George stared at the globe, not knowing what to say. The plan seemed too far fetched and incredible to believe. Could the protector be telling the truth? But how could that be, since he clearly had to be the person George least suspected? What was this all about, anyway?
Finally, George said slowly, “So after its rotation stops, the earth will be too hot or cold for people to live on, depending on which side they’re on?”
“Actually,” responded the protector, “nothing will survive long enough to be destroyed by the heat or cold. When the beam of energy grabs onto the fallen stars and the rotation is stopped, the force of arrested movement will be so powerful that everything on the surface of the earth will be destroyed within hours. There will be terrible earthquakes and land slides, such as this earth has never seen. Nothing will be able to withstand the sudden stop in rotation. I know it sounds odd, but everything on your planet is accustomed to the earth’s constant movement of rotation. Everything will be thrown into total chaos when it stops.”
The horror of the plan made George’s skin crawl. Could this be true? Was the protector revealing the actual plan of the Grak? It did seem to fit with what the Ziphon had said about the earth being in danger of fire and ice. But why had the protector told all this to George, since he was apparently in league with the Grak? Was this the whole truth, or only part of the story? And even if it were all true, what could he and Jiu Na and some unknown person in Portugal do to stop it? Indeed, what could anyone do?
As if reading his thoughts, the protector said, “I’ve already notified the intergalactic police of what I suspect the Grak are up to. They’re on there way here now with a search warrant to go through the Grak ship you and Jiu Na saw in space above the earth.”
“The intergalactic police?” said George in surprise. “You mean there’s a police force out there in space?”
The protector laughed. “There sure is, and they’re very effective. But like your police, they can’t do anything until they have all their proof and evidence gathered, and finding such evidence is uncertain since the Grak are good at hiding things. The main evidence they will be looking for are energy turbines strong enough to grab onto the earth, since the power and energy the Grak need to carry out their plain will require a huge power source that can’t easily be hidden. It probably wouldn’t be too hard for them to hide your father and Jiu Na’s father somewhere, but hiding those turbines will be impossible.”
“Then they should be discovered!” said George. “The police will stop them!”
“Maybe, and maybe not,” replied the protector. “Like I said, finding the evidence is only the first step. Then they have to present the evidence through the court system. It will probably take weeks or months for this to happen, even with good evidence of wrongdoing. If the Grak succeed at dragging out this process until this planet is destroyed, then of course the evidence will be meaningless since the destruction of earth will be all the proof that anybody needs—but that will be too late to save your people. And even then, with unbeatable proof of wrongdoing, the whole issue will move into political debates in the senate, which could last years until it is resolved. Indeed, that’s exactly what has happened with Emberly’s planet where everyone was destroyed.”
“You’re kidding!” exclaimed George in amazement. “How could anyone let this happen without doing something about it?”
“Because of fear of the Grak,” replied the protector. “The Grak wanted Emberly’s planet as a spaceport—a glorified space vehicle parking lot, if you will. Before anyone knew what they were up to they had turned every inhabitant on the planet to stone, except Emberly. The planet is still untouched while debates and investigations go on and on in the senate. But everyone suspects that in the end, the government will cave in and let the Grak have the planet, in spite of the horror of what they did to get it.”
“Of course, the real goal of the Grak is not just to build a spaceport on Emberly’s planet, or to turn earth into a storage planet,” continued the protector. "By themselves, these are minor trade issues. But they know that if they come to control enough of the important economic planets and trade routes in the universe, they will become economically unbeatable. With all the power that money brings, they can then try to take over political control and obtain total domination. That’s their real, long range plan.”
“But since everyone knows it, why don’t they do something?” asked George. “How could they let it happen when the Grak are so obviously in the wrong?”
“Because no one wants to go to war against the Grak,” answered the protector. “And that’s what they have to do to really stop them. It’s easier to appease them and give in to them where small worlds like yours and Emberlys are lost, rather than to openly confront them and fight them. Its easier to pretend they have no long range plan of domination. No one will take responsibility to bring the Grak in line. The same thing has happened on your planet. When Japan invaded China in the 1930s, no other government tried very hard to stop them. A lot of other governments complained, but no one stopped them—because they knew they’d have to go to war to do it.”
George was silent for a moment, pondering on what the protector had just said. How could any civilized society allow such things to happen? Did no one care for their fellow creatures? But on the other hand, was the protector even telling him the truth? Could he be trusted?
Were he and Jiu Na wrong in suspecting the Protector? What he has just explained sounded true enough. Indeed, a part of George yearned and ached to believe it and to trust the protector again. But the Ziphon had given him a warning. Who else would they least suspect, other than the protector? And if this was so, what was the true meaning of what the Protector had just told him? George’s head was beginning to ache with all the unanswered questions.
George suddenly felt something vibrate in his pocket. He was about to cry out when he remembered he had changed his cell phone to vibrate rather than to ring.
