[Boba Fett] - 1(26)

Never tell the whole truth in a trade. “Two hundred credits,” he said.

Honest Gjon smiled at him. “Mmy mmy, what a coincidence. That’s exactly how mmuch it costs.” So maybe the book helps with repairs after all, Boba thought as he gave Honest Gjon two hundred credits. He still had fifty for himself.

Plus, as a courtesy, the H’drachi agreed to waive the landing fee.

Boba gave Honest Gjon the access codes to Slave 1 and headed toward the lights of the little town. As soon as he started walking, he understood why the landing had been so difficult. Something was shaking Bogg 4. He had hardly gone ten steps before he ended up in a ditch.

He scrambled to his feet - then fell to his knees again. He felt dizzier than ever. It was as if the ground were rocking under his feet - and yet everything looked stable.

The rocks stayed stationary. The ground didn’t move.

Boba stood up again, carefully. He took a step, then another. So far so good. The dizziness came and went, and, finally, Boba realized what it was that felt so strange.

It was the gravity itself! It was strong one moment, weak the next; now tilting him forward, now back. It came and went in waves.

Boba started off again, uneasily, holding onto a stone wall that ran along the road. By the time he got to the edge of the town, he was walking in a more or less straight line.

Or so he thought.

“I see you’re a newcomer,” said a voice from behind him. “A newcomer, yes.”

Boba turned and saw a skinny male in a long black coat. He looked almost human except that he had white feathers instead of hair on his head, and his long fingers were slightly webbed. His face had a pinched, worried look, as if it had been shrunk.

“I can tell by your walk,” said the being in the long black coat. “By your walk, yes.”

“So what?” Boba said. The dizziness was making him sick to his stomach, and he wasn’t feeling too friendly. “And why does the gravity here come and go like the wind?”

“Why, you have it exactly,” said the man, or whatever he was. “It’s the moons crisscrossing, now cancelling one another, now doubling their pull. It makes walking hard. That’s why we locals prefer to soar, yes.”

Boba looked for wings under the long coat, but he didn’t see any. “You are a native, then, of this world?”

“Bogg 4? No. Of all the moons, of all the moons, yes. Say, you’re pretty good, kid. Pretty good, yes.”

“Huh?”

“At the walking. You’ve almost got it down, yes.”

They introduced themselves to each other and walked together into the town.

Aia (for that was his name) explained to Boba that the moons of Bogden were a kind of outlaw heaven, where no warrants were served and no questions were asked.

“What does that mean?” Boba asked.

“It means that no one wonders why a ten-year-old boy is wandering around on his own. No one, yes.”

And it was true. Boba was even more invisible here on Bogg 4 than he had been on Kamino or Geonosis. The streets in the town were crowded with creatures from every corner of the galaxy, all walking with the same rolling gait, and none paying the slightest attention to Boba and his companion.

The gravity came and went in waves as the moons overhead (and unseen “below”) slid in and out and around one another, sometimes dark, sometimes bright. Boba was still dizzy. But he was getting used to it.

“So tell me,” said Aia. “Why are you here, yes?”

“A short visit,” said Boba cautiously. He wasn’t sure who he could trust and who he couldn’t. “I’m looking for a certain man who hired a certain bounty hunter.”

“Lots of bounty hunters on Bogg 4,” said Aia.

“Dangerous characters, yes. They come here to hang out and trade info. To get new jobs. They usually only associate with one another, yes. Never with their prey. You don’t have a bounty on you, do you, yes?”

Boba laughed. “No way. I’m the son of a bounty hunter.”

“Here, then,” said Aia, stopping in front of a low tavern that fronted on the narrow street. A wooden sign said THE BONNY BOUNTY. “This is where the bounty hunters hang out, yes.”

Boba looked in the window. The place was almost empty. He could see long tables, guttering candles, and a smoky fire. “I will wait here, then,” said Boba, “while my ship is being repaired by Honest Gjon.”

“Honest Gjon?” said Aia. “Oh dear, yes.” “Is something wrong?”

“I mean, no, nothing. Never mind. I’ll leave you here, yes.”

“You’re not coming in?” Boba asked. Aia was his only guide. The last thing he wanted was to be alone in this strange place.