Star Wars - Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina

by Kevin J. Anderson

  broke down. Wants to call for a lift from here."

  "So he says," Evazan replied. "Let's see him."

  Ponda punched at his own console and the picture on the screen

  shifted to show a view of the sea gate area. A small ocean-going

  repulsorlift craft sat at the castle's single dock. At the massive

  gate stood a most impressive-looking human male.

  He was quite large, with a strapping build, as was evidenced by

  the body-hugging suit he wore. His chiseled features were

  handsome, and a thatch of blond hair waved about his well-formed

  head.

  Evazan gazed with great interest upon the man, then he punched

  console buttons, bringing Ponda's image back.

  "Let him come up," he ordered. "But only into the foyer. Keep a

  watch on him."

  "Are you sure that's smart, Doc?" Ponda inquired.

  "Just do it!" Evazan snapped the intercom off and turned to the

  senator. "You may get to see more than you'd hoped," he said

  excitedly. "Today could be the climax of my research!"

  He rushed up from the laboratory, the nonplussed senator

  following. They entered the castle's huge entrance hall. In the

  wall beside its main door was set a control panel with a

  surveillance screen. Ponda Baba was already there, staring at a

  view of the room beyond the door.

  In a small, bare antechamber to the entrance hall, their blond-

  haired visitor stood waiting patiently.

  Evazan peered over Ponda's shoulder at the man. His eyes lit

  with an eager glow.

  "This one will be perfect!" he said. "What a piece of

  incredible luck!"

  He reached past Ponda to flick a switch on the panel. From the

  ceiling light in the anteroom a crimson beam shot down, striking

  the blond man's head. He went limp instantly, crumpling to the

  floor.

  "You killed him?" the Andoan senator said, aghast.

  "Just stunned him," the doctor replied. He looked to Ponda.

  "Help me take him downstairs."

  He took hold of the door handle, but a hairy paw came down on

  his hand to stop him.

  "Hold on, Doc," came Ponda's harsh voice. "You're gonna make

  the transfer to him, aren't you?"

  "He looks as good as any I've ever seen," Evazan admitted. "Why

  not?"

  "No, Doc," Ponda barked at him. "Me first!"

  Evazan regarded his erstwhile partner. "What do you mean?"

  "You promised I'd go first. You promised I'd get a body with a

  good arm. I brought you to my planet, helped you set this up, kept

  you alive for just that one thing. You cost me my arm on Tatooine.

  You owe me. It's time to pay up."

  "How can I do that, Ponda?" he reasoned. "My perfect subject

  just showed up at my door. He's here right now!"

  "We're both lucky then, Doc," Ponda answered. "You got yours.

  I've got mine."

  Realization dawned in the doctor's face. As one, both of them

  turned toward the Aqualish senator.

  The senator had listened to their dialogue with growing alarm.

  As they looked to him, his expression grew taut with horror.

  "He's not young," Evazan commented critically.

  "He's one of the ruling class, though," Ponda replied. "I get

  an arm, and I get power, too."

  "You . . . you can't mean what I think," the senator gasped.

  "We do," said the doctor, pulling out his blaster.

  "Congratulations. You'll be helping to make a great step for

  science." He gestured with the gun. "Get going, please."

  "You can't do this!" the senator cried as they marched him

  downstairs to the lab. "What about your financing? Your

  protection?"

  "I won't need either anymore," the doctor replied. "I'll

  finally be able to acquire a whole new identity. Be free of this

  scarred face. I can go out of here safe from bounty hunters, and

  with a secret that can change the galaxy."

  "That's what you intended from the start, isn't it?" the other

  guessed. "Just to help yourself!"

  "What else?" said Evazan, laughing cruelly. He shoved the

  senator through the doorway into the lab. "Now, go get onto that

  left table. Quick."

  He and Ponda hustled the hapless senator to the table and

  strapped him upon its top. Evazan pulled the left-hand boom down

  closer, and fastened its dangling metal helmet over the dome of

  the captive's head.

  Ponda swiftly took a place on the other table. Evazan repeated

  the process of buckling restraints and fitting the other Aqualish

  with the second weird headpiece. Then he stepped away to a bank of

  controls.

  He pulled levers, rotated dials, and watched readout screens

  indicating the surge of power. The machine sizzled loudl y now,

  alive with enormous energy. The great pile of its parts shuddered

  visibly, threatening to tumble down.

  As the indicators showed he'd reached maximum power, he threw a

  red double-handled switch. Blue-white sparks like tiny lightning

  bolts flickered downward along the wires, into the metal helmets

  on the two heads. The strapped-down bodies both jerked spas

  modically.

  Evazan watched a pair of dials right beneath the red switch. As

  the indicator on the left moved one way, its counterpart on the

  right moved the other. In only seconds the two needles had buried

  themselves on opposite sides of their dials.

  With a cackle of glee the doctor slapped the power levers to

  Off. The flickering lights quickly faded, and the crackling of

  energy died away.

