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LEO ROA US Cover.indd 1 09/12/13 10:46

There he is! Looks like I’m just in time.

Mayday! Mayday!

Heavens! My sources were correct: Drake’s attacking the King of Kings!

All trideo componentsare working. This will be

the scoop of my life!

Here I go!

I’ll copy the frequencyof the pirates’ transmitter. Look out, Captain Drake!

This is Leo Roa, fromthe Starship STARR! You are surrounded, and an explosive

charge has been placedon your ship’s central

motor core…

?

…which I’ll detonate unless you surrender immediately.

By a thousand suns, who’s this idiot?

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He’s not bluffing, Captain! The central core’s signal light

is on! What do we do?

Curses! I can’t take that risk! Unhook the magnetic grapples!

We’ll surrender!

Something’s happening! They’re releasing the grapples! We’re free!

Someone saved us!it’s a miracle!

Look over there! A man floating in

space!

Much better, thanksto you. You came justin time. Come aboard!

is everybody okay?

We can’t thank you enough! How did you manage to beat

Drake all by yourself?

Well, I went intothe central core, and

planted a miniature transmitter which

fooled the…

Hey, that’s Leo! Leo Roa, the famous

STARR journalist!

I don’t believe it!

Please allow me, Mister Roa… nobody

back on Earth will ever believe this… Kiss!

Kiss! And one more… kiss!

Oh…Ah…I--

My hero!

no, no! not now!

Damn it!

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During the best part, too!But, I have to get up, I can’t

afford to be late.

Urgent call from STARR, urgent call!

Hey, it’sthe visiophone!

What’s going on?it’s hardly dawn, I’m not

even late yet.

ouarf!

Oops, sorry, Bruft. Start contact.

Hello!

Mister Roa,please report to the office at once.

it’s extremely urgent!

Urgent?I’m on my way! But

what’s the--

Just hurry!

Endcontact.

At long last,an urgent summons!

They must have realized what I’m worth!

My days of storing data in the awful Archive

Division are over!

For months I’ve been trying to…Heavens! The visiophone again!

What a morning!

Yes? Start contact.

Hello, Leo.

Hi Auntie.How are things? I’m calling early,

since you’re so hard to get a hold of during

the day. You absolutely must talk some sense into your cousin. He

wants to quit his job and join a rock group called “Schwermetall”!

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Sorry, gotta go, auntie! I’m in a rush! I promise I’ll talk to him.

nobody listens to me! You’re just like

your cousin…

Mister Roa, there’s two men here to see--

Maybe a new head of section has been named?

no, it must besomething else. Theyalready pulled that

one on me.

He got awayfrom us. He’s on

a Fly-Moth.

This is Jite. We’ve spotted him. Going to

intercept.Maybe they’ve found out

how I’m using the Archives for personal research?

Did Leo do something?

Shut up.

I’ll take the expresswayto get there faster.

He’s turning! Follow him!

Watch out! What are you--?

Man! The skywaysare getting so

dangerous nowadays!

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We’ve arrived too late, again!

it only tooksix minutes! I broke every traffic law…

Take the private elevator, Leo. The Director’s waiting

for you.

Okay, Kar.

Did he just say that? I can’t

believe it!

Just a moment! Security! Please introduce your

right hand.

Of course.

Very good,Mister Roa, you may go up. This security pigment will allow you to circulate

on that level.

I know that, but why the face, too, today?

Level 113.

The Director’s private elevator, this is more serious than I--

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Just a moment! Security!Please introduce your left hand.

What? Again!

Mister Roa.

At last, he made it!We should’ve sent out

a security squad. Roa’s in a great deal of danger!

no need to panic, inspector. Show him in!

With your permission, Mister Folderol.

Come in,Roa. I’m gladto see you

alive.

Alive? But, I-- You already know the Head

of Archives and the Head of Security, but not inspector Gonzalez, from

the Politron. Right?

Hello.

How are you?

Pleased to meet you.

Take a seat, Mister Roa. I’ll get right to the point: Philip Travers, your co-worker in the Archive Division, was found at his

post last night…murdered!

What? Philip! Dead? That’s impossible!

Hi, everybody. I…uh…

I can’t believe it!We had plans this Sunday for a game of… it can’t

be true! Who could have?

We’re still not sure.

Whoever it was, they reprogrammeda security robot in order to get in. Then they hacked into the computer controlling Archive’s central files.

Philip, dead!

But, that’s not all, Roa!

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I see.

What’s more, the computers of the five most important Planetary information

Centers were attacked at the same time and in much the same manner.

We believe that the computer itself could give us a lead.

To us, this indicatesa large-scale operation,

put in motion to destroy a piece of data that couldforeseeably hurt someone

in a high position.

As you know, we needthe first code sequence

to unlock it. I have the second one, but only you and Philip

had the first.

in STARR’s case,the computer’s internal

security system went into automatic lockdown.

nothing can get in or out.

no!

But--

You are the only one who can unlock it, so I advise you to start

immediately. Your life is at risk.

Yes, You can start right away, Roa. Here, use this

terminal.

But, I-I don’t remember the access code.

WHAT?

Er, I mean…I have a bad memory, so I wrote it down someplace

around the house.

Hurry! We might be too late!

What? Haven’t you met anyone from Planet XJ-Beta-76 before?

no, that’s not it!STARR’s security

pigments just left me a little colorblind…

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