Two days had passed since the Flibbet skin Protector had been taken out of the zoo prison by the teddy bears. George had done the best job of acting he could, trying to look disappointed and upset about their escape plan not having worked. He even threw a few chairs at the window/wall, to the joy of his ever present throng of teddy bear watchers.

George kept the fake Protector on the towel by the lamp table all day. The first morning, he told Emberly loudly that the Protector was sick, and just needed to rest and sleep a lot, and that this was a normal reaction for a Flibbet that had just lost his skin. He knew his efforts at continuing to fool the teddy bears were succeeding when they came in both nights still gloating over how they had (supposedly) tricked George and the Protector and stopped their escape plan.

It was now the second night since the Protector had gone. George had been jumpy all day, halfway expecting for the Protector to come walking through the transporter and into their prison at any second. Maybe he had been able to steal a spaceship right away! If so, he should be back on earth by now. Why hadn’t he come?

It was hard to not act excited, so the teddy bears watching him on their hidden TV monitors wouldn’t get suspicious. Finally he went to bed. But he couldn’t sleep. He just kept tossing and turning. Where was the Protector now? How much longer would they have to wait before being rescued? Had the Protector run into trouble? If they captured him, would they bring him back here, to be with George and Emberly? Or would they do something else to him? It was a long time before George fell into a fitful sleep.

He dozed fretfully. At times he was partly awake; at other times, mostly asleep. He kept tossing and turning. The light was very dim, so if he opened his eyes, it was almost as if they were still closed. He could tell it was going to be a long night.

Sometime during the night, George opened his eyes. Surely, something had moved over by the wall! With a leap of joy, George realized it might be the Protector! He wanted to jump out of bed and turn on the light to see. But he knew if he did that, the teddy bears watching on the monitors would see also, and would probably rush in to stop their escape. He knew that the Protector must have a plan for them to escape quickly in the transporter, without being caught by the teddy bears. He just wished he knew what that plan was.

His heart pounding, George forced himself to stay still. There it was again! In spite of the dim light, George was sure he had seen something move over by the wall. They were going to be rescued!

“George,” a soft voice called in the darkness. Why was the Protector calling him? Wouldn’t the watching teddy bears hear?

“George,” came the soft voice again. George suddenly sat bolt upright in bed. That wasn’t the Protector’s voice!

“Who is it?” George whispered in a quavering voice. He didn’t need to ask. He knew who it was. He recognized the voice. There was only one possible person it could be. But it was so impossible for it to be that person that he just couldn’t believe it. He just sat there on the bed, shivering, unable to move.

“It’s me,” said the soft voice by the wall. “I’ve come to rescue you. Can you turn on the light?”

“But they’ll see,” George blurted out before he could stop himself. “Then they’ll come and stop us.”

“I’ve taken care of them already,” came the voice. “They’re not watching or listening anymore. Just turn on the light, will you?”

George needed no more encouragement. He leaped out of bed and swiped wildly at the light switch. The room was suddenly bathed in light, so that George was nearly blinded and had to squint. And there, standing against the far wall, was the last person in the world George had expected to see.

“DAD!!” cried George ecstatically, rushing forward. A huge smile covered his father’s face. But he quickly held up his hands. “George, stop!” he nearly shouted. “Don’t touch me!”

George froze, halfway across the room. The smile on his face was frozen too. What was wrong?

“I don’t mean to alarm you, but I’ve got a sickness,” said his father rapidly. “You can’t touch me, or you’ll get it too.”

“A sickness?” said George in a small voice. Something in the pit of his stomach suddenly felt very cold.

“Don’t worry,” said his father reassuringly. “It’s nothing too serious. I’m not going to die, or anything. It’s just not a very pleasant sickness, and I don’t want you to get it. Gives you diarrhea and stuff like that. It’s kind of gross.”

“So, you’re o.k., then?” said George, still worried.

