“It looks like an egg,” said Tash.
“An electronic egg,” added Zak.
“It’s a birth chamber,” Hoole said.
“A birth chamber,” Zak repeated. “A birth chamber for what?”
Hoole studied the large egg-shaped chamber. The polished black metal hummed with power. “I do not know,” he said quietly. He touched a control panel on the egg.
Nothing happened.
Hoole frowned. “He has changed the codes,” the Shi’ido muttered. “I cannot open it.”
Zak grinned. “I bet I can crack that egg.”
He reached into his pack and pulled out the datadisks he had salvaged from the Shroud.
“What are you doing?” Tash asked.
“This is all the information that was in the Shroud’s computers. I’ve been studying it every chance I get. I haven’t exactly broken its code, but I’m close. Well, maybe not close, but I know enough to know a list of computer codes when I see one. I’ll bet the entry code is here somewhere. If I can just find the right disk…”
Sorting through the disks, Zak jabbed one into a slot in the egg’s control panel. Nothing happened.
Zak grunted and tried another.
Deevee shook his head. “Zak, the odds of finding a single bit of information in dozens of datadisks and selecting it as an entry code are well over six hundred fifty thousand to-”
“Got it,” Zak said.
There was a bleep as the egg’s computer accepted the disk Zak had inserted. A screech of metal followed… and then the egg cracked. Tash and Zak stepped back as the top half of the egg titled backward and light poured from the chamber with an electronic hiss.
Something inside the egg moved.
Shielding their eyes from the bright light, Zak, Tash, and Hoole stepped forward and squinted into the birth chamber.
Inside the egg was a baby.
CHAPTER 5
Zak asked the question they were all thinking. “Hey, there. What are you doing in there, little guy?”
The baby, who looked almost a year old, gazed up from a round padded bed in the center of the egg and squealed in delight. He had on a tiny pair of coveralls, the kind that infant boys often wore. His eyes twinkled, and his toothless grin reached from ear to ear.
“He’s beautiful,” Tash said, leaning into the chamber.
“Don’t touch it!” Hoole commanded.
Tash raised her eyebrow. “Why? He’s just a little baby.”
“You do not know what he is,” the Shi’ido replied. “Not when he comes from Gog’s laboratory.”
“You’re just a sweet little baby, aren’t you?” Tash cooed at the little boy. “And silly old Uncle Hoole is a worry wampa, isn’t he?”
“Eppon!” the baby yipped.
“What’s that?” Zak asked.
“Eppon!” the baby gurgled.
“Is that your name?” Tash chuckled.
“Eppon!”
“Works for me,” Zak laughed. “Nice to meet you, Eppon.”
Tash ignored Hoole’s protests and pulled the little boy out of the chamber. The baby crawled into her arms and clung to her with a happy smile on his face. “Eppon!”
Hoole glowered. “Tash, I suggest you put the child down immediately. We have no idea what that creature is.”
Tash returned her uncle’s glare. “Uncle Hoole, how can you be so cruel? We can’t just leave this little boy sitting in the middle of nowhere. He’s a helpless baby.”
But before Hoole could respond, the doors behind them exploded open.
CHAPTER 6
Zak and Hoole threw their arms up to protect their faces. Tash hugged Eppon close to her.
Smoke billowed up from the blasted door. Seconds later, a squad of soldiers leaped through the open door, blasters burning the air with energy bolts. The Empire had found them!
Then Zak spotted one soldier much taller than the rest. The figure roared as it shook its shaggy head. It was a Wookiee.
“Chewbacca!” Zak called out.
The Wookiee roared again.
“Cease fire!” a woman’s voice commanded. The firing stopped immediately.
Following the Wookiee, three other figures stepped out of the smoke. There was a blond man, a darker man who moved with a confident swagger, and a beautiful young woman who had the clear eyes and proud bearing of a natural leader.
“Princess Leia!” Tash said excitedly. “Luke, Han! What are you doing here?”
Han Solo jammed his blaster back into its holster. “We could ask you the same question, kid. We haven’t seen you since we all escaped from D’vouran.”
Leia studied each of them, even Deevee, with a wry look on her face. “You four have a habit of showing up in the strangest places. I can only assume that this is no coincidence.”