George stared at her in shock.  The Grak had come here!  And they had apparently brought her husband, who must have disappeared about the same time as George’s father and Jiu Na’s father!  Before George could ask any of the hundreds of questions that were flooding through his mind, there was a knock at the door.

“My goodness!” said Donna Tereza, bustling over to open it.  “I’m certainly having a lot of visitors today.”  As she swung the door open, George could see the protector standing on the threshold.

“Good afternoon,” he said politely, removing his hat.  Seeing George and Emberly inside he added, “I see I’ve come to the right place.”

“Are these your children?” asked Donna Tereza.  Without waiting for an answer, she stepped aside and said, “Please come in and have a cookie.”

“These are not actually my children, but we are traveling together,” the protector replied, as he entered the room and took a seat at the small table.  “Well,” he said with a smile to George and Emberly, “it looks like you two wandered off to the right place.  I suppose you know already the third fallen star is in the back yard.  I saw it from the hilltop, and have already taken my pictures and measurements of it.”

“Yes,” answered Emberly, her mouth full of cookie.  “This is Donna Tereza.”  She pointed rudely at the old lady.  “She makes the best cookies in the world.  But don’t try the goat’s milk.”

The protector laughed.  Donna Tereza filled another plate with cookies and pushed it under the protector’s nose.  “Now you are complete,” she said.  “He told me three would come, although I didn’t expect you so soon.”

“Someone told you we were coming?” blurted George.

“The same Ziphon that has visited you and Jiu Na, no doubt,” said the protector.  “I presume he came last night?”

“Yes,” said Donna Tereza.  “He was a funny little thing, with a rough voice.”  Her face clouded.  “He came the first time right after I found the clear rock by the fallen star, and said something about fire and ice, and about my helping protect the earth, of all things.  When he came last night, he just said you would come, and that you would have important things to tell me, especially about the dog-like creatures that came here two nights ago and nearly killed me!”

Only Emberly seemed unmoved by this sudden statement by Donna Tereza.  She continued to munch on cookies as if there were no cares in the world.

“Could you show us the clear rock you found?” asked the protector.  Donna Tereza reached to a small shelf over the sink and took down a tiny box.  Inside they could all see another Uth stone, exactly like that of George and Jiu Na’s, sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight which was flowing through the window.  “I put it in this box and have left it above my sink since I found it.  It is a very strange rock, don’t you think?”

“Yes,” said George.  His voice sounded distant, as if it were coming from someone else.  “Has it done anything strange, or helped you in some way?”

“No,” said Donna Tereza, with a curious look at George.  “Of course I haven’t taken it out of the box since I found it.  Was it supposed to do something?”

George shrugged, not knowing what to say.

“Please, tell us what happened when the Grak came the other night,” said the protector.  “Then we will explain why we are here, and what’s going on.”

“Well,” said Donna Tereza uncomfortably, “it isn’t very pleasant.  They came just as it was getting dark.  There were five of them.  I saw them through my window and was frightened, but knew I couldn’t try to escape or they would capture me.  I’m not very fast on my feet anymore, you know.”

“So I stayed by the window, watching them.”  She shuddered.  “They were horrible creatures.  For a time they stayed out by the star.  They seemed to be taking measurements of it.  Then they came to the back door by the window.  I had locked it, but they pushed it open anyway.  When I tried to run they bound me with whips.  I can’t describe why, but when they came in the house, darkness and cold came in with them, and despair too.  I thought I was lost.”

Donna Tereza shuddered, and pulled her shawl tighter across her shoulders.  George could understand just how she felt, and could almost feel the terror that she must have experienced here all alone.

“Then all of a sudden Jose was here,” she said.  “Jose is my husband.  He disappeared one year ago.”

George and the protector exchanged meaningful looks.  First George’s father, then Jiu Na’s father, and now Jose.  Each disappeared one year ago.

“He looked so sad,” continued Donna Tereza.  “He didn’t say a word, even when I begged him to talk to me.  At first I was overjoyed to see him in spite of the terrible creatures.  Then it became clear that he was their prisoner.”

“So, he never said anything to you at all?” asked George intently, staring at Donna Tereza.

“Not a word,” she replied.  “I think he wanted to, but couldn’t.  The horrible creatures didn’t say much either, except threats of how they would hurt me if I tried to escape.”

“Didn’t your husband communicate with you in any way?” asked the protector urgently.  “Since you were married to him so many years before he disappeared, you must have been able to pick up some type of message from him.”

“Only that he was very sad, and was their prisoner,” replied Donna Tereza.  “He did nothing at all, except take my hand and draw pictures on it.  The same as I have dreamed him do over the past year.”

“I’ve had dreams like that too!” exclaimed George.  “My father will come in my window during the night and draw or write on my hand.  He never says a word.”

“Your father?” asked Donna Tereza, puzzled.

