“That was really good Zarkoff,” said Rocky after he swallowed the last piece of fish, “You must have brought a lot of food with you when you left Polarite?”

“No we didn’t,” answered Zarkoff, “in fact, fact we had less food on Polarite than you have here in the Arctic”.

“So,  you caught all these fish?”, asked Rocky.

“No, I am a terrible hunter”, replied Zarkoff.

“Then where did all these fish come from?”, asked Lance.

“Come with me and I will show you”, answered Zarkoff.  He turned and pressed a button on the wall.  A door opened. Zarkoff led them down a long corridor.   They walked past a large window with many, many fish swimming on the other side.  Lance asked, “Are we underwater here?”.

“No”, replied Zarkoff.  Before Lance or Rocky could ask another question the three entered a large room and lights came on.

“This is my laboratory”, stated Zarkoff, “and that is an aquarium where I grow fish”.

“You can grow fish?” asked Rocky.

“Certainly” replied Zarkoff. “Of course these aren’t the kind of fish you have in your oceans and lakes.  These fish are more like plants.”

“How can a fish be like a plant?” asked Lance.

“Well, it’s pretty complicated, but these fish are grown from seeds.  They have no parents, no brain, and they feel nothing.  They just eat algae and bacteria in the water and grow like weeds until we harvest them,” explained Zarkoff.

“But if you can grow all these fish plants here inside your starship, why couldn’t you do it on Polarite?” asked Rocky.

“Our sun was so hot, the fish plants would burn up as soon as the daylight hit them.  We tried growing them underground too, but our water was so polluted we couldn’t even grow the algae that they eat,” answered Zarkoff.

“Wait a minute, do you think we could grow these fish plants outside in a really big aquarium?” asked Rocky.

“Well, I’ve not tried it, but I don’t see why we couldn’t”, said Zarkoff.

A big smile appeared on Rocky’s face as he said, “So we could feed all the Polar Bears”.

“And the Amazing squirrel”, added Lance. “Do you think you could grow some that tasted more like acorns?”

“Well, yes we could make some taste like acorns, and yes we could feed all the Polar Bears, but we would need an enormous pond and a lot more energy than my ship can generate” said the concerned Zarkoff.

“Oh, so we can’t really do this” said a saddened Rocky.

“Oh yes we can” shouted Lance, “If we can get this ship to fly, I know a way to get you anything you need”

“Well, I’ll need to look over the ship from the outside before I can tell you if she’ll fly again”, said Zarkoff.

“Come on then let’s go outside” said Rocky.

“I think I’ll stay here where it is warm and read your ship’s operating manuals” added Lance. “You two can brave the snow and cold.”

Zarkoff laughed. “Okay little fellow, all the information about the ship is in this computer.  You just have to ask for it by speaking Bear.”

“I can do that.  I am amazing you know”, said Lance.

With that Rocky and Zarkoff went out to examine the hull of  the starship, both hoping it would be able to fly again.

Rocky stopped part way up the stairs.  “Did you hear that?”, he asked.

“I sure did.  Somebody is up there.”, answered Lance.

“No, it’s not Reznik.  It’s Rocky the Polar Bear and Lance the Amazing Squirrel.”, shouted Rocky.

From the top of the steps came the reply, “Well come on up my friends, if you come in peace?”

“Oh yes, we are very peaceful creatures, just looking for shelter from the storm and maybe some food.”, answered the fluffy squirrel.
Rocky climbed to the top of the steps where they found a large room filled with electronics, lights and what appeared to be a yellow striped Polar Bear.

“Is it storming again?  I haven’t been out in months.  That’s when Reznik and Daltry went out looking for help and the ship’s door froze up.” said the yellow Bear.

“Ship’s door?”, asked Lance.

“Yes this is my rocket ship.  I am Zarkoff, chief science officer and captain of the star ship Polarite 12.”, replied Zarkoff.

“Wow, we’re on a real honest to goodness rocket ship from another planet Rocky!”, cried Lance.