  "It's done! It's worked!" Evazan chortled, running to the table

  holding the elder Andoan's body. "Ponda! I've done it!" he said,

  undoing the straps. "How do you feel?"

  But the Aqualish who had once been the senator lay quite still,

  apparently unconscious.

  "It's okay," Evazan assured, patting the being. "You'll be fine

  soon. Just rest there. I've got to see to my own new body!"

  He left the laboratory, all but running back up to the main

  hall. His eyes gleamed with a wild look of nearly overwhelming

  anticipation. He threw open the door to the anteroom and charged

  in. His splendid specimen still lay motionless.

  He knelt beside the man, gloating over his perfect body. "All

  I've wanted," he said. "Youth, strength . . . and an unmarked

  face! I hope he's unharmed."

  He put out a hand to lay on the man's heart.

  The hand vanished down through the massive chest as if the

  flesh had opened to swallow it!

  He jerked his hand back, staring in astonishment. "A

  holoshroud!" he gasped.

  His hand shot to grip the butt of his blaster. But the other

  man sat suddenly upright, swiftly striking out. A fist thrust

  forward to slam into Eva/an's face. The blow knocked him backward,

  sprawling at full length, stunned.

  Before the doctor could recover, the blond man was on his feet.

  The image of his large form wavered, faded, and vanished

  completely, revealing the figure of a thin and hawkfaced man of

  dark complexion with a black mustache. One hand rested on the belt

  control for the holographic disguise, the other hand he
ld the

  grenadelike shape of a powerful thermal detonator. Its thumb guard

  was already pushed back, and the man's thumb rested on the

  detonator button.

  "Toss the gun away, Evazan," the man grated out, "or we'll both

  go up together."

  Evazan drew out his blaster gingerly and heaved it far away.

  "Who are you?" he demanded.

  "Gurion's the name. I've been trying to get you for a long,

  long time. Get on your feet."

  "Pretty smart of you to use that disguise," Evazan told him,

  climbing up. "You'd never have gotten in here otherwise."

  "That's just what I figured. Now, get moving, you butchering

  monster. Take me to the roof. Some friends'll be picking us up

  there." Gurion gestured meaningfully with the bomb. "I said,

  move!"

  Evazan readily complied. They went into the main entry hall and

  up a broad staircase.

  As they turned the corner on the first landing to start up a

  second flight, Evazan glanced down to see a shimmering first bit

  of Rover ooze through a doorway into the hall below. He smiled to

  himself.

  "Look here," he told his captor, intent on keeping the man's

  attention on him, "this is crazy. I'm going to be a very rich man.

  I don't know how much bounty you're after, but I can pay you a lot

  more."

  "I'm not after bounty," Gurion shot back. "My family name is

  Silizzar. Sound familiar?"

  Evazan blanched at the name. "I-I may have had a-a patient or

  two-" he stammered.

  Gurion cut him off. "You treated my whole family. For a stomach

  disorder caused by a poison you gave them as medicine! You gutted

  them one by one like so many fish. Seven people! None of them

  survived. No, I don't want money for you. This is purely for

  revenge!"

  Several flights higher they reached a small door that opened

  onto a flat area of the roof. A brisk wind from the sea tugged

  sharply at their clothes as they came out. The distant lightning

  flickered eerily on the scene, and the deep growling of the far

  thunder made a constant, ominous background sound.

  Gurion directed Evazan around the roofs edge, close to the spot

  where his backpack comlink was secured.

  "Just stand there like stone," Gurion warned. He lifted the

  bomb. "Remember, if I push this button, we've both only got a few

  seconds to live. I'd rather take you back to stand trial for all

  the other beings you've murdered. But I won't hesitate to finish

  it right here!"

  "I'm a statue," Evazan readily agreed.

  Gurion fetched his backpack and crouched beside it to take out

  the comlink's headset. He kept an eye on the doctor as he spoke

  into the mouthpiece.

  "Mother, it's Gurion. Do you still copy me?"

  "Still here, my friend. What's happened?"

  "I've got our baby here, alive. I'm up on the roof. Can you

  come get us?"

  "On our way!" the voice said jubilantly. "Mother out."

  Out of the corner of one eye, Evazan saw the door onto the roof

  push open. One bulb-tipped stalk poked cautiously out around it,

  sensing the air ahead.

  "There'll be a shuttle here for us in a few minutes," said

  Gurion as he put his comlink headset away.

  The doctor took a couple of casual steps around him to get

  Gurion's back to the door.

  "You've really got to listen to me," Evazan said pleadingly.

  "I've got a secret. Right here. An invention. A very big thing.

  Too valuable for anyone to turn down."

  "Not for me," the other said flatly, his hard gaze fixed

  unwaveringly on his foe.

  The shining mass of Rover squeezed through the door. The

  creature began to slither forward slowly, noiselessly. Flickering

  lightning glinted from its gelatinous form.

  "But with it I can make you live forever," the doctor argued

  on. "Real immortality. Everybody wants that."

  "Do you actually think giving me more lifetimes can make up for

  all the lives you stole?" Gurion said in disbelief. "You're even

  more demented than I thought."

