by Ian Doescher
LUKE
Fie! We shall never extricate the ship.
YODA
So certain are you?
Always with you, my pupil,
It cannot be done.
What have we done here—
Hear’st thou nothing that I say?
Dost thou attend, Luke?
If depend upon
The Force thou shalt, anything
Possible shall be.
LUKE
But Master, moving stones with the great Force
I do admit may be achiev’d. But this,
This ship—to lift its hulk, its mass, its size—
’Tis different, aye, wholly different!
YODA
Nay! No different.
Only within thy mind, Luke,
Different it is.
Thou must unlearn all
Those things that thou hast learnèd.
Dost thou understand?
LUKE
In troth, I understand, and I shall try.
YODA
Nay, nay! Try thou not.
But do thou or do thou not,
For there is no “try.”
LUKE
[aside:] I shall stretch out my mind, and shall attempt,
But this is madness—lifting e’en a ship?
The greatest Jedi still cannot achieve
That which is patently impossible.
Methinks no Force can move this ship, and thus
I certain am I never shall do this.
[Luke tries to lift the ship with the Force, but the ship sinks lower.
R2-D2
Beep, hoo.
LUKE
—Nay, I cannot. ’Tis much too big.
YODA
Nay, size matters not.
Look thou at me, I prithee.
Judge me by my size?
And where you should not.
For my ally ’tis the Force.
A pow’rful ally.
Life doth create it.
Its energy surrounds us,
Binds us together.
Luminous beings
We are, not this crude matter.
You must feel the Force.
All around thee, here—
Between thou and me, tree, rock:
Ev’rywhere it is.
E’en between the land
And your ever-sinking ship,
The Force is there, too.
LUKE
I know now thou dost ask th’impossible.
[Luke sits aside, as Yoda lifts his hands.
YODA
[aside:] Be mindful, young one,
And watch what inner strength great
May come from small size.
[Yoda moves the ship out of the swamp using the Force.
LUKE
The ship! It cometh out—thou hast done it!
I ne’er imagin’d it was possible.
With eyes I see, but mind does not believe.
YODA
Thus is your error.
Against the Force you do rail;
That is why you fail.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 1.
Aboard the Millennium Falcon, moored to a Star Destroyer.
Enter CHORUS.
CHORUS
With such deep wit Han hath the Empire trick’d
That now the Falcon hides within its fleet!
With skill he doth the Empire’s moves predict,
And bravely plans to make his move discreet.
[Exit.
Enter HAN SOLO, PRINCESS LEIA, CHEWBACCA, and C-3PO.
C-3PO
I tell thee, Captain Solo, thou hast gone
Beyond all measure with this reckless move.
Thou hast put all aboard in danger grave,
And yet thou seem’st to have but little care.
CHEWBAC.
Auugh!
C-3PO
—Nay, I’ll not be silent! Wherefore am
I never listen’d to?
HAN
—The fleet doth break
Itself up into pieces. [To Chewbacca:] Go thee now,
Chewbacca; stand aside the manual
Release to liberate the landing claw.
CHEWBAC.
Egh.
[Exit Chewbacca.
C-3PO
—Truly, I see not how that shall help.
Surrender is, in circumstances such
As these, a fair alternative. Perhaps
The Empire may yet reasonable be.
[Leia turns off C-3PO.
HAN
Great thanks I give thee for the gift of peace.
LEIA
Brave soul, what dost thou think thou next shalt do?
HAN
Before these ships do from the fleet release,
They should their garbage dump ere they pursue
A jump to lightspeed. Then we’ll float away.
LEIA
Thy ship with all the garbage, eh? Well said.
And what then?
HAN
—We shall haply find our way
Unto a port where safety makes its bed.
Pray, dost thou know of any port like such?
LEIA
Mayhap I might, if I knew where we were.
HAN
Anoat system, but doth that help much?
LEIA
O, the Anoat system? I aver:
’Tis bleak.
HAN
—But hark! An interesting name
My ship’s computer showeth: Lando!
LEIA
—Han?
What Lando system?
HAN
—“System,” you exclaim?
He is not system: Lando is a man.
As Lando of Calrissian he’s known.
The man doth deal in cards, in gambling and
In scoundreling—thou wouldst his type condone.
LEIA
[aside:] He jests with me as one in love’s command!
HAN
He is in Bespin—rather far, but we
May make it there.
