Jar Jar Binks was escorted by the four guards and Boss Nass to the nearest sub pen, a bubbleshaped docking port for underwater vessels. Commander Wollod, a lean Gungan officer with short whiskers on his upper lip, was waiting. He stood at full attention as Boss Nass approached.
Boss Nass nodded to Wollod and ordered, “Prepare da Grande Army Transport bongo for go-away maxi-fast.”
“No can do da maxi, Boss Nass,” Wollod answered. “Captain Tarpals alritty taken da Army Transport to go searchen for dem escaped beasties.”
Boss Nass snorted. Jar Jar’s accidents tended to have long term effects, and the research facility incident was no exception. “So we no gotta Army bongo,” Boss Nass shrugged. “We taken da Rep heyblibber.”
“Tis too late,” the commander replied. “Rep Teers alritty gone-away in da Rep heyblibber, off-n to inspict da festival arena bubbles at Lake Umberbool. Wesa got only three vessels. Firstest, dare-sa standard tribubble bongo. Secondest, dare-sa militia-camo tribubble bongo. Thirdest, dare-sa yous heyblibber.”
Boss Nass grimaced. He’d wanted the dangerously clumsy Jar Jar to be watched by the four guards in an Army Transport bongo, but the available tribubble bongos were designed to seat only a pilot and two passengers. Boss Nass’s private heyblibber was a vintage luxury bongo that could easily accommodate two dozen soldiers, but he didn’t want to risk any damage to his prized submersible.
“Wesa taken wunna da bongos,” Boss Nass quickly decided.
“Whichen?” Commander Wollod asked.
The militia-camo bongo had the advantage of a weapons system and camouflage colors, but the standard bongo — unencumbered by heavy weaponry — was a faster vessel. “Since yousa ganna be da pilot, Commander Wollod, mesa let-ten yousa choose da bongo.” Boss Nