George Brown and the Protector (5 page)

“That’s the signature of Chief Palomuk of the
Paiute tribe. He was the Indian chief in charge of this area when I
arrived in about the year 1500 or so as measured in your time, and
he agreed to let me be the protector of this planet for 500 years.”
The protector looked at the parchment wistfully. “Chief Palomuk was
quite a guy. He couldn’t read or write, but not only did he stop
his braves from killing me when I arrived, he offered for me to
marry one of his daughters after he signed this. Of course I
declined since she’s an alien to me, and I’m too young to marry
anyway.”

The protector then looked across the room as
if seeing people and events from long ago written on the walls.
“It’s been quite an exciting time since then until now. I didn’t
think I’d get much activity protecting this little out of the way
planet, but boy was I wrong! Someday, I’ll have to tell you some of
the things that have happened and the times I’ve had while
protecting your planet. Or maybe I’ll just write a book about
it.”

“However!” said the protector loudly before
George could say anything, “I believe you came here because a
certain little yellow bird stole that.” He pointed to George’s
leather pouch, which was lying on a purple table that was wearing
rubber boots on its legs.

CHAPTER 8: The Uth Stone

“My pouch!” cried
George, rushing to the table. He quickly looked inside and was glad
to see that the clear rock was still there.

“I figured it must be something valuable,”
said the Protector casually. “That’s why I used the transformer to
turn me into a bird, so I could steal it from you and lead you
here.”

“You were the yellow bird?” asked George in
wonder.

“Yep,” said the protector. “Actually I’m not
normally a bird. I only became one with the help of the
transformer.” He waived casually toward a little booth with orange
curtains sitting next to the door. “It can transform anyone into
anything. Very handy when you’re hungry and don’t have much cash.
You can change yourself into a fly and get full in no time in
someone’s kitchen – as long as you don’t get swatted!”

The protector waddled over and put the
parchment back into the bookshelf. “I had a visit almost a year ago
from a Ziphon. I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of a Ziphon
before?” Seeing the befuddled look on George’s face, he continued.
“Ziphons never say much, you know. Probably because they live
sideways through time, so they never quite know when they’re going
to be whisked off to yesterday or next week or last year or next
Tuesday.”

“Anyway, this Ziphon appeared right here on
my couch and said in his gravelly voice, ‘you need to help George
Brown. He will soon be called upon to help save his people from
fire and ice.’ Then—pop!—he was gone.”

“I had a visit from a Ziphon too!” exclaimed
George. “Just a little while ago! He told me to find you—the
protector. Only I didn’t know who the protector was.”

“That’s me,” said the protector, puffing out
his flabby chest in pride. “Looks like we found each other just
like the Ziphon wanted us to. Of course, I found you quite awhile
ago, although I had to follow you around for awhile to make sure
you were the George Brown I was looking for.”

“Then you were the bird that was following me
around last year!” exclaimed George. “Did you get hurt when the
teacher shooed you out the window?”

“Not at all,” the protector replied. “Oh, by
the way, sorry about those spots on your fingernails. I was trying
to help you out with your rock crystals, so you could find some
really impressive ones, and I guess I got carried away. You got a
temporary case of crystal-itis – nothing serious, mind you, but
very common where I come from.”

“So you did that too!” cried George, looking
quickly at his fingernails. “Is the crystal-itis gone?”

“Yes,” said the protector, a little
sheepishly. “Like I said, it was nothing serious. I thought the
rock crystals might be important to whatever you need to do to save
your people, so that’s why I tried to help. The Ziphon never told
me what you’re going to do for your people.”

“Why not?” asked George.

“Ziphons are mysterious,” replied the
protector. “They never tell you why. In fact, they tell you hardly
anything. But it’s always best to heed their warnings since they
usually know the future—they’ve been there, you know.”

George thought for a moment. “So, the Ziphon
told you I would be called on to help save my people,” he said
slowly. “I wonder if this rock I found is related somehow to all of
this.” He pulled the clear rock from the pouch and held it up to
the light.

