The time was approaching. The asteroid was fast reaching the position calculated to obtain the best result. "All aboard." JS ordered, "it's time to leave Atargatis. So greet everyone, take your stuff and embark." Entrusted the Nyhllo to Lee's care, and Larry and Letitia to Adam's, JS and Eve went into the palace of the Atargatis king. "We are indebted to you, my friends!" exclaimed the king. "You'll be always welcome." "You owe us nothing." JS declared. "Wolfblood & Suckheart, Lucas's Law Firm, sent me your copies of the contracts." To remove Atargatis necks from the noose of the 5 Fishmarket Sisters, JS had convinced the king to form a his own company. W&S took care of Company's interests, rented cargos and hired the crews. NMS Victory Co. ensured the trade and received 5% of the profits. "And the resort?" Melusine asked. "According to Lucas, your claims are well placed. Galactic Adventures couldn't produce any valid document certifying that it purchased the estate from the first inhabitants, that are you. GUNESCO withdrew their permission, at once. Greasing some wheels, this ecological heritage should be entrusted to you, the original inhabitants. Forever. Now it's up to you to decide how to handle it." JS answered. The king looked at them puzzled. "Anyway, we'll keep in touch, occasionally," Eve smiled. "Just to know everything's OK." The king and Melusine looked relieved. "Good luck." They said shaking their hands. Since their arrival on Atargatis, some astronomers of the Galactic Space Center with JS had kept in touch, as well as JS's pilots had been watching the asteroid and applied small directional forces to navigate the still intact asteroid beyond Atargatis toward Miogaror, the gas giant. When the celestial boulder passed within the Miogaror's Roche Limit, the planet's tidal forces were strong enough to disrupt its body held together only by its own gravity. The asteroid broke apart in several pieces. Vickie sang a celebrating aria throughout the hull. Once sure that no fragments would fall on Atargatis, the pilots unleashed their weapons against those wonderful targets. "Jay, why don't you shoot with that big gun between your legs?" Vickie suggested excited about that firepower. "Vickie! What the hell are you saying!" Eve cried. "Vickie's super cannon in the bow, she means!" JS laughed. "I can shoot against the larger fragment, so we can measure the time it takes to charge it again." JS shot and the impact was stupendous. The celestial boulder almost disintegrated. The super cannon was ready to fire again sooner than JS expected. "You're the best, Vickie!" JS decreed. The ship chuckled, then began to sing a solemn march that set everyone in high-spirits. Miogaror's deadly embrace soon showed its effects. The first fragment slammed into Miogaror's atmosphere with a fireball as powerful as a big atomic bomb. The plume of the fireball raised up for miles from the cloud-top of the planet expanding and cooling rapidly. Few minutes after the impact the ejected material falling back onto the planet raised again the heat peak. When the second fragment hit the upper atmosphere, a few hours later, a huge, dark increasing spot marked the first impact place. The hail of the asteroid's debris went on over the next four days, and Vickie's singing highlighted the solemnity of the event. Watching the blue moon fading away, Eve sighed: "Don't you think we should tell them that everything is fine?" JS embraced her: "Already done. We must leave, Eve, or we'll take root. Atargatis is so beautiful, but isn't ours." "You are right." Eve nodded. "We need to find a world for us." Embracing her tight, JS was silent for a while, then added: "I wonder where your world is, the one from which your ancestors left. Why nobody has ever heard of them and their ships?" --- Thanks