[Junior Jedi Knights] - 03(13)

“If they’ve got that thing, why walk for hours in the sand?” Anakin asked Tahiri.

“It must not be working,” Tahiri said as she squinted at the sandcrawler.

“Sandcrawlers are pretty old. And even though Jawas are good mechanics, sometimes a machine just stops working and can’t be fixed.”

“I bet I could fix it,” Anakin said softly as he walked toward the vehicle. The Jawas let out alarmed cries and raced to block Anakin’s path to the sandcrawler.

“That is,” Anakin added, “if they’d let me near it.”

“Hey, guys,” Anakin said with a smile. “I’m not going to hurt your sandcrawler, I just want to try to fix it for you.”

He watched as one of the Jawas lifted a canteen to his lips and drank deeply before passing the water to another.

“How about if I fix it, and you guys give my friend and me some of that water?” Anakin wheedled. The Jawas didn’t reply. In fact, they ignored him. Anakin thought about the time Tahiri had been drowning in the river on Yavin 4 and he’d used his voice and the Force to command her to struggle, to swim. Could he do the same thing with the Jawas?

Tahiri saw the glint in Anakin’s ice blue eyes.

“What is it?” she asked. “I was just thinking that maybe I could use the Force to command the Jawas to let me into their sandcrawler. If I can fix it, maybe they’ll give us a ride to the Jundland Wastes, and some food and water… It’s a dumb idea, right?” Anakin said in embarrassment.

Tahiri replied slowly.

“You’ve done it before, and I think it’s our best chance. You’ve got to try.”

Tahiri gave a sharp whistle and the Jawas turned to face the Jedi students.

“Here goes nothing,” Anakin murmured as he faced the Jawas. “Let me into the sandcrawler,” he said in a soft voice. The Jawas jabbered, but still blocked Anakin’s path. It was clear that the sandcrawler, working or not, was their most valued possession.

“Let me pass,” Anakin said more strongly. One of the Jawas moved aside, but the others let out a string of sounds and the creature stopped in his tracks. It’s not working, Anakin said to himself in frustration. His throat burned from speaking, and his head felt light with hunger. I’ve got to calm myself, got to believe that I can succeed, he thought. Anakin closed his eyes, and the next time he spoke his voice carried the power of the Force.

“LET ME PASS, NOW!” he called. The Jawas moved aside. Anakin walked toward the vehicle, his ice blue eyes glinting in the midday sun. He climbed inside and disappeared from view. Tahiri trotted after her friend and followed him inside the sandcrawler. It reeked. Anakin tried not to gag at the stink inside the vehicle. He sensed that Tahiri, too, was trying not to let the smell overcome her. Anakin had never been inside a sandcrawler, but he’d also never seen anything mechanical that he couldn’t figure out. When he was only two, he’d amazed his brother and sister, the twins Jaina and Jacen, by taking apart a droid. and putting it back together. He quickly found the control panel deep within the vehicle and began to tinker.

“Can you fix it?” Tahiri asked her friend. Anakin ran his hands along the tangle of cables and wires that trailed from the control panel.

“I think I’ve found the problem,” he began excitedly. “There’s a short circuit in a connector.” Anakin studied one of the cables.

Its surface was slightly darker than the rest.

“It’s this one,” he murmured. “Tahiri, can you find me another cable in that junk?” Anakin asked with a wave of his hand toward the pile of broken-down droids and machinery the Jawas had collected. Tahiri began to rummage through the metal scraps.

“Will this work?” she asked as she held up a meter-long cable.

“No,” Anakin replied. “Its got to be longer.”

Several minutes later Tahiri held up two more cables. Anakin selected one and replaced the burned out cable.

“Let’s see if this will do the trick,” Anakin said softly. He connected the cable to the control panel, then leaned over to push the sandcrawler’s start-up button. With a deep, rasping rumble the sandcrawler hummed to life. Anakin and Tahiri emerged, to the cheers of the Jawas. The Jedi candidates were handed water jugs and brown lumps of food. They drank deeply, the liquid soothing their throats and splashing into empty bellies. When they’d eaten their fill, Tahiri turned to the Jawas and thanked them. Then she pointed at the Jundland Wastes, at herself and Anakin, and at the sandcrawler. The Jawas understood, and beckoned Anakin and Tahiri toward the sandcrawler.