Rubbing his hands together, Fritz smirked as the two innocent faces stared at him. Thinking about what to do next with the two scoundrels disturbed him, but he needed to refocus on what to do next. He sat down on his throne and mentioned to his two guests to linger beside him.

"Follow me, Xabiere and Murdock. Talk among yourselves, sit down on the floor and enjoy the purplish scenery if you can." Fritz smirked as he tapped his fingers on the armrest of his royal chair.

Both Xabiere and his friend obeyed, yet they were still shell-shocked about how calm Fritz was. They expected a reaction from him, some form of panic to say the least, as to what the Earthlings were planning on doing. They were afraid to say anything more that would outrage Fritz, so they kept their mouths shut as they stared at each other. 

Fritz had other plans in mind, thus, he didn't have time to express those unwarranted feelings.

Earlier, Fritz planned on hypnotizing the two uninvited guests with a medallion that was locked away in the vertigo room. His intentions were to make them fall asleep and to send them into the dungeons. The idea of Pluto being blasted into tiny little pieces to him was rather absurd and to hear it from the son of his former babysitter made it even more comical. He didn't want to be reminded of his early days: where a kid remained young and juvenile.

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Fritz knew that the icy planet wasn't an ideal place to fly into if you weren't an alien with warm, slimy skin. Therefore, that was a reason why he refused to believe in Xabiere's hypothesis.

Could Earthlings travel to our planet that is a million miles away from the heating rays? Perhaps they would hide in such a disguise as fellow aliens. But it doesn't seem reasonable. Although it could happen, so I won't throw that idea away.

Putting his left hand on top of his forehead, he scratched his temple and closed his eyes.

Fritz instantly changed his mind on what he wanted to do since his conscience kept bothering him. It was as if his amma was contacting him from beyond the stars.

Fritz couldn't help it if he still had sinister thoughts upon his sleeves. After all, as the son of the great Ferdinand, ruler of all cold-like aliens, Fritz inherited his appa's cruel intentions. Many predicted he'd be like a barbaric Ferdinand who'd ask the guards to either imprison annoying guests in the dungeon to rest, since they would battle a wild beast the next day or fly them off out to the open areas in space to die. It was ruthless what his appa did, and it would make Fritz cry once he learned about it. He would often ask Ferdinand why he did such a thing, but the answer always turned out the same.

Because I can!

Then he'd leave his confused son alone and depart with a horrendous laugh. In truth, Ferdinand was heartless as his own grandfather was. Fritz learned that his kind had an evil reputation. It was hereditary and could not be broken. But the young ruler refused to believe that and was determined to do things his own way.

And as he was half-bred, Fritz knew he couldn't hold the grudge forever, for he also had a kind heart like his amma, who was quite the opposite of her husband. Fritz knew anger pains would give him headaches as it happened in the past.He didn't want to be like his appa.

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As a child, Fritz thought ruling a planet would be a simple task, but learned that the daily job was stressful. Decision-making was the hardest thing of all such as dealing with finances. Making sure that all of his fellow Plutonians had enough on their "plate" was rather challenging. In addition to this, he didn't like the idea of asking fellow planet leaders for help. Justice from Jupiter and Stately from Saturn were bullies since they bragged about how they had so much land on their planets, while Menlo from Mercury and Upton from Uranus were useless rulers who didn't know much.

Fritz was a young leader who didn't have enough training from the elders, but managed to pull through after both his parents died in their sleep. On that day, servants just saw dust lying on their royal bed as if the two diminished into thin air. Thus, two light years ago, everything changed for Fritz as everything that was done on Pluto became his responsibility.

Since his parents were past their prime, Fritz knew that dreaded day would come when every alien on his planet would bow towards him. But inside he just wanted to be treated like a normal Plutonian as he didn't enjoy his royal life. That was why when he met the commoner who took care of him and asked about his young son, he was envious of his life.

Fritz waited for the day he could meet Xabiere in person and have a simple conversation. And now, the day he had been waiting for had come true.