“Gorzubee!” cried the protector, jumping
back. Then, looking embarrassed, he said, “excuse my language, but
that looks like an Uth stone! Where in the galaxy did you get
it?”

“I found it a few days ago next to a fallen
star near here,” said George. “It’s helped me solve math problems
and find a jar of pickled peaches at the store, and seems to have
some mysterious power, but I don’t know how to control it. You say
it’s an ‘Uth stone?’”

“It looks like it,” replied the protector.
“Uth stones are very powerful and very deadly. Little is known
about them, and they’re very rare. I’ve never seen one before –
most people never do in their whole lives!”

The protector turned and headed for the
mirror hanging in mid air by the entrance door. “Come over here and
we’ll look it up on the View All,” he said. “Only keep it away from
me! I don’t want to touch it. If I had known what was in that pouch
I wouldn’t have picked it up when I was a bird.”

George carefully put the rock back into the
pouch, trying as he did so to touch it as little as possible. He
had never thought of the rock as being dangerous before.

Standing before the mirror hanging in mid
air, the protector commanded, “Show me what you know about the Uth
stone.” Immediately the mirror clouded over, and then some pictures
and text appeared, looking very much like an encyclopedia entry.
One picture showed a rock similar to George’s, while another showed
– from a great distance – a very bright planet that seemed to be
almost transparent. The text read as follows:

Uth Stone: An extremely rare and dangerous
transparent gem which appears to have unique powers. Only three
such stones have been observed in modern recorded history, and the
possessor of each met an untimely and tragic end under mysterious
circumstances. The Uth Stone can only be obtained from the planet
Uth (see picture). The planet appears to be solid, but radiates
such an unusual protective shield that no explorer has been able to
make a landing. According to ancient legends on nearby planets,
only the pure in heart can reach the surface of Uth, and only they
can take stones from it. However, this has never been
substantiated. The nature and extent of the powers of the Uth stone
are unknown, since all three of the previously mentioned stones
perished with their possessor. See also, Uth, planet of.

“Well,” said the protector after they had
finished reading the entry, “that doesn’t sound very good for
people like you who have the misfortune of possessing an Uth
stone.”

George found that he was gripping the bag
holding the stone so tightly that he could feel the icy coldness of
the rock even through the thick folds of leather.

“But I wouldn’t pay any attention to it if I
were you,” the protector said with a casual waive of his hand. “The
View All has been giving me a lot of doom and gloom entries like
this lately.” He leaned over to George and whispered
confidentially, “it recently wanted me to string a bunch of
Hollywood style bright lights around it to show off its so called
‘beauty.’ Ever since I refused, it’s been mad at me.”

To George’s amazement, the Uth entry in the
mirror disappeared and in bold, bright letters, the words appeared,
“THE PROTECTOR IS A STICK-IN-THE-MUD!”

The protector gave the mirror a smack and
said, “come on now, that’s no way to behave in front of our guest.
And that entry you gave us is too negative – give us a better one,
please!”

The mirror clouded over for a second, and
then the words appeared, “WHY SHOULD I?”

“Because if you don’t,” said the protector
angrily, “I’ll put you in the darkest corner I’ve got and only ask
you for an entry once or twice a year!”

A billow of angry black fog filled the
mirror, but then came the words, “OH, ALL RIGHT!” Then slowly a new
entry appeared, with the same picture as before. It read as
follows:

Uth Stone: One of the most marvelous finds of
the modern era, the Uth Stone appears to have unique powers which
enable its possessor to accomplish amazing things. The stone
originates from the planet Uth (see picture) which so far has
defied exploration due to an unusual protective shield surrounding
it. However, according to ancient legend, individuals who are pure
in heart are able to reach the surface and remove one of the
powerful Uth rocks. There have been only three known instances in
modern recorded history where such rocks have been observed, but
unfortunately in each case the rock was lost before the nature of
its powers could be fully ascertained. The three cases are: on the
planet Mulara, an individual by the name of Amar Mul used the
mysterious powers of the Uth stone to conquer the invading Methes
and free his planet from slavery; on the planet Zo, a tribe of
Nrefs used the stone to overcome the deadly flying Nubats who could
kill with a single touch; and on the planet Garon, a young Lemian
used the stone to heal his race from a plague of Triots that had
been brought to the planet by trade ships. Unfortunately however,
the stone was lost in the process of each use, and the one using it
also mysteriously disappeared soon thereafter. See also Uth, planet
of.

