[Galaxy Of Fear] - 08(4)

“I apologize,” Hoole replied. “I would move the ship if I could, but that is impossible until it is repaired.”

Again, the useless wings flapped quickly, which obviously meant Vroon was angry. “Clumsy offworlders,” he muttered. “I expect you to do your best to remove this machine as soon as possible.”

With that, the S’krrr turned and stalked away.

“I had better follow and make sure he does not take away our visiting privileges altogether,” Hoole said. He hurried after their host, pausing only long enough to cast a warning glance at Zak. “Please make sure this is a lesson you don’t miss.”

“Wait!” Tash called out as Hoole walked away. “What are we supposed to do?”

“Look through the garden,” their uncle suggested. “But be careful. Don’t touch anything!”

Since the ship’s power was out, none of the computers, games, or equipment worked. There was nothing to do but follow Hoole’s suggestion.

Zak and Tash left the ship and walked toward the green wall that surrounded the garden. As they got nearer, they could see that the wall was actually a tall, thick hedge. Set into the hedge was an arched opening. The hedge wall looked very old, and Zak and Tash sensed that the S’krrr had been tending this garden for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years.

Passing under the arch, they entered the Sikadian Garden. Tash gasped. Even Zak, who was more interested in mechanical things than plants, whispered, “Prime.”

The Sikadian Garden was the most beautiful place either of them had ever seen. A rock-lined path stretched out before them, winding through a grassy field and into a distant grove of trees. In various areas, thick patches of flowers of different shapes and sizes sprang up. Some were wide and flat like tabletops, others rose long and narrow, like the blade of a vibropike. They could hear the trickle of a waterfall in the distance.

The garden seemed completely natural. Tash and Zak walked for nearly a kilometer before they spotted anything artificially made. It was a small stone statue, sitting on the ground next to a small pond. It was covered with moss, and so crudely shaped that Zak thought it was just a rock. But on closer inspection, he saw that it was a carved stone statue of a bug. It looked somewhat like the S’krrr, but it walked on six legs instead of two.

“It looks old,” Tash noted admiringly. “It’s pretty good, too.

“Yeah,” Zak said. “Someone really liked bugs, I guess. I wonder how they’d feel if they knew their art had ended up as a mound of moss.” He turned and looked across the garden. “Now what?”

“Let’s check out the flowers,” Tash suggested.

“I’d rather look at rocks,” her brother groaned. “Actually, I want to find that waterfall. I’ll meet you back here.”

The sound of trickling water seemed to come from beyond a grove of huge trees. Zak jogged down the path until he reached the shade of the trees. They had trunks as wide as a bantha’s body. The leaves grew so thick and the branches rose up so high that beneath the tree it was as dark as nighttime.

But what caught Zak’s eye was a strange mushroom that seemed to grow among the roots of the tree. The mushroom was gray, with a cap bigger than Zak’s head. Dark spots covered the gray mushroom and Zak realized what had attracted his attention.

One of the spots was moving.

Creeping closer, Zak saw that the spot was a big beetle, about as long as his finger. Two large, pale wings were folded over its back. Six double-jointed legs wiggled beneath its body as the insect scrambled across the mushroom cap. Two sharp pincers snapped open and shut as it crawled, as though it planned to eat the air. Three short, sharp antennae-almost like horns-jutted from its head. Now and then, the bug stopped to take a bite out of the mushroom with its snapping jaws.

Fascinated by the creature, Zak cautiously reached out to touch it. To his surprise, the bug crawled right onto his hand and continued walking.

“Hey, you’re a nice little fellow, aren’t you?” Zak said.

As he spoke, something big dropped from the trees above his head. With an ear-piercing shriek, the dark shape slammed into Zak’s face.





CHAPTER 3


Zak didn’t know what was worse, the shrieks coming from the creature’s mouth, or the feel of its thick, leathery wings slapping against his face. He felt something sharp scratch his cheek and he threw his hands up to protect himself.

The flying creature swerved away, flapping furiously to gain some height. For an instant Zak got a good look at the creature. Its body was about one meter long, and it had even longer black wings. Its neck ended in a tiny head. A thin tail snaked through the air behind it.