“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 a few months 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 a few months ago!” 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, you know, 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 platen 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. 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.

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

“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, 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 at 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.

“Hmm, 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.