William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back
Page 7
But hold one moment, something seems awry,
For blaster fire should not cause walls to shake.
[Han shoots the cave wall, and the ground shakes mightily.
O, horror, for I now do understand:
The cave doth quake whenever it is shot.
But what knows rock of pain, or stone of hurt?
Whenever did a cave feel anything?
Impossible it is, unless this cave
Is much more than a cave. [To Leia and Chewbacca:] Pray, go inside!
[They run into the Millennium Falcon.
With speed now, Chewie, let us fly away!
LEIA
[following Han to the cockpit:] The Empire is without, we should not go—
HAN
We’ve no time to discuss this in committee.
LEIA
O, fie! Thou scoundrel, I am no committee!
[They arrive in the cockpit and start the ship.
See reason! For thou canst not make the jump
To lightspeed midst this field of asteroids.
HAN
Make sure thy back end finds a seat—we go!
[They begin to leave the cave, which is actually an exogorth, or space slug. Its mouth begins to close.
Enter C-3PO.
C-3PO
Observe! We are destroy’d!
HAN
—I see it plain.
C-3PO
O, we are doom’d!
LEIA
—The cave, it doth collapse!
HAN
This is no cave, and I am not its food.
Now we do fly—another close escape!
[Exeunt C-3PO, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and
Chewbacca in the Milennium Falcon, flying out
of exogorth’s mouth and leaving it alone on stage.
EXOGOR.
Alas, another meal hath fled and gone,
And in the process I am sorely hurt.
These travelers who have escap’d my reach
Us’d me past the endurance of a block!
My stomach they did injure mightily
With jabs and pricks, as though a needle were
A’bouncing in my belly. O cruel Fate!
To be a space slug is a lonely lot,
With no one on this rock to share my life,
No true companion here to mark my days.
And now my meals do from my body fly—
Was e’er a beast by supper so abus’d?
Was e’er a creature’s case so pitiful?
Was e’er an exogorth as sad as I?
Was e’er a tragedy as deep as mine?
I shall with weeping crawl back to my cave,
Which shall, sans food, belike become my grave.
[Exit.
SCENE 5.
The Dagobah system.
Enter YODA, R2-D2, and LUKE SKYWALKER, training.
LUKE
[aside:] This Yoda is indeed a teacher wise,
And hath agreed to train me in the way
Of Jedi. Strong and quick I show myself—
With leaps and flips I train my body and
Instill within a Jedi’s discipline.
Aye, with the Force I like a sand bat fly.
My spirit feeleth free, my muscles strong,
My mind is calm inside, my heart is still.
What gratitude I feel toward this new
And treasur’d mentor. Thus I train my best—
His expectations I’ll not disappoint.
YODA
Now run, indeed, run!
A Jedi’s strength doth surely
Come from the Force, Luke.
But mind the dark side.
Anger, fear, aggression—from
The dark side are they.
Easily they flow,
Quick to join you in a fight.
Aye, they do not fail!
Once on the dark path,
Forever shall it control
Thy destiny, Luke.
It shall consume thee,
As it did the apprentice
Of good Obi-Wan.
LUKE
Darth Vader: legendary is his pow’r.
But Master, hath the dark side greater strength?
YODA
Nay, nay—forsooth: nay.
’Tis quicker, easier, more
Seductive only.
LUKE
But how, good master, shall I know the good
Side from the bad, the darkness from the light?
YODA
Thou shalt know, my lad,
When thou art calm and passive.
[Aside:] I hope thou shalt know.
When fac’d with terror,
And with thy father’s grim fate,
I hope thou shalt know.
[To Luke:] A Jedi uses
The Force only for knowledge
And defense. Is’t clear?
The Force is no club,
Neither is it a weapon
Us’d for attacking.
LUKE
Yet it is still a weapon for defense.
So wherefore may I not the Force employ—
YODA
Nay, there’s no wherefore.
Nothing more shall come today.
From thy questions, rest.
LUKE
[aside:] Reliev’d am I this training to complete,
If only for this day, which hath been years.
But is this not a strange and troubling thing?
Where only moments past I felt at ease,
Now there’s some sprite within that troubles me—
A chill, a solemn aura in my bones.
I would not much ado o’er nothing make,
But still shall I ask Yoda what it is.
[To Yoda:] I feel a cold, a presage here of death.
What is it that I sense within this place?
[Yoda points to the opening of a cave.
YODA
With the Force’s dark side
Is that place yonder quite strong.
A place of evil.
Discover thou shalt
That wherever good is found,
Evil is nearby.
