[Galaxy Of Fear] - 04(4)

“I hope he knows what he’s doing,” Zak muttered.

“I think he does,” Tash said.

“Master Hoole is quite capable of taking care of himself,” Deevee replied. “Now, come. You have an entire holographic world to explore.”

Zak, Tash, and Deevee opened the inner door to the transparent space dome and entered Hologram Fun World.

It was like stepping into a dream. Before them, a pathway paved with green gemstones led through a gate shaped like an ancient castle. Beyond the gate, Tash and Zak could see the tops of dozens of buildings gleaming with the polish of modern technology. No two buildings were alike, and thanks to Deevee’s many lessons in interplanetary cultures, Zak

recognized

the architectural styles of at least a hundred different species.

Forest-covered mountains rose up to the very top of the dome, which glimmered fifty kilometers above their heads. Air shuttles full of visitors zoomed this way and that, dodging herds of winged lizards and flocks of blue-winged gibbit birds. Music drifted toward them from different locations within Fun World. Zak heard laughter and shouts of excitement and surprise from the crowds of tourists. He felt as if the entire galaxy had been stuffed inside the transparent walls of the dome.

“Prime,” he whispered under his breath.

“No kidding,” Tash agreed.

“I suppose,” Deevee said, “if one likes this sort of thing.”

As they walked toward the old-fashioned stone gate, two young humans on mini-skyhoppers whizzed by overhead. One of them turned a loop in midair, waved at Zak and Tash, then flew away with a laugh.

Maybe this place will be fun after all, Zak thought as he stepped through the gate.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden angry roar that shook the entire dome from top to bottom. A blast of stinking breath washed up against Zak like a hot wind. He looked up… and up… and up.

Into the drooling, fanged mouth of a very hungry rancor.





CHAPTER 3


Standing on its hind legs, the rancor was ten meters tall. It snorted and its nostrils flared as it let out another blast of fetid breath. The rancor roared, revealing double rows of jagged teeth. Its clawed hands raked the air, and the ground shook as the massive reptilian monster took a single step forward. Its tiny black eyes focused on Zak.

“Get back to the gate!” Tash yelled.

Zak and Tash turned and ran. The rancor charged after them, its footsteps thundering down the path. With each step, the giant predator cut the distance to his fleeing prey in half.

Zak looked over his shoulder and noticed that Deevee had not moved. He stood directly in the rancor’s path, totally motionless. Tash and Zak stopped in mid stride.

“Deevee!” Tash yelled.

“He may have short-circuited,” Zak guessed. “We’ve got to go back and get him.”

“It’s too late!”

Tash was right. The rancor reached the droid, reared back its head, and lunged. Deevee did not even flinch as two thousand kilograms of flesh-eating monster fell on him.

And passed right through him.

Zak and Tash gasped in surprise. The rancor swept right through Deevee as though it were made of smoke. It stopped a few steps beyond the droid, then, with an ear-shattering roar, the rancor vanished like an illusion or…”

“A hologram!” Zak guessed. “That rancor wasn’t real at all.”

“Correct,” said Deevee, coming back down the path for his two charges.

“It was real enough to fool me,” Tash said with a nervous laugh. “I thought that thing was going to crush you, Deevee.”

The droid simulated a bored sigh. “That’s because you lack my delicate instrumentation. I knew instantly that the rancor was not real because it did not register on my sensors. There were no life-readings emanating from the hologram, so my program ignored it. It wasn’t real.” The droid waved one mechanical hand across the scene before them. “Hologram Fun World might be exciting for humans and other species that rely on their biological senses, but for a droid, well, it’s rather boring.”

“Boring!” Zak exclaimed. He watched a Star Dragon pass overhead, curling its way gently through the air. “This place is anything but boring. Let’s check out some of the rides.”

“Not yet,” Deevee insisted. “We should find lodging first and then-“

But Zak had already started toward the nearest attraction.

He hurried up the steps to a building that resembled a small temple, with white columns around the outside. An electronic sign at the top of the steps announced the attraction in a dozen of the galaxy’s most common languages. “Hall of Reflection,” Zak read. Hall of Reflection? Zak wondered. Is this some sort of meditation chamber?