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[Galaxy Of Fear] - 04(7)

By:John Whitman


“Zak!” Lando said with a friendly grin. “Nice to see you. Come on in. We’ll he done here in a minute.”

The humanoid growled, “Just play your cards, Calrissian.”

“Patience, Dengar,” Lando said happily. “I’m just being sociable to my young friend here.” Lando turned his brilliant smile on Zak. “Have a seat. Ever watched a game of sabacc?”

Zak shook his head and sat down.

He had heard of sabacc, of course. It was the most popular gambling game in the galaxy. High-stakes sabacc games were played for thousands of credits, or the ownership of star cruisers and even whole planets.

The center of the table was covered in piles of multicolored chips, and all the players looked anxious-except Lando. The Twi’lek nervously rubbed one of the two thick tentacles that grew out of the back of his head. The human, Dengar, scowled down at his cards. The Ithorian hummed anxiously in stereo out of his two mouths. Lando Calrissian yawned.

“Bet’s to you, Calrissian,” Dengar growled.

“Ah, yes,” Lando replied with an air of boredom. “Let’s make it interesting, shall we? I bet a thousand credits.” Lando took a stack of sabacc chips from his personal collection and dumped them into the central pile.

“A thousand credits!” the Twi’lek moaned. “You’ve

already

taken everything I had. I can’t bet that.” Lando smiled. “Then I guess you’re out.”

The Twi’lek slapped his cards down on the table and stroked his tentacled head furiously.

The Ithorian piped a grating, worried note out of its two mouths and laid its cards down on the table, dropping out of the game.

“I’m in,” Dengar growled. He tossed more chips into the pile. He had only a few left. “Time to deal the last card.”

Lando reached over to a small box-an electronic shuffles that randomly mixed the cards-and pulled out two. The first one he gave to Dengar. The second he kept for himself. As he added the card to his collection, Lando’s grin widened. “Ah, sweet starlight,” he crooned. He picked up another pile of chips. “I bet another thousand.”

“Stang!” Dengar swore. “That bet’ll wipe me out. But I gotta see your cards.”

Lando looked Dengar right in the eye. “Then you better toss your credits in the pot.”

Zak watched Dengar and Lando. Dengar fingered his last few chips and glared at his opponent, while Lando merely smiled and waited calmly. His hands were poised over his cards, ready to reveal his hand. Everything about him promised victory.

Finally Dengar made his decision. “I’m out!” he roared, throwing his cards onto the table.

Lando sighed. “All right.” With a grand flourish, he swept all the chips into his pile.

“Wait a minute,” Dengar growled. “Show me your cards.”

“I don’t have to show you anything,” the gambler replied. “You went out. That means I don’t have to reveal my hand.”

“Show me your cards!” Dengar roared. He reached for the blaster on his hip.

Quicker than lightspeed, Lando pulled a small black object from his sleeve. It was pointed at Dengar’s heart before the angry man could draw his own weapon. “Get out of here, Dengar,” he said softly. “Before my little holdout blaster puts a hole in you big enough to fly a star freighter through.”

Dengar continued to scowl, but he carefully moved his hand away from his gun. “You ain’t heard the last of me, Calrissian,” he promised as he backed out of the room. He was followed by the Twi’lek and the Ithorian. Only when they were gone did Lando show any sign of nervousness, releasing a huge sigh of relief as he put his holdout blaster on the table.

“Sorry you had to see that, Zak,” the gambler said as his smile returned. “Sometimes these games get out of hand if all the players aren’t gentles like myself.”

“Why didn’t you want to show him your cards?” Zak asked. “I mean, if you had such a winning hand…”

He turned over Lando’s cards and gasped. He was no expert card player, but he knew enough to see that Lando had the worst hand possible!

“Y-You would have lost!” Zak stammered. “You were bluffing the whole time! It’s lucky he didn’t stay in the game.”

“Kid, luck’s got nothing to do with it,” Lando boasted. “Here’s your first lesson in sabacc and in life, my young friend. Nothing is what it seems. ” He picked up his small holdout blaster-and Zak gasped again. The “blaster” was actually a small, harmless remote-control device.

“This is the homing beacon to my ship,” the roguish gambler said with a laugh. “As I said, nothing is what it seems. Want to learn how to play?”