“Absolutely!” said his father, a huge smile all over his face. “It just takes awhile to get over this kind of sickness.” The look in his father’s eye was intense, and George could see a tear in his eye. “Gee, it’s so good to see you! I’ve dreamed of this moment so many times. And now it’s coming true!”

George took a step closer, but his father was still holding up his hands. How he longed to rush into his arms, like he did when he was just a little kid, and his dad would pick him up and swing him around as if he were a sack of potatoes.

But, of course, 12 year old boys don’t do hugs. So maybe just a handshake would do. But he couldn’t even do that! He couldn’t touch his dad at all!

“I’ve dreamed of it too,” said George. “How did you get here? How did you even know I was here? Have you been home and seen Mom and Janet yet? How did you escape from the Grak?” George could think of about a million more questions he wanted to ask.

His father laughed. “Hold on, there,” he said cheerfully. “I know you’ve got an endless number of questions, but I’m afraid there’s just no time now. We’ve got to go quickly, while we still can. I’ll explain everything to you later.”

“But where are we going?” asked George. His father put his finger to his lips. “No more questions right now, remember? Follow me.” He went swiftly through the bedroom door, through the living room and into the kitchen. The outside door that was always kept locked was now wide open!

Even as his heart leaped at the freedom waiting for him on the other side of that door, a sudden hand seemed to grip him by the shoulder and hold him back. Emberly! He had to wake her up and take her too!

George turned and raced back into the bedroom.

“George?” called his father, coming back in after him. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Emberly!” said George, trying to gently shake her awake. “We’ve got to take her with us.”

“Emberly?” said his father curiously. “Who is that?”

“A friend,” said George, realizing it would take awhile to explain. There was so much he and his dad had to talk about! It would probably take months to catch up on it all.

“She looks like a mouse!” said George’s dad in wonder.

“She’s actually a Flibbet,” said George.

“What’s wrong?” said Emberly sleepily.

“We’ve got to go!” said George urgently. “My dad is here. We’re being rescued!”

“I thought the Protector was going to rescue us,” said Emberly. “Even though he got sick and couldn’t go.”

George shook his head. She sure got things mixed up sometimes.

“The Protector did go,” said George. “He escaped that first night. But the teddy bears don’t know it. This here”—and George picked up the fake Protector—“is just a fake.”

“Really?” said Emberly curiously, poking the fake Protector with her paw. “Then the Protector really is going to rescue us,” she said happily. “So why is your dad trying to rescue us too? We’ve got one more rescue than we really need.”

“Just don’t worry about that,” said George in exasperation. “We’ve got to go, before the teddy bears stop us.”

“No!” said Emberly with a firm lift of her jaw. “If the Protector is coming to rescue us, I’m going to wait for him. You go ahead with your dad, if you really think his rescue will be better.”

“But we’ve got to go NOW!” said George firmly, taking Emberly by the paw and starting to pull her.

“I’m not going!” Emberly cried, yanking her paw back. “I’m going to wait here for the Protector!”

“But you’ve got to come!” said George in rising desperation. “We don’t have any time to argue about this. Just come! I’ll explain it all to you later.”

“No!” said Emberly defiantly.

George looked up at his dad, not knowing quite what to do. His dad looked thoughtful. “Maybe she’s right,” he said, while slowly stroking his chin.

“What?” said George in surprise.

“Is this Protector person really coming to rescue you?” asked George’s father.

“Yes, unless he wasn’t able to escape,” replied George.

“Well, when he gets here and finds you’re gone, he won’t know what to do,” said George’s father. “He’ll be worried. You could leave him a note, but the teddy bears will probably take it. So, it really might be best to leave her. She can explain what happened, and they can join us at the planet Uth.”

“The planet Uth?” said George in shock. That was where the mysterious, powerful stone came from—the one that he had found at the fallen star in his prior adventure, and that had saved him from the Grak. Its splendor and beauty came flooding back into his mind in a rush. “But I thought we were going back to earth!”

