares in horror at the screen. From the galactic point where Perch’s message eventually reached, a gradually spreading red line heads straight for Earth…

Perch backs into the web-net, and finds himself stuck. As their yellow glow blazes to dazzling white, he cries out in fear.

Jeff runs onto the lawn, grabs a big stick, and runs back into the woods to the clearing where stands the silver rectangular frame.

He presses the glowing dome, and the hatch hisses back down. Into the soft blaze of whitish yellow light, he eases the stick, and retrieves it intact. He cautiously eases in his hand. He braces himself, and leaps over the threshold. Behind him, the hatch hisses closed.

Jeff finds himself in a chamber the size of a small hallway. Its round pale grey walls and floor are lit at regular points by blazing white rectangular segments.

In the middle of the chamber stand three transparent, ceiling-high tubes, in each of which, respectively, are Montana, Bobby and Perch. While Montana is calmly erect, Bobby sits in a doze, and Perch leans slumped against the inner wall of his tube.

Jeff frantically calls for Bobby. Perch stirs, and reports the air to be bad in here.

Up close, the tube appears to be framed with numerous vertical bars of white light. Jeff tells Perch to cover up, and swings his stick at the transparent material.

With a soft chime, the stick bounces lightly off it.

-->'''Perch:''' It’s music, Jeff. They do everything in tones. If you play d-sharp, the tubes will open.\

Jeff runs back to his room. In his bedroom, on his keyboard, he plays a d-sharp note, and records it on cassette.

As he hurries back across the lawn, he sees the trees above his house lit by a distant white light. He backs away - and finds himself stuck in a yellow-glowing web-net. A sequence of notes distantly chimes. Jeff pulls himself out of his jacket, picks up the tape recorder, and runs.

Back in the unearthly chamber, he plays his d-sharp recording. The tubes slowly slide upwards. Bobby quickly rouses. Perch stands up right. Jeff leads his band mate, brother and dog outside - however, he warns, another ship has just landed.

Outside the mechanical door, they find themselves closely surrounded on all sides by yellow-glowing web-nets. From nearby sounds a chime of the space-message. As Jeff attempts to maintain calm, they find themselves approached by a dazzling blaze of whitish yellow.

Suddenly, it fades. The web-nets are now gone. Bobby points forward.

From the taller figure issues a softly echoing female voice, which speaks in French, Spanish, and then English.

-->'''Mother Visitor:''' ...Your language is English?\

She explains herself to have come to take her son home - he came to this planet when he heard a message. There sounds a playing of what Jeff now realises to be his and Perch’s song. In the language of the Visitors, the sequence means “we are toys.” The Mother Visitor then sounds the chimes of the response message - which means “I’ve come to play.”

-->'''Perch:''' We aren’t toys, lady! We are people.
-->'''Mother Visitor:''' I am sorry. We will leave you now. Please don’t think badly of my son - he only came to play.

And with that, mother and son fade into their yellow radiance, which fades into the night.

Jeff and Perch didn’t get in trouble, closes Kiki, because Jeff’s dad was so happy to find that the Peabody Project worked. Meanwhile, they found themselves inspired to write a new song - which they played to a very special audience. With her story well-received, Kiki asks around if anyone has a spare couch for tonight - but Sam’s parents are painting, Betty Anne’s cousin is already sleeping over, and Gary and Tucker’s dad is himself a legendary snorer. Stig approaches Kiki with a playful smirk…

* EvilDetectingDog: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]: While the first to see the spaceship approach, Montana investigates in apparent hope that the Visitors might play Fetch with him. In any case, they’re [[spoiler: far from evil]].

* PoorCommunicationKills: Just for a laugh, Perch uses new satellite software to transmit into space a few bars of his and Jeff’s new song. It travels across the galaxy, and is received by [[spoiler: the child of a species who interprets it to mean "we are toys."]]

With a fluting, shivering whistle, ten feet ahead, two regions of air are each filled with a bloom of soft yellow light, each of which quickly brighten into two person-sized shapes; these then condense into two yellow-glowing ethereal figures. Within each aura stands a partially faded, spindly body, one tall, one short; each with a fetally bulbous cranium and large, tilted black eyes.

* SomeKindOfForceField: The tubes which contain Montana, Bobby and Perch, rather than material, seem to be continually generated.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]; the Mother Visitor shows an instant grasp of French, Spanish, and English, implying some immediate grasp of each.

* AliensSpeakingEnglish: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]; the Mother Visitor shows an instant grasp of French, Spanish, and English.

** Although it’s an actual bodily language rather than a coded signal, communication by aliens with musical notes recalls ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'', as, somewhat, do the ominous glimpses of ethereal yellow light.