LEIA
[reading from screen:]—A colony? A mine?
HAN
Tibanna gas mine—I would wager he
Hath ta’en the mine that someone did call “mine.”
This Lando hath a hist’ry long with me.
LEIA
But dost thou trust him?
HAN
—Nay, thou’rt right. But I
Believe we have no need of fear, for he
No love doth harbor for the Empire, aye.
[The ship shakes.
[Into comlink:] Prepare now, Chewie, ’tis the time. Detach!
[The Millennium Falcon detaches from the Star Destroyer.
LEIA
Thou hast these moments that are unsurpass’d—
Aye, when thou hast them, they are without match.
Not numerous are they, but aye: thou hast.
[Leia kisses Han and exits with C-3PO.
HAN
’Tis said that sometimes those who knew us in
Our youth did know us best. From them we have
No secrets and cannot pretend to be
Another thing than what we are. They keep
Our living honest, for they know who we
Have been. And such a man is Lando. He
And I have known each other many years,
So he doth know me from my smuggling past,
The days when I did gamble, cheat, and fight—
And often in that order, too. He knew
Me ere I was with the Rebellion join’d,
And knoweth what Han Solo once hath been.
Thus is he prim’d uniquely to give aid
Unto a friend who now hath found a cause:
A cause to join, a cause e’en to defend.
O Lando, all our hopes are pinn’d on thee.
What shall it be, old friend? I here take all
I have�
�my ship, my mates, my one true love—
And stake it all on thee and on our past.
How shalt thou answer, O Calrissian?
Will this, my wager, prove a foolish bet?
How shall the deck unfold, the players end?
And is the dealing in my favor stack’d?
The playing of the game is yet to be,
But Lando: I do seek to win with thee.
[Exit.
Enter BOBA FETT.
FETT
A smuggler’s ways are e’er unchanging and
predictable. Thou hast let the Millennium Falcon
go out with the refuse, Solo, but I refuse to let
thee play a jade’s trick and go thy merry way.
Thy course shall I pursue, and e’en best, for my
ship is swift of flight unlike thy tir’d and agèd
Falcon. To the last I’ll grapple with thee, and
in the heart of Bespin make thee cold with fright.
The Fett doth promise it, and it shall be.
[Exit Boba Fett.
SCENE 2.
The Dagobah system.
Enter YODA, R2-D2, and LUKE SKYWALKER, doing a handstand and lifting things with the Force.
YODA
Now, concentrate, Luke.
Feel the Force, how it doth flow.
Be calm, at peace, yes.
When you use the Force,
The Force, in your soul, begins
New paths to open.
Through the Force, your mind
Shall see future things, things past.
Friends nearer and yon.
LUKE
Alas, my mind doth see—’tis Leia, Han!
[Everything drops as Luke’s concentration breaks.
YODA
Nay, be in control!
Thou must, beyond all else, Luke,
Have control entire.
LUKE
O vision most horrendous and most drear.
A city in the clouds most beautiful,
Beneath a golden sun—as though ’twere heav’n.
But hidden just beneath its luster doth
A harsh and painful nightmare lurk. I saw,
Beneath a sky of orange hues array’d,
Dear Leia weeping at some cruel, dark thing—
She will not be consol’d from her great loss.
And Han, his screams do echo in mine ears,
Such cries of suffering I ne’er have heard.
What signs are these, what ghosts of future hurt?
What doth the Force attempt to show to me?
O tell me, Master, tell me plain, I pray:
Shall Han and Leia die, is that their fate?
YODA
A future sight, this.
Hard to see is the future—
’Tis e’er in motion.
LUKE
I understand ’tis hard for thee to see,
But harder yet the vision echoes in
My head, and reaches deep within my soul.
If thou canst not give reassurance they
Are safe, and shall be safe, ’tis I who must
Ensure the same. I will not idly stand
By whilst they suffer many agonies.
My mind is settl’d: I must thither go.
YODA
Decide thou must, how
Thou shalt truly serve them best.
Mayhap you may help.
But also shalt thou
Sacrifice all for which they
Shall fight and suffer.
LUKE
But Master, tell me what then I should do?
Wouldst thou allow thy friends to suffer thus?
Wouldst thou accept the future’s “hard to see”?
Wouldst thou ignore the screams within thy brain?
YODA
[aside:] The boy doth not hear—
His friends’ fates I cannot see,
But his looketh bleak.
