It was a peaceful night in space, the asteroids were sailing smoothly across the dark purple atmosphere. The blinking lights of the near-by planet shone brightly in space, sending luminous glows across the endless area of space.

It was just stunning. Completely stunning.

But I didn't really take much notice of it. All I was thinking about was getting to our destination in one piece or without being kidnapped again.

This was the one time that me and Rex ever were completely safe and alone. We'd been through so much together and now we were finally free from everything.

For now.

Although we'd been through months of pain and misery, we knew it wasn't the end. We needed to get to the asylum and find out exactly what was going on there. It was our last clue to finding Firo and the Cragmites before they found the location of The Great Clock.

'So what exactly are we going to find there?' Rex asked, reclining in the chair of the ship. It was a very comfortable one, and I hadn't been sitting on anything softer than metal for the past few months and so I pretty much took well to the leather chairs, the extreme boosters and plenty of space in the back. He had taken off parts all of his armour and was relaxing. I could see through his black fur that there were countless bruises, scars, dents and splashes of dried blood. We'd both been through so much. I was just so glad that it was all coming to an end and all the pain, suffering, torture and misery was behind us.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

'We're going to the asylum,' I said, rubbing my eye. 'It was the last place where some of the Cragmites and others were seen. It's our only hope.'

'It could be a trap,' Rex said.

'I don't think so,' I said. Hurukan really had genuine compassion for us and I doubted he was being deceptive.

'You do know that this is where they send the criminally insane, right? The ones that are so evil and malevolent that they have been rumoured to be spat out by hell?'

'That's right,' I said uneasily, shifting in my chair.

'And what exactly do you expect to find there?'

'I don't know,' I said. 'That would be why we are going. Hurukan said it was the last place where the Cragmites were. Not only that, do you remember any other non-Cragmites on the facility?'

'I'm pretty sure, yes.'

'So then maybe they'll be either there, or were there.'

'Well then, off to hell we go,' Rex said as he started sleeping in the seat.

With nothing else to do I turned on the radio. The latest songs ranging from, "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" to "Solo" came on. I listened to them as they played slowly and gazed out the window to the cosmos. The brilliant streaks of green, purple, black holes and random planets beneath me took my breath away. The universe never stopped amazing me. There was no end to it, no limit, and there was not a single person that had done everything that there was to do in it. Incredible.

I realized that I had never even known about this part of the system. I stuck with the one I knew. I never realized this existed. There was really no end. But I wouldn't have it any other way. This was an amazing place.

But of course I missed home.

I thought about it as the songs switched over to Queen, Korthos Day, and Led Zallstloin. I thought about Clank and my friends that I hadn't seen for months and months. I had gone through so much cruelty that I was filled to the gills with a lust for revenge. I remembered a long time ago that when bad things were done to you, you were supposed to "turn to the other cheek". Well, that might have worked for others but it didn't work for me. From now, I was going to settle the scores my way. Nobody else's way. Just mine.

I don't know for how many hours I flew the ship. It must have been at least seven hours. My legs were cramped and my back was on fire. You know the feeling? When you're sitting still in one space for hours and hours and not moving? Well, if you do, you'll know how I was feeling now.

Of course, as you'll most likely already know, there are plenty of stations to revive at.

I parked the ship at one of the stations. The ones that sell coffee, food and petrol. I checked the prices. They were getting higher and higher. Much higher than I'd last seen them, which was about three months ago.

I started re-filling the ship with petrol and boosters to the maximum capacity. I was secretly wondering if going to Aseer Asylum was a good idea. But it was our only hope of ever finding out what the Cragmites were up to. And my sector was about a 300 hours fly straight across giant nebula's, black holes, ice planets, and other vicious lands and elements that I'd not rather go through with our ship.

Besides, there wasn't enough time to do that at all. We couldn't board the public flights due to the "Lombax alert", we didn't have the cash for a first class style cruiser, and I doubted that "hitching a ride" would end us up anywhere except in more trouble and most likely suffering.

But what was there to do?

'Ratchet!'

I snapped out of my trance and saw that Rex was leaning against, the ship. 'The oil is leaking,' he said. I looked down and saw that the oil was brimming up of the slot and I quickly removed it as it dripped down the side of the ship, giving it an ugly black streak.