Here on Dagobah
’Tis also so. For e’en here
That evil place is.
Bound thou art now, Luke,
To enter it, and face its
Deepest darknesses.
LUKE
But Sir, I prithee, tell me: what’s within?
YODA
Only that which thou
Shalt take away with thee, Luke.
[Luke begins to enter the cave, carrying his weapons.
Take not thy weapons.
R2-D2
Beep, meep, meep, squeak, beep, whistle, meep,
beep, nee!
[Luke enters, bringing his weapons, as Yoda and R2-D2 remain outside.
LUKE
What twists of knotted vines and tangl’d fates
Await me in this hole? I shall go in,
And prove that I am not afraid of it,
Nor any task or misadventure here.
What evil can await I have not seen?
For I have facèd evil enemies
Who kill’d my mentor and my family.
What evil in this place can greater be?
Now doth time seem to slowly beat its pace.
And all is like a thick and restless dream.
But wait, who comes unto this deep, dark place?
It moves with grace—is it my father good?
Enter shadow of DARTH VADER.
Nay, nay, how I have been deceiv’d, abus’d!
For it is Vader here, my greatest foe,
The cruel defiler of my father’s youth.
I stand preparèd to do battle as
A Jedi, full of rage and righteous hate.
Now up, lightsaber, light my keen revenge!
Lay on, Darth Vader, damnèd henchman vile.
And now we fight! Yet seems it that my limbs
I see my chance to strike, and let it fall—
The blow that shall release my father’s soul.
Now Vader’s head doth fall onto the ground
And I feel no relief, but only pain.
The mask doth split, his visage to reveal!
O, I shall see the face that kill’d a man,
That kill’d a thousand fathers like my own.
But wait, what is this here—and can it be?
This is no face of Vader: ’tis my face!
The horror, O the horror! Darker yet
That e’er I had imagin’d possible.
The greatest evil I may face—myself!
[Exit Luke, in fear.
YODA
Now hath he seen it,
And he shall ever see it
Till he sees it through.
[Exit Yoda.
R2-D2
O strange and somber night that falleth here—
My master Luke all out of sorts from what
He spies inside this hole. What lesson is
It Yoda hath reveal’d to him inside?
I would that I my master could protect,
But such is not the role I have to play.
And thus, since I may not protector be,
My path shall be to play the fool and watch:
I shall maintain my droidlike silence and
Bear witness as the boy becomes the man,
The learner doth become the Jedi true.
Content yourself with this, R2, and rest,
For other times than these require your best.
[Exit.
SCENE 6.
Space, aboard the Empire’s Super Star Destroyer and the Millennium Falcon.
Enter ADMIRAL PIETT and IMPERIAL CONTROLLER, with DARTH VADER and BOUNTY HUNTERS, including BOBA FETT, aside, aboard the Super Star Destroyer.
PIETT
These bounty hunters, O they reek! We have
No need for their most wretched scum.
CONTROL.
—Aye, Sir.
PIETT
The rebels surely shall not ’scape us now.
CONTROL.
We have been hail’d by the Avenger ship.
PIETT
Now let us hear it.
VADER
—There shall be rewards
Aplenty for the one who finds the swift
Millenn’um Falcon. Ye may use whate’er
Approaches, weapons, means, or what ye will,
But mark ye well: I want them all alive.
[To Boba Fett:] There shall be no disintegrations. Clear?
FETT
As you wish. [Aside:] The darkest Sith that e’er
did live, and I am his choice to find those he cannot.
Yet who am I? A mere bounty hunter like the others
here? Nay, far more. I am Boba Fett, the vilest,
fiercest, most deadly hunter in the galaxy. More
than that, Darth Vader knows that I shall serve
him well and faithfully in the pursuit of Solo. He
knoweth well that Boba Fett doth worship at sweet
compensation’s throne, and would happily
betray my own kin to earn the great reward
that hath been promis’d. I would kill Solo
without a thought, for what is he to me?
Disintegrations, indeed. I would disintegrate,
disembowel, dismember, destroy utterly Han Solo,
for I know him not nor care what he hath done
to earn Darth Vader’s ire and the scorn of Jabba
of the Hutt. I shall play my bounty hunter’s part,
obey the dark lord, take my prize from the Empire,
and receive a second prize on the dunes of Tatooine.
A double prize—’tis wonderful a bounty hunter to be.
PIETT
[to Darth Vader:] My Lord, the ship hath been discoverèd!
[Exeunt Darth Vader, Boba Fett, other bounty hunters, Admiral Piett, and Imperial Controller.
