[Galaxy Of Fear] - 09(11)

“Why, whatever can I do for you, my dear?” said a voice as thin and sharp as a razor blade.

As Tash turned toward the voice, a wave of sheer terror overwhelmed her. She recognized the feeling. It was the dark side of the Force. She had felt it only once before, in the presence of Darth Vader! She felt it again now, like an ice-cold blast of air all around her.

It was going to freeze her heart.





CHAPTER 6


The man who had spoken was tall, and thin like a skeleton. He was dressed entirely in black. His head was bald and his skin was dark. Tattoos covered the lower part of his face. Strangest of all, he wore a band of black cloth over both eyes.

If he even has eves, Tash thought. But he had to be able to see. He was staring right at her, and when he took a step closer, he moved easily across the room.

How does he see? she wondered.

Then she felt another wave of dark-side energy crash against her. The man was reaching out with the dark side of the Force, using it the way insects used their antennae to feel their way around.

The tattooed man’s dark-side energy wasn’t quite as powerful as the feeling she’d gotten from Darth Vader months ago. This man wasn’t as strong as Vader. But he was almost as evil.

Behind him, Tash saw the other two miners sitting quietly and nervously. Two stormtroopers stood at attention on either side of them, blasters in hand.

The Empire. If they knew who Tash was, then she, Zak, and Hoole were doomed.

“Who-?” she started to ask.

“Never mind,” the man in black replied. “Where are the others?”

Tash told him. The man clenched his jaw. “Have they opened the door?”

“No, sir,” she replied. Her mouth was dry.

He relaxed a bit. A slight smile crossed his face, wrinkling the weird tattoos on his jaw. “Then they may yet live.”

The members of the exploring party were back in the mining colony, removing their suits just as the last of their oxygen was used up.

The man in black had sent his two stormtroopers with Tash. They had found a mechanism that lifted the block of stone from the outside, and had easily freed the prisoners. The troopers had then marched them back to the mining colony at gunpoint. Now Zak, Tash, Hoole, and Fandomar sat in the main hall of the mining facility with Hodge and the other two miners.

“My name,” the man in black began, “is Jerec. I am a servant of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor.”

Tash felt Hoole tense beside her. If Jerec knew who they were, they’d have to fight their way out of the room.

But if Jerec had heard of these three criminals, he wasn’t interested. “That tunnel and its contents are now the property of the Empire,” he declared. “Entry is forbidden.”

“But we own the deed to that mine!” Hodge protested. “It belongs to-“

“You may discuss it,” Jerec said in a voice like a vibroblade, “with the Emperor. I can arrange a personal interview.”

The way he said “interview” made it sound more like “torture.” Hodge said nothing.

Hoole filled the silence. “I feel you should know that, whatever is buried down there, the Ithorians seem sure that it should not be dug up.”

“What the Ithorians want is no concern of mine,” Jerec snapped.

“But…,” Fandomar began. It was the first time she’d spoken in over an hour. “But it could be… dangerous.”

Jerec turned toward Fandomar. Again, even though his eyes were hidden behind the black band, Tash felt that he was seeing something. The presence of the dark side grew stronger. This man definitely knew how to use the Force-for evil.

“You are Fandomar,” Jerec stated. “Your husband is Momaw Nadon, the Ithorian in exile.”

“Yes,” she confessed.

“Then I would be quiet, if I were you,” Jerec said threateningly. “Unless you want me to tell your people your husband’s last little secret.”

Fandomar closed both her mouths.

Jerec turned to Hodge. “You will take me to this tunnel, and there you will tell me everything you know about it. Now.”

Hodge hesitated. “I don’t think this is a good time.”

Jerec snapped his fingers and one of the stormtroopers put a blaster to Hodge’s head. “You will take me to this tunnel now, or your friends will wipe your remains off the floor.”

Hodge’s face turned pale. “Whatever you say. It’s just that this is prime hunting time for the space slugs. They’ll be more alert than usual, and you never know when a slug’s asteroid will pass right overhead. It would be better to wait a few hours until they calm down again.”

For a moment, Jerec did not move. Tash felt her skin crawl as waves of dark-side power passed through her again. She knew that Jerec was trying to tell whether Hodge was being honest.