Explorers

After Ben receives more dreams about the circuit board, Wolfgang discovers a means of producing unlimited sustainable oxygen; this means longer flights, whereas previously they were limited to whatever a typical oxygen tank could hold. They finalize their plan to explore the galaxy in search of alien life. The boys complete liftoff, despite interference from the authorities (one of whom silently wishes them well). Shortly after breaking Earth's orbit, something overrides the boys' personal computer-controls. The Thunder Road is tractor-beamed a much larger spaceship. They boys venture out to meet their captors, Wak and Neek; two green-skinned aliens whose knowledge of Earth comes almost entirely from junk culture, particularly television reruns. The young explorers develop a relationship with their extraterrestrial hosts, but the alien spaceship is intercepted by a larger-still alien vessel. Feigning an attack by space pirates, Wak urges the boys to leave. They are in the process of doing so when they are interrupted by a gigantic brown extraterrestrial, this one bearing a close resemblance to the other two, who gestures furiously while grinding out barely-comprehensible alien language. As this turns out, Wak and Neek are brother and sister; they have taken their father's ship out for a joy ride, sending the dreams to the boys in the hopes of meeting humans. Transmissions of old black-and-white movies have kept extraterrestrial populace at a distance -- except for the curious Wak and Neek -- due to the way humans generally depict violence toward alien life.