George turned quickly around and found himself facing the last thing in the world he would have expected.  It looked like a teddy bear, with fluffy arms and legs, a fuzzy face, and a whimsical smile on its face.  It stood only a foot tall.

“Who are you?” George blurted out in surprise.  Before the creature could answer, George felt something scampering up his leg.  Looking down he saw the Protector and Emberly scurrying up his shirt and into his pocket.

"Quick!” called the Protector.  “Let’s get out of here!”

“Why?” said George in surprise. 

“When was the last time you saw a teddy bear talk?” said the Protector in exasperation.  “It’s obviously from an alien world, and we don’t know if it’s dangerous!”

George almost laughed.  “But it looks like a harmless teddy bear!  How could it be dangerous?”

“Looks can be very deceiving,” replied the Protector

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” said the teddy bear in its soft, child-like voice.  “My name is Theodore, and I come from the planet Rosvelt.  I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Run!” cried the Protector from George’s pocket.  “Let’s get out of here fast!”

This time George did laugh.  “What for?” he answered.  “I don’t think Theodore could hurt us if he tried!”

"He’s right,” said Theodore pleasantly.  “I would never hurt you.  I just want to take you.”

With amazing speed, and before George or the others could even move, a strange round object appeared in the fuzzy creature’s hand.  There was a click from the object, and a purple gas shot in a cloud over George and the others. 

George now needed no urging from the Protector.  This teddy bear had just shot something at them!  George turned to run.  He had taken only two steps when the fuzzy creature called out “Stop!”

George stopped.  He didn’t know why.  He only knew he had to.  He just couldn’t help himself.

“Come back here,” said the teddy bear creature in its soft, pleasant voice.  In spite of his best efforts to run or to stand still, or do anything but go back to the creature, George found himself turning and walking back over to the fuzzy little thing.

The teddy bear smiled up at George and the others happily.  “Time for us to go,” it said simply.  “Follow me, and stay close.”

“George, don’t!” cried the Protector from his pocket.  But George couldn’t help himself.  He found himself trotting along after the furball almost like he was its pet dog.

“Quick, Emberly!” cried the Protector.  “Let’s jump out of the pocket, and go back to my car and get a weapon.”

“O.k.” said Emberly eagerly.  But neither one of them could move.

“We’re stuck!” cried the Protector, with fear in his voice.  “The gas it shot at us somehow forces us to obey its every command--including the command to stay close to it!”

“I’m sorry!” said George miserably.  “I should have listened to you and ran when we first saw it.”

“Don’t feel bad,” said the Protector consolingly.  “I don’t think it would have let us escape even if you had run as fast as you could go.”

“Where do you suppose it’s taking us?” asked George worriedly.

Before the Protector could answer, the teddy bear creature called back softly, “Be quiet, please.  Too much chatter makes a bad specimen.”

George’s mouth suddenly felt as if it had been sealed shut with cement.  Try as he might, he couldn’t force himself to utter a word.  Since the Protector and Emberly were silent as well, it was clear that they were powerless to speak too—a great tragedy for Emberly, who liked to chatter all the time.

They suddenly broke through a particularly thick patch of tall weeds and into a clearing.  In the middle was what could only be described as a spaceship.  It was silver in color and circular in design.  Standing near it were several more of the fluffy little teddy bear creatures like the one that had captured them.

The teddy bear they had been following said “stop!”  Instantly, George felt as if he had become rooted to the spot.  The other teddy bears came rushing up and started to jabber excitedly, obviously asking Theodore a multitude of questions.  They all talked in a curious, sing-song language that George could not understand.

After a moment, one of the bears broke away from the group and came up to George.  He was much taller than Theodore, and was almost the same height as George.  His face looked so fuzzy and babyish that George didn’t know whether to laugh or be frightened at him.

“You may talk again," he said simply.  "You certainly look like a very good specimen,” he added, with a satisfied smack of his lips.  He started to poke at George with a long stick.

“Hey!” cried George.  “Cut that out!” 

The teddy bear paid no attention to him, but suddenly reached up and started to tickle George under his arms.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Stop that!” cried George again, in between fits of laughter. 

