by John Whitman
Tash frowned after him. At least she had gotten him to think about
something besides their parents. Now if someone could just do the same for
her.
While Tash headed toward the cockpit, Zak crept toward the ship's living
quarters. The last cabin belonged to Uncle Hoole. Zak pressed the caller.
No answer.
Zak pressed the opener and the door slid back with a soft whoosh!
And Zak found himself staring into the face of a fanged and drooling
monster. Its bulk filled the doorway, and it was so close that Zak could smell
its hot, stinking breath.
He cried out and stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet and
falling to the ground. The creature lunged forward and bent over him. One
clawed hand reached for his throat.
CHAPTER 2
The creature grabbed Zak's shirt and pulled him to his feet. "What are
you doing here!" it demanded in a voice like sliding gravel.
"I-I...," Zak stammered. He could feel the creature's putrid breath on
his face.
The creature paused. It let go of Zak's shirt and took a step back. Then,
before Zak's eyes, its flesh began to quiver and crawl. The monster's entire
body squirmed and changed shape. After only a few seconds, it had transformed
into something close to human. But its dark gray skin and extra-long fingers
revealed it to be quite different.
"Uncle Hoole," Zak gasped. "It's you."
"You are in my cabin," Hoole said sternly. "Who else would you find here?
"
Zak's knees were still shaking, but he felt relieved. He should have
known this would happen eventually. Uncle Hoole was a Shi'ido. Although they
looked mostly human, Shi'ido were aliens with a very nonhuman ability: They
could change shape.
"Sorry," he said with one final shudder. "I just didn't... I mean, I've
never seen you do that before. What was that thing you turned yourself into?"
Hoole turned his back on Zak and began to examine a small datapad. "A
creature I observed in my travels. It keeps my shape-changing skills in
practice," he replied.
"Practice for what?"
Hoole's gaze was like a blaster bolt. "For eating annoying small boys."
Tash believed it was her job as the older sister to make things easier
for Zak, but she missed her parents terribly. She remembered the day she heard
they were dead: She felt so lost and alone that she thought she'd go crazy.
The truth was, although she missed Alderaan, the only people she really
missed were her parents. Tash had always had trouble making friends-other kids
thought she was weird because she was always finishing their sentences or
making predictions about what day a pop quiz was going to be held or getting
strange feelings about things. Usually they were sad or frightening things.
Like the day her parents died. She knew it had happened even though she was
light-years away.
She felt like something was suddenly torn out of her. That had been the
worst time, but not the first time.
When she had heard the news, Tash had wanted to lock herself in her room
forever. But Zak wouldn't let her. He was just as sad and scared as she was,
but he showed it in a different way. He stopped being afraid of anything. He
became a daredevil, risking his neck on silly stunts like skimboarding, his
current dangerous hobby. Tash knew he needed someone to watch over him. And
she found to her surprise that she actually liked the little womp rat.
So instead of closing herself off from the galaxy, Tash had decided to
face it with him.
And she had made a promise to herself that she would never lose anyone
close to her ever again.
Tash entered the Lightrunner's cockpit, with all its delicate instruments
and gauges. The pilot and copilot's seats were empty, because the Lightrunner
was operating on automatic.
Tash slid into the pilot's seat. She double-checked to make sure the
navigational systems were securely locked on automatic, then grabbed the two
levers that controlled the main thrusters.
In her mind she saw an image far sharper than any holographic projection.
The Imperial battle station was surrounded by a gauntlet of TIE fighters,
itching to test themselves against a young Jedi Knight.
Lost in her imagination, Tash was eager to meet their challenge.
Zak hadn't given up on Uncle Hoole. In fact, staring at Uncle Hoole's
back while the anthropologist pored over his work, Zak became angry.
It wasn't fair. Hoole had volunteered to take them, but he refused to
tell them anything about himself. He didn't even tell them where they were
going. That bothered Zak, and he knew it bothered his sister, too. For the
last six months, Hoole had dragged them all across the galaxy on his research,
but he never explained what he was doing.
"Where are we headed?" Zak finally demanded.
Hoole looked up from his work. He scowled at Zak. "Are you still here?
Oh, very well. The planet is called D'vouran. Does it mean anything to you?"
"No."
"Then go away."
"What are you going to do there?" Zak asked. Hoole was exasperated. He
handed Zak his computerized datapad. "Read this file. But only this file!"
The file Zak read told him the planet's story.
