[Galaxy Of Fear] - 04(21)

With a lightsaber, Tash felt she would be one step closer to becoming a Jedi Knight. With one of those powerful laser swords in her hand, there was nothing she couldn’t do. She could be a hero.

Nearby, Zak stood before a table full of droid parts, his eyes jumping from one piece to another. In his mind he had already designed his own hyperdrive, built a personal droid with antigravity repulsors and long-range sensors for detecting angry adults, and a streamlined skimboard that could go vertical and climb the sides of even the highest buildings.

But Zak found the biggest prize of all a few meters down the line. Sitting under a bright light was a droid head, but not just any droid head.

“A BT-2000,” Zak whistled under his breath. “That’s the most advanced droidwork in the galaxy. The computer brain in that droid could run all the functions on a Star Destroyer. I’d love to see what makes it tick.”

Zak reached out his hands and picked up the droid head.

Tash reached out and picked up the lightsaber.

Before Zak, the droid’s photoreceptors blazed with light. The head swiveled in his hands, and a booming voice exploded from the mouthspeaker.

“WHO DISTURBS THE MAKER’S SLEEP?”

Zak stumbled hack in shock, dropping the head. Startled by her brother, Tash instinctively pressed the lightsaber’s activation switch. It burst into fire and light.

The droid’s burning eyes continued to glare at Zak.

“THE CRAFT OF THE MAKER IS FORBIDDEN TO THE LIVING! INTRUDERS, PREPARE TO MEET YOUR DOOM!”

The light in the droid’s eyes faded. For a moment, the room was silent except for the hiss of the lightsaber in Tash’s hand.

Then every object in the workshop came to life. Gears whirred and gyros spun as dozens of machines turned to face Zak.

Then they attacked.





CHAPTER 13


The Maker’s Workshop had turned into a hurricane of flying metal parts and electronic wires. Cogwheels collided with hydropistons; mechanical arms attached themselves to wheels. Zak saw two droid arms without bodies fuse themselves to a pair of tractor treads and start rolling toward Zak and Tash.

“This is impossible,” he said out loud. “Impossible!”

Gadgets could not put themselves together! he wanted to shout. Machines did not turn themselves on. Technology would not turn on living beings!

He jumped out of the way as the mechanical droid arms clutched at him. But dodging the arms only put him within reach of a hydrospanner that had come to life and was boring its way toward his forehead. He ducked, and the hydrospanner buried itself in the wall.

All around him, ragtag pieces of metal, odds and ends of junk, were combining to form misshapen mechanical monsters with wires for hair, glow rods for eyes, and multiple arms made of whatever material lay at hand.

“This can’t be happening!” Zak shouted.

“But it is,” said a gravelly voice. Zak saw the droid head still resting on the table. Its eyes were once more lit up and glaring at Zak. “You are the little tinkerer,” the droid spoke. “You like to experiment with technology. You like to take things apart. How do you feel now that technology is going to take you apart? Destroy him!”

Zak was so terrified he couldn’t move. This was worse than a nightmare-it was a fear that he did not even know he had, something buried deep in his brain. He was terrified, and he could only think of one thing.

Where was Tash?

Tash was paralyzed, too. She saw the mechanical junk come to life. She heard the droid head threaten Zak. She felt the lightsaber quivering in her hand, waiting to be used.

But she couldn’t move.

Here was her chance to prove her Jedi potential. All she had to do was charge into the crowd of whirling machines and robots, cutting through them with her unstoppable lightsaber. She could save her brother using a Jedi weapon. She could be a Jedi.

But what if I fail?

The thought froze her muscles. What if she found out, after all this time, that she really didn’t have the Force? That she couldn’t use a lightsaber? That all her hopes and dreams were just a fantasy?

She was terrified.

“Tash! Help!” Zak called. The machines were closing in. Most had attached tools to the ends of their mechanical arms. As they came closer, needles, blades, and saws began to whir.

“Tash!” Zak repeated. His back was to the wall. He was trapped. “Use the lightsaber!”

Tash could not do it. She wanted to be a Jedi Knight more than anything else in the galaxy. But she was afraid to fail.

“I’m-I’m sorry, Zak,” she whispered.

She deactivated the lightsaber and dropped it to the floor.

“Tash!” Zak groaned.

But to the surprise of both Arrandas, the moment Tash shut down the energy blade, all the machines stopped. They fell apart in cascades of metal scraps. In seconds, the floor was once more littered with lifeless junk.