His wife and the twins shuddered.

‘She’s a dreadful, dreadful girl,’ said Carmelita, and she sipped daintily from her goblet as if to take away the bad taste.

‘You should see her hair,’ said Josie to Katie. ‘It makes me feel sick! It’s all wild and curly and all over the place! Eeuwww!’

She didn’t seem to realise that both Nicola and Shimlara had wild curly hair and were sitting right in front of her.

‘I love curly hair,’ said Katie casually. ‘I always wished I had it.’

Josie choked on her food.

‘Topaz is the daughter of a marshmallow miner and grew up in a nearby village,’ said Enrico, ignoring his daughter, who was now gasping for air and being slapped on the back by her brother. ‘By all accounts, she comes from a perfectly normal family. No one can explain why she has become so . . . disagreeable.’

‘What has this Topaz girl done?’ asked Sean curiously. Nicola could see that his plate was completely empty. How had he managed to eat all that so quickly?

‘Topaz has nearly brought this planet to a standstill!’ boomed Enrico, slamming his fist on the table so hard they all had to steady their goblets.

‘My apologies,’ he said. His voice became smooth and charming again. ‘It’s just that I’m so proud of Shobble and everything it stands for. Let me explain. You would know that our planet’s slogan is: Never a moment’s trouble on our pretty planet of Shobble. That has been true for centuries. We have mined for marshmallow, drilled for chocolate and exported ShobbleChoc all around the galaxy. The planet has thrived and the people have been happy and contented. And yet on the way here, I believe you witnessed a shocking explosion?’

‘That’s right,’ said Nicola.

‘Well, that was the work of Topaz,’ said Enrico, looking grim. ‘She and her nasty little associates spend their days sabotaging the equipment in the mines and the chocolate fields. Days are lost as the equipment is repaired. Freshly mined marshmallow solidifies. Newly drilled chocolate turns to sugar. As a result, there is now a severe shortage of ShobbleChoc. We are losing sales. Our loyal customers throughout the galaxy are turning to inferior products. This can’t go on!’

‘No,’ said Nicola. ‘I see.’ She was thinking that this Topaz girl seemed even scarier than Princess Petronella had sounded when they first heard about her plans to destroy Earth. (Although once they got to know the Princess they found she wasn’t actually scary, just a little . . . misguided.) Presumably Enrico was going to ask them to convince Topaz to stop being a troublemaker. It might be difficult.

‘But, er, why?’ asked Tyler politely.

‘Why what?’ asked Enrico.

‘Why is this Topaz sabotaging all the equipment? She’s not just doing it for fun, is she?’