We both walked to the station to pay for the ship's petrol. This was also a place for information.

You see, this is a typical space-wise solid shot of information: Crooks and guys with something to hide lurk around this parts because no one ever comes looking for them here, and if they did, they'd be out-numbered 100-1. Simple logic.

After I counted out the bolts to pay, I leaned over the holo-desk and I asked, 'you know anybody here who can tell us about Aseer Asylum?'

The guy seemed to pretend not to hear, but as I walked away, he said one word. 'Him.'

I looked to where he was pointing. I saw that there was someone leaning against the station outside against the wall. He seemed to be sniffing some kind of powder. I raised an eyebrow and started walking towards him, not knowing what to expect.

It was cold outside. Comets and asteroids were sweeping back and forth above and below me. I shifted towards him.

'I heard that you're the person to talk to about some "information",' I said, making the last word obviously meaning something other than the others.

He didn't answer me for a full minute. When he did speak, it was in a raspy voice, as if he was made of metal: 'What sort of "information"?'

'Information about Aseer Asylum. . . .' before I could even finish my sentence he had with one moment swept my feet under me and pressed his knee to my stomach and placed his hand over my mouth. He had also produced a shotgun, one that was now pressed against my leg.

'Who are you?' He hissed in my voice. 'I swear, I will shoot in you in leg, and then in the other and several parts of your body if you don't give me answer.'

'No one,' I pleaded. 'I just want some information.'

'You're lying,' he said, clicking the gun with a sound that sent shivers down my spine. 'Maybe you'll tell me the right answer when you've got a few bullets in you.'

Before he could do anything, he was pulled backwards and flung away. The gun went off and into space. I got up. I saw that Rex was standing over him. He kicked the gun away and it went over the edge of the station. He struggled to his feet. Then he saw what species we were.

'L...l. . . .l. . . . .l . .Lombaxes?' he stuttered. 'I'll be damned. I thought your race was supposed to be extinct.'

'Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there are two more of us that are still breathing, and we'd like some information. Please.'

'Come,' he said, beckoning towards a table and a few chairs on the other side of the station. 'Where no one can hear us.'

'I really thought that I'd even hear of one your race surviving let alone meeting one, and nearing killing one,' he said as he rubbed his hands together. Rex had bought fried chicken and the newest fast food accessory, and he was bent over it. I wasn't eating much. I wanted mental food, not physical food.

'So what about Aseer Asylum? I asked. 'And Gran Festige?'

'Gran Festige is the system outside of this one,' he said. 'It's huge. No one has ever completely crossed it. But it's a dark, blood thirsty, ruthless system.

There is no such thing as mercy. Only the strong survive. The force of nature leaves only the strong and cuts out the weak, each one for his own. It's patrolled by thieves, bandits, kidnappers, pirates, and even demons. No one knows what relies there. Innocent enough question: There was a DreadZone in Solona. It blew up after Team DarkStar got there. Would you know anything about that?' The expression on my face told him enough. 'They possibly are making more of those. Maybe hundreds all connected in one devastating chain. There are planets filled with nothing but the undying souls of The Old Ones. Ones filled with ice, some with sand, some with exotic jungles and plains, containing the Unknown.

'I've been there. Never again will I go. I went to a seeming deserted beach planet. Pirates where lurking in every corner of the island; their vicious and vicious traps set every corner of the planet. Their leader was a man so evil that it was rumoured that hell itself had spat him back out.

'Now, Aseer Asylum. It's a place for the criminally insane. Suspicious things are conducted there. People go missing. Ritualistic rooms, and even caves are scattered all the island, littered with never seen before items.

'Recently a few of them escaped. It was never done before. There was no way they could have done it, no way to get in, no way to escape, no way to get out. But they did it. It's on the corner of Gran Festige. All the criminals caught are sent there. Some of them couldn't be happier to go there compared what they came from.

'I know mere words can't stop you, but I must at least say this; no one has ever escaped before, there is no way. Some say it was done with escapology. Some say that they were never there. All I know is that something sinister is going on there, and death and doom lurks everywhere.

One thing I can say though, is that a tiny piece of paper was found there, on it was a single world and a single symbol.'

'Like what?' I asked.

He slid the paper across the table. I looked on it.

On the paper was in-scripted the word "Ratchet" and beneath it was a skull and cross bones.