Book Description

Saskatchewan Indianapolis Smithe (Polie to friends and foes), is an honorary curator of the Thyemaster Museum of Science and Man-made Arts where he often accidentally causes chaos. By mistake Polie buys the collected materials of a little known explorer and finds a ceramic shard in there that he recognizes as being of some scientific interest. He sets off to obtain the other two pieces that no one else (except tycoon Joe Manx) recognizes as parts of what the explorer called the Masters' Orb, an item of unknown but possibly extraterrestrial origin and unknown but possibly substantial powers. By weird logic and strange good luck Polie gets leads on the two other shards and sets off to obtain them. He finds the second piece included in the ceramics collection of a small art museum. There Manx's men accidentally destroy what they believe is the shard that Polie has identified as the one of interest while trying to steal that. Later, with a bit of luck after a strange encounter with a gargoyle, Polie obtains the shard outside that building.He rescues the third piece as it is about to be destroyed during testing in a lab doing secret research for the Army - having a close encounter of the lagomorph kind to start him on a most unexpected escape route.General Sam Kiddknot sets out after Polie, tracking the third piece by a transponder in its ID tag. The General finds Polie and confiscates all three pieces in the name of the U.S. government; Manx's man steals those - and the General's official Army car, leaving him stranded on a rural farm as well as empty-handed; Polie recovers the three shards from that man and leaves him to confuse his boss about what happened. While alone with it, Polie learns some tricks about handling the three shards, then inadvertently activates them so they self-assemble into that ancient orb - and then demonstrate amazing powers to make things fly or make things that should fly not do so. The orb also projects what appear to be instructional videos that seem to mean that Ancient Astronauts visited and tried to help the early humans. When the sphere alters itself, possibly permanently, that changes the interest of the General and Joe Manx in it. Polie alone witnessed what happened but does not know if that effect can or should ever be reversed.