“We are,” said his father firmly. “But the Glosh who rescued me made me promise to get some Uth stones for them, to help them in their fight with the Grak, so I have to go to Uth first. I don’t really have any choice. Your Protector friend and Emberly can meet us there.”

“Who’s the Glosh?” asked George curiously.

“There you go with questions again,” said his father. “I’ll explain it all to you later. Right now, we have to get going.” He turned and headed to the door.

George followed, but hesitated at the door, looking back at Emberly.

“Go ahead,” she said firmly. “Nothing you can say or do will make me change my mind. I’m waiting here for the Protector, and that’s that! You can go ahead with your old father, if you have to. Just don’t expect me to tag along!”

“She’ll be all right, I promise,” said George’s father from the living room. “This Protector friend will rescue her, I’m sure. And if they don’t join us at the planet Uth, we’ll come back here and get her.”

“Can we do that?” said George eagerly.

“Sure,” replied his dad. “Only, you and I have got to go NOW! Our time is running out! So, come on!”

With one last look at Emberly (who returned his worried look with a flippant shake of her head), George raced out the door and after his father. In no time, they were outside the kitchen door.

George had dreamed countless times of getting past that door, and of the freedom that waited beyond it. In his mind’s eye, he had created the image that the door opened onto a green meadow that sloped gently upward. At the top of the sloping hill would be a spaceship, waiting to take them back to earth.

The reality of what was past the door was nothing like that at all. There was simply a labyrinth of dull, grey hallways, which led past other exhibit rooms. Many paths opened up and branched off from the hall they raced through, going in all different directions. Thankfully, his father seemed to know right where he was going, and was hurrying through the hallway at a fast clip.

His father! George still couldn’t believe his father was really here! It had been so incredibly long since he'd disappeared—and now he was right there in front of him! There was so much George wanted to ask him, so much he wanted to know …

They emerged suddenly from the labyrinth of hallways into a brightly lit room that was quite large. Several of the teddy bears were there, sitting at tables, or standing near a thing on the wall that looked kind of like a water cooler.

George shrank back instinctively. They couldn’t go in there!

“Don’t worry,” said George’s father, looking back over his shoulder with a smile. “They’re all immobilized for a few minutes. That’s why we had to get out quickly. But the immobilizer won’t work much longer. Then they’ll start waking up.”

As they rushed across the room, George saw that it was true. None of the teddy bears moved or even blinked their eyes. They looked like fluffy teddy bear statues. A thrill of revenge surged across George’s mind. It was wonderful to see them as the victims at last, after all they had done to him. It was all George could do to stop himself from rushing over and giving a group of them a quick shove, so they would go sprawling all over the floor.

And then they were outside. To George’s surprise, it was raining lightly, a slow drizzle. George followed his father swiftly across a plaza at the zoo entrance, and out through a gate. There were no teddy bears in sight. It was very late, and apparently they were all tucked in their fluffy little beds for the night. But it was a comfort to see that his father had suddenly produced what looked like a gun in his hand. He was ready just in case they happened to meet any.

They raced through the streets of the teddy bear city. If he hadn’t been running for his life, George would have wanted to slow down and gaze in wonder at the strangeness of what was all around him. The houses and stores were tiny, and had strange signs written on them. Incredibly, the street they were running on looked almost like it was made of candy. If George hadn’t known the teddy bears were actually unfeeling and heartless, he would think he had stepped into a fairy tale land made for children who loved teddy bears.

After a time, George noticed that the houses seemed to be thinning out. There was more distance between them, and more open fields on either side of the road. Rounding a bend in the road, his heart leaped to see a spaceship in a field in front of them. There was no one around it at all.

“That immobilizer sleep potion must have just about worn off by now,” said George’s father, glancing nervously over his shoulder. “We don’t have long.”

They raced across the last open space to the ship. George’s father ducked inside without any hesitation, with George hot on his heels.

Once inside, George’s head reeled in shock. The ship was full of the Grak—almost ten of them! And they were all staring at him with wide, cruel grins!