  Rover was now only meters behind the crouching man. The

  creature began to hump up higher, its stalks shifting forward to

  strike out.

  In the tiny mirrors of Evazan's eyes Gurion saw the Meduza's

  twin reflections as a brighter lightning flare gleamed from its

  surface. He sprang upright, wheeling around to see the thing

  nearly on him.

  Rover struck just as he jumped back away from it. Only a single

  bulb's tip managed to graze Gurion's knee with a sharp crackle of

  power.

  The man cried out at the stinging pain and staggered. The arm

  holding the bomb dropped down.

  Evazan leaped instantly for the arm. His two hands clenched

  tight on Gurion's wrist and he shook hard. The untriggered

  detonator came loose and bounced away across the flat roof, coming

  to rest before the door.

  With his captor disarmed, Evazan tried to break away to let

  Rover finish things. But Gurion grappled tight with him, his hands

  going for the doctor's throat.

  "I'll kill you with my bare hands!" he snarled.

  Evazan stumbled backward as he fought wildly to break loose.

  Gurion hung on with a strength born of his rage.

  The back of the doctor's foot hit the roofs edge. Desperately

  he swung about, dragging Gurion off balance and out into space.

  The man fell.

  Gurion's own weight tore his hands free from the doctor's

  throat. But the last downward jerk overbalanced Evazan also.

  For a moment the doctor teetered on the brink, flailing out

  with his arms for balance. When that failed, he twisted his body

  violently around, grabbing out for the roofs edge as he went over

  it.

  His agility saved him. He hung on fiercely, dangling at arm's

  length against the sheer stone face. Below him, Gurion's form

  plunged downward, striking the jagged cliffs at several spots.

  Evazan glanced down to see the body make the final crash into a

  surging wave. He then turned his attention to ensuring his own

  safety, but he quickly found this was not so easy a task. His arms

  alone weren't strong enough to pull him up. His scrabbling feet

  could find no holds in the smooth stone.

  A noise came from above him. He looked up as the toes of boots

  appeared over the edge just inches from his face. His gaze moved

  on up the body to see that it was Ponda Baba who stood there,

  staring down at him.

  "P-Ponda!" he gasped out, at first with great relief. But a new

  realization swiftly turned relief to surprise. "But . . . how! You

  here? The-the transfer ... it didn't work?"

  "Oh, it worked, Doctor," came a voice no longer like that of

  his old friend. "But it worked backward."

  "Backward?" he echoed.

  "That's right. And so you've condemned me to the loathsome form

  of one of my people's lowest breed of scum." The Aqualish lifted

  the hairy arm that marked him as a social pariah on his own

  planet. "You've destroyed my life as a senator, Doctor. So now I

  am go
ing to destroy yours!"

  The mechanical arm lifted. In its jointed fingers was clutched

  the thermal detonator. The metal thumb rested on the triggering

  button.

  "No!" cried Evazan. "No, no, wait! You can't!"

  "Good-bye, Doc!" the new Ponda Baba said simply.

  He pushed the button, dropped the bomb, turned, and strode

  away.

  "No, no!" Evazan screamed out as the bomb's timer ticked down.

  With the strength of desperation he hauled himself up. His eyes

  cleared the edge. He glimpsed the ticking b omb, and just beyond it

  the Meduza's form.

  "Rover!" he shouted to it. "Hellllp meeee!"

  Far above, a small shuttle skimmed down through the atmosphere,

  flashing high across the waves. The rocky isle with the towering

  castle lay straight ahead. Two men of Gurion's lean build and

  swarthy complexion sat at the controls.

  "There it is," one said. He looked to his companion. "Get ready

  to hover above the roof, while I get out the boarding-"

  A great flash of light from ahead interrupted him. An explosion

  enveloped the entire castle top.

  Both men stared with astonishment as the upper half of the

  structure disintegrated in the initial blast. A cloud of fine

  debris billowed up while larger pieces showered out and down. Then

  the lower half of the shattered castle collapsed inward, becoming

  in seconds a vast rubble pile.

  "Poor Gurion," the first man said, looking down at the broken

  remains as they soared overhead.

  "That blast probably attracted Andoan security," said the

  other. "We'd better get well away from here."

  He turned the ship, heading upward again.

  "At least Gurion got his revenge on that lunatic Evazan," the

  first man said as they left the ruins behind ...

  Far below, halfway down one rugged side of the castle's high

  cliffs, a large bile-green mound of goo lay motionless on a ledge.

  From its splattered edges a thick yellow oil ran, dripping in

  greasy, fat globules over the edge.

  Then the gellike mass heaved and quivered, bulging upward. Out

  of the largest lump of its center an arm suddenly shot forth,

  followed by another, and then by the head of Dr. Evazan. He took a

  great shuddering breath as he broke the surface, like a swimmer

  who'd been long under the sea.

  With some difficulty he extricated himself from the blob that

  had once been his pet. Though the loyal creature had saved him by

  cushioning his fall, their hard impact together had squashed the