“Okay, what’s a rocket ship?  And what’s a planet?”, asked Rocky.

“Well, this was a rocket ship until we crashed landed here about 3 Earth months ago.  A rocket ship is a vehicle for transporting beings and things through space.  Since it can’t do that anymore, it’s just a shelter from the cold.  Now, a planet is, well, you see the stars at night don’t you Rocky?  Those twinkling lights in the sky? “, explained Zarkoff.

“Oh sure, we see lots of stars at night”, answered the confused bear.

“Well, just about every one of those stars is a sun, just like the Sun you see during the day, only it’s so far away you only see a little light in your sky”, said Zarkoff.

“No kidding?” asked Rocky.

“Really!  Many of those suns warm worlds like this one and those worlds are called planets.  Your world is called planet Earth.  My world was called Polarite and used to be just like this part of your world, very cold and icy.  It was the perfect place for bears like me .”, continued Zarkoff.

“So if it was perfect, why did you leave?” asked Lance.

“We had to leave.  You see, our world started dying years ago, and we didn’t pay attention.  Fish started disappearing from our seas.  Plants stopped growing.  The animals that ate the plants and fish couldn’t find food.  Soon there was not enough of anything for any of us.  Therefore, we built ships like this and sent them out into space to try and find a new world. “, explained Zarkoff.

“But how could this happen?”, asked Rocky.

“We were careless.  We wasted our energy on foolish things.  We dumped our trash into the sea.  We played games when we were supposed to be working. We fought a great war because half our leaders wanted us to wear red scarves and the other half wanted us to wear blue ones.  We did not pay attention to the laws of Nature until it was too late”,said Zarkoff as he shook his head in sadness.

“That sounds like the humans on this planet.”, said Lance.

“You may be right Lance, but I have been studying your world, since I arrived, and I see some definite signs of hope”, said Zarkoff.

“Our ice flows have started to melt, and we are having a terrible time finding food.  Do you think we can fix this?” asked Rocky.

“Rocky, I know we can.  Let me show you something.”, said Zarkoff, “Follow me”.  Zarkoff walked through a doorway and the boys followed.
There on a table was big platter of fish.  “Help yourself”, offered Zarkoff.
The two guests began to eat.

“This is the best fish I ever had.”, said Lance, “Of course I’ve never eaten fish before, but I think I like it”.

“Where did all this come from Zarkoff?”, asked Rocky, “You must be the best fish catcher ever.”

Zarkoff grabbed a piece of fish for himself and laughed, “Well, you two eat your fill, and then I will share my fishing secret with you”.

Rocky was getting tired.  Lance had wrapped himself in his tail to try and keep warm.

“How much further sir Rocky?”, asked Lance.

“We’re almost there little fellow.  The canyon is just a few more steps.”, answered Rocky.

Rocky could see the narrow entrance to Echo Canyon through the blowing snow.
He felt the arctic wind getting stronger, so he started to run.
Just as he slipped through the entrance an avalanche of snow crashed down and sealed them inside.
The walls of Echo canyon were very high and sheltered them from the blizzard outside.

“Are you okay Lance?”, asked Rocky.

Lance poked his head out from under a clump of snow that had fallen on Rocky’s back.

“J-J-J-Just a lit-t-t-tle c-c-c-old”, shivered the tiny squirrel.

“Hey, there’s a cave over there.  And I think I smell food. Hang on.”, said the mighty Polar Bear.

Rocky went into the cave with Lance still clinging to his back.  It was very dark.
He walked deep inside sniffing the air until he couldn’t even see the nose on his face.

“There’s definitely some fish in here, Lance, but it’s too dark, and I’m too tired to go any further.”, said Rocky,
“We’ll get some rest and then see what we can find.”

“F-F-Fine by me.” said Lance.

Rocky reached back and grabbed Lance by the tail.  Then he leaned back against the cave wall,
cradled the trembling squirrel in his arms and they both fell asleep.

“Sir Rocky!  Sir Rocky!  Wake up!  Wake Up!”, cried Lance as he danced up and down on the bear’s head.