He pulled it out of his pocket, and could see by the number displayed that his mother was calling.
“George?” came her voice over the phone. “Where are you?”
“I’m right down the street,” said George. “Not far from home.”
“Well, maybe you’d better come home,” said his mother. “Janet keeps insisting that you were gone for hours yesterday without permission, although I don’t remember any such thing. Do you?”
In spite of the stress he was feeling from the Grak, the protector, and everything else going on, George nearly laughed out loud. “How could I have been gone for so long and you not remember it?” he asked in reply.
“That’s what I keep telling Janet,” said his mother with a sigh. “Well, come home soon, please. Maybe you can talk some sense into her.”
‘Not likely,’ thought George to himself. To his mother he said, “O.k., I’ll be there soon.” He put the phone back in his pocket.
“Those happy memory pills work pretty well, don’t they?” said the protector with a sly grin.
“Yeah,” said George with a smile.
“I gave one to Emberly this morning,” said the protector. “She was starting to fret about meeting the Grak again. Now she’s happy as a lark.”
Emberly was rolling and bouncing happily about the room, seemingly without a care in the world. George gave the protector a sharp look. If he had slipped Emberly a pill unaware, could he have given one to George? Or maybe he had been given a different kind of pill that altered his thinking, or made it so he couldn’t remember something the protector didn’t want him to remember! George shivered. He had to make sure he didn’t eat or drink anything the protector offered him from now on.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” asked the protector again. “You seem tense today. You’re not your old self.”
George pretended to laugh it off. “It’s just my throat,” he said. Then, trying to change the subject, he asked, “what about the Uth stone? How does it fit into this whole plan of the Grak?”
The protector frowned. “I’m not sure,” he said slowly. “That’s the one thing I haven’t figured out yet. My suspicion is that the fallen stars had to be positioned just right in order to work properly, so the planet would not break completely apart when it stops rotation. So I would guess that the Uth stones were used somehow to guide the fallen stars to the proper landing spot. After that, they were probably of no further use.”
George scratched his head, wondering. Was there something about the Uth stones the protector was not telling him? Were they really only to guide the fallen stars to a safe landing, or did they have some other purpose? George could hardly stand the suspicion anymore. He needed some air.
“I’d better go,” he said, turning toward the door. He needed to call Jiu Na, to let her know what was happening. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then. First thing in the morning.”
“Right,” said the protector, looking after him in concern. “Be as early as you can. I don’t want to get to Portugal after nightfall, since it will be too hard to search for the fallen star in the dark.”
George pushed open the door, turned to wave to the protector, then stepped through and was gone. The protector stared after him with a worried look on his face.
An hour later, George was in his room. Janet had nearly attacked him when he arrived home, wildly repeating her story that he had been gone for hours yesterday. George’s mother just stood in the background shaking her head, saying she didn’t remember any of it. George, remained silent, only saying that he couldn’t see how he could have stayed out half the day and their mother not remember it. Finally, Janet had thrown up her hands and left the room in disgust.
Now, George was pacing back and forth in his room, trying to remember everything the protector had told him. He didn’t want to leave anything out when he called Jiu Na.
Finally, he put the ring in his ear and, feeling rather silly, said, “I want to talk to Jiu Na.”
He waited in silence for a moment. Suddenly Jiu Na’s voice sounded in his ear.
“George?! Is that you?” He could sense the worry in her voice. He realized she must have been afraid the protector was calling her instead of George, and didn’t know what to say to him.
“Yeah, it’s me,” said George. “I just left the protector a little while ago. He wants me to go with him to Portugal tomorrow.”
“Portugal!” cried Jiu Na. “Why does he want you to go? Do you think it’s a trap?”
As briefly as possible, George explained what the protector had told him about the Grak and their scheme to stop the earth’s rotation, and how they needed to go to Portugal to verify that there was another fallen star there.
“But do you think he’s telling the truth?” asked Jiu Na when George had finished. “What about what the Ziphon warned us?”
“I know,” replied George glumly. “I was suspicious of him all day today. I was so jumpy he kept asking me what was wrong. I think he might suspect something.”
“That’s bad,” said Jiu Na. “I don’t think you should go with him tomorrow. You’ll be half a world away from anyone you know. He could be taking you right to the Grak.”
“But I ran into the Grak right here the other day! I don’t need to go half way around the world to find them,” said George. “And if I don’t go, how will we find out what he and the Grak are really up to? And how will we find out how we can help? The Ziphon did say we could help, although I don’t know how.”
“I don’t either,” said Jiu Na in a worried voice. “I’ve been thinking about it all day, and I just don’t see how two kids half a world apart can make any difference. We need help from someone. But now we can’t trust the protector and I don’t know where else to turn.”
“Neither do I,” replied George. He paused. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe we were wrong about the protector being in league with the Grak. After all, we don’t know that for sure. We’re just guessing, based on what the Ziphon said.”
