George raced into the living room where he found the Protector sitting on top of the TV remote control.  “A Ziphon was here!” he cried excitedly.

“What?” asked the Protector in surprise.

“A Ziphon just came and spoke to me!” said George.  “He gave me a warning!  Or at least, I guess it was a warning.  I didn’t really understand it.”

“What did he say?” asked the Protector eagerly.

George screwed up his face in deep thought, trying to remember the Ziphon’s exact words.  “He said, ‘things are not always what they seem—you must learn to feel.’  And there was something else about a new sacrifice that will soon have to be made.”

“Strange,” said the Protector thoughtfully, stroking his hairy, flibbet chin.  “What a curious message.  Of course, Ziphons always were hard to understand.”  He put his hand over his mouth, and said in a low, confidential tone.  “I think they like to show off and over dramatize a bit, so they always make their messages difficult to comprehend.  But what they say always comes true—although you usually don’t understand it until after its happened.”

George nodded in agreement. In the adventure he had shared with the Protector before, a Ziphon had warned him that he might be betrayed by the person he least expected. George had wasted precious energy in suspecting that the Protector himself would betray him--only to learn in the end that the person he least suspected, and who he should have been worried about, was himself!

George shook his head as if to clear it from a fog. Now he had to figure out another bizarre message from a Ziphon that seemed to make little sense. The part of the message about learning to feel didn’t seem to have any point.  What could it mean?  As for the part about a new sacrifice, George felt only foreboding.  The complete sacrifice of self that he and the Uth stone had been forced to make the last time was still clearly etched in his mind.  George had been convinced then that he would not survive!  Would this new sacrifice be as total as that?

“Hopefully you’ll have the Ziphon's message all figured out by the time I come back for you,” said the Protector, to George's surprise.  “For now, I need your help to get ready for my escape tonight.”

"Escape!" cried George, his eyes growing wide.  "Tonight?!"

“That's right,” the Protector replied triumphantly.  “I’ve come up with a plan that is sure to work!”

“How are we going to get away from here?” George asked excitedly.

“Not we,” said the Protector.  “Just me.  For now, anyway.  I’m small and can get away with it, I think.  Once I’m out, I can steal a spaceship and get back to earth—where I’ll use the transporter to come here and rescue you and Emberly!”

“The transporter!” said George, grinning happily.  What a brilliant idea!  The Protector’s transporter allowed a person to step through it from one place directly into another.  It could cover tremendous distances in a matter of seconds.  When the Protector came back for them through the transporter, they would be able to leave this horrible place in a matter of seconds.  "That's fantastic!" cried George.  "But how are you going to get away tonight?” 

“Well,” answered the Protector slowly, “you know how the teddy bears are careful to count us all and make sure we’re all still here each night, before they leave after delivering new food?  To get around that, we’ve got to create an alternate ‘me’ for them to count, so they won’t realize that the real me is going out with them.”

“How can we do that?” said George.  “Won’t they see right through any fake Flibbet we tried to make?”

“They will if we don’t do it right,” agreed the Protector.  “For example, if you claimed I was asleep under a blanket or something, they’d look under the blanket to make sure it was really me.  They’ve done that before when Emberly’s been asleep.”

The Protector smiled deviously.  “But there is a way,” he said secretively.  “It’s a little secret that only someone who knows about Flibbets would know.”  He lowered his voice confidentially.  “I’m going to shed my skin!”

“What?!” said George, staring at the Protector with wide eyes.  “That’s impossible!”

“Not for a Flibbet, it isn’t,” responded the Protector.  “It’s easy, really.  Flibbets can shed their skin anytime they feel like it.  It’s kind of like an insect on your planet shedding its exoskeleton.  After I’ve shed the skin, you’ll just lie it down anywhere in plain sight.  They’ll think it’s me asleep.  But in actuality, I’ll be carried out by them in the trash!  I think I’ll hide in a grapefruit rind, since I’ve always loved grapefruit.  From there, I’ll make my way to their spaceport and steal a ship to get back to earth.”

George was still staring at the Protector in amazement.  “It sounds impossible.  Do you think it will really work?  Will you be able to fly one of their spaceships?  I don’t remember seeing any controls to fly the ship when we went into it on the day we were captured.”

“I’ve flown many different kinds of ships over the years,” said the Protector with a touch of pride.  “I even flew one ship that was shaped like a pretzel.  The controls looked like the handles on a baby toy, but I could still fly it!  So I think I can figure their ship out.  The controls must be in there somewhere.”

George stood up and began to pace the room excitedly.  Could they really escape?  It seemed impossible—almost too good to be true.  But George had never known the Protector’s plans to fail.

“How will you find your way back to earth?” asked George.

