'Just as the Burpers are ready to cast a chain around my rear bumper, I feel the truck being lifted from the road. Seconds later, I and the truck and the King's treasure are safely inside my ship. I blast away from Boppo.
'The Boppoian Burpers blast away at Boomerang. My ship dodges one way and then the other. Bam! Bam! Boomerang is caught in a barrage. I barrel roll the ship into space to get away. The barrage follows, but I'm not beaten yet. I give Boomerang all the power it can take.
'The Burpers take after me in their space fighters, firing all their beamers.
I keep dodging.
'I release a blockbuster bomb. The Boppoian Burpers see it and blast themselves in another direction to get away from the bomb. This gives me the time I need to escape.
'I do get away, but my ship is damaged. I will not be able to make the long flight home.
'After many weeks of limping along, and wandering a long distance from the flight paths shown on my maps, I find myself here at Super-Rock, only part of my way home. I have brought my ship with its treasure here to this cavern. Since my arrival it's been known as the Stranger's House.
'Now I am waiting.'
'Waiting? Waiting for what?' asks Stobey.
'I am waiting for rescue,' Bingbang hisses softly. 'I have sent a message to my king, telling him where I am. He is sending a ship for me. The loud booming and the other sounds you heard when you came near the Stranger's House were the messages between my rescuers and me. They should be here at any moment.'
Bingbang pauses, and they see his eye blinking in concentration.
'Aha,' he says, 'I hear them.'