“What’s wrong, Tash?” Zak asked.
She sighed. Zak wouldn’t understand. “Nothing. Come on, let’s go.”
She turned away from the forest, feeling lonelier than ever.
Fandomar followed them back up to the Tafanda Bay and walked them to their quarters. Uncle Hoole had returned from his errands.
He studied his niece and nephew for a moment, as though he were bracing himself for bad news. When none came, his gray face twisted into a look of amusement. “This is a pleasure,” he said. “I have left you alone for several hours, and nothing eventful has happened. No Imperial invasions. No dangerous criminals.”
“We haven’t uncovered one evil plot,” Tash agreed, casually tossing her speed globe from hand to hand. “Did you get everything we need’?”
Hoole frowned. “Unfortunately not. The Ithorians do not do much mining. I need a supply of the mineral ethromite.”
“What’s ethromite?” Tash asked.
Zak answered, “It’s one of the minerals used to create the fusion reactions that power starship engines.”
“And it seems to be in scarce supply here,” Hoole added.
Fandomar raised one long finger to get their attention. “I believe I can help.”
Not only did Fandomar know where they could acquire more ethromite, but she also offered to take Hoole and the two Arrandas there. Not far from the planet Ithor was a large asteroid field where a group of humans had set up a mining colony. Fandomar’s job aboard the Tafanda Bay was to pilot a shuttle that ferried supplies to and from the mining colony. Although she was not scheduled to return to the colony for several days, she would be happy to take Hoole and the Arrandas out on a special mission.
A short time later, they climbed aboard an old but well-kept cargo ship and streaked out of the planet’s atmosphere. Through the viewport Tash watched the stars rush toward the ship.
A short journey took them into a wide band of rocks whirling through space-asteroids. Some of the asteroids were as small as Tash’s head; others seemed as big as moons. Some drifted by slowly while others flashed by as fast as comets. Tash had still been holding the speed globe, but now she dropped it and gripped the edge of her seat until her knuckles turned white. One wrong turn in an asteroid field would convert them into an exploding fireball.
“This is dangerous work,” Hoole stated.
Fandomar nodded, concentrating on the deadly rocks spinning past the ship. Tash closed her eyes.
“It seems like you get stuck with all the jobs no one else wants,” Zak noted. “Greeting people at the space dock, piloting shuttles. Don’t you want to be doing something more important?”
Hoole winced at Zak’s impoliteness, but Fandomar only nodded. “I am… doing penance.”
“Penance?” Tash asked, opening one eye. “You mean you’re being punished?”
“In a sense,” the Ithorian explained. “Only… I have chosen these tasks. I have volunteered to make this run.”
“Why’?” Hoole asked. “I thought Ithorians preferred not to travel too far from the Mother Forest and their herd ships.”
“True,” Fandomar replied. “But my husband was exiled from Ithor several years ago. Although he would not let me go with him, I swore to myself that I would not sit comfortably aboard the Tafanda Bay until his return.”
“What did he do?” Zak asked.
Fandomar opened her twin mouths to reply. But instead, she suddenly jerked the controls hard to one side, throwing the ship into a confused spin.
For a moment Tash thought the Ithorian had gone crazy.
Until she saw the sharp teeth of the giant worm that was lunging to swallow their ship!
CHAPTER 3
“Space slug!” Hoole warned.
Tash’s eyes went wide with fear. She had never seen a space slug before. The slug had sprung from a cave in a nearby asteroid. The hole in the flying rock was large enough to let a starship through, and the slug filled every meter. Tash caught a glimpse of the thick, gray body slithering out of its cave, and its huge eyeless head. But then the slug’s body, the asteroids, even the stars around them, vanished as the space slug opened its huge jaws to swallow them.
Fandomar jerked on the controls again and the cargo ship lurched in the other direction. Tash’s crashwebbing snapped and she went flying, slamming her shoulder against the side of the ship.
Fandomar’s move saved their lives. Instead of chomping on them, the space slug only tapped their ship with the side of its massive head. Their shields held, but the ship spun wildly out of control.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Hoole grunted. “Out of its range.”