“I’ve been studying the stars at night, or at least what little I can see of the stars out our window.  I’ve recognized some of the star patterns, and I think I know what sector we’re in.  We’re not too far from earth, although it would sound far to a scientist on your planet.  I should be able to fly there in just a few hours.”

“You mean, we’ll be rescued by tomorrow?” said George, with mounting excitement.

"Probably not by tomorrow,” replied the Protector.  “Although it is possible if I can steal a spaceship tonight.  But it’ll probably take me awhile to find where their spaceport is.  And of course, I’ll have to study very carefully how to get into their ship and then take off without being stopped, or pulled back by a tractor beam.  It might be a few days before I’m able to get away from here.  But I'll be back as soon as I can.”

"You'll let me know when you're coming, won't you?" asked George.  "By using the communicator ring?"  George held up his finger sporting the ring he had previously received from the Protector.  It allowed him to communicate with any other person having a similar ring, if they both stuck their rings in their ears.

"I'm afraid not," replied the Protector.  "As you know, Emberly and I left our rings in my Volkswagon on earth, before we were transformed into flibbets.  I will get my ring when I get back to earth, but it has a communication range of only a few million miles.  I'm afraid I won't be able to call you on it until I am back here, on this planet--which will only happen when I come through the transporter door to rescue you!"

George frowned in disappointment while the Protector hopped off the TV remote and went into the bedroom and over to one of George’s shoes.  For no apparent reason, he started taking out one of the shoelaces.

“What are you doing?” asked George curiously.

“In order for a Flibbet to shed its skin,” said the Protector, “it has to be strung up from the ceiling by its toes.  We’ll use this shoelace to hang me from the light fixture in the bathroom.”

“You’re going to be strung up by your toes?” said George incredulously.  “Upside down?  Won’t it hurt?”

“Probably,” said the Protector as if pain was unimportant.  “It sounds uncomfortable, I know.  But it’s not bad at all for a Flibbet.  They only experience a short time of agony.  I should be able to shed my skin in about an hour once I start hanging.”

George shook his head wonderingly.  “That’s sure not something I’d want to do,” he said. 

“Now when I’m finished, you’ll have to put my skin on the towel here in the bedroom.  It’ll look just like me.  Then put the real me in an empty milk carton.  That might be better than a grapefruit rind.  Make sure you punch a few tiny holes in the carton, so I’ll be able to breathe.”

“Why can’t you just walk over to the milk carton and get in yourself?” asked George.

“When a Flibbet sheds its skin, it slows down the metabolic rate,” answered the Protector.  “In other words, it puts me to sleep.  I’ll wake up in about eight hours, more or less, which is just about the time they’ll be taking me out.  Until then, I’ll be pretty much knocked out.”

“Are you sure you’ll be o.k.?” said George worriedly.  He didn’t like the thought of the Protector lying around all day, looking as if he were dead.

“I’ll be perfectly fine,” said the Protector with a smile.  He had finally finished pulling out the shoelace.  “Here, why don’t you tie this around my toes.”  He handed George one end of the string.  Reluctantly, George tied the string around the Protector’s toes.

“Now, take me into the bathroom, get up on the counter, and tie the other end to the light fixture in the ceiling,” said the Protector.  “We need to do it in there, so the zoo gawkers outside won’t see me shed my skin.  You’ll have to keep the bathroom door closed during the day.”

George carried the Protector into the bathroom and climbed up on the sink.  “Are you sure you want to do this?” he said, looking down at the Protector.  He looked so helpless and small with his toes tied.  George could hardly stand the thought of him hanging upside down all day in the bathroom.

The Protector laughed.  “Don’t worry!” he replied.  “I’ll be perfectly all right.  Believe it or not, Flibbets love to hang upside down—just like bats on your planet!  Just put a towel on the floor under the light fixture, so when I fall out of the skin, I’ll have something soft to land on.  It shouldn’t take too long for me to fall out.”

Reluctantly, George reached over and tied the other end of the shoelace to the light fixture.  Then he carefully let out the string until the Protector was hanging in the air by his feet, below the fixture.

“That’s just fine,” said the Protector with a yawn.  “I can feel the effect of the skin pulling already.  It’s making me very sleepy.”  He yawned again.

“Now, remember,” said the Protector urgently, “put the towel down on the floor beneath the fixture, and keep checking back in here every hour to see if I’ve fallen.  As soon as I fall out, sneak me into the milk carton, then put the skin on the towel by the lamp table in the bedroom.  Be sure you don’t let the teddy bears see you carrying my skinned self.  And try to carry both the real me and the skin very carefully.  If you’re too careless with the skin, it could rip apart.  It has to look convincing to the teddy bears.”

“Sure,” said George unhappily.  He didn’t like this at all.

“Now, you’d better go on out, and shut the door,” said the Protector.  “Just check back in an hour or so.”