D'vouran was a typical life-bearing planet: tree-covered continents,
salty blue oceans, and fresh, breathable air. According to rumor, it was the
richest and most beautiful planet within a thousand light-years. It was
inhabited by creatures who called themselves Enzeen. They were intelligent and
very friendly. Considering the hundreds of magnificent unstudied planets in
the galaxy, D'vouran didn't seem worth an anthropologist's time. Except for
one thing.
No one had ever noticed it before.
D'vouran was less than a light-year from one of the galaxy's busiest
space lanes, and yet it had never appeared on anyone's star charts. One day
the planet wasn't there, and the next day it was.
"That's impossible, of course," Hoole said as Zak finished reading.
"Planets do not just appear out of nowhere. It's a mistake in the star charts.
"
"Oh." Without thinking, Zak pressed Next on the datapad, and a new file
popped onto the screen. He saw the words IMPERIAL ORDERS and PAYMENT RECEIVED
just as Hoole snatched the pad from his hand.
"I told you to read nothing else!"
"Sorry, I was just-"
"You were just snooping," Hoole interrupted. "Don't ever snoop in my
cabin again." The Shi'ido turned back toward Zak, towering frighteningly over
him. "If you do, you will be very, very sorry."
Hoole took another step forward and Zak gulped. Whatever Hoole planned to
do next, he never got the chance. Both he and Zak were thrown to the floor by
a sudden jolt. The Lightrunner shuddered and groaned as though some giant
force had grabbed hold of it. Over the scream of the engines, Zak heard his
uncle cry, "We're out of control!"
CHAPTER 3
Zak and Uncle Hoole rushed to the cockpit, stumbling every time the ship
shuddered. When they reached the pilot's room, Tash was still sitting at the
controls, her
knuckles white with fear and her eyes wide.
"I didn't do anything!" she said in a panic. "I didn't touch anything!"
Through the viewport, they could see that the white blur of hyperspace
was gone. They were in realspace, and the Lightrunner was plunging toward a
blue-green planet.
Uncle Hoole's jaw tightened as he looked at Tash. "Move."
She scrambled out of the way as Hoole slipped into the pilot's chair and
began to work the controls at a frantic pace. Deevee came up last, his gyros
struggling to maintain their balance. The droid dropped into the copilot's
chair and began to help his master.
"We're going to crash!" Zak shouted.
The planet surface was rushing up to meet them. Hoole's hands flew across
the Lightrunner's control panels. At first nothing changed-they continued to
plummet as the planet grew larger and larger. But their uncle hit one last
button and pulled back on the control stick, and the Lightrunner pulled out of
its nosedive.
"I didn't touch anything I wasn't supposed to," Tash said in a small
voice.
"What happened?" Zak asked.
Uncle Hoole pointed to an indicator light. "The ship has been dragged out
of hyperspace."
Zak and Tash still had a lot to learn about astrophysics, but they
understood the principles of space travel as well as they understood basic
math. Starships used two different types of engines. Hyperdrives propelled
vessels through an alternate dimension known as hyper-space, which allowed
them to travel great distances in a short period. These powerful engines only
worked in the absence of gravity. When on or near a planet, starships used
their slower sublight engines.
Hoole continued, "I told the navicomputer to plot a course that would
automatically take us out of hyperdrive just before we reached the planet
D'vouran. But..."
"But what?" Zak asked.
Hoole double-checked his readouts. "We seemed to have arrived at our
destination fifteen minutes ahead of schedule."
Zak said, "And D'vouran's gravity yanked the Lightrunner right out of
hyperspace!"
Tash studied the innocent-looking blue-green planet. "You mean that
planet tried to suck us in?"
Zak rolled his eyes. "Please, it's only gravity, Tash. Uncle Hoole, it's
got to be a mistake in the navicomputer. Either that or the planet moved."
Hoole did not take his eyes off his instruments. "Planets do not change
course. And there's nothing wrong with the navicomputer." He spared a brief,
irritated glance at Tash. "Most likely the instruments were interfered with."
"I didn't touch anything I wasn't supposed to," Tash repeated.
But Hoole wasn't satisfied. "You were in here daydreaming again. This is
a working starship, not a place for you to pretend you're a Jedi Knight."
Tash muttered, "Sorry," and looked down at her shoes.
Hoole ignored her apology. "Buckle yourselves in. The ride down will not
be smooth."
That was an understatement. The sublight engines threatened to fail with
every passing moment, and the ship's stabilizers had shorted. As they
descended through D'vouran's gravity, every bolt in the Lightrunner's frame
shrieked at the strain. Through it all, Uncle Hoole remained cool and
collected. Only the tightness in his jaw and his furrowed brow revealed his
concern.