Convince him I must,
Else he shall suffer greatly
And lost is our hope.
[To Luke:] Go not, I prithee.
The training must thou complete.
To my words listen!
LUKE
The vision shall not, will not, leave my head.
E’en now I witness Leia in her torment,
And Han, alone, as if upon some isle.
E’en brave Chewbacca cries for what is lost—
These signs can only equal tragedy.
They are my friends, and I must fly with haste.
Or else, I’ll warrant, all of them may die.
Enter GHOST OF OBI-WAN KENOBI.
OBI-WAN
Thou canst not know this, Luke. E’en Yoda doth
Not have the pow’r, their final fate to see.
LUKE
But I may help them now; I feel the Force!
OBI-WAN
To see is one thing—to control is yet
Another. Dangerous this moment is
For thee, for thou shalt be sore tempted, in
Thy rage, toward the dark side of the Force.
YODA
Yes, to Obi-Wan
Thou must listen. The cave, Luke:
Recall thy failure!
LUKE
But truly, I have learn’d so much since then.
I know what I must watch for and beware,
I know how tempted by the dark I’ll be,
I know this and shall, therefore, guard my soul.
I tell thee, Master Yoda, I’ll return
And finish all my training. This I vow.
OBI-WAN
Pray, open up thine eyes. ’Tis thee and thine
Abilities the Emperor desires.
They are the bait, and thou the colo claw—
Thou art the fish the Emperor would catch.
Thy friends do suffer only for thy sake,
So that, through them, thou mayst be easily
Drawn in.
LUKE
—And that is why I have to go.
Present unto the Emperor the fish,
And rest assur’d the bait is off the hook.
OBI-WAN
O Luke, I would not lose thee as I lost
Darth Vader. His betrayal made my life
A bleak and tragic thing. Thy loss unto
The dark would make my death a hellish, cold
Eternity.
LUKE
—I shall return, dear Ben.
My training thus far shall suffice, it is
Enough; I stand prepar’d to face the dark.
YODA
Stoppèd they must be;
On this depends ev’ry thing.
But pray, attend me:
Only a fully
Trainèd Jedi may defeat
Vader and his Lord.
If thou leavest now,
And here do end thy training,
Thou art choosing ease.
And once on the path
Of ease and haste, like Vader
Thou mayst become, Luke.
OBI-WAN
Attend to Yoda’s wisdom, Luke, and stay.
O, exercise thy patience, worthy lad.
LUKE
And in the waiting sacrifice my friends?
Is that the choice that ye would have me make?
YODA
This hard indeed is.
But if thou honor the thing
For which they fight: yes.
OBI-WAN
If thou dost choose to face Darth Vader, thou
Shalt be alone; I cannot interfere.
LUKE
I understand, and have been fully warn’d.
My mind is set; good R2, do prepare.
Fire up the ship’s converters: we depart.
OBI-WAN
O, do not give in unto hate, dear Luke,
In doing so the dark side shalt thou find.
[Aside:] Indeed, I once did see it happen thus.
YODA
Str
ong is Darth Vader.
Remember what thou hast learn’d,
For save thee it can.
LUKE
I shall, and shall return: you have my word.
[Exeunt Luke and R2-D2.
YODA
Warnèd thee I have—
He a reckless spirit hath.
Now matters are worse.
OBI-WAN
That boy is our first, last, and greatest hope.
[Exit Ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
YODA
But nay, ’tis not so.
For another yet there is:
One more hope for us.
O how this plagues me!
The boy for training hath come,
But too soon is fled.
A young bird he is,
Too eager the nest to leave,
Yet trying to fly.
But young birds fly not—
Their wings still too fragile are.
Instead, they do fall.
And fall this one shall.
But how far, how fast, how long?
Time only shall tell.
Little bird, be safe.
If thou the nest seest again
I shall meet thee then.
[Exit Yoda.
SCENE 3.
Bespin, the cloud city.
Enter HAN SOLO, CHEWBACCA, PRINCESS LEIA, and C-3PO, attempting to land the Millennium Falcon in the city, speaking with GUARD 1 in comlink.
HAN
Nay, nay, good Sir, as I have said before:
I have no permit that shall let me pass,
But Lando of Calrissian I seek.
GUARD 1
[through comlink:] Thou shalt not enter unto Bespin, nay.
