Hostages of the Ultralum is volume sixteen in the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 (or bande dessinée

Franco-Belgian comics

Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...

) science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 series Valérian and Laureline created by writer Pierre Christin

Pierre Christin

- Biography :Christin was born at Saint-Mandé in 1938.After graduating from the Sorbonne, Christin pursued graduate studies in political science at SciencesPo and became a professor of French literature at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. His first comics story, Le Rhum du Punch, illustrated...

 and artist Jean-Claude Mézières

Jean-Claude Mézières

Jean-Claude Mézières is a French comic strip artist and illustrator. Born and raised in Paris, he was introduced to drawing by his older brother and influenced by comics artists such as Hergé, Andre Franquin and Morris and later by Jijé and Jack Davis...

.

Outline

Valérian and Laureline are staying in one of the tourist paradises of the cosmos. But it is not sure that they are having as much fun as that in their luxury hotel attended by, sometimes odious, billionaires like the great Caliph of Iskaladam, accompanied by his harem and son Caliphon.

To tell the truth, their boredom will be of short duration. The horrible Mortis Quartet seize the Caliphon... and Laureline!

A pursuit begins on the prohibited borders of the Caliphate, where live the poor wretches who extract the ultralum, ultra-luminous fuel needed for space vessels.

On the way, they will encounter Point Central, the fabulous galactic United Nations; a schniarfeur seized with a glandular limiter; a Grumpy Converter from Bluxte and the Shingouz spies ready to sell anything to anyone.

(translated from the back cover blurb

Blurb

A blurb is a short summary or some words of praise accompanying a creative work, usually used on books without giving away any details, that is usually referring to the words on the back of the book jacket but also commonly seen on DVD and video cases, web portals, and news websites.- History :The...

 to the French edition)

Principal characters

• Valérian, from Galaxity, lost capital of Earth in the 28th century, formerly a Spatio-Temporal Agent, now working on a freelance basis
• Laureline, from 11th century France, formerly a Spatio-Temporal Agent for Galaxity, now working on a freelance basis
• Jal, another former Spatio-Temporal Agent from Galaxity. Now living in exile in Earth's abandoned segment on Point Central.
• Kistna, a female from the planet Wûûrm
• The Caliph of Iksaladam
• The Caliphon, son of the Caliph of Iksaladam
• The Caliph's three concubines
• The Mortis Quartet, a criminal gang who specialise in trafficking, smuggling, extortion, attacks, commandos, infiltrations and abductions.
• Schniarfeur
  Schniarfeur
  Schniarfeurs are a fictional, alien species created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières in the French comic book series Valérian and Laureline.Schniarfeurs are small, purple, vaguely humanoid creatures less than half a metre tall...
  
  , a living weapon from the planet Bromn. It has had its chabounal gland pinned to control its high aggression levels.
• Frankie and Harry, twin detectives joined together like Siamese twins but with amazing regenerative powers if one is injured
• The captain of the Ultralum barge that carries the Mortis Quartet and their captives from Point Central to Iksaladam
• The President of the council of Point Central
• The Shingouz
  Shingouz
  The Shingouz are a fictional, alien species created by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières in the French comic book series Valérian and Laureline.-Biology and culture:...
  
  , three aliens who trade in information
• The Extralums, the down-trodden extractors of the valuable Ultralum fuel.

Settings

• A luxury hotel on an unnamed yellow and orange coloured planet where Valérian and Laureline are spending their vacation. They have also been brought on excursions to:
  • Kokok'Um. To see the underwater colonnades.
  • Tak. To see the crystalloid formations which remind Laureline of the asteroid belt surrounding Alflolol.
  • An unnamed planet to watch the primitive wildlife.
• Point Central, the vast space station where all the races of the cosmos meet, previously seen in Ambassador of the Shadows
  Ambassador of the Shadows
  Ambassador of the Shadows is volume six in the French comic book science fiction series Valérian and Laureline created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières.-Outline:...
  
  and On the Frontiers
  On the Frontiers
  On the Frontiers is volume thirteen in the French comic book science fiction series Valérian and Laureline created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières.-Outline:...
  
  . Point Central is made up of many different segments:
  • Earth
    Earth
    Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
    
    's segment, ruined and crumbling just like it was in On the Frontiers. Its sole occupant remains Jal.
  • A service astroport on the dark side of Point Central used by several races. It is from here that the Mortis Quartet transfer their prisoners to the stellar barge that takes them to Iksaladam.
  • The Caliph addresses the assembled dignitaries in the vast Hall of Screens, the meeting place for Point Central's council.
  • Laureline's Tchoung-tracer passes through several segments of Point Central previously seen in Ambassador of the Shadows and On the Frontiers while searching for Valérian:
    • The endless corridors and passageways that connect the segments maintained by the mute Zools.
    • The Groubos and their Zuur pilots.
    • The warlike Kamuniks.
    • The Marmakas.
    • The Pulpissim's market.
• Iksaladam, the area of the cosmos richest in the valuable Ultralum fuel needed to power the spatio-temporal engines of most races' spaceships. The high concentration of Ultralum causes frequent distortions in the local fabric of space-time and, as a result, the entire region is a shambles of planets, asteroids, comets, debris and dust. The only people capable of navigating it are the old space dogs that carry the Ultralum fuel in their barges and the Caliph's navy who have highly sophisticated tracking and detection equipment. Iksaladam is ruled by its Caliph, descended from the prophet, one of the richest men in the cosmos, who rules from his vast palace on the central planet in the Iksaladam system. The Ultralum is mined by the Extralums (short for Extractors of Ultralum) who use mobile extraction wells which are capable of adapting to the spatio-temporal instability of the region. Nevertheless, Ultralum mining is highly hazardous and accidents are very common.