"Are we going to make it?" Zak asked as the Lightrunner's engines
sputtered.
Hoole didn't answer.
Through the observation port, Tash saw clouds roll back and, beneath
them, a green forest laid out like a blanket. In the distance, a white spot
appeared, growing steadily larger. The ship groaned as Hoole banked toward it.
"Is that a spaceport?" Zak said. "It looks more like a junk heap."
The Lightrunner did not fall apart. The engines kept them aloft as Hoole
guided the ship onto the small launch deck. As the massive repulsors took
over, lowering the cruiser clumsily to the tarmac, Hoole sighed with relief.
But then the Lightrunner gave one final shudder and the engines died.
"That is not encouraging," Hoole said. "We should look at the engines."
"All right!" yelled Zak, a born tinkerer. "Let's go, Tash."
"Right behind you."
Tash was still sulking after the near accident. She was sure she hadn't
damaged anything on the ship. She had been daydreaming about the Jedi Knights,
but she didn't deserve to be scolded for it.
Because she was still surly, she lagged behind her brother on his way to
the exit. She would rather have a tooth pulled than look at a starship engine.
By the time she had unbuckled her crash webbing, Zak and Uncle Hoole had
lowered the ramp and were outside.
The moment Tash reached the door, a hole opened up in the pit of her
stomach. She was overcome by a feeling of dread-as though some terrible evil
was looming right before her eyes, staring at her, about to pounce on her. She
had gotten such a feeling once before-on the day her parents died. She
shivered.
But there was nothing there. She peeked out the hatch, but all she saw
was the spaceport's landing pad and the blue sky above it. Still, the feeling
lingered. Something was out there.
"Zak? Uncle Hoole?" she whispered. "Deevee?"
No answer.
Tash crept out of the Lightrunner's door. The spaceport was very quiet.
Most star ports were crowded with ships coming and going, workers unloading
cargo, pilots hurrying to and from dozens of flight decks, and maintenance
droids busily trying to repair the wear and tear of constant arrivals and
departures. Not this place. D'vouran's spaceport looked deserted, and there
were only a few ships on its flight deck. All of them looked like flying junk
heaps-the thrown-together ships of poor travelers on the move.
The feeling of being watched was still there.
Tash took another step out. Where was her brother? "Zak?" she whispered..
.
... As something cold and slimy dropped around her neck.
CHAPTER 4
"Aaaagh!" she cried, pulling at the thing that grabbed her. It was soft
and squishy, and when she yanked, it broke away. Tash saw that her hand was
full of flowers.
"Nice going, Tash," Zak laughed, stepping around the side of the ship
with Deevee beside him. He and Deevee both had necklaces of flowers around
their necks. "I'm sure the Enzeen really appreciate you tearing their gifts
apart."
Zak pointed at a person standing right beside Tash. She had been too
nervous to see the man-well, not a man exactly. He was definitely humanlike,
except that he had blue skin, and instead of hair, the top of his head was
covered with short needlelike spines. He was plump, with chubby fingers and a
round face covered mostly by a very friendly smile. He was holding a pile of
flowered hoops. "Welcome to D'vouran. I am Chood, an Enzeen."
"N-Nice to meet you," Tash stammered. "Sorry about the, um..."
"Friendship necklace," Chood finished pleasantly. "That's quite all
right. Have another." He hung another flower necklace around her neck.
"The Enzeen use these to welcome people to their pla
net," explained
Deevee, coming up closer from around the side of the ship. "A nuisance, if you
ask me.
"If you'd come out with us, you wouldn't have been so surprised," Zak
added.
"Where were you?" Tash asked. "I called your name."
Zak pointed toward the tail end of the ship. "Sorry. Uncle Hoole had
opened up the exterior panels to the lateral stabilizer, and I went with him
to watch. I've never seen the inside of an ion thruster before."
"Thrilling," Deevee said, sounding as sarcastic as a droid could.
Uncle Hoole appeared, wiping oil from his hands and frowning even more
than usual. "The damage is severe. Chood, is there anyone on D'vouran who can
help us repair our ship?"
The Enzeen looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry. We Enzeen are not great
travelers, and we don't know much about starships. In fact, we have very
little use for any technology. However, there are several starpilots on the
planet who may be able to help. Most of them spend time at the local cantina."
"Excellent," Hoole said. "Would you take us there?"
