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starlight, Peri felt for the Mission Capsule in his pocket. He looked around. Diesel and Otto were comparing footage of their Zespa-blasting. Selene was fiddling with her gadget again. They were distracted, but Peri knew they’d notice if he slipped away. He didn’t have much time before they reached Saturn. And he needed to see what Diesel’s Mission Capsule said before they got there. He didn’t want any more surprises.
    His hands tingled as a button labelled Sneak-o-Cloak flashed on the controls. He smacked it and saw a faint shimmering green field of energy projected from the control panel. As the light stretched past, Peri’s bionic connection told him it would hide his actions from the rest of the crew. As long as no one walked right up to him, all the others would see was a hologram of Peri just sitting in the chair.
    A monitor whirled up from the arm of his chair and a Mission Capsule reader popped out of the top of it. Peri plugged Diesel’s capsule into place. Peri channelled the sound into his coms-patch. The screen flickered, before the stern-faced emperor appeared.
     

     
    ‘My son . . . you must get the Heart of Mars back at any cost!’ The emperor pointed to a jewel as big as one of Otto’s fists. It glowed with an orange radiance. It was stunning. Distracted, Peri didn’t notice Diesel walk over and step suddenly through the Sneak-o-Cloak.
    ‘Will you tell Otto –’ Diesel stopped and his eyes flashed yellow. ‘That’s my Mission Capsule!’
    Diesel lunged, but Peri grabbed the capsule first and slipped out of the chair. ‘You should have shared this with me. We’re Star Fighters, and we’re friends.’
    ‘Give it back. You’ve no right to look at it,’ Diesel shouted, kicking the chair. ‘My father swore me to secrecy. He blames the Xion attack for the Heart of Mars being stolen, and thinks that all Martians will be cursed until it’s returned. I have to find it and you can’t stop me.’
    Peri sighed and handed the Mission Capsule back. ‘Diesel, didn’t you think I would want to help you?’
    ‘Stealing my Mission Capsule was a strange way to go about it!’ Diesel growled. ‘I don’t need any help, but . . . having a lamizoid like you on my side wouldn’t hurt, I guess.’
    Peri glanced up at the 360-monitor. Saturn, the dusty gas giant, was beginning to fill the entire screen. Sunlight glinted off its wide, revolving ice rings. ‘We won’t tell the others,’ he said, deactivating the Sneak-o-Cloak.
    The green shimmer around them vanished.
    ‘Selene,’ Peri said, ‘use the Exo-Scanner to look for Jaxx’s ship’s heat signature.’
    ‘Already on it,’ Selene reported. ‘Displaying on screen.’
    Peri studied the scanner’s results. The rings of Saturn were shown as a patchwork of different colours and shades, revealing the coldest and hottest spots. They were all blues and browns, apart from a tiny amber speck. Peri was puzzled that Selene didn’t spot it, but there was no time to think.
    ‘There’s Jaxx!’ Peri pointed and snapped his fingers. The control panel slid under his hands and he fired the sub-light engines. ‘If we’re quick enough, we can catch him by surprise.’
    But as they got closer to the one-man ship, it bolted.
    ‘He’s going in at the wrong angle,’ Peri shouted and pulled hard on the Nav-wheel, adjusting the Phoenix ’s position. He watched as Jaxx’s ship bounced helplessly between the ice rings. Peri carefully activated the thrusters. As the Phoenix surged forward, Jaxx’s small craft dived through the rings.
    ‘Diesel, Otto,’ Peri shouted, ‘we’re going through the rings! I need your help to blast a path for us.’
    Peri swerved down. The gunners started blasting chunks of ice out of the way. As they came out of the other side of the rings, Jaxx’s craft was flying wildly out of control and on a collision course with the planet.
    ‘Something’s wrong!’ Selene cried.
    ‘Scanners show that Jaxx is injured and