[Galaxy Of Fear] - 07(8)

“I wonder if we’ll meet one,” her brother said.

“Meet now,” Bib Fortuna said, stopping suddenly. He seemed eager to get back to the action and intrigue of Jabba’s throne room. “I go.”

Fortuna vanished into the darkness just as another figure appeared. This one was smaller, and dressed in a brown robe and hood. He was about Zak’s height, and when he pulled back his hood, they saw the face of a human boy. He looked about a year older than Tash. “Greetings,” he said in a friendly voice. “Do you wish to visit the B’omarr monks?”

“Yes, we do,” Hoole replied.

A grin spread across the boy’s face. “Great!” he said in a very unmonklike fashion. Then he said more seriously, “I mean, you are welcome. We don’t get many visitors here. My name is Brother Beidlo. But you can call me Beidlo. I will be your guide.”

Beidlo led them down a long, curving hallway as he gave them a brief history of the B’omarr monks: how they had lived in the palace for years until Jabba arrived. Now the crime lord tolerated them as long as they didn’t get in his way. Zak and Tash were fascinated by the things Beidlo said, but Hoole seemed more interested in studying lines of ancient writing that decorated the hallways.

Halfway down the corridor, Hoole stopped.

“These markings are quite similar to the writing on… the document I’m translating,” he mused. “I must look at it again. Zak, Tash, let’s go back.”

“Oh,” Beidlo said, disappointed. “But there’s so much more to see.”

“I wouldn’t mind staying,” Tash offered, trying to sound as mature as possible. “I mean, it’s not often we get a chance for a guided tour. I’m sure it would be good experience.

Hoole considered. Tash and Zak could almost see his mind calculating how much trouble they might get into on their own. Finally, he agreed. “But keep an eye on a chrono. I want you back in our chambers by supper-time.”

With their uncle gone, Zak and Tash picked up the pace of their steps and their questions. Zak couldn’t help asking, “Don’t the monks want their old homes back?”

Beidlo shrugged. “That’s one of the things I don’t understand yet. The monks don’t seem to care. Every time I ask, they just tell me to push all such thoughts from my mind. I guess I’m just not enlightened enough.”

“How long does it take to become enlightened?” Tash asked.

Beidlo shrugged. “It depends on the person. Some monks advance very quickly, but for most of us, it takes years.”

“You seem like an awfully young monk,” Tash observed.

Beidlo nodded. “I’m the newest member of the order.”

“Is that why you get stuck with the job of greeting tourists?” Zak asked.

“That’s right. The other monks are too busy with their studies,” Beidlo said. “But I don’t mind. It’s nice to see new faces once in a while. This place gets pretty boring.”

“Sounds like Tash’s kind of place,” Zak grunted. Then he added, “If you don’t like it here, why stay?”

Beidlo shrugged. “I don’t have anywhere else to go, really. My parents were killed by Sand People, and the B’omarr monks were willing to take me in. Besides, everything’s not as dry as the desert around here. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Beidlo turned down another passageway. “You’ll find this interesting. I’m going to show you the Great Room of the Enlightened.”

“So, what do you monks do in the Great Room of the Enlightened, anyway?” Zak asked, half-joking. “Dark, mysterious things? Secret rituals’?”

Beidlo chuckled. “Hardly. But we manage to keep busy,” he said. “We meditate… and think… and consider… and concentrate. It’s a full day!”

Zak and Tash followed Beidlo through a wide portal.

“Take it from someone who spends every day trying to become one,” Beidlo added. “There’s absolutely nothing dark, mysterious, or wicked about the B’omarr monks.”

As he said this, he led his visitors into an enormous room. Shelves lined the walls, but Zak’s and Tash’s eyes were drawn to a crowd of brown-robed monks standing around a table.

As soon as the newcomers entered, the monks whirled around to face them. Angry eyes glared from beneath their hooded cloaks. One of the monks was holding something close to his body. Seeing what it was, Tash and Zak both gasped.

In his cupped hands, the monk held the squishy gray blob of a human brain.





CHAPTER 5


The monks came toward them. They glided so smoothly and soundlessly across the floor that they seemed to float like ghosts.