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jumped into the captain’s chair and hit the pyramid-shaped button to fire up the engines. ‘Selene,’ he said, ‘override Haven’s security and beam us out of here!’
    ‘Already on it,’ she yelled as her hands darted over the controls. A flash of bright light filled the Bridge and then vanished. They were back in outer space.
    With a twist of a zip-dial Peri removed the Phoenix ’s disguise, then pulled down the thrusters and set their speed to maximum. As soon as they were clear of Haven, he planned to find out what was on Diesel’s Mission Capsule.
    ‘Something’s following us,’ Diesel said. ‘They’re too small and fast to be ships or drones. Magnifying now!’
    A black-and-yellow mist appeared on the screen. As the 360-monitor zoomed in, Peri saw thousands of small robotic wasps swarming towards them.
    ‘Zespa!’ Selene cried. ‘My dad told me about them. Their wings are made from ultra-sharp blades and will tear through the Phoenix like a photon beam through ice. Activate shields.’
    ‘ Ch’açh!? ’ Diesel exclaimed as the cloud of Zespa grew larger and wider. ‘Haven’s scanners have damaged our shields too! They won’t take many hits.’
    ‘We’re going to have to outrun the Zespa!’ Peri grabbed the Nav-wheel and fired the thrusters. It was going to take all his ability to outrun a million robot wasps in an enormous asteroid field.
    Something sleek and metallic caught his eye. It was a small, one-man fighter, blasting away from Haven.
     

     
    ‘Jaxx!’ Peri yelled and pointed at the 360-monitor. ‘Otto and Diesel, start shooting Zespa!’ Peri swung the Phoenix round to follow Jaxx. Within seconds, Otto was blasting with the Phoenix ’s quantum-blaster.
    Chung-Tung-Tung! Shoow-waaawk!
    Diesel was firing the laser cannon. ‘Seventy destroyed!’ he yelled.
    ‘That’s nothing!’ Otto shouted. ‘Two hundred vaporised.’
    Chung-Tung-Tung! Shoow-waaawk!
    ‘Three hundred obliterated!’ Diesel yelled.
    Peri swerved around a space-rock, then dodged more Zespa. They were everywhere. Every time he spun around an asteroid more deadly creatures were waiting. It wouldn’t take long before they’d overwhelm the ship and Jaxx’s craft was getting further and further away.
    ‘I’ve got something that might help,’ Selene said. ‘An electro-pulse!’
    ‘But it’s never worked properly,’ Peri hissed. ‘This is not the time to test out a new gizmo!’
    ‘Trust me!’ Instead of reaching for the gadget she had left on board when they teleported on to Haven, Selene pulled a different one from her bag. It was almost identical. It was the device he had seen Selene fiddling with on Jaxx’s ship and then hidden from him.
    Peri wove in and out through the swarm of Zespa, narrowly missing an asteroid. They didn’t have much choice – it was Selene’s device or nothing. He nodded at her. ‘Give it a try!’
    Selene activated the electro-pulse.
    Huummm-mmm-MMM! Beep-Beep-BEEEEP!
    Its strange racket got louder and louder, and then went completely silent before a blinding flash of blue light erupted from the gadget. Peri’s eyes flickered and his body twitched as the pulse crackled through him and out into space.
    In an instant, the Zespa were nothing more than floating dots spiralling slowly away through space.
    ‘ Mars’rakk !’ Diesel cheered as he high-fived Otto. ‘Selene, I can’t believe it worked. How did a wastoid like you manage that?’
    ‘It was nothing. Just some . . .’ Selene looked away. ‘Hey, where’s Jaxx?’
    Peri activated the long-range scanners. They showed . . . nothing.
    ‘He’s escaped!’ Otto boomed.
    ‘Not for long,’ Peri said. ‘I know where he’s heading. If we use Superluminal speed, we can beat him to the rings of Saturn.’
    Peri slid open the red Superluminal panel and punched in the coordinates. He flicked the switch and the Phoenix moved faster than light itself. As the view in the 360-monitor blurred into a swirling pattern of