Gus is a normal dog.

At least, you'd think he is. See, Gus isn't just your everyday dog. For starters, he's one of the smartest dogs in the world, but nobody really knows that except for a couple of people. Second, he's got an owner that he plays a fool. And the best part? He loves Star Wars. In fact, he loves it so much that he watches it every day while his owner goes to work to pay for his food and the unusually high electricity bill.

Everything in Gus's life was going perfectly, until one day. This is where our story begins.

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there lived two dogs in Justin's house. The oldest was named Luke, and the youngest was named Gus. They both got along very well together; always playing outside, rolling in the hills, destroying pillows; you name it. They had fun together, all day, every day, until one day when Luke started to slow down and just seemed to be at complete peace with the world. After Gus realized what was happening, he said his final goodbyes and Luke was taken off to a pet center for the last time.

It was lonely.

Very lonely. The house was too quiet for the likes of anyone, and the deep feeling of depression caught onto the house quickly. All Gus would do all day is sit on the doormat and lay down, thinking about life and thinking about past times.

And then Justin, his owner, came home with a cat that was named Molly. Molly was very young and energetic, exactly what Gus needed to keep going. It motivated him to see an animal as playful as her again. As Gus was becoming more and more thrilled about life, his owner started going back to work, which left them both with a lot of free time to do whatever mischievous things they had planned. Even though they had plenty of time to tear the house up, they figured that it would be better if they just took it easy, got on Justin's good side, and continued to have the entire house to themselves without kennel time. It was fun again. And after Gus realized how smart Molly really was, he figured out that she could not only tell time but she could cook popcorn too. Gus, on the other hand, had known how to operate the tv for awhile now due to the hours he'd spent watching animal planet. As they both realized how well their abilities paired together, they decided to sit down and watch through the first three Star Wars movies together, while eating popcorn. It was the best thing Gus had experienced in a long time, and he would experience this almost every day.

And then, his owner installed a doggy door, allowing them both access to the outside world, and giving them a glimpse of the possibilities and adventures that awaited them.

In order to begin our story on Ellie, allow me to give you the proper setting.

About a week after Molly arrived at the house, a very timid but friendly Gus decided to voyage out of his home, taking Molly along with him. While he was sniffing the flowers on someone's porch, he started hearing a faint noise, almost like a soft squeak, in the bushes behind him.

As he carefully explored the thick bushes, he stumbled upon a stray cat that was almost as terrified as he was. After they both calmed down from the encounter, Gus realized that his owner wasn't home yet, and he offered the stray to his house for snacks and a movie. But as they were watching a boring scene, the stray got bored and decided to open up the cabinets in order to explore the house more thoroughly. Eventually, she found what she was looking for: pie. Gus and her both loved pie, and she figured that it would make the movie even better.

After they finished the movie and pie, Molly knew that it was around the time that his owner would come home for the day, so she and Gus both hurried the stray back outside to a safe shelter where she could stay for however long she needed. Along the way, he figured that he couldn't just keep referring to her as "the stray", so he named her Ellie, after realizing that the name just felt right.

Ellie would return to the house multiple times to enjoy pie and Star Wars with her new friends.

The doggy door had seemed like a simple thing at first.

To Justin, it was just a convenience. No more rushing home to let Gus outside. No more scratching at the door. Just a neat little flap that let the animals wander in and out of the backyard whenever they pleased.

But to Gus… it was something much, much bigger.

It was an invitation.

Every morning after Justin left for work, Molly would hop onto the kitchen counter and check the clock.

“08:12,” she would say, glancing down at Gus. “That gives us about eight hours and forty-eight minutes before Justin gets back.”

Gus wagged his tail thoughtfully.

“Plenty of time,” he replied.

Ellie usually arrived a few minutes later, slipping quietly through the fence like a shadow with whiskers. She had gotten much braver since the first day Gus found her in the bushes. Now she walked right up to the doggy door like she owned the place.

“Popcorn?” Molly asked.

“Always,” Ellie answered.

Soon the three of them had fallen into a routine.

Molly handled the popcorn.

Gus handled the TV.

Ellie handled the lookout.

They watched movies, explored the backyard, and occasionally conducted “important scientific experiments,” which mostly involved figuring out which couch cushions were the best for building forts.

But one afternoon, something different happened.

Very different.

It started when Ellie came running into the house much faster than usual.

“Guys!” she whispered urgently. “You need to see this.”

Gus paused the movie. It had been the scene where the Millennium Falcon was about to escape, which Gus normally never interrupted. That alone showed how serious this might be.

“What is it?” he asked.

Ellie flicked her tail toward the doggy door.

“Outside.”

The three of them stepped through the flap and into the warm afternoon sun.

The backyard looked normal at first. The fence was the same. The trees were the same. Even the slightly crooked bird feeder was still hanging from its branch.

But then Gus noticed something strange near the far corner of the yard.

The dirt had been disturbed.

Not just a little bit.

It looked like something had landed there.

There was a small round indentation in the ground, and in the center of it sat a metallic object about the size of a bowling ball. It had tiny lights blinking on its surface, and every few seconds it made a quiet beep.

Molly’s eyes widened.

“That,” she said slowly, “was definitely not there yesterday.”

Ellie circled it carefully.

“Do you think it’s dangerous?”

Gus leaned closer. The blinking lights reflected in his eyes.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “But I do know one thing.”

“What’s that?” Molly asked.

Gus tilted his head thoughtfully.

“It looks suspiciously like something from Star Wars.”

The object beeped again.

This time, a small panel slid open with a soft click.

Inside was something glowing.

Something humming.

Something that looked very important.

The three animals stared at it in silence.

None of them moved for a full ten seconds.

Then Molly said the one thing that would change everything.

“We should probably touch it.”

What happened next would lead Gus, Molly, and Ellie far beyond the backyard… far beyond their neighborhood… and possibly even far beyond Earth.

But that part of the story hasn’t happened yet.

Not completely, anyway.

Because before they touched the mysterious object, before the lights grew brighter, and before the adventure truly began…

Something else moved in the bushes behind them.

And none of them had noticed.