[Galaxy Of Fear] - 11(16)

“Stay back!” Tash said. She didn’t know what to do. “I don’t want to fight. I need to know what’s going on.”

The other Tash laughed. “You won’t need to know once you’re dead!”

She lunged at Tash again. Tash jumped away and ran for the exit. Whoever, whatever this other Tash was, she fought like an animal. Tash needed to put some distance between them.

She ran down one of the passages between the ruined buildings, hoping to lose the other Tash in the maze of stone blocks. But she soon heard footsteps behind her. Whichever way she turned, the other Tash followed.

Tash kept cutting corners and running around the huge stone blocks. But instead of escaping her pursuer, she made a wrong turn.

A dead end rose up in front of her. One of the stone building blocks had fallen, blocking the path. It was too high to climb over. So were the walls on either side of the passage.

Tash whirled around to turn back, but found herself looking at her mirror image once again.

“Ha!” her twin laughed. “Nowhere to run.”

“Who are you?” Tash demanded.

Her twin laughed again. “Don’t you know, Tash? I’m you.”

“You’re not me,” Tash replied. “Whatever you are, you’re not me.”

“Oh, I’m you,” the other Tash said, stalking forward. “I’m the dark side you don’t want to let out. We’re the same right down to the last gene. But there isn’t room in this life for both of us. And since I’m stronger-you’ll just have to go.”

The evil Tash looked around and picked up another large rock. It was twice the size of her fist. She hefted it and smiled.

Tash knew this other Tash would kill her. It was willing to kill; it even wanted to kill. Tash was no match for that. She couldn’t fight that way.

Time seemed to slow down as the other Tash inched forward. Tash thought about the words her evil twin had spoken. I’m the dark side you don’t want to let out. Was that true? Was there something about the Jedi ruins that had shown Tash a reflection of her own dark side?

Tash glanced at the stones around her. She remembered her earlier amazement at the stones. Someone-a Jedi? - had used the Force to move these giant stones. Someone had used the Force to build this entire fortress. This evil Tash might be vicious and strong, but the real Tash had the Force, and the Force was stronger.

Tash took a deep breath. She called on the Force. Immediately she felt the touch of the dark side. It was waiting, willing to help her. She sensed that with the dark side she could wipe this impostor off the planet, erase her from the world in the blink of an eye.

No, Tash thought. I’m not like that. I won’t be.

Tash pushed all thoughts of using the Force as a weapon from her mind. Instead, she thought of the Force as a shield. She had done this once before against a creature called Spore. Tash tried again now, imagining a protective screen like a ship’s deflector shield all around her body. She felt the Force flow around her, and she knew it was working.

But the other Tash only smiled. Her eyelids fluttered up and down, and her eyes rolled back into her head. Tash wondered what she was doing.

Then she felt the dark side.

It smashed into her like a crashing wave. The dark-side power broke through her imaginary shield and struck her, throwing her off balance. Tash stumbled backward until she felt her back against the stone wall. She stared at her evil twin in disbelief.

The other Tash controlled the dark side of the Force, and she was stronger.

“Now,” the evil twin said, “you will die.”





CHAPTER 10


Quick as a light beam, the evil Tash hurled the stone.

Something-an instinct, or maybe even the Force-pulled Tash out of the way, and the rock cracked against the stone wall behind her. The evil twin reached out to grab Tash’s throat, but Tash ducked and slipped past her attacker.

Tash bolted out of the dead-end passageway.

“You can’t run!” the other Tash yelled. “I’ll find you!”

Tash didn’t listen. She ran as fast as she could, not thinking, not caring where she went as long as it was away from this evil creature.

This time, desperation and blind panic saved her. She ran so fast and so far through the ruins that the other Tash seemed to lose her. Tash could hear the evil twin yelling at her, but she was nowhere in sight.

Tash looked for an exit from the ruins. She had to tell Hoole and Zak. They had to leave this place immediately. She just had to get out of the ruins and run for the Rebel base.

Tash saw an opening in the crumbling walls and raced through it. But she was on the wrong side. Instead of the wide blue river and the bridge, Tash was looking at the prairie. She was on the far side of the ruins, the side where she’d come in earlier.