Null Pointer
Alien Banana One

“We need to get Daddy to take up to Crimpers and buy us a spaceship,” Larry insisted. “How are we supposed to play ‘alien invasion’ when we don’t have a spaceship?”
Bobby rolled his eyes. He ‘dored Larry and Terry, really he did, but sometimes it was like they’d never even played before. “We just need a toothpick. Well, two.”
“Ten toothpicks won’t make a spaceship,” Larry complained.
“I dunno. Bobby’s good at this stuff,” Terry said, getting up from where the three boys were sprawled on the floor of the Lynches’ game room. “Lemme see if I can find some,” he told Bobby, disappearing from the room.
Bobby waited, patiently munching on the banana one of the nurses (though Bobby had no idea what three perfectly healthy boys needed with nurses, but Larry and Terry had ‘em, and so did their twin sisters. Must be a thing that happened when you were filthy rich; you got nurses whether you needed ‘em or not) had given him for a snack.
Terry returned with a couple of toothpicks before Bobby was much more than half way through the banana, exactly as Bobby had intended. Bobby folded one on the three sections of banana peel back on itself and stuck a toothpick through it about a finger’s width above where he’d stopped eating. He folded up another section of peel to stick on the toothpick where it emerged on the other side of the banana. He pierced the third section of peel and fixed it back to the main fruit before turning the whole production over so that the open part of the banana was facing the ground and flew it over the LEGO set they’d been playing with. “Shhzzrk…” he said, trying to determine on the fly what sort of sound an alien space ship would make as it beamed up an unsuspecting LEGO minifig. Said minifig was quickly concealed in one of the sleeves made where the peel was folded back on itself, rendering it possible to transport the abductee wherever Bobby chose.
“See,” Bobby told Larry. “I have an alien spaceship.” He eyed the room, trying to decide where the alien planet would be, but decided that Larry wasn’t taking the alien invasion seriously enough, and said so, before promptly “abducting” a second, and, after flying the spaceship Alien Banana 1 in a broad arc, a third, this time female LEGO minifig.
Terry was starting to get the point and mobilizing his LEGO people and dragon – the improbability of aliens and dragons in the same time period was a complication Bobby wasn’t going to hurt his brain with today – in an effort to defend the home planet. Too little too late, of course, since Bobby’s alien spaceship was at its abduction capacity, and Bobby wasn’t willing to break the non-existent rules of the game by abducting more than the spaceship itself could carry.
That didn’t stop him from dumping some of the spare LEGOs onto the top of the bin they were stored in and carrying that off a few steps away from the twins, along with Alien Banana 1, to start building the alien’s home planet.

“The council is never going to let us take one of the pods out,” Lxi complained.
“Even though we’d make the perfect pioneers. We’re adventurous and brave and resourceful and…”
“A thorn in the council’s side with all our pranks,” Bzo admitted. “Who knew having a little fun would get us black listed from the best job in the universe.”
“Well, they wouldn’t be on the council if they had any sense of adventure,” Trl pointed out. “Only the homebodies stick around the planet long enough rise up to a council position.
“I thought maybe they’d at least want to be rid of us, and give us some exploratory mission with a long vector so we’d be out of their tentacles for a generation or so.”
Bzo got a mischievous look on his face. “There is one other option.”
“Uh oh,” Trl said nervously. “He’s got that look.”
“Oh, definitely that look,” Bzo agreed. “It’s going to be great. They’re decommissioning the little banana pods. They’re barely guarded at all anymore, and AB1 is still in good shape. I was talking with TvM—”
“You mean you were trailing around after TvM like a lovely sick puppy while he was supposed to be working,” Bzo’s friends accused.
Bzo shrugged. “Anyway, he went over every inch of the pod and he told me it had a few missions left in it. Said it was a pity they were decommissioning her early.”
“And your plan is what, exactly?” Lxi asked. “Joyriding?”
“It’s not joyriding if we take logs and all. It’s a proper exploratory mission, even if it’s unsanctioned. And if we set the pod’s time dilation toward the past, then when we get back we can tell the council that what’s done was done before we even left, so what’s the harm. Especially if we bring back good logs and even specimen. They should give us an archeology medal.”
“Sometimes I think you have a nebula for a processor,” Trl commented.
“So, you’re not coming?” Bzo asked knowingly.
“Of course I’m coming. You and Lxi would kill each other before you made it a dozen lightyears, let alone a century or two.”
“Tonight then?” Lxi asked.
“Tonight,” Bzo agreed.