“That’s just what I’ve been afraid of,” replied Jiu Na. “I thought you might start to think the protector is on our side if you kept meeting him and going along with him. If you spend time with him, he won’t seem like an enemy. He’ll convert you to his side. I’m not around him, so that won’t happen to me.”
“But we could be wrong,” objected George again.
“I suppose, but then how do you explain what the Ziphon said?” asked Jiu Na pointedly. “Who else do both of us know? The Ziphon gave you and I the same message, so it has to be someone we both know. And there’s only the protector and Emberly, and she’s already shown that she’s not in league with the Grak. So it has to be him!”
“I guess you’re right,” said George sadly. “I guess I just wish it wasn’t so. He’s so nice – not like the Grak at all.”
“That’s what makes him all the more dangerous,” replied Jiu Na. “That’s probably why they’re using him. I don’t think you should go to Portugal, George. Make up some excuse. Let him go alone.”
“I don’t know,” replied George slowly, thinking hard. “We’ve got to find out more than we know now.”
There was silence for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, George said, “I think I’d better go with him tomorrow. I’ll stay close to Emberly, since she seems to know how to protect herself against the Grak.”
“I knew you’d decide to go,” said Jiu Na sadly. “I’m half way around the world, so there’s nothing I can do to stop you. But be careful! And call me if there’s any trouble. I don’t know what I could do, but maybe I could help somehow.”
After they had said good-bye, George stood for a long time in his room, looking out the window at the street. It was a sunny day, and the world looked peaceful. It seemed impossible that something so sinister as the Grak and their diabolical plan might soon destroy everything.
DoorJam came into the room and jumped up on George’s bed. George sat down next to him and started scratching under his chin. DoorJam purred appreciatively, twisting around into a better position to be scratched. “I don’t know what to do,” said George to the cat, continuing to scratch him softly. “I’m supposed to do something, and I don’t know what to do.”
George took out the pouch containing the Uth stone. Pulling it out, he held it up to the light. Everything looked normal through it. While it was still cold and caused his hand to tingle, it did nothing else. George placed it on his dresser then concentrated his mind, willing the stone to show him whether the protector was in league with the Grak. Nothing happened. For several days now, the stone had done nothing at all.
George put it back into the pouch, and dropped it in his pocket again. “What am I to do?” he asked DoorJam again. “How can a kid like me make a difference, or stop anyone as powerful as the Grak?”
The cat looked up at him with its large green eyes. George smiled sadly. He could imagine what Door Jam would tell him if he could talk. He would just say, ‘You humans worry too much. A good scratch under the chin and a little food is all that you need. If you were a cat like me, you’d have no problems at all!’
CHAPTER 22: Portugal
The next morning George was out in front of his house early, waiting for the protector. It had been a hard night. He had spent hours tossing and turning fitfully in his bed before finally dropping off into an uneasy sleep, filled with dreams of roots growing through the earth, and of the protector turning into a dog-like creature like the Grak.
That morning he had hardly eaten any breakfast, and his mother had threatened to take him to the doctor. When Janet had suggested the doctor check him for signs of brain waves, they had gotten into an argument. For once his mother had been glad to get him out of the house, and had told him to go out and find something to do until lunchtime. Ever since taking her happy memory pill, she had been less protective and less inclined to call and check up on him all the time. Strangely enough, George found himself almost missing her extreme over-protectiveness, especially now that he could no longer trust th
e protector.
George looked up and down the street. No one was in sight. In spite of his suspicions and worries about the protector, George was curious about what he would appear as today. He was determined not to be fooled like he had been for the last several days.
George paced back and forth on the sidewalk in front of his house. There was no sign of anything unusual, and no flowers waving in the breeze today. Absently, George kicked a rock that was lying on the sidewalk, sending it skittering off into the grass.
“Hey!” a voice suddenly yelled, making George jump. “What did you do that for? Would you like me to kick you?”
George looked wildly all around. There was no one in sight.
“Try kicking someone your own size, next time,” came the voice again. It seemed to be coming from the rock he had kicked onto the grass.
George bent down to look at the rock. Surely the voice couldn’t have come from it. It looked so ordinary. “Good morning, George,” the rock suddenly said in a clear voice.
George jumped back in alarm. “You’re a rock!” he said without thinking.
“That’s correct,” said the rock. “Today, I am a Correlian rock creature. They look just like earth rocks and are very tough, so your little kick didn’t actually hurt me at all. Whenever I feel like getting down to earth, I turn myself into a Correlian rock creature. It’s the only time dirt tastes good, you know.”
“You eat dirt?” asked George in amazement.
“Correlian rock creatures do,” replied the protector. “It tastes great, especially this rich, black dirt you have on earth. It’s just like chocolate. You should try it sometime.”
George frowned in distaste. Eating dirt didn’t sound very appealing.
Then to George’s complete amazement, the rock suddenly stood up and started to move. He could see that it had two stubby little legs on which it could waddle along at a surprisingly fast pace.
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