“He disappeared one year ago, just like Jose,” said George.

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“Was there nothing else?” interrupted the protector.  “Didn’t Jose communicate at all?  Was there no sign to you, or anything?”  

“No,” replied Donna Tereza.  “After a time they all left.  I begged my husband to stay but the awful creatures pulled him away from me.  They went over the hill too fast for me to follow.  When I reached the top they were gone.”

“Donna Tereza, why don’t you sit down,” said the protector slowly.  “We have quite a story to tell you.”

For the next few minutes the protector told the story of George’s fallen star and the Uth stone he had found, of their trip to China and meeting Jiu Na, and of discovering the Grak’s scheme to stop the earth’s rotation.  While listening, Donna Tereza raised her eyebrows and rocked gently back and forth in her chair, but said nothing.

When the protector had finished she rubbed her hands together in worry and frowned.  “What are we to do?” she asked sadly.  “I am an old woman, and George and this Chinese girl are children.  What can we possibly do to stop such powerful creatures?”

“We’re still trying to figure that out,” replied the protector.  “The Ziphon you met told George and Jiu Na that there was something they could do, to stop the world from turning to fire and ice.”

Donna Tereza nodded.  “He said the same to me, on his first visit.”

“Then there is hope!” said the protector firmly. 

“I suppose so,” said Donna Tereza, “although like I said, I don’t know what we can do.  Shouldn’t we tell the authorities?”

“I’m afraid there is little they could do,” said the protector.  “When your police came to look at your fallen star, they thought little of it.  They would probably just take the Uth stones for examination and force you to move away so they could dig down under the fallen star to see why it is growing a root.  That would probably destroy your home.”

“And what of these ‘Uth’ stones?” asked Donna Theresa.  “You say that they seem to have strange powers, and have done wonderful things for George and the Chinese girl.  Is that what we must use to stop the Grak somehow?”

“We don’t know,” replied the protector meaningfully.  “They do indeed appear to have unusual powers, but there seems to be no way to control them.  I suspect they were simply used by the Grak to transport the fallen stars to the correct location, and nothing more.”

The four were silent for a time, each lost in his own thoughts.  Even Emberly had stopped munching on cookies at last, having reached her fill at last.

Finally, the protector took a small ring from his pocket and held it out to Donna Tereza.  “Take this,” he said.  “It’s a communicator ring.  If anything happens, you can put it in your ear like so—“ the protector demonstrated how to slide it into the ear—“then you can call me or George or Jiu Na at any time.  The ring they have will tighten on their finger and they can then put it in their own ear and talk to you.”

“Amazing!” said Donna Tereza, looking at the ring in wonder.  The protector stood up.  “We must go now, since it’s getting dark.”

In surprise, George looked out the window and saw that indeed it was twilight.

Moving toward the door, the protector said to Donna Tereza, “let us know if anything happens, and we’ll do the same.  Don’t be afraid to call often.”

“Of course,” she replied softly.

“Thank you for the cookies, Donna Tereza,” said Emberly.  The protector looked at her in surprise and smiled.  “That’s very good, Emberly.  I’m glad to see you remember your manners.”

“I don’t know anything about manners, but I know good cookies when I eat them, and I know enough to say thank you,” replied Emberly.

“You are very welcome,” said Donna Tereza with a broad smile.  “You are welcome to come any time and have more.”

After saying their good-byes, the three ascended the hill toward the car in silence.  George was deep in thought about what Donna Tereza had told them.  Finally he said to the protector, “the Uth stone did nothing for her like it did for me and Jiu Na.  And she never had the vision of the spaceship like Jiu Na and I had.”

“That’s probably only because she left it on a shelf,” replied the protector. 

“And the Grak when they came to her, didn’t hurt her,” continued George.  “But they brought her husband with them.”

“Her story is a bit different than yours and that of Jiu Na,” said the protector.  “But not too different.  The Grak must indeed be holding the three men prisoner for some reason, although it’s hard to imagine why the men would be important to their plan.”

They had reached the car.  Quickly they got inside and Ant Number 4 began to move forward toward the transporter door.  George was silent.  He felt a significant amount of confusion and worry.  He wanted so badly to ask the protector more questions, to try to probe and figure out what the Grak were up to.  Indeed, he yearned to trust the protector again, to be able to believe him, and for him to be on their side. 

But he could not ignore the Ziphon’s warning, a warning that apparently had come only to him and Jiu Na, and not to Donna Tereza for some reason.  He had thought coming along with the protector might give him a clue as to how the protector was working for the Grak, and what he and Jiu Na could do to stop them, but there had been nothing.  It still was all a mass of confusion in his mind, and made little sense.

There was a flash of color, a brief vision of music and sound, and then they were through the transporter and back in the rich, California sunshine near the fallen star.  This time, thankfully, there were no bushes or Grak waiting for them.