“That’s much better, thank you,” said the
protector, giving the View-All a gentle pat. “I knew you could do
it.” A cloud of pink, embarrassed smoke appeared on the
View-All.

To George, the protector said, “Well, that
entry sounded a bit more positive, didn’t it? In every one of those
cases the Uth stone was used to help someone, rather than to hurt
or destroy. We can look at the details later, if you want to know
more about the Methes and Nubats and Triots. But I guess what we
need to figure out now is what is going to cause fire and ice
around here, and then figure out how your Uth rock can help.”

“I suppose so,” said George quietly, who was
still feeling a bit unnerved by what he had read on the View
All--and especially the mysterious disappearance of those who used
it.

“I don’t suppose you have any idea who or
what is threatening your planet?” asked the Protector.

“Well,” said George slowly, “something
happened the other night that might help.” He then described the
night the rock had helped him see out into space and the evil
dog-like creature he had seen, with his father standing in the
background.

“Hmm…” mumbled the Protector while rubbing
his flabby chin. “That gives me a strong suspicion of who might be
behind the threat to earth. Come over here to the Snorkfinder and
we’ll see if you can show me the creature you saw.”

“The snorkfinder?” asked George as he
followed the protector across the room to what looked like an empty
glass box.

The protector laughed with a sound like
sandpaper on ice. “You’ll have to excuse the slang. A ‘snork’ is
just a common term for any unknown creature or being that exists in
the galaxy. This little box is officially known as the
‘Intergalactic Index to Creatures Who Breath, Photosynthesize,
Absorb, Leach, Parasite, or otherwise show evidence of Being
Alive’—but it’s a lot easier to just call it the
‘snorkfinder.’”

The protector sat down on a little mushroom
shaped stool in front of the snorkfinder. He touched the center of
the glass front and immediately it started to glow, first pink,
then blue, and then white.

“We could do this on the View All too, but as
you’ve seen it’s been a little temperamental lately.”

In the center of the snorkfinder the words
appeared “Description of Creature Please?”

“Go ahead,” said the Protector to George.
“Describe it the best you can remember.”

“Well,” started George, a bit self conscious
at talking to a machine, “it was very evil looking—“

Instantly across the screen came the words,
“there are 23,467,952,152 evil looking species. Please be more
specific.”

“—and,” continued George, “it had a hairy,
dog-like face—“

The words now appeared, “There are only 1,197
evil looking species with hairy, dog-like faces, so you’re getting
closer.”

“And its eyes were strange, so it was hard to
look away once you looked into them,” said George.

The message on the screen changed to read,
“There are only 15 evil looking dog-like species with hypnotic
eyes—please choose from the following.” Then a series of pictures
appeared on the screen, each one lasting about 1 or 2 seconds
before it would change to a new one. George looked intently at each
one. They all looked hairy and dog-like, and had a very unkind look
in their eyes.

“Gosh, I’m not sure,” he said to the
protector as the fifth one flashed onto the screen. “They all look
so similar. It could have been any of them.”

“Well, there are little differences,” said
the protector. “I’ll bet you recognize it when you see it.”

By now more than 10 had flashed on and off
the screen. But when the 12th one appeared, the hair on the back of
George’s neck stood on end. It looked exactly like the one he had
seen that night!

“That’s it!” he said intently. “That’s what I
saw.” He shuddered, then looked away. He could feel evil from it
even though it was just a picture.

CHAPTER 9: The Grak