“Uncle Hoole, what’s that tent for?” he asked quietly.
Hoole replied, “Kairn’s parents are in there. The Necropolitans believe that if the dead see the living mourn, they might come back. In order to prevent that, the family of the departed live in seclusion for seven days. No one sees them.”
A day ago Zak would have shaken his head at such superstitious nonsense. But he now knew the dead could come back. He had seen it.
The muttering of the crowd stopped as Pylum, the Master of Cerements, stopped before the coffin. The sour-faced Necropolitan stood at the edge of the cemetery and delivered a long speech about the dangers of disturbing the dead.
“The old ways are the true ways,” Pylum intoned. “The dead must be respected. The dead must be left undisturbed. The alternative is disaster. That is the way of Necropolis.”
As Pylum talked, Zak couldn’t help feeling a pang of guilt. His parents had had no funeral. No one had offered them a show of mourning, even in private. No one had done anything for them.
No wonder they haunted his dreams.
Pylum raised his voice, snapping Zak out of his reverie.
“May the spirit of Sycorax receive this departed being in peace. May Kairn, who is gone from the living, remain now forever in the city of the dead!”
With that, Pylum grabbed the heavy bolt attached to the coffin, and with a dramatic flourish, he slammed it into place, sealing the coffin forever.
From behind the curtains of the pavilion, Zak heard a low, sad wail.
The crowd followed as Pylum led the coffin bearers-some of whom Zak recognized from the night before-into the cemetery. Zak noticed that the Necropolitans were very careful to stay on the paths and to avoid the ground near the graves.
The caravan moved silently until they reached an open grave. It was as if they were frightened to speak too loudly, afraid that even a whisper might disturb the dead. Silently, the coffin-bearers lowered Kairn’s coffin into the grave and slowly shoveled dirt over it.
As the mourners walked out of the cemetery, Zak passed by a freshly dug grave. The gravestone was written in the Necropolitan language and in Basic, the common language of the galaxy. It read: “Here lies Dr. Evazan. May he find the peace he did not give his patients.”
That, Zak thought, is putting it lightly.
They returned to the hostel to find Deevee waiting for them.
“It took great effort, and I think I actually used a fraction of my computer brain to do it, but I’ve located a dealer in starships who had several vessels for sale,” Deevee said.
Tash and Zak soon found themselves trailing behind their Shi’ido uncle and his droid assistant as they wound their way through the avenues of Necropolis, on their way to the starship dealer.
Although the sun was out, Necropolis was covered by the same feeling of darkness that had filled it at night. The old stone buildings were so tall and wide that very little sunlight reached the streets, and down among the walkways it seemed like midnight at noon.
Tash watched Uncle Hoole as he walked in front of her. She had been suspicious of him for some time. He was supposed to be an anthropologist, devoting his scientific mind to the study of different species and cultures across the galaxy. But although they had lived with him for six months, he still had not told them anything about himself-not even his first name. And even though he knew an awful lot about science, he acted like no scientist Tash had ever heard of.
He had no laboratory. He ran no experiments. Whenever they arrived on a new planet, he often went out on midnight errands and refused to tell anyone where he was going.
Not long ago Tash and Zak had had a run-in with the gangster Smada the Hutt. The vile crime lord had somehow known Hoole. Hoole had claimed that he had once refused to work for the Hutt gangster, and Tash had believed him. But at the same time, Smada had hinted that Hoole was involved in some shadowy schemes-that maybe he even had ties to the Empire. And now Hoole was working with Boba Fett, one of the most vicious killers in the galaxy. It was too much of a coincidence.
These thoughts filled Tash’s mind. She was so preoccupied that before she knew it, they had arrived at an immense dockyard at the edge of Necropolis. The enormous yard was a weird mixture of old and new. Ancient stone buildings surrounded it, but the open space was filled with modern,
automated maintenance equipment and sleek, modern starships.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome!”
A Necropolitan greeted them with wide-open arms and an even wider grin. He walked right up to Hoole and put his arm around the scientist’s shoulder. “Welcome to Meego’s Starship Emporium, where we don’t bring the stars to you. We bring you to the stars! I’m Meego. What can I do for you?”