“Good reflexes,” said the teddy bear happily.  “Let’s try one more thing.”  Without warning, he stomped his furry foot down as hard as he could on George’s foot.  George was surprised that it actually hurt, even though the teddy bear looked so light and fluffy.

“Ouch!” cried George.  “What did you do that for?”

“Good!  Very good!” said the teddy bear, rubbing its furry paws together in glee.  “Pain reflexes are strong, and linked to anger!”  Then he turned and went back to the others, jabbering excitedly.

“What’s going on?” said George.

“I don’t know,” said the Protector worriedly.  “They keep calling us ‘specimens.’  That doesn’t sound too good.”

“Since the command for us to stop talking is over, maybe the other commands were released too, "said George.  "Do you think we could escape now?  Maybe I could run out of here!”

“Good idea!” said the Protector.  But before George could move, the teddy bear that had captured them turned and came over to them.  “Enter the ship,” he said, pointing to a little door that had appeared in the side of the silver spaceship.

Much as he didn’t want to, George had to obey.  He fought the command with everything in him, but it was no use.  He found himself walking briskly up the ramp into the ship, while twitching and jerking and grimacing with the effort to stop himself from walking forward.

“Can you please stop jerking around so much?” said the Protector in a shaken voice.   “Emberly and I are getting thrown around like crazy in your pocket!”

“Sorry,” said George.  “I was trying to resist his command.”

“It’s probably no use trying,” said the Protector sadly.  “Whatever was in that purple gas is very powerful.”

By now, George was entering the ship.  He had to stoop down so low to get through the tiny door that the Protector and Emberly nearly fell out of his pocket.  Inside, he stopped and gasped.  He had seen the inside of spaceships on TV shows many times, but that hadn’t prepared him for what he saw now.

The place looked like a large play pen.  There were fuzzy, soft beds, and what looked like toys or playthings all over.  Along one whole wall was a large variety of what looked like snacks or food, and drinks of some kind.  There were many of the furry teddy bears inside, some playing, others eating.  There was no sign of any type of control panel at all, or of any way to control the spaceship.

The furry teddy bears in the ship had all turned to stare at him.  Several of them rubbed their paws together in glee.  “Specimens!” several of them cried excitedly. 

Instantly, George found himself surrounded.  He was poked, prodded and tickled by dozens of the furry little things.  If their situation wasn’t so desperate, he would have fallen over laughing at how ridiculous everything was.

“What are you going to do to me?” George demanded.  “And why do you keep calling me a ‘specimen?’” 

“Fiesty, isn’t he?” said one of the furry creatures.

“That will make him seem more real and believable,” said another.

“But it could mean he’s more dangerous,” said a third.  “We’ll have to keep a close eye on him.”

"Look what he’s got in his pocket!” said one of the furballs, pointing at Emberly and the Protector.

There was a collective gasp of excitement and awe as all of the teddy bears stared at the Flibbets.  “They’re specimens too!” said the teddy bear that had captured them proudly.  “I found them all together.  But of course, they’re not as impressive as the big ugly one.”  He jerked his paw at George.

“I am not ugly!” George blurted out.

“Told you he was feisty,” said one of the bears.

“He’s not very smart, though,” said another.  “He’s too dumb to realize how ugly he is.”

George’s face was starting to turn purple with restrained rage. 

“Now, you’ve done it!” said one of the teddy bears reproachfully.  “A purple-faced specimen is no good to us.  You know how sensitive ugly creatures are about their appearance!  Why did you have to say anything?”

“I think we’d better calm him down, before the purple color spreads all over his ugly body,” said the original teddy bear that had captured them.  Without warning it produced another curious round object in its paw, and sprayed George and the others with a greenish gas.

Suddenly, everything looked very blurry to George.  His eyes were drooping, and he could feel himself losing consciousness.  With a last desperate effort, he swung his fist at the teddy bear that had caught them.  But he missed by a mile.  The last thing he remembered was the smiling face of the fluffy creature leering down at him as he fell and sprawled out on the padded, furry floor.