Rocky opened one eye and saw nothing but the squirrel’s head.

“What?  Huh? Oh yeah, Lance the Amazing squirrel, right?” mumbled Rocky as he closed his eye and tried to go back to sleep.

Lance shouted , “No! No! Don’t sleep!  Come on, you have got to see this!”

“In a minute squirrel, I just need a few more minutes”, said the sleepy Polar Bear.

Lance stuck his whole face in Rocky’s ear and whispered, “I think I know where the food is.”

Rocky’s eyes opened wide and he sat straight up sniffing the air.

“Food!  You found the food? Lead the way squirrel”, said Rocky.

Lance scampered down from Rocky’s head and ran back into the cave.
It was still pretty dark but the morning sun was reflecting off the snow outside and there was just enough light to see where Lance was going.

“Look at this.” said Lance.

Rocky saw before him a large shiny metal wall with funny scratches all over it.  “What is it?” asked Rocky.

“It’s a door.”, answered Lance.

“What makes you think it is a door?”, asked Rocky.

“Duh, it’s written right there”, answered Lance pointing to the strange lettering,  “See, it says Main Door”.

“If you say so Lance.  I can’t read that”, said Rocky.

“Oh, that’s right.  This isn’t Polar Bear writing it’s actually very similar to an ancient eskimo language”, said Lance.

“Well, if it’s a door, how do we open it?”, asked the bruin.

“Hmm”, continued Lance, “It doesn’t say.  Maybe if we clear away some of this ice and now there will be more writing”.

With that the two started rubbing and brushing and scratching at the frozen water all around the edges of what Lance said was a door.
Soon Rocky found one edge of the door. Lance was found some more writing on the other side and was licking the ice away so he could read it.

“It says pull handle to open, but where is the handle?” asked Lance.

“I think it’s over here.  Doesn’t this look like a handle under this block of ice?” answered Rocky.

“Yes it does.  Let me help you”, answered the fluffy squirrel as he ran up Rocky’s back and started clawing at the snow on top of the handle.

“Okay, watch out Lance, I think I can pull it now” shouted Rocky as he grabbed the top of the handle with both paws.

The brawny bear pulled with all his might and the handle started to move, but Rocky lost his grip and fell to the cave floor.

“Are you okay?” asked his friend.

“Sure! I think I can get it now” answered Rocky.  He got back up, rubbed his paws together, grabbed the handle again and jumped up so all his weight was pulling down.
The handle creaked and groaned and slowly lowered.  Suddenly, the door started getting warm and quickly melting all the ice and snow around it.  Then it slid open revealing a well lit stairway large enough for a Polar bear to climb.

“What is this?” asked Lance

“I don’t know, but I really smell fish now”, said Rocky, “and I am really hungry now, so let’s go”.

Lance jumped on Rocky’s back, and they started up the stairs.

“Reznik, is that you?” asked a gruff voice from the top of the stairs.

Rocky had landed at the base of Drift Mountain.  He was kind of groggy, but he was sure he heard a voice.  There was something under him, so he rose up on his four legs.
Beneath him was a suitcase with a big dent in it.  There was a small hole too.  Rocky couldn’t be sure but it looked like there was an eye peaking through the hole.
Then a voice said, “Hey bear, whoever you are, let me out of here.”

Rocky flipped at the latches with one of his claws and soon the case popped open.  A little red squirrel jumped out, stood up on its hind legs and put on a small pair of glasses.
“Oh good, they aren’t broken.  You should be more careful Mr. Bear”, said the squirrel.

“I’m sorry Mr. Squirrel”, apologized Rocky, “but your case was buried in the snow up there, and I guess I tripped over it”.

“What? Buried in snow?  There’s no snow in Hawaii!”, cried the Squirrel.

“Well, I don’t know anything about this Hawaii place, but you are in the arctic North and there is always snow here”, explained Rocky.

