[Galaxy Of Fear] - 07(24)

Zak thought of the letter K cut into Fuzzel’s forehead. That was the mark Karkas left on all his victims. But Karkas was dead-Zak had seen the body with his own eyes.

Stranger still, what had Tash been doing standing over the corpse?

There were only two possible answers. Either Tash had found the body, or Tash had killed Fuzzel. Zak knew the second choice couldn’t be true. But why had Tash stolen a landspeeder and come all the way to Mos Eisley?

There was only one way to find out.

By the time Zak guided his landspeeder back to Jabba’s palace, the twin suns of Tatooine were already boiling over the horizon.

By now the guards recognized him, and Zak was allowed back into the palace. He went straight to his quarters. Quietly looking into Hoole’s room, he saw that his uncle had just risen. Tiptoeing back into his own room, he saw that Tash, too, was awake. She looked a little bleary-eyed, but there was nothing else to suggest that she’d been out most of the night.

Zak got straight to the point. “What were you doing in Mos Eisley?”

Tash looked at him innocently. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your trip into town!” Zak retorted. “Not to mention the fact that you took a landspeeder without permission, and that you walked away from a dead body!”

For a fraction of a second, Tash looked surprised. “You’ve got a black hole in your brain. I’ve been here all night.”

Zak snorted. “Come on, Tash, you can tell me. I’ll bet this was another one of Grimpen’s B’omarr tests. But even you should have called it off when you saw that Commander Fuzzel had been killed.”

Tash’s glare was like the blast of a turbolaser. “I told you,” she growled in an eerily low voice, “I was here all night.”

Hoole glided into the room. “We will leave shortly,” he said, then noticed the strange looks passing between Tash and Zak.

“Everything’s fine,” Tash said. “I’ll be right back.”

Zak waited until she had left the room. “Uncle Hoole, Tash is acting really weird again.”

“I thought we had already discussed that,” Hoole said flatly.

“No, I mean she’s acting really strange. Wait till I tell you-“

“Forgive me, Zak. I do want to hear what you have to say,” the Shi’ido said, “but I think it is wise to leave here as soon as possible. Once we are safely off Tatooine, then we can deal with Tash’s behavior. Until then, we should make it our primary goal to leave Jabba’s palace as soon as possible. I am going to pay my respects to Jabba. Please be ready when I return.”

When Hoole left, Zak found himself standing alone in his quarters. He looked at his pack sitting at the foot of his bed.

“You’ll have to pit wait,” he muttered as he took off after Tash.

As before, Tash was easy to follow. She strode through Jabba’s palace with ease. She obviously wasn’t expecting anyone to follow, because she never once looked back.

Her course took her past Jabba’s throne room and down a wide corridor. This hallway was decorated with holo-pictures and statues-all of Jabba himself.

This must be Jabba’s private quarters, Zak guessed. Only a Hutt would have an ego big enough to cover his walls with pictures of himself

At the end of the hall stood a high, wide door. Four Gamorrean guards sat on either side, snorting and snuffling at each other. As Tash approached, one of the guards jumped up and waddled over to a control panel. The door slid open, and Tash walked calmly inside.

Now what? Zak wondered.

Boldly, he strode up to the door as well. This time all four Gamorreans jumped to their feet. They brandished their vibro-axes and snorted angrily in his direction. One of the guards jabbed at him with an ax.

“All right!” Zak said, jumping back. “I get the hint.” He hurried away before he could attract any more attention.

As he retreated down the hallway, Zak tried to put together the pieces of this strange puzzle. But there were too many. First there was Beidlo’s idea that the B’omarr monks were performing unnecessary brain transfers. Then Beidlo had said he’d been mistaken. Then there was the attack of the brain spiders. That was almost as strange as Jabba, who first promised to help the killer Karkas and then turned his dead body in to Commander Fuzzel. Then, that very night, Fuzzel was murdered-apparently by Karkas, who was supposed to be dead.

Clickclick-click…

Zak’s mind reeled. “The only thing that’s stayed the same,” he muttered, “is that Tash has been acting weird. But not this weird!”

Clickclick-click…

Zak was so lost in thought that he didn’t see the brain spider until it was on top of him. When those spidery legs came into view, he leaped backward, bumping into something hard and sharp.