[Galaxy Of Fear] - 11(20)

Hoole stiffened. Tash could see that he wanted to move but he seemed to be stuck in place, as though held there by Vader’s will.

“No,” the Shi’ido repeated.

Vader struck.

Tash screamed as the lightsaber came down in a flashing arc. The light blade passed cleanly through Hoole’s midsection and came out the other side.

Hoole winced. Then he opened his eyes and looked down. He touched the spot where the lightsaber had passed through him.

He was untouched.

It was at that moment that Tash realized what was bothering her about Vader. It was his armor. It looked similar to the armor that Vader wore, but it didn’t seem to function. Like the makeshift starship, it was a cheap imitation.

“Tash, run!” the Shi’ido yelled. A moment later he shape-shifted into the form of a bantha.

The power of Hoole’s voice set Tash’s feet in motion. She shoved her way through the crowd of Rebels, who were focused on the bantha that had appeared among them. Breaking free of the mob, she ran across the bridge and toward the only place she knew to hide.

The Jedi ruins.

She didn’t care if she saw her dark-side self again. Her evil twin was nothing compared to Vader. She only hoped that Hoole could escape as easily. Tash heard a few voices call after her, but she had a head start. She reached the outer ring of stones and entered the ruins.

Tash meant to lose herself in the confusing maze of the abandoned fortress, but her feet seemed to carry her automatically to the center of the ruins. The round building was in front of her before she knew it. Knowing the room was empty, Tash started to turn away, looking for a better hiding place, when voices drifted toward her. She ducked inside the building.

Pressing herself against the wall near the door, Tash caught her breath and tried to think. She was alone. Zak had vanished, and Hoole was either hiding or captured by these so-called Rebels. And Vader was here.

But what had happened to Vader’s lightsaber? Why hadn’t it cut Hoole in half?

Tash knew the answer. The saber was a fake. She’d seen the light beam pass right through Hoole without hurting him. It wasn’t a real saber-it was a mocked-up version, just like the ridiculously mocked-up starship these castaways were building.

It was obvious to Tash that these people were impostors. They weren’t real Rebels-they couldn’t be. But if they were lying to her, why hadn’t she felt it in the Force? In the past, she’d often gotten a sinking feeling in her stomach when people were lying to her and meant to do her or her family harm. Why hadn’t the Force warned her about these strangers?

Thinking of Eyal and the others, Tash knew the answer. They believed they were Rebels. Whatever he really was, Eyal thought he was working for the Rebellion. She had seen the honesty in his eyes when he spoke. Almost, she thought, the way Maga saw the honesty in my eyes when I spoke.

So these stranded beings thought they were Rebels, but really weren’t.

Why do they think they are, though? Tash wondered. Did Vader brainwash them? But that wouldn’t explain where they came from. Maga had said “the man with no face”-Vader-had appeared first, then the others. But they hadn’t come in ships.

Could Vader have made them somehow? Created them, using the dark side of the Force?

No, she decided. That isn’t possible.

But he could have made them some other way. Maybe they weren’t really alive. Maybe they were androids of some kind. That would explain why she’d seen several copies of the same person. And it would also explain why she couldn’t tell if they were lying. Maybe they were programmed to believe they were Rebels. If Vader was building androids of some kind, it might even explain why Tash had seen a copy of herself.

It was the best answer Tash could come up with. But it didn’t solve all her riddles.

For instance, why would Vader carry a fake lightsaber? And how had the second most powerful being in the galaxy become stranded on a barren planet?

Tash heard voices.

She looked around for a stick or a stone, anything she could use as a weapon.

That was when she noticed the crack in the floor.

It started on the spot where her evil twin had dashed the stone. The rock had shattered, but it had also left its mark on the floor. There was a crack about one meter long.

Not a crack. A line. A very thin, very straight line. The impact of the rock hadn’t made this line. She was surprised she hadn’t noticed it before, but without the broken stone to draw attention to that particular spot on the floor, it was hardly visible.

Tash could see that it was a door. Dropping to her knees, she felt around for some sort of lever. The line was too small for her fingers to fit into, so she ran her fingernail down the length of the line. At the very end she felt something click.