“Now see here, Mr. Bear.  I have been cooped up in my traveling case for almost 3 days, and I am in no mood for your jokes.  Just direct me to the Ringmaster, and you can get back to your cage”, said the angry squirrel.

“Ringmaster? Cage? Did you hit your head little fellow? You are in the arctic.  You and your case just bounced down the far side of Drift mountain.  And, if you are interested, you can climb back up the mountain and see the ice palace of King Boris on the other side”, answered Rocky.

“Wait a minute! We don’t have any Polar Bear’s in the circus. Are you new here?”, asked the squirrel.

“No, I’m not new here You are. My name is Rocky. There is no circus and if you want to come with me, you can help me look for food”, said Rocky.

“Well this is very strange. Clearly, this is not Hawaii. Therefore, let’s start again.  How do you do Rocky, I am Lance the Amazing”, said the squirrel.

“How do you do Lance.  What makes you so amazing, besides being able to speak Polar Bear?”, asked Rocky.

“Well I can read ANY language and speak quite a few”, replied Lance.

“You wouldn’t be related to that little gold fish I met this morning?”, asked Rocky.

“No, I am 100% squirrel.  Though, I do speak Whale and Dolphin.” answered Lance.

“Well Lance the Squirrel, it looks like a big storm is brewing, so if you are coming with me, we’d better get moving.”, said Rocky.

“Do you mind if I climb aboard?  I think we would make much better time.” said Lance.

Rocky bent down and held out his front paw.  Lance scurried up onto Rocky’s back and nestled into the thick neck fur.

“Onward Sir Rocky”, shouted Lance.

The pair set off towards the distant Echo canyon as the clouds rolled in and wind began to blow.

Rocky had never been to the Ice Palace.  No one in Rocky’s family had ever been there.  There had been no reason for them to go.  For as long as Rocky could remember food had been plentiful for those willing to hunt and fish for it.  However, something had changed.  The paths that Rocky’s mother and father had followed were gone.  The herds of sea lions and schools of fish had vanished.  All the polar bears were heading to the top of the world.  They were all looking to King Boris to tell them what to do.

The palace was much smaller than Rocky had imagined.  So small that only one hundred Bears would be allowed inside.  Thousands huddled outside the gates  in the ice and snow hoping that they would be one of the lucky ones permitted to see the king.  As Rocky approached the gate a bear with four small cubs was turned away.

“State your name” said the guard.

“Rocky of flow 17″ answered Rocky, “But what about them?”

“They are not on the list.  And you…wait did you say flow 17?” , replied the guard, “There is no Flow 17.  Not any more”.

“That’s right”, said Rocky, “I swam for 4 days to reach a foot hold”.

“That’s impossible.  Go away bear.  Next.” said the guard.

As Rocky turned, he saw the mother bear fall to the ground.  The four cubs were crying.   Rocky reached down, picked up the mother bear in and stood very tall on his hind legs.

“Come on kids.  Hop on.  We’re going to get your mommy some help”, said Rocky.
The cubs climbed on to the back of the powerful bear. 

“Injured mom coming through!”, shouted Rocky.
 The crowd of bears parted as Rocky marched back up to the guard.  This time Rocky did not let him speak.
“Open those gates and let this poor mother and her children in”,  he growled.

The guard looked very nervous.  “But…” he tried to argue.
 
“NOW!”, growled an even more ferocious Rocky.

The guard opened the gate and Rocky stepped inside.
“You there” he said to a young female on the steps of the great hall, “Come and tend to this family”.
The young female ran to down the steps as Rocky laid the mother down and placed the cubs around her.
“Your mother will be fine now children.  This beautiful maiden will see to it, WON’T YOU?”  he said.

“Of couse I will” she answered, “but won’t you stay with your family?”

“This is not my family.  These are just some unfortunate bears waiting for your great king to help them”, answered Rocky.

“But he’s your king too and…”, she tried to reply.

“My King would never allow his guards to turn away a starving widow and her orphaned cubs”, shouted Rocky,
“My King wants to protect and help all bears.  I thought he lived here, but I was wrong”.
With that Rocky pushed open the gate and went back out into the arctic cold. 

