Three in One

At Whit's End, Wooton Bassett excitedly tells Whit his newest comic book story about Captain Absolutely, Defender of Truth. In the tale, a villain called The Unifier hovers over Metropolitanville, using his mind powers to shove all the city's buildings together. He claims he is freeing people from oppression by uniting families, schools, workplaces, and churches under one central government, with himself in charge. Captain Absolutely, who draws his superpowers from studying his Bible in his secret fortress of solid truth, argues that God designed each part of society with its own role, and that blurring those roles under one ruler is a scary idea. The Unifier refuses to listen and flies off, vowing they will meet again.

Meanwhile, Connie heads to an interview at Odyssey Cable, the town's new cable access channel, hoping to write kids' programs. She has been thinking about the story in Isaiah where God asks who will speak for him, and she has decided to be a messenger for God beyond Whit's End. The new station manager, Michael Horden, interviews her alongside another candidate, Nigel Odian. Nigel pitches a deliberately pointless cartoon called Sponge Cake Round Pants, about a pastry whose parents and teachers are all idiots, because he believes kids are held back by adults and need a break from them. Connie can barely contain herself. When her turn comes, she says kids don't need more shows that mock parents; they need security and order, which come from respecting the people placed over them to teach and nurture them.

Back at Whit's End, Nelson Swanson tracks down Eugene in the kitchen. Ever since doing a science club presentation on intelligent design, Nelson has been noticing threes everywhere: water as liquid, steam, and ice; an egg's yolk, white, and shell; a peach's skin, flesh, and core; even the atom's proton, electron, and neutron. Delighted to find a young person who actually wants an explanation, Eugene leads him to the Bible Room and reveals the answer behind the pattern: God is one essence in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and many Christians believe creation reflects the nature of its Creator. But Eugene adds a warning about tampering with that intricate design: "If you work against God's design, things tend to go terribly wrong."

At the interview, Connie presents her own demo, an audio drama called The Little Train That Couldn't. In it, Frank the Freight Train, built for strength rather than speed, grows jealous of a fast passenger train and nags his way into pulling passengers. Still unsatisfied, he runs away from his driver, spots an airplane, and decides he wants to fly. Racing toward an unfinished bridge with his gauges screaming, he cries, "I can do it! I can do it!" - and sails off the end of the track, hangs in the air for a few glorious seconds, then plummets into the canyon. Wrecked beyond real repair, Frank ends his days at the county fair, slowly pulling children in circles. Connie explains the point: the Creator made each of us for specific purposes, and defying those purposes puts us in danger. To Nigel's shock, Mr. Horden declares it is exactly the kind of programming he wants, and Nigel huffs off to find work "in the present age." But now Horden has a problem: he needs more writers, fast. Connie smiles and says she might know a few people.

Wooton's story reaches its climax at the new station. The Unifier finds the Captain's not-so-secret fortress, admits authority is fine as long as he is the authority, and drops the entire fortress on the hero. But Captain Absolutely rises from the rubble safe inside his Orb of Order, traps the Unifier in it, and delivers him to Metropolitanville Prison. As the recording wraps, it becomes clear Connie has brought her friends aboard: Wooton narrates Captain Absolutely in full costume even though nobody asked him to, Eugene and Nelson head off to record a program called Science by Design, and a set is being built for Connie's train story. Mr. Horden takes Whit out for coffee to learn how Whit's End teaches kids so well, marveling at how it was all thrown together. Whit gently corrects him: it wasn't thrown together at all. "Everything we do there is by design."