[Galaxy Of Fear] - 03(11)

“By the Force!” he yelled in surprise as he lost his balance. He staggered backward toward the edge of the high bridge. “I could use some help, ” he grunted as he tried to lift the blob up over the bridge’s guardrail.

Tash hurried to his side, but the man said, “Don’t touch it! Get the droid. And hurry!” The creature’s oozing limbs had almost crept up to his shoulders.

Deevee rose stiffly to his feet and shuffled over as fast as his servos would carry him. “I am not programmed to handle this,” he muttered as he grabbed hold of the blob. He tried to lift it. “By the Maker, this creature is heavier than a human!” Deevee’s computer brain automatically transferred more power to his upper servos, and he and the newcomer lifted the blob up and over the guardrail.

“Okay, drop it!” the man ordered, bracing himself against the rail.

Deevee let go, and the blob dropped a few feet. Two thick strands of ooze still clung to the man’s shoulders, but as the blob’s own weight dragged it down, the ooze ropes stretched thinner and thinner.

“Hold on!” Tash shouted.

“Good… advice!” the man grunted, pulling back against the weight of the blob. At last the strands of ooze snapped. The blob dropped. Tash watched as the creature shrank away beneath them, finally disappearing into the jungle steam. She looked at the man, who was still panting from his efforts.

“Thanks!” was all she could manage.

“Yes, indeed!” Deevee added, picking himself up. His legs were covered in a sticky trail of green slime. “That creature would have turned me into scrap! How fortunate that you happened to be nearby.”

“Yeah,” the man replied. “Lucky. Did that thing touch you?” he asked Tash.

“No. Why? Are they poisonous?” Tash asked.

“Not poisonous.” The man cast a nervous glance around, and held up his hands. His gloves were covered in ooze. He carefully removed them and dropped them over the side of the bridge. Tash watched them flutter toward the ground, hundreds of meters below.

Tash pointed to the weapon holstered at the man’s hip. “Why didn’t you just blast it?”

At that moment, a hovercar whizzed by. On its side panel, Tash caught a glimpse of the official seal of the Empire. The car zoomed away from them and toward the medical tower.

The man nodded after it. “That’s why. Using a blaster might bring a different kind of bug. The Imperial kind.” As he said this the man watched Tash closely. She had the feeling that he was trying to judge her reaction to his comment about the Empire.

“What was that thing?” she asked, looking over the side. The cries of jungle creatures floated up from below.

The man did not take his eyes off her. “As far as I know, they don’t have names. Blob is as good a word as any, I guess. They just started creeping out of the jungle a few weeks ago. Before that no one had seen them. But then, these jungles are full of the unexpected.”

“And they are allowed to roam at will?” Deevee asked indignantly.

“They seemed pretty harmless,” the man replied. “And they’re hard to stop. That sticky ooze allows them to climb up walls and hang from ceilings. Even a fall from this height probably didn’t kill that one.”

Tash shuddered. She imagined the blob splattering onto the forest floor beneath them, then slowly gathering itself back up and making the long climb back up the ziggurat. Deevee was still in a huff. “Why, then, the local imperials should do something about them. It’s an outrage.”

Again the man studied Tash’s reaction as he scoffed, “Imperials. What do you expect from them?”

“My name’s Tash,” she said. “This is DV-9, or Deevee for short.”

The man shook her hand. “I’m Wedge Antilles. Where are you headed?”

Tash shrugged. “We were just going for a walk around the city. These pyramids-ziggurats-are pretty impressive.”

Wedge nodded. “Listen, how about if I give you a quick walking tour?”

Tash started to reply, “Thanks, but I don’t think we-“

“You’ll need a guide,” Wedge interrupted. “All the bridges between the ziggurats can be confusing. Sometimes I think it would take a Jedi to navigate Mah Dala.” The word was like a magnet that drew Tash’s attention straight to Wedge.

“You know about the Jedi?” she asked breathlessly.

The corners of Wedge’s mouth turned up in a slight smile. “I’ve heard of them.”

“I’ve always wanted to be one,” Tash said. She turned to Deevee. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to have a guide.”