In the fifth chapter of the series, Quinn must race against the clock to save both her mother and her daughter, who are in danger on two different planets. Rejoining her in the fight are Zita, the cheerful space marine, Varzo, her trusty sidekick, and Cara, the snarky robot with nothing to lose. But after having been captured and brainwashed by Emperor Zycun, Princess Calorra is full of so much hatred and anger, Quinn must ask herself if her daughter even wants to be saved.
--
Cara's pointed ears clicked as she listened to a distant sound. "Someone approaches down the hall," she said. Her blank eyes rolled to Varzo. "We should have a plan of action. If you are determined to prevent this execution, I wish to help you."
"That's what I like to hear," Varzo said, grimly rising to her feet. "We'll die fighting before we sit back and let them kill us! Quinn would want it no other way." Varzo paused awkwardly. "Well, I'll die. You'll do . . . whatever it is robots do."
--
"So you just side with the strongest?" said Wrip in disgust. "Don't you have any honor? Any sense of moral obligation?"
Wviria wriggled her long fingers on the steering wheel, pointing her thumbs at herself. "Pirate."
Wrip rolled her eye.
--
Thalcu sat in her tower, and as she looked out the window, it suddenly occurred to her that she had spent a great deal of her life locked away in lavishly furnished cages and looking out windows. She supposed it was the fate of a princess.
