by Max Chase
The captain led them through a corridor and down a steep, winding flight of steps. Are we being taken to another dungeon? Peri wondered.
Captain Grinkox unlocked a door, which slowly swung open. Peri noticed that the walls here were a metre thick. Inside the room sat the king and queen of Xion and Prince Onix.
‘What’s going on?’ Peri said. ‘Why are we under arrest?’
‘You are not under arrest,’ the king said. ‘My son has told me of your prowess as Star Fighters. We would like your help in our fight against the Meigwors.’
Peri looked at Selene, Diesel and Otto. He considered his limited options. ‘We’ll help you,’ he said. ‘On two conditions. First, give us our spaceship back.’
‘We do not have your spaceship,’ the king said.
‘He does,’ Peri said, pointing at Captain Grinkox. ‘You thought it was a toy egg. Come on, hand it over.’
Grinkox looked at the king. The king nodded impatiently. Grinkox took the Phoenix from his helmet and handed it over to Peri.
‘Now for the second condition,’ Peri said. ‘If we help you, you have to stop all attacks against the Milky Way and send us back home.’
‘Yes, yes, I promise!’ said the king. ‘As long as you help us defeat the Meigwors!’
Captain Grinkox cleared his throat. ‘Your Majesty – what about this one?’ He stared coldly at Otto. ‘He is a Meigwor – we can’t trust him.’
‘Yes, you can!’ Otto boomed. ‘My own people have rejected me!’
‘Let me go with them!’ the prince said. ‘I can help!’
‘It wouldn’t be safe, darling,’ said the queen.
‘Mum, I fought a Xio-Bot today,’ Prince Onix whined.
The king nodded. ‘It is Xion custom that a prince must earn his spurs in battle before he can succeed to the throne. I think your time has come, Onix.’
‘Yesss!’ the prince said, punching the air.
On the 360-monitor the dusty surface of planet Xion was fading behind them.
Peri and Selene sat side by side on the Bridge.
‘You all right?’ Selene said.
‘Yeah, I’m – I’m fine,’ Peri said, but all of his body was exhausted – human and robotic. It would be good to go back to Earth. If Earth still exists, he thought.
But there was no time for rest. Planet Earth was certainly doomed if they didn’t beat their enemies.
‘I’m fine,’ he said again. ‘Let’s go sort out those Meigwors.’
A soft bleep from the control panel indicated that the ship’s power cells were fully charged.
‘Time to go Superluminal,’ Peri said.
All they had to do now was defeat the Meigwors, save the Milky Way and somehow find their way home.
‘Easy,’ Peri whispered to himself, even though he knew it would be anything but.
Can Peri and the crew defeat the Meigwors?
Will they ever make it back to the Milky Way?
Find out! In . . .
Turn over to read Chapter 1
Chapter 1
‘Follow that ship,’ Prince Onix screamed across the Bridge of the Phoenix. He pointed at the Meigwor viper-ship snaking away from the dusty orange planet. ‘Make them pay for attacking Xion!’
Peri pulled the thruster levers hard. The Phoenix raced after the enemy craft.
‘Locking target trackers,’ Diesel shouted. The half-Martian gunner cracked his knuckles. ‘One X-plode detonator coming up.’ He reached for the button on the gunnery station.
‘Wait a nanosecond, Diesel,’ Peri ordered. ‘Why is that viper-ship leaving Xion? Where’s the rest of the Meigwor fleet?’
‘Who cares?’ Diesel replied. ‘You blast first and ask questions later.’
‘Stop arguing and do something,’ the prince snapped. ‘You promised my father you’d destroy the Meigwors.’
Peri glared at him. ‘We said we’d help save Xion as long as you never attack the Milky Way again. We need to find out what the Meigwors are up to – then we can start kicking some alien space-butts.’
‘Watch out!’ Diesel shouted as alarms erupted across the Bridge.
A huge purple and silver meteorite was plummeting towards them. Peri jerked the Nav-wheel sharply and slammed on the dodge mechanism. The Phoenix flew past it.
‘What the prrrip’chiq was that?’ Diesel asked.
‘The s-s-space h-h-highway,’ stammered Prince Onix. ‘Look what the Meigwor have done.’
The twisty, twelve-hundred-lane space highway that had surrounded Xion had been shattered into gazillions of pieces. Huge chunks of Astrophalt were caught in orbit around the planet. The viper-ship started blasting its way through the debris.
Peri was not going to let it get away. He checked the Phoenix’s cloak and activated the sprint-thrusters. The ship zoomed along in the viper-ship’s trail, through the space-carnage.
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Berlin, New York and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in April 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP
This electronic edition published in April 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © Working Partners Limited 2012
Illustrations copyright © Sam Hadley 2012
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