Enter HAN SOLO, CHEWBACCA, PRINCESS LEIA, and C-3PO aboard the Millennium Falcon.
C-3PO
O, praise the maker! We are venturing
Out of the ast’roid field, and are alive—
Miraculous! [Aside:] I almost am convinc’d
That Captain Solo bears a hero’s air.
HAN
Now let us hence. Chewbacca, art prepar’d
For lightspeed?
CHEWBAC.
—Auugh!
HAN
—Now one, two, three, and go!
[The Millennium Falcon makes a sound and fails.
CHEWBAC.
Egh.
HAN
—’Tis not fair. I say, it is not just!
C-3PO
[aside:] A hero, did I say? O man of folly!
CHEWBAC.
Auugh, auugh!
HAN
—The transfer circuits do not work
’Tis not my fault!
LEIA
—No lightspeed once again?
HAN
’Tis not my fault. In troth, ’tis not my fault!
C-3PO
The rear deflector shield is compromis’d,
And if we do sustain another hit
Upon the ship’s back quarter, ’tis our end.
HAN
[aside:] ’Tis madness, this maneuver I’ll attempt.
But desp’rate times for desp’rate measures call.
[To Chewbacca:] Turn thou this ship around.
CHEWBAC.
—Egh?
HAN
—Turn it ’round!
I shall put all our pow’r to shields in front.
LEIA
Thou wilt attack a Star Destroyer?
C-3PO
—Sir!
The odds of our success in a direct
Attack upon a Star Destroyer—
LEIA
—Tut!
[Exeunt, flying toward the Star Destroyer.
Enter CAPTAIN NEEDA, TRACKING OFFICER, and COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER.
NEEDA
They move into attack position—shields!
But now, where are they gone? Pray, track them straight.
TRACK.
The ship’s no longer shown in any scopes.
NEEDA
That is impossible. No ship that small
Hath any ways or means to cloak itself.
Nay, they cannot, as magic, disappear.
COMM.
Good Captain Needa, our Lord Vader doth
Demand an update of our keen pursuit.
NEEDA
[aside:] O dreaded moment. This shall mean my death.
Farewell now, for my life’s gone with the ship.
[To Communications Officer:] Prepare a shuttle for me. I’ll accept
The full responsibility for their
Escape, and shall apologize unto
Lord Vader. Keep thy watch most vigilant.
COMM.
Aye, Captain Needa.
[Exit Tracking and Communications officers.
Enter DARTH VADER, as Captain Needa makes his way toward him.
NEEDA
—On thy mercy great
I throw myself and all my hopes, dear lord.
The great Millenn’um Falcon now is fled.
It hath evaded even our vast fleet.
Take my apology—
VADER
—The ship is lost?
And thus thy life—dead for a ducat, dead!
[Darth Vader chokes Captain Needa with the Force, killing him.
The necks of fools deserve a crushing Force.
Let this serve as thy dying lesson, Needa.
With that last breath thy recompense is done
And all apologies accepted.
Enter ADMIRAL PIETT.
PIETT
—Lord,
Our scan of the surround
ing area
Is now complete, but has, alas, found naught.
Lord, if the swift Millenn’um Falcon hath
Made good the jump to lightspeed, it may be
Beyond the far end of the galaxy.
VADER
Alert thou every Imperi’l post,
And calculate the ship’s most likely course
From its trajectory as it did flee.
PIETT
Aye, Lord, I’ll warrant we shall find them soon.
[Exit Admiral Piett.
VADER
O ancestors, pray save me from these fools
Who with their instruments and scanners could
Not find a bantha in a womp rat’s hole.
But calm thyself now, Vader, be at ease.
This momentary failure may yet prove
Most beneficial, and I’ll warrant that
The time shall not go dully by us, for
It shall be us’d to finalize my plans
And think upon the moment when I shall
Both meet and then defeat the Skywalker
Who dares to call the Empire enemy.
So let these rebels go for now, my soul,
And ponder how to make their downfall whole.
[Exit.
SCENE 7.
The Dagobah system.
Enter YODA, R2-D2, and LUKE SKYWALKER, who practices lifting things with the Force.
YODA
Use the Force, Luke, yes.
Now, lift thou the stone. Feel it.
The Force within flows.
[R2-D2 begins to beep as Luke’s ship sinks.
Nay, listen thou not
To the droid and all his beeps.
Do thou concentrate!
[Everything that was lifted falls.
R2-D2
Nee, nee, beep, meep, beep, squeak, squeak, whistle, squeak!