Onboard the Aries, Will knew that Verronna had heard the news. He was the only one onboard the entire starship that wasn’t afraid of her. She was chopping up a bunch of metal statues with her diamond sword, and he could smell the weird chemical like sulfur, as most of the statue pieces were still aflame and burning from her black fire.
He waited a full minute before he spoke, “The Karpenters are leaving the Mergez System. Shall we go after them? We can still overtake their tiny little craft. I know you’re not going to let them get away.”
“Don’t taunt me.” Veronna responded. “This one’s on me. I underestimated Captain Maurice Diamond. His maneuver was brilliant! No, I want you to send them my congratulations.” She calmed down a little.
“Your . . . ?”
“You heard me now. After all, space is vast, and there’s no place for them to run.”
* * *
Onboard Starcutter, it was like the end of a very long day.
Everyone was about to start their sleep cycles, except Maurice and Joseph, who were on pilot and communication duties.
Suddenly, the telemetry receiver went wild. A message came through that was typed both in Scarriddian and English languages. Ding. A teletype printed. A message popped out.
“Maurice, this message is printed specifically for you,” Joseph said as he handed him the printout.
Maurice gathered everyone together and gave it back to him. He said, “This message is for all of us. Read it out loud!”
Joseph obeyed the order. He read, “Congratulations, Captain Diamond. Very few people can outsmart the devil. We will meet again on Planet Skallix, and the Karpenters will definitely die. Signed, Verronna of Scarriddia.
“That’s the end of the message,” said Joseph.
By then, Maurice typed in the coordinates to Planet Skallix. Fortunately, Markell had mentioned where this planet might be. The only human-friendly planet in the little dipper constellation.
“All right, crew, we have another planet to save,” said the captain.
Tony couldn’t keep it quiet. “I can’t wait to get my hands around Verronna’s neck! Causing all this confusion!”
“Well, Tony,” Maurice said, “she’s probably got an army with her.”
With that, Starcutter made its first warp to another long journey.