[Galaxy Of Fear] - 07(23)

Tash walked straight to one of the landspeeders, hopped inside, and started the repulsor engines.

She’s stealing a speeder! Zak was stunned.

A moment later, Tash guided the speeder toward the exit doors, which slid back.

“Tash, wait!” Zak suddenly yelled. “Where are you going?”

She didn’t hear him. His voice was drowned out by the whine of the speeder as it roared away.

Zak thought about going back to get Uncle Hoole. But if he did, he would lose Tash’s trail. Instead, he ran his eyes over the speeders parked in the docking bay. He didn’t know how to fly any of them.

“Now’s a good time to learn,” he said, hopping into the driver’s seat of the nearest speeder.

How hard can it be? he thought as he powered up the small hovercar. He was an expert on his skimboard, and once, with Tash’s help, he’d even flown Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon. Besides, he was no stranger to machines like this-he could take apart this speeder’s engine and put it back together in a flash.

Zak pointed the speeder toward the door and hit the accelerator.

The speeder took off. In the wrong direction.

The back of the speeder slammed against the docking-bay wall, making enough noise to wake the dead-which was what Zak would be if Jabba’s thugs caught him stealing a vehicle.

“Let’s try that again,” he grumbled. Flipping a switch, he touched the accelerator. This time, the speeder glided smoothly toward the open door.

Once he was out in the clear desert air, Zak could see the lights of Tash’s speeder twinkling like one of the many stars overhead. But she had a huge lead on him, and she’d soon be out of sight.

That’s okay, Zak thought. I know where she’s headed. Tash may spend more time studying maps and reading books, but if I remember right, there’s only one town in the direction she’s going.

That town was Mos Eisley.

Zak spent the first part of his journey enjoying the power and speed of the landspeeder. It was even more exciting than riding his skimboard. “I could get used to this,” he told himself, smiling. Soon, however, he was shivering. As hot as Tatooine was during the day, at night the desert was cold.

By the time Zak glided into the town, even Mos Eisley was asleep. The streets were deserted. All but the most popular cantinas were closed.

Parking the speeder, Zak jumped out and looked around. He had no idea where to begin. Mos Eisley was a big place, and Tash must have arrived long before he did. She could be long gone by now.

But she wasn’t. Zak spotted her landspeeder parked near a low, single-story cantina. A hum of voices came from within, accompanied by the slow notes of a tired band playing songs late into the night.

Zak stopped at the doorway. They probably wouldn’t let him in… and he wasn’t sure he wanted to go in anyway.

The idea of entering a Mos Eisley cantina this late at night was about as appealing as the idea of playing tag with a rancor.

Zak was about to turn back when a startled cry reached his ears. It had come from outside the cantina, around the corner.

Creeping forward, Zak heard his sister’s voice speak in angry tones: “I hear you were dying to find me. Well, here I am!”

The cry was followed by a sharp crack! and someone cried, “N-No! No!”

The cries faded into silence.

Zak ran to the corner and peeked around. He was looking down an alleyway next to the cantina. In the gloom, he could just make out the figure of Tash standing over a large pile of something on the ground. At least, he thought it was Tash. Even with so many stars shining, he couldn’t be sure it was her. She stooped down over the object on the ground for a moment, then stood up and hurried away.

As soon as she was gone, Zak moved forward to investigate.

He reached the pile and nearly tripped over it. It was much bigger than he thought. In fact, it wasn’t a pile at all. It was a body!

Zak recognized the face. It belonged to the Imperial officer, Commander Fuzzel. He was dead. Bending closer, Zak saw something on the dead man’s forehead.

The letter K had been carved into his skull.





CHAPTER 14


“Help! Murder!”

Zak’s cry drifted over the rooftops of Mos Eisley.

Hardly anyone responded. A few heads poked out of windows. Some yelled, “Shut up!” No one bothered to come outside. This was Mos Eisley. Nighttime cries for help were all too common.

“These people are worse than the B’omarr monks!” Zak spat. “These people are just-“

He didn’t know what they were. He’d have to ask Tash for the right word.

“Tash,” he wondered aloud. “What’s going on?”

By the time Zak left the alley, the speeder was gone. Tash must have doubled back or gone through the cantina to reach the front of the building.