[Galaxy Of Fear] - 09(23)
The way he’d said those words reminded her of something.
As Zak approached his uncle, the Shi’ido opened his mouth in a wide grin.
The black vines snared Zak before he could even scream.
CHAPTER 15
Tash stumbled backward. The tendrils melted into Zak’s body, leaving only black lines visible beneath the skin around his neck. She thought she might be sick.
Hoole and Zak didn’t follow as she took a few steps back. Instead, they held up their hands innocently and said at the same time, “Tash, please don’t run.”
Danger!
The warning pulsed all around her. Tash could feel her heart slam against her ribs, and hear the blood pound in her ears. She knew she should run. But this was Hoole. That was Zak. How could she run?
She tried to keep her voice from shaking as she asked, “Who are you?”
“I am Spore,” said Zak and Hoole together. The sound of their voices had the same stereo effect as an Ithorian voice. “I mean you no harm. I simply need… I mean, I want to know you better. To be a part of you. For you to be a part of me.”
The phrase chilled Tash’s heart. Spore’s words reminded her of the feeling she’d gotten before the Bafforr trees, only turned inside out. Instead of feeling the soothing presence of the wise trees trying to connect with her, she felt a dark, evil presence that wanted to control her.
She stared closely at the spiderweb of dark lines hiding beneath Zak’s skin and choked back a sob.
“First,” she managed to say, “let go of my brother. Let go of Uncle Hoole.”
“I will, I promise,” Spore replied through Hoole and Zak. “But I need them at the moment. They’re going to help me. I promise you, none of you will come to any harm.”
“You’re already harming them,” she said.
“Only because I was desperate,” Spore said. “I was trapped for four hundred years. I needed to be free. Once I’m sure I’ll be free, then I’ll release anyone who doesn’t want to be a part of me.”
Hoole and Zak took a few steps closer. When they spoke, their voices seemed to change, relaxing into their natural speech. But they still spoke together. “Tash, it’s not bad. Won’t you join us?”
Tash took another uncertain step back and her foot slipped on the root of the Bafforr tree. Instinctively, she grabbed the tree trunk for balance.
Run!
The message thundered through her mind, too powerful to ignore. Her. feet were moving before her brain could form the thought.
She barely saw the black strings slap harmlessly against the tree behind her.
Tash ran for her life. Branches slapped at her face, scratching tears from her eyes. But she wasn’t crying from the pain. She was crying out of fear.
How could Zak and Uncle Hoole have been caught? How could she escape Spore all alone?
Alone. She was tired of being alone. Even when she was with her uncle and her brother, she felt different from them. She thought the Force was supposed to make her feel connected to everything, but at the moment she felt like the loneliest, most frightened being in the galaxy. She kept moving, but her legs began to feel heavy. Her lungs started to ache.
Why bother running? she told herself. What good will it do you? You’re running.from the only friends you have.
Tash stopped to catch her breath in a clearing. After a moment, she saw that the bushes all around her were alive with movement. Pulling aside the branches, she saw an lthorian, one of the medical staff, scanning the forest. It took a few steps forward, looked around, then advanced again. She could hear Spore’s other victims all around her, doing the same.
She was caught in the middle of a circle. There was nowhere to run. Soon they’d find her. She looked up. There were Bafforr trees all around her, but the lowest branches were far too high for her to reach. And the bark of the trunk was far too slick for her to try to shimmy up the side.
She glanced down-and saw something familiar. Her spacesuit.
She was back where she started. Not that it would do her any good. There were no weapons in her spacesuit. Just the air tank, the helmet, and…
… and gravboots.
Tash looked back at the nearest Bafforr tree. There was no way to climb it. But what if she could walk up the side of the tree instead?
The rustling in the bushes was very close.
It might work, but she needed time to get the gravboots on her feet.
Tash looked around desperately, until her eyes were caught by a flash of red.
The speed globe.
She had been holding it when the ship crashed. Scooping it up now, she flipped the activation switch and thanked the Force as the speed globe hummed to life.
She could hear someone approaching from her left. It was the Ithorian medic she’d seen earlier.