Stealing, no, wait, it was “commandeering” the pod slated for decommissioning was surprisingly easy. The controls on the toys they’d grown up with were almost entirely accurate, enabling Bzo to pilot the vehicle without too much effort.
“Trl, you’re on navigation. You were always better with the maps and start charts and calculations.”
“And you just think you’re captain because this was all your idea?” Lxi demanded.
“I think I’m pilot because I got it running before you did,” Bzo answered with a loop of his eyestalks. “As pilot, I think I get to choose my navigator. If you want to claim the title of captain to sate your need to boss people around, by all means. I’m sure the council will want to know who was in charge of this voyage.”
“I’ll tell them it was all your idea.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
“How far back do you want me to navigate?” Trl asked, not sure who he was supposed to be getting the answer from.
When Lxi didn’t immediately answer, Bzo replied, “A millennium should do. Somewhere that hasn’t been explored yet.”
Trl poured over the charts. “Setting the time dilation for 1338 years prior,” he announced after a moment. “Heading is 276°.”
“Anchors away!” Bzo replied with entirely too much enthusiasm.

Bobby crafted his alien home world with tall spires the ship, Alien Banana One, could easily navigate. The landing pad between them was roughly equivalent to an earthly helipad. Below that layer, he took more time to construct his alien society. Would aliens have streets, or would all of their vehicles fly? Would they have separate buildings or would they be built underground, with only the spires and landing pads extending into less pleasant atmospheres? If that was the case, would an entire city just be one big building, like an apartment complex over shops at street level? Would there be restaurants… did aliens even eat like that? He had so many questions about alien culture that would influence how their society would be built. The number of blocks he’d liberated from the main collection limited some of his answers, but there were so many more. He wished there were somewhere he could get answers.
“Bobby, come on. You can’t just abduct three people and then not engage in the war.”
“If your civilization(s) have no ships capable of pursuing, sure I can,” Bobby replied. “I’m still building my alien city over here. Give me a couple minutes.”
Larry and Terry looked at each other. “We don’t need an alien spaceship. We need a star fighter,” Terry reasoned.
“The Star Wars ship,” Larry and Terry said in unison. Larry was on his feet before they finished the thought, running off to find the LEGO model.
Bobby knew the design of the ship that was about to be attacking his home world, so he built in the best defenses he could come up with, and made sure his three “hostages” were tucked safely away, where it would be difficult for anything but a full-scale assault to rescue them. He also began plotting his strategy. They hadn’t talked rules for this impromptu game, so they hadn’t established what constituted “winning,” but Bobby was pretty sure that it was last man standing. If he could abduct all of the LEGO minifigs from Larry and Terry’s homeworld(s), and destroy any minifigs that assaulted his home world, he could declare victory.
The trouble was, if he wanted to go with a capture, not destroy, strategy, he’d need somewhere to keep his captives and his current alien city had no where except the exposed landing area. Bobby looked across the room at where the bin of so-far-unused LEGOs sat. An idea formed. He checked over his world to make sure it would hold up if Larry got back faster than expected. Bobby and Alien Banana One headed for the bin. He gathered up a gate and a pile of other materials into the mesh net before fastening the net to the toothpicks of his improvised space ship. Terry wasn’t paying attention, so Bobby took the opportunity to abduct three more minifigs from Larry’s side of the LEGO set, before retreating to his side of the room. He built up walls – shody constructions, with lots of gaps, though none big enough for the minifigs to escape – putting the gate in the back corner. Then he used the net as a loose roof. He wanted the area to look vulnerable to attack. In order to destroy his alien city and rescue the captives, other than initial high-value three, they’d have to attack their own.
Bobby wondered if he’d watched too many police dramas on TV, that using hostages as a shield was the first defensive strategy that had occurred to him.

Author's Notes:
This is not a CWE23 submission, but when the event was announced a couple thoughts filtered through my head regarding flying bananas and our favorite trio. Because it was JixeWriMo, I wrote those thoughts down (all words are good words!). And then...life. I assumed the story would get flushed out and the requirements more fully incorporated when I found teammates, but here it is the last day of the event and this is all I have to show for it. My missed opportunity does not have to deprive you of the reading, though.
This is not edited (see above note about this being entirely unfinished/abandoned). The banana is modifed from here and the LEGOs from here and here.
I don't own LEGO, or the BLT, though I may be able to lay claim to their alien counterparts, Bzo, Lxi, and Trl.