No.
He had seen Tash’s body talking with Jabba.
Zak looked at the brain spider. He looked at the brain inside the jar.
Tash’s brain.
It all made sense to him now. The B’omarr monks had removed Tash’s brain and put it into a brain spider. Then they had put someone else’s brain into her body!
Zak recalled the letter K on Fuzzel’s skull.
It was Karkas.
Jabba hadn’t killed him. He had put the killer’s brain in Tash’s head, then given Karkas’s body to the Imperials.
“Of course,” Zak said in a frightened whisper. “That’s been Jabba’s plan all along. He hasn’t been turning in wanted criminals to the authorities. He’s been giving them new bodies! The criminals pay Jabba and leave Tatooine with completely new identities. Jabba gives their old bodies to the Imperials and collects even more credits!”
It all made sense. Beidlo had been right. The monks were performing too many operations! And they weren’t always using other monks. That was why that prisoner had been held in Jabba’s dungeon. Jabba was using anyone he could find to provide bodies for his customers!
Zak felt a sudden pang of guilt. He remembered the words Jabba had just spoken: Someone freed the prisoner we had reserved for you.
Zak had freed the prisoner. And because he had let the captive go, Jabba had needed another body for Karkas. Tash’s body.
“I’m sorry, Tash,” Zak said to the brain spider. “It’s my fault.”
The brain spider hopped up and down excitedly as if to say, Don’t apologize. Do something!
Another brain spider shuffled forward, bobbing up and down on its mechanical legs. Staring at the other brain, Zak had a strange feeling he knew who it was.
“Beidlo,” he whispered. “You’re in there.”
The brain spider bobbed rapidly.
Zak held back angry tears. Jabba had given the young monk’s body to some other criminal. That was why the fake Beidlo had denied his story in front of Uncle Hoole.
“Uncle Hoole,” Zak said. “I’ve got to tell Uncle Hoole!”
Zak knew he could easily outrun the brain spiders, so he said, “Don’t follow me. Meet me at the entrance to the B’omarr tunnels.”
He hurried out of the maintenance hall and into the main corridor. He didn’t care who saw him sprint full speed through the palace and back to his quarters.
But their rooms were empty. Hoole had not returned. Turning back, Zak sprinted again, this time for Jabba’s throne room. It, too, was empty.
Where now? Zak thought.
There were only the B’omarr monks left, but Zak couldn’t go to them because they were performing the operations for Jabba. Getting help from the monks was out of the question.
Or was it?
There was Grimpen. Tash liked him, and Tash’s intuitions usually proved reliable. Besides, Grimpen had been different from the other monks-less dark and brooding. Beidlo had mentioned something about asking for his help, but obviously he had been captured before he got the chance.
There was no one else to turn to. Zak took a deep breath and raced off again.
By the time he reached the tunnels, Tash and Beidlo inside their brain spiders-were there. Zak had lost his fear of the brain spiders. He was sure now that the spiders that had seemed to attack him earlier had just been more of Jabba’s victims, trying desperately to communicate with someone who might help them.
Zak looked at the globe of gray, wrinkled flesh inside the brain spider’s jar and shuddered. He had to remind himself that that was his sister. “Tash, I need help. Can you lead me to Grimpen?”
The brain spiders bobbed up and down excitedly, but made no other move.
Zak tried again. “I need to find Grimpen. You’ve been to his quarters more often than I have. Which way are they?”
The two spiders shuffled from side to side, but then returned to their original spots. Zak scratched his head. Maybe Tash couldn’t hear him.
He shrugged. He’d have to find Grimpen on his own.
Tash and Beidlo followed as Zak hurried through the maze of passageways, trying to remember the way to Grimpen’s meditation chamber. Finally, he found the long, dark hallway, with the faint glow of the coal bed in the distance.
By now, Zak was so panic-stricken and desperate for help that he didn’t notice the brain spiders behind him. If he had looked back, he would have seen them stop. They refused to go farther. Instead, they danced back and forth frantically, trying to get his attention.
But he was running too quickly to notice.
A few more moments brought Zak to the edge of the glowing rocks. He didn’t even hesitate.
“Lume rocks,” he muttered, remembering what Uncle Hoole had told him. “Not even warm.”