[Boba Fett] - 2(15)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN


“Hey, Garr; check this out!”

They were in the rear docking bay, alone except for a few service droids humming and buzzing busily on the far side of the vast room.

“What?” Garr said. “It’s just a door.”

The door was marked EMERGENCY ONLY.

“I’ll bet I can open it,” said Boba. The system looked very similar to the one his father had used to teach him to hot-wire locks.

“So?”

“So this is our chance. You are always talking about wanting to see the bridge, the command center of the ship, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” said Garr. “But this door doesn’t lead to the bridge. This is an emergency airlock door. It leads to the outside of the ship. To outer space.”

“Exactly,” said Boba. “Come on. Follow me.”

With a deft crossing of wires and simulation of code, Boba opened the door. On the other side was a small airlock, lined with space suits on hangers. It was like a closet with two doors. Boba knew that once the inner door was closed, and the outer door was opened, the air would rush out and the door would open into space.

The anti-grav plates were off inside the airlock. Boba and Garr both floated free, past the space suits.

“Yikes,” said Garr. “I’m not used to this. What if I get sick and throw up?”

“Just don’t think about it,” said Boba. “Pick a space suit and let’s go.”

All the suits were slightly too large for ten-year-old bodies. The suits were for emergency evacuation only, so they carried only small air tanks and battery-powered heaters, enough for an hour and a half.

“One hour will be long enough,” said Boba. “Are you sure?” asked Garr, picking a suit. “What if something goes wrong?”

“What could go wrong?” Boba asked as he helped zip Garr into the suit. He put on his own suit, and selected two helmets from the rack nearby.

He spit on his helmet’s faceplate and wiped it with his sleeve before putting it on. “Keeps it from fogging,” he said.

“Whatever you say,” Garr said, spitting on the faceplate and wiping it dry.

When both suits were on, secure and sealed, Boba tried the comlinks. He showed Garr the switch built into the wrist gauntlet.

“Can you hear me?”

“You’re shouting!” said Garr. “Turn the volume down.”

“Sorry…”

Boba made sure the inner door was closed and sealed. Then he pushed off the wall and floated across the tiny room to the outer door, which was thicker. Instead of a knob it had a wheel.

He looked at Garr, questioning. Garr gave him a thumbs-up.

Boba turned the wheel to the left.

One turn, two.

He was just beginning to think nothing was going to happen when, all of a sudden, there was a WH000000SH of air. Boba shivered as the icy chill of space rushed into the room.

Boba started to push the door open, then stopped. “Almost forgot!” He grabbed a ten-meter coil of safety line from the wall. He clipped one to Garr’s belt and the other end to his own.

Then he opened the door and floated out into the emptiness of space.

Garr watched for a moment, swallowed hard - And followed.

They were floating in an endless sea of stars.

It was like falling, down down down, into a hole as deep as all eternity. A hole so deep, they would never hit bottom.

The stars went on forever, and Boba and Garr floated among them like specks of dust.

No, thought Boba, it was the stars that were dust.

And Garr and I are dust’s dust

“Better now,” said Garr, swallowing bravely. “Now what?”

“Now we find the bridge,” said Boba. “We have over an hour. But we have to be careful.”

“I’m feeling very, very careful!” said Garr. “Good. We have to keep secured to the ship. If we float away from it…”

“What will happen?” Garr asked.

“Nothing will happen.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing forever. We will float forever, spinning off into space until we die. There’s no way back, since these emergency suits don’t have jetpacks. But don’t worry, we have our safety line.”

“Do I sound worried?” Garr asked.

Boba laughed. “Yes!”

“Good!” said Garr. “If I weren’t worried, I would be crazy!”

Boba made sure Garr had a good hold on the hull of the ship. Then he floated forward ten meters until the line stopped him, and he found a handhold on the ship.

Then he secured the line while Garr went ahead.

They took turns that way, climbed “up” the ship toward the bridge, belaying for safety while the other forged ahead, finding the route: