Here is a very important, but very ill, lady. She’s on death’s doorstep, but she’s still aware enough to know that a complete stranger has walked into her life.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that Queen Elcyra isn’t very popular around here! They arrive at Vera’s tent. She’s nominally in charge around here, but she’s very sick. Let’s see what she has to say!

The prisoners take Zik into their camp, where he quickly notices something strange: there are no children! Amelia tells him that they’ve all been sterilized by their captors! So now we see that Queen Elcyra is indeed a nasty character! Not only does she attack intruders, but she’s responsible for genocide!

The travelers arrive at the camp and are greeted with shock and disbelief. These people haven’t seen anyone new since Amelia was born! Find out why next time!

There is the squalor in which the prisoners are kept. At least today the smoke is drifting away from the camp and not onto it. And look at all those rows of graves. Life is tough if you’re a Zernabian slave!

Amelia slips on a loose stone, and Zik is right there to gallantly save her from falling! These two seem to be hitting it off! But wait.. Uh oh! Looks like someone didn’t appreciate Zik’s display of chivalry as much as Amelia did! Could this mean trouble for our intrepid hero? Stay tuned, readers!

Oh, nice one, Zik! You interrupted a quest to help a dying lady! Real smooth! Why don’t you stomp on a kitten while you’re at it?

Amelia is quite impressed with her short trip. Hey, if you liked that, just wait until you experience faster-than-light travel!

So that’s kind of a Star Wars reference… I’m not sure if it’s too subtle, though.

Here we are a thousand years in the future and these two have never flown before. Pretty amazing, but they’ve been living on this prison planet since they were born!