“Where are you going?” asked one of the bears waiting outside the gate.

“I’m going to find my own food”, said Rocky.

“But you were inside.  Why didn’t you stay?”, asked another.

“”That mother and her children need this place more than I ever will”, answered Rocky, “If it was up to me, no adult bear would be fed until all the cubs have eaten”.
As Rocky walked through the crowd they began to cheer him and pat him on the back.

“You are a hero” they cried.

But Rocky did not hear them,  he was busy thinking about where he would go now. 
As he reached the top of Drift mountain, he looked back at the scene outside the palace. 
There he saw all the cubs being helped to the front of the line by all the adult bears.
The gate was open and the young maiden was watching over the young ones as they entered the palace.
“Good”, he thought, “At least the children will get something to eat”.

“Eat!” Rocky remembered his shark lunch.
“What was it that little fish told me to say?”, he pondered, “Oh yes, fish fish grant my wish.  Help me find a way to feed all the bears”.
He stopped.  He waited.  But nothing happened.
“I thought so”,  he reasoned, “I must be crazy to think a tiny gold fish is going to help us”.

Rocky took three more steps and tripped over something buried in the snow.  He lost his footing and rolled down the far side of Drift mountain.
He had stumbled over a small case and knocked it loose.  It bounced down the mountain just ahead of him.  Rocky landed on top of it and nearly
crushed it.

“Hey, watch out for my glasses” came a voice from inside the case.

Rocky was a very hungry polar bear.  It had been 8 days since he had eaten! He cut a hole in the ice and was trying to catch some fish.  It was very cold.  He was only few miles from the palace of the king, but he couldn’t go on until he had something to eat. He saw a large fish swim by the hole and tried to grab it with his mighty paw. BUt when he pulled out of the icey water he had only a very tiny golden fish.  He looked at the fish and felt his stomach growl.  He raised the fish to his mouth and suddenly the fish spoke…

“Please Mr Bear don’t eat me.  I am too tiny to fill your large tummy” 

Rocky stopped and looked at the fish.  He had never heard a fish talk before. 
“You can speak bear ?” he asked.

“Yes, I can speak to all animals, except humans”, answered the fish.

“I see” replied Rocky, “Humans are very hard to understand sometimes.  Well, I doubt I would even get a taste from such a tiny creature, so back you go”.  With that Rocky threw the fish back into the water and said “I guess I’ll just try and make it to the palace without anything to eat”.

As the tiny fish fell toward the water a huge Greenland Shark leapt from the fishing hole.  Rocky slapped at the shark and knocked it on to the ice allowing the little fish to plop safely into the water.  

The golden fish came back to the surface and said, “Thank you Rocky.  You have saved my life twice today.  I grant you five wishes.”

Rocky spoke, “Five wishes, huh? I’ll settle for something to eat”

The golden fish replied, “Oh, but your shark lunch is already on the ice behind you.  When you need something else, all you have to say is Fish Fish Grant my wish and then say what you want.” 

“Okay Goldy, I’ll remember” laughed Rocky thinking maybe all those days without food had made him a little crazy.  He rubbed his eyes and shook his head about, but when he turned around his shark lunch was still waiting for him.  Rocky ate and ate.  When other bears were drawn near by the scent of the shark, he offered to share.

One of the bears asked, “Are you going to the Palace?”

“Yes” Answered Rocky, “I heard they had all the food we could ever need there”.

“That’s not what I heard” said another, “King Boris is trying to find food enough for the whole polar bear kingdom.”

“Well” said Rocky, “Either way we have nowhere else to turn, so we’ll just have to go hear what the King has to say.  By the way, did any of you hear a fish talking bear when you walked up?”

“A fish that talks bear?”  they cried, “Rocky, you’d better eat the rest of this shark.  You need it more than we do.”

“Ya, I guess that is pretty wacky” said Rocky “Let’s get to the palace!”