George backed up to the door, where he hesitated for a moment.  “I don’t know about this,” he said with concern in his voice.  “Are you sure it’s o.k.?”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

The Protector laughed again.  “It’s perfectly all right!” he assured George.  “Flibbets love a good skin shedding!  It feels better than soaking in a hot tub—it’s wonderful!  The painful part is only excruciating for a few moments.”  He smiled blissfully, shutting his eyes.  “I feel so sleepy,” he said drowsily.

“You’re sure you’ll just be asleep?” said George worriedly.  “I mean, you won’t be … well, you know …”

“Dead?” said the Protector with a smile.  “I’m absolutely positive I won’t be dead.  Just feel my feet anytime today and you’ll feel that they’ll still be warm.  That means I’m fine.”

“O.k.,” said George, relieved that there was at least a way he could check on his friend to make sure he was all right.  “I’ll come back in about an hour.”  Softly, he went out and closed the door.  There was already a crowd of teddy bears outside the window looking at him hopefully, wanting him to destroy some more furniture or do something exciting.

“What’s going on?” said Emberly sleepily from her towel next to the lamp table.

“The Protector’s figured out a way for us to escape!” said George excitedly.

"Really?” said Emberly in surprise.  “You mean, we’re going to leave?”  She looked almost disappointed.

“Don’t you want to?” asked George.

Emberly threw him a pretend smile.  “Yes, of course!” she said with false enthusiasm.  Then she asked tentatively, “do you think we could take some of the food with us?  It tastes so much better than the bland stuff on your planet.”

So that was it.  All she seemed to care about was the food.  George couldn’t figure how she could think earth food was bland and teddy bear food wasn’t.  But everyone had their own taste.

“Sure, we can take some,” said George.  “We’ll pack a whole bunch!”

Emberly’s face lit up.  “That’s great!” she said excitedly.  “I guess it will be good to be free again.   Although, I guess I never really feel too free on your planet.  Everything there is so strange, I usually just stay in the Protector’s house.  It’s about the same size as this place.”

George smiled, but didn’t say anything.  He’d never really thought about Emberly much, or how life must be for her.  She had lost her whole planet and everyone on it.  Even though the Protector cared for her, it must get lonely sometimes, spending most of her time cooped up in his house in the Volkswagen …

A group of teddy bears were pounding on the glass.  Some of them were even picking each other up and throwing each other at the window, obviously hoping George would start doing the same with the furniture.  They sure acted strange sometimes.  If George hadn’t been on this side of the glass, he would almost think sometimes that he was watching them in a zoo.

"Come on out into the kitchen,” said George, picking up Emberly and putting her in his pocket.  “I’ll get you a big bowl of glue flavored corn flakes.”

Emberly smiled so wide it looked like her face would crack.

The day passed slowly.  Every few minutes, George would go to the bathroom and check on the Protector.  His eyes were closed and he had a contented smile on his furry Flibbet face, but he was perfectly still, hanging upside down from the light fixture. 

After more than an hour had passed and the Protector still hadn’t fallen out of his skin, George started to worry.  The Protector had said it would only take about an hour.  Why wasn’t it working?  Should he wake the Protector up?

But when George checked next, he found that it had happened.  The protector lay contentedly on the towel on the floor.  Without his Flibbet fur he looked wrinkly and bare and tiny.  But George felt his feet and they were still warm.

Carefully, George put the Protector between the pages of a book he was reading and took him into the kitchen. He punched holes in a milk carton, then turned his back on the crowd of gawking teddy bears and carefully put the Protector into the carton.  He left the carton on the counter, next to the trash bin.  The teddy bears would see it and take it with the trash, since they always cleaned up whatever garbage was lying around.

Then George went back and put the Flibbet skin on the towel next to the lamp table.  The skin was all flabby and a bit creepy, and George didn’t like to touch it.  It felt kind of like a furry glove.

Time ticked slowly by.  George finished reading ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ while Emberly watched the same game shows on TV that she had already seen half a dozen times.  She never seemed to get tired of them, even though she had memorized who would win each game.  Every once in awhile, she would go out to the kitchen and have a snack of something or other.

Finally, after what seemed like two days instead of one, the crowd of teddy bears outside the window began to thin out.  It wouldn’t be long now until the teddy bear cleaning crew came into the kitchen, to clean up and restock the refrigerator.

George waited impatiently by the locked kitchen door.  He kept looking into the milk carton to see if the Protector had woken up yet—but he hadn’t.  He still lay there with a contented, blissful smile on his whiskered face.

After a few minutes, a key turned in the lock, and the teddy bears entered—in a cloud of purple smoke as usual.  “Good evening,” said one of the teddy bears.  “Have a nice day?”

“Sure,” said George, trying to act casual.  The key to the whole plan was for them not to look in the milk carton, or they’d find the Protector.  Of course, they never did look through the garbage, so he knew there was little to worry about.  They would usually just gather it up from wherever it was, and take it out.

To George’s horror however, one of the teddy bears went straight to the milk carton and opened the top.  He glanced inside, then looked up at George and smiled.  “He’s in there, all right.”  The teddy bear reached in and gently lifted the Protector out of the carton, then set him on the kitchen table.

“A very clever idea,” said the teddy bear, giving George a knowing smile.  “We didn’t know Flibbets could shed their skin until we heard him tell you all about it this morning.  We were listening in on you all the time, of course.”

George was so furious, he couldn’t restrain himself.  He pounced toward the teddy bear.  But with amazing speed, it darted out of the way.

“Stop!” it commanded.  George stopped.  “Go over and sit in the chair,” it said.  George went and sat, still shaking with rage.

He glowered at the teddy bears in pure hatred and frustration.  All of the Protector’s carefully laid plans were ruined!  They weren’t going to escape after all.  The disappointment felt so thick in George’s throat, he could hardly swallow.

A teddy bear came into the kitchen carrying the Flibbet skin that had been laying on the towel.  “This is absolutely fascinating!” he said.  “It really is his skin!  I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Let’s take it with us,” said another of the teddy bears, as it poured some trash into a big bag.  “Our scientists will probably want to take a look at it.  Be careful with it, though.”

George wanted to jump out of the chair and grab the skin out of the teddy bear’s paws.  He didn’t know why, since he didn’t particularly like the skin.  It just seemed wrong, somehow, for them to take it for experimentation.

“Well, see you tomorrow,” said the teddy bear leader from the door as the others walked through carrying the trash.  “Say goodnight to your friend when he wakes up.  Oh, and by the way, you can get up as soon as the door is closed.”  Then they were gone.

George got up and paced the floor furiously.  “Those blasted teddy bears!” he cried.  “They ruined everything!”  He went over to the Protector on the table and shook him gently.  “Come on!” he said urgently.  “Wake up!”  But the Protector just continued to lie there, with the same silly, contented look on his face.

It was like that for the rest of the night.  No matter how much George shook him or called to him, the Protector wouldn’t wake up.  His feet were warm, but there was no movement, or any other sign of life.  George was starting to get very worried.

He fretted and stewed.  He paced back and forth, finally causing Emberly to complain because he kept crossing in front of the TV screen which she was still watching.  Finally he went into the bedroom and flopped on the bed.

All of their plans were ruined.  And now the Protector wouldn’t wake up.  What had happened to him?  George felt as low as he ever had in his life. 

After awhile, he got up and tried shaking the Protector again, who was now on the lamp table next to the bed.  “Come on, wake up!” he fairly shouted.  But there was still no movement.  Just the same contented look on his fuzzy face.

Finally, George went into the bathroom to brush his teeth.  He knew he wouldn’t sleep, but he had to at least try to get some rest.  When he pulled his toothbrush out of its holder, he noticed a tiny piece of paper folded underneath it.  He unfolded the paper, and saw that it was a note, written in the Protector’s writing.  It read as follows:

Dear George,

By now, you are probably very worried because I won’t wake up.  Don’t worry.  The wrinkled, skinless Flibbet you think is me really isn’t.  You see, when a Flibbet sheds its skin, it stays inside the skin itself.  The rest of it is just a leftover shell.  The feet will stay warm for a few days, and you can use it to show the teddy bears every time they come in.  Just say something to Emberly about how I’m not feeling well, and have to lie down all the time, and she and the teddy bears won’t realize it’s not me for awhile.  By the time they do realize it, I’ll be long gone from this planet.

Sorry I didn’t let you in on my little secret, but I wanted your actions to be genuine and convincing to the watching teddy bears.  I knew they were listening to everything we said.  So I made sure they heard just what I wanted them to hear.  I also knew they would want to take what they thought was the Flibbet skin to their scientists for testing, so that was how I would get away from here.  Don’t worry.  They won’t expect a Flibbet skin to get up and walk away, so they won’t lock me up or anything tonight.  Their scientists are done working for the day, and I will escape tonight, so I won’t be experimented on.  By this time tomorrow I hope to be in deep space, headed for earth.

Take care of Emberly, and try to keep acting disappointed.  Above all, don’t act excited and happy, or tell Emberly about me, or the Flibbets that are watching will know something is up.  Also, make sure you rip up this message into tiny pieces, and put it in your pocket.  Throw it away a few pieces at a time over the next few days, so they can’t piece it together.

See you soon when I come for you in the transporter.

--The Protector

It took a tremendous effort for George to hold back the huge smile that kept wanting to break out all over his face.  Quickly he brushed his teeth, turned off the light and jumped into bed.  It was terrible not being able to yell or jump for joy.  But inside, George felt like he was soaring.  The Protector had outsmarted them!  He had done it again!