“Vroon,” Hoole said in a more gentle voice, “as we said before, the drog beetle population is growing. We’ve only been here a few days and we’ve seen it. They’ll soon take over the Sikadian Garden if you don’t find a way to destroy them.”
Vroon recoiled as if someone had struck him. He nearly shrieked, “Destroy them? Destroy them! I can’t destroy them. They’re my family!”
CHAPTER 12
Vroon put his body between the others and the container of beetles in his workshop. “Don’t you understand?” he cried. “The drog beetles are the ancestors of the S’krrr. We evolved from them. We can’t kill them. They’re… they’re beautiful!”
“Oh, no,” Zak groaned. “Somehow I think they put the wrong person in charge of the garden.”
“Vroon,” Sh’shak said, “while it’s true that-“
“I have no time for this,” Thrawn interrupted harshly. “All life evolved from earlier life. That is basic scientific knowledge. But you don’t see other species worshipping insects.”
“We are different,” Vroon insisted. His wings fluttered gently and he pointed to Sh’shak. “We can communicate with our ancestors through wingsong. I’ve done it, Sh’shak. I’ve learned to speak with them. There is so much they can teach us!”
Sh’shak nodded. “It is an interesting thought. Perhaps we can take your idea to our leaders. But that is no reason to let the beetles overrun the planet. Some of them must be destroyed. And you must help us do it.”
“No!” Vroon cried.
“Then you are under arrest,” Thrawn declared, drawing his blaster, “for the murder of two Imperial officers.”
“No!” Vroon repeated. He dove for one of the open windows. Thrawn fired, but the S’krrr was too fast. He was out the window and scurrying out of sight.
“We must follow,” Sh’shak said, dashing for the door.
The others followed as quickly as possible, but none of them could move as fast as Sh’shak. Zak could see why the S’krrr had become warriors as well as poets. Sh’shak had gone in a moment from complete stillness to blinding speed.
“We can’t lose sight of him!” Thrawn growled. He was starting to outpace the others, and it was obvious that the Imperial captain had kept himself in top physical condition. “He knows the garden too well. We’ll never find him!”
“We have to,” Sh’shak called back without slowing. “He’s the only one who knows how badly the garden’s been damaged. He’s the only one who will know how to save it!”
Zak, Tash, Hoole, and Thrawn soon lost sight of Vroon, but they could still see Sh’shak in pursuit, and they followed his lead.
Thrawn had been right. Vroon knew every centimeter of the Sikadian Garden, and he did everything he could to lose them. He ran through thick brambles, he plunged into thick clumps of trees and bushes, and he scrambled up and down the sides of steep ravines. But Sh’shak was able to keep up with him, and as long as they kept him in sight, they thought they still had a chance.
Finally, they ran into a small forest of tall, pale-barked trees and found Sh’shak standing in the middle of the path. A slight breeze blew through the forest, making the tree leaves stir and rustle. Though he had run farther and faster than any of them, the S’krrr was hardly breathing hard.
“D-Did you lose him?” Zak panted.
“I am afraid so,” Sh’shak replied. “But that is not why I stopped. I am afraid we have a much more immediate problem. I suggest we abandon our attempt to find Vroon, and try to save ourselves.”
“What do you mean?” Thrawn demanded.
Sh’shak pointed to first one tree, then another, and then another. Zak looked around. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light beneath the tree branches, he realized that the stirring and rustling he’d heard were not caused by any breeze. Every leaf on every branch of every tree was covered with beetles.
Thousands of them. Millions of them.
“This is not right,” Sh’shak insisted. “This cannot be due to the loss of one shreev. At their fastest rate, the beetles could not reproduce this much in three days, even if a thousand shreevs had been killed.”
“Make no sudden moves,” Hoole said quietly. “We know the beetles become more aggressive in large numbers. A small swarm of them attacked and killed a full-grown human. Who knows what this many might try?”
Tash sniffed. “What’s that smell? It’s disgusting.”
The stench drifted through a break in the trees to their right. Moving slowly and trying not to breathe through their noses, they stepped through the opening and found themselves in a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was a deep pit.