the soldiers are just illusions and pressing a button on a device he is wearing, all of his men disappear. Arriving at Urs' fortress, he explains that he was born in an automatic incubator and his purpose is to fight the other lords of Uxgloa. Valérian asks Urs if his race ever travelled to the stars. Urs tells him that it is said that in the Northern Desert there exists remains of what were called "Star Gates". He then shows Valérian where his armies come from – a huge machine in the bowels of the fortress that creates images of whoever steps inside – sometimes older, sometime younger. But there is a price – for each image that is killed on the battlefield, the original must sleep for one day. Valérian steps into the machine and two images of him are produced – one of him as a boy and one as an old man. The three Valérians leave Urs and make for the Northern Desert. After many days of searching they at last find the Star Gate, a vast celestial sphere lying in a black lake. The older Valérian reveals that the letters inscribed on the device resemble those seen on Earth in Tibet. Eventually, Valérian finds a representation of the Solar System on the sphere and the younger Valérian finds out how to activate the mechanism. Valérian disappears into the Star Gate leaving the older and younger Valérians to live out the remainder of their lives on Uxgloa. Valérian lands back on Earth in a lake and heads off in search of civilisation, wondering how he's going to be able to explain what happened to Galaxity. The Sad Planet (La Planete Triste) First published in Super Pocket Pilote, Issue 6 (25 December 1969) Valérian is dispatched by Galaxity on reconnaissance to the planet Flammil which is surrounded by a dense asteroid belt. Making his may through the belt, Valérian's astroship becomes entangled in vegetation. While working outside the ship trying to free it he spots a female humanoid figure. Pursuing her, she flees but runs into trouble and ends up dangling on a creeper. Valérian rescues her and she takes him to her village. The village is populated by female huntresses like the one Valérian chased. Valérian asks for help freeing his ship and two of them lead him to a path through the asteroids. Following the path,