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Fritz never knew the true story of how Flora married Ferdinand; his only assumption was that she was forced into it.  Later in life, he  learned that the female population on Pluto was scarce. Males were the preferred species on the planet. He figured it was due to the belief that women couldn't become efficient leaders. Females were either snatched from other planets or nearby moons. Other times, matchmakers would arrange the marriages, but this didn't occur frequently, since a family had to be rich in order to pay for this event to happen.

When the young Lord learned about the truth that his parents had a platonic relationship and their marriage was only based on producing an heir, Fritz facepalmed himself. He wondered how someone could perform such an act. Little did his elders know how this affected Fritz from an early age, and that was why he refused to carry on the family tradition of an illegal marriage. He did not want to ruin a family relationship from abroad as he himself never met his relatives from his mother's side. It was as if it was kept a secret or an agreement that was signed upon before releasing the bride to the Plutonians.

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 Sitting on his throne, Fritz glared at the walls and closed his eyes waiting for a prophecy to tell him what to do next. And that's when Flora's spirit appeared before him. His mother's charismatic voice continued inside his head.

My darling Fritz, don't do it. Don't be like Ferdinand. Put yourself in their shoes, would you like to be punished for no apparent reason? Would you like to be imprisoned yourself? Do it for me, and give Xabiere another chance!

She still haunted Fritz daily, advising him not to be like his cruel appa.

After a few minutes, he stood up from the royal seat with his cane and tapped the shoulders of his visitors.

"Come with me you two, it is time to make my decision!"

He headed toward the two openings across the hallway. One led to what was hidden in the vertigo room and the other would lead them to a balcony outside.

Fritz decided to ask Xabiere to choose his own faith and believed that's how this problem would be solved. He knew if the fellow Plutonian was brave enough to visit the planet Earth, he'd be courageous enough to do the same for protecting Pluto from invaders.

"As you can see, this hallway leads to two corridors. No matter what direction we go, they will lead to a door, Xabiere. I want you to choose which one we will open."

Without telling the two what was behind each exit, Fritz hid a telescope in one of them that his servants found abandoned among the barron territory. The young Lord believed it belonged to the adventurer, but he had to make sure. He figured if Xabiere recognized the apparatus, it would reveal that the Plutonian might be telling the truth after all.

"What do you think, Xabiere? Should we pick the one on the right?" asked Murdock as he pointed to it.

Xabiere put his hand on his chin and thought about it. He believed that there was something fishy about Fritz's actions. He wanted to know why he and his friend had to choose. 

"Times up, which door do you choose my little ones? Answer now or I will pick one for you!"

"We will select the right one, my Lord," replied Xabiere as he winked at Murdock.

In turn, his friend smiled with glee that Xabiere finally accepted his answer.

"Very well, let us go inside," replied Fritz.

Once the door was opened, the telescope on the balcony was revealed.

Instantly, Xabiere was shocked. It was the apparatus he stole from Earth to analyze. However, he forgot where he placed it after he landed on Pluto, and thought the mechanism would be lost forever .

"Do you know what this is Xabiere?" Fritz pointed his cane toward it. He knew his hunch that Xabiere was indeed the adventurer would be correct.

"If you think your theory that the Earthlings will vaporize our planet, I want you to explore the vacant orb that is in the sky."

Confused with what Fritz was asking them, Xabiere scratched his head.

"Look into this hole and point it toward that star," the Lord commanded as he pointed to the instrument.

"Do you see it? I want you to go there and see if it is inhabitable for us to live on. You can take your companion with you."

Xabiere nodded.

To this, Murdock jumped up and down.

"Let me get this straight, you want us to fly to that barren orb, my Lord? What if it's dangerous? What if we never come back?"

Fritz smirked at Xabiere's reply.

"I trust you and Murdock will be fine, come back with what you find and you will be rewarded".

At the sound of a 'reward', Murdock pleaded with his friend to leave. All Murdock cared about was fame, and he knew having something valuable as a trophy would lift up his spirits!

As the two Plutonians left the Palace gates, the guards approached their leader.

"My Lord, what have you done? Did you not realize inviting the two 'innocents' might lead to trouble?"

Smirking toward his loyal subject, Fritz replied,"Trust me Saber, I know we won't hear from them in a while. Those Plutonians might be cuckoo, but we'll see if they'll survive this journey!"