Star Wars - 215 - Jedi Prince 06 - Prophets of the Dark Side (2 page)

An airspace-intruder warning sounded. A second viewing screen turned on automatically, this one showing an Imperial probe droid descending over the rain forest. This particular probe droid was a huge floating black device with outstretched limbs that resembled spindly tentacles, just like the one the Alliance had once fought against on the ice-world of Hoth. Suddenly an Alliance X-wing flew to counterattack.

"That’s the third probe droid in two weeks that’s entered the atmosphere of Yavin Four to spy on the senate," Leia said.

"They’re very effective at deceiving our space shield radar defense system," Luke replied.

"What we need is something that can locate Imperial probe droids long before they penetrate the atmosphere-a device to go after them and explode the probes before they even get this close to us."

"You mean something like an Omniprobe?" Leia asked.

"Exactly."

Leia rose from her chair excitedly. "Luke, that gives me an idea. I’ve been going through the data you brought back from the Lost City of the Jedi. I’ve searched the file menu you gave me, and there are lots of secret reports that you never accessed. That computer may still contain thousands of secrets that could prove crucial to our fight against the Empire. One of the files I discovered, that you didn’t bring back, has a design for a new type of Omniprobe."

Ken, who was on vacation from school at Dagobah Tech, walked in just in time to hear what Leia had said. Ken was a Jedi Prince, and the newest member of the Alliance. "Hi, Luke,-hi, Leia," he said cheerfully. "I couldn’t help overhearing you talking about my old school project. I’d almost forgotten about it."

"What school project?" Luke queried.

"The new Omniprobe. When I lived in the Lost City, Dee-Jay, my droid teacher, assigned me to study the blueprints for all the Omniprobes ever designed-both Alliance and Imperial-and he told me to try to invent a new Omniprobe, one that would utilize the best features of all of them. Well, I didn’t know much about weaponry or laser systems, but Dee-Jay helped me, step by step, in coming up with a new Omniprobe design. That Omniprobe, if it were ever built, would be the perfect defense against Imperial probe droids."

"Do you think you remember enough about the design to redraw it?" Luke asked, raising his eyebrows in anticipation.

"Not likely," Ken replied. "I could make a rough sketch perhaps. But Dee-Jay did most of the work, and there were things about it I never did understand. But if you want the designs, they’re still in the Jedi Library. I’m sure Dee-Jay could help us locate the file that has it."

"It sounds to me as if you and Ken should take another journey back to the Lost City," Leia said.

Suddenly they were distracted by the image on the viewing screen. Triclops was trembling, reacting to a pain in his head. Luke and Leia watched the screen as Triclops reached up to press his scarred temples. Then Triclops pushed two of his fingers into the back of his mouth, pressing on his upper molar.

Just then Triclops dropped to the floor and stopped moving. Luke and Leia exchanged a concerned glance. For a moment, they wondered whether Triclops was dead, or if he was just unconscious.

CHAPTER 2

Return to the Lost City

Far away on the planet Tatooine, a huge, sluglike old Hutt crawled slowly like a giant worm across the baking sands. His big, yellow, reptilian eyes scanned the horizon, but so far he had seen nothing but sandstorms and mirages.

Zorba the Hutt, whose braided white hair and beard were now covered with sand, had been squirming through the desert for several days, surviving without food or water, as Hutts have been known to do. "The grand moffs thought they’d get rid of me by tossing me into the Great Pit of Carkoon," he said to himself aloud, "but no one can outsmart a Hutt! And no one can digest a Hutt, either! I’ll bet the Sarlacc’s been nauseous for three days since he spit me out --a-haw-haw-haw . . . !"

Just then Zorba spied what he had been waiting to see. Off on the horizon, a metallic, boxlike shape was slowly rising from behind a distant sand dune. The object grew taller, until at last Zorba could see it rolling along on treads.

A sandcrawler!

"Surely my friends, the jawas, will give me a ride to the Mos Eisley spaceport!" Zorba said to himself. Though Zorba called the jawas his "friends," the fast-talking desert traders known as the jawas despised all Hutts-especially Zorba. But Zorba was prepared to offer them a deal they couldn’t refuse-a hundred slightly used Spin-and-Win machines from the Holiday Towers Hotel and Casino that Zorba owned back in Cloud City on the planet Bespin. Perhaps the machines could be resold by the jawas or installed in their sandcrawlers for entertainment.

"Once I get to Mos Eisley," Zorba continued, "I’ll find a fearless cargo pilot willing to take me deep into the Null Zone, all the way to Space Station Scardia to see Kadann and his Prophets of the Dark Side. Just wait until the grand moffs see what I have in store for them. A-haw-haw-haw-haw-hawwwww . . . !"

Ken, the only human ever to have lived with the caretaker droids of the Lost City, was sure that he and Luke were getting closer to their destination. Ken had only departed from the Lost City on three occasions in his life: first when he tried to run away from home, then when he left in search of his lost computer notebook, and a third time after he had taken Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca to the Lost City. On that last journey, Ken and Luke had taken special care to recall all the features of the twisting, weaving route through the heart of the rain forest-a path that eventually led to a hidden green round marble wall with a tubular transport in its center. However, the foliage of the forest had grown thicker since they had last been there together, and it was difficult to be certain they were going the right way.

Ken’s pulse quickened as he thought about riding in the tubular transport, designed to travel down through miles of Yavin Four moonrock to reach the Lost City of the Jedi. The ancient Jedi Knights had constructed their secret hideaway in a buried cavern. That hideaway, the Alliance discovered, was the repository of Jedi files about the history of the galaxy and all its worlds.

Many explorers had searched for that tubular transport, but none of them had ever found it on their own. And Ken doubted that any ever would, because the rain forest in that region of Yavin Four was too dense, in spite of Trioculus’s failed attempt once to burn it all down.

With every step he and Luke took, Ken thought about how exciting it would be to return to the Lost City, reunited with his feathery, four-eared pet mooka he had left behind. At long last, Ken pushed away the leaves of a large bush. Beyond it Luke and Ken could finally see the green wall.

They entered the tubular transport, the metallic, bubblelike elevator with windows and streamlined controls. Then they took their positions alongside one another, getting ready for their descent.

"I can’t wait to see the droids of the Lost City again, especially my teacher, Dee-Jay," Ken said. "He’ll probably be astonished at all the wisdom I’ve gained since I left the Lost City and joined the Alliance."

"Wisdom?" Luke said. "Since when does a kid who’s twelve-going-on-thirteen have true wisdom?"

"I’ve learned a lot from my experiences, Luke," Ken shot back, as he pulled the lever in the tubular transport, causing it to drop with the speed of a spaceship blasting off.

WHIIIIIIISH!

"How many kids my age do you know who have seen Banthas, jawas, Tusken Raiders, and bounty hunters?" Ken continued, when he had caught his breath. He gripped the handrails very tightly. "And how many twelve-year-olds do you know who have been to Cloud City, met up with Zorba the Hutt and Trioculus, and zoomed all the way to Hologram Fun World-"

"Unfortunately, Ken, attaining true wisdom has little to do with any of that," Luke said, looking at the faintly glowing moonrock that zipped past them as they rapidly descended.

"Wisdom has to do with how much insight you have about life, and your level of maturity. And it seems to me you could do with a little advancement on that score." Ken felt a strange sensation in his stomach as they plunged toward the vast cavern. "This is better than the rides at Hologram Fun World."

Finally, the tubular transport reached the bottom of the seemingly endless elevator shaft. Then the door slid open and they stepped out.

Off in the distance, there were dozens of droids going about their maintenance work, keeping the city functioning mechanically, without any human beings. Luke and Ken descended a flight of stairs and then walked along Jedi Lane. They could see the power cubes, computer chambers, and mechanized towers, as well as the many dome-houses that served as dwellings for the Jedi caretaker droids.

"I can hardly believe I’m really back here," Ken said, breathing rapidly with anticipation. He glanced around as fast as his head could twist, looking in all directions.

"Someday, maybe we’ll find out how you got here in the first place," Luke said.

"I told you how I got here, Luke," Ken replied, as they continued walking up Jedi Lane.

"When I was little, a Jedi Knight in a brown robe brought me here after my parents died, I think. I only wish I knew who my parents were."

"And who was that Jedi Knight in the brown robe?" Luke asked.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi always wore a brown robe, didn’t he?" Ken inquired.

"Yes, but he wasn’t the only one who did."

"But there were only a few Jedi Knights still alive when I was born," Ken replied. "It could have been him, couldn’t it?"

"I don’t know," Luke said. "Obi-Wan never told me about it. He never even hinted." Ken touched the crystal he wore around his neck, a half sphere attached to a thin, silver chain. The droids of the Lost City had told Ken he had been wearing that birthstone when he was brought to them as a young child. As much as he wanted to remember those days, his memories of that time were very foggy.

Suddenly Ken heard familiar-sounding footsteps coming from behind them. "HC!" Ken exclaimed, turning to confirm his guess.

HC-100 was a Homework Correction Droid who looked like See-Threepio, but with a round mouth and a circular belly. The fact that even HC was now a welcome sight to Ken’s eyes was a sure sign of how much Ken had missed the Lost City, his childhood home.

"Well, Ken, at last you’ve returned to continue your lessons," HC stated. He swiveled his head to stare at Luke. "Oh, hello, Commander Skywalker. So good to see that you’ve brought Ken back to us."

"I’m afraid Ken hasn’t returned here to continue his studies," Luke explained. "Ken’s one of the brightest students at a very special school, Dagobah Tech. At the moment he’s on vacation. Ken’s classmates are the sons and daughters of the scientists who work at DRAPAC, our fortress, on Mount Yoda on the planet Dagobah." HC-100 twisted his body at the waist as he bent to peer at Ken. "Well then, perhaps you can think up a way to plug the hole in the ground beneath our decoy tubular transport."

"What decoy tubular transport?" Ken asked. "What hole in the ground?"

"A botanist searching for rare plants happened to come upon the new green marble wall last week, quite by chance," HC continued without hesitation. "He entered the decoy tubular transport, not knowing what it was, and it plunged downward, almost sending him to a fiery death!"

"But I still don’t understand, HC," Ken interrupted. "What do you mean by a decoy tubular transport? And why did the botanist almost die?"

"I can explain," said a deep-sounding voice.

Ken turned. Walking up the path toward them was DJ-88, or "Dee-Jay" as Ken called him. The tall, wise-looking old droid’s ruby eyes were shining brightly at Ken and Luke. Ken suddenly felt a flood of memories as he recalled his many happy experiences with Dee-Jay, the powerful caretaker droid and teacher who had raised him.

"Dee-Jay, it’s great to see you!" Ken shouted. "And Zeebo! Come here, little fellow. . . ." Zeebo, Ken’s four-eared pet mooka, leaped from Dee-Jay’s arms and went running up to Ken, jumping all over him. Ken scratched behind each of Zeebo’s four ears. "Hey there, Zeebo, how’ve you been?"

"Ksssssshhhhh," Zeebo said in a purr of contentment. "Ksssssshhhhhh!"

"Greetings, Commander Skywalker, and welcome," Dee-Jay said. "This is indeed a splendid honor. I’m grateful you’ve brought Ken back to visit his home. You look a bit taller, Ken, than when I last saw you. And perhaps you’re a bit more experienced now in the ways of the world."

"Quite a bit more experienced, thanks," Ken assured him. "It’s really good to be back, Dee-Jay."

"Pleased to hear that you still respect your old droid teacher," Dee-Jay said. He then invited them all to walk with him over to the Jedi Library.

"As HC was saying," Dee-Jay explained, "to defend ourselves against the Imperials, a long time ago we droids of the Lost City went Topworld into the jungle and built a second circular marble wall. This entrance was a decoy to mislead spies and those who wished to locate and destroy us or steal the Jedi’s secrets from our library files. Whoever boards the decoy tubular transport is taken down to a dark damp cave. Although they would be able to make their way out, their search for the Lost City would reach a dead end. But that all changed when the tremors struck recently."

"What did the tremors do, Dee-Jay?" Ken asked.

"They caused a big crack in the ground," Dee-Jay explained. "No longer does the decoy transport descend to the cave. Now it opens up on a big hole that drops to a fiery river of molten lava."

As they arrived at the Jedi Library, Dee-Jay added, "Here in this building, we’re researching how to repair the hole, so no innocent travelers in the jungle will be in mortal danger if they happen to stumble upon the decoy. But it’s a difficult problem to solve, because the ground there is now so very unstable." Luke, Ken, and the two droids entered and walked past row after row of shelves containing old documents and historical records from many planets. One by one, Dee-Jay had been inputting the data from those records into the Jedi master computer, just as he had been programmed to do back in the days when there had been many Jedi Knights. If by some improbable chance the Jedi Knights were ever to flourish again, those records would be invaluable. In the meantime, as it was needed, selected files of information would be released to the Rebel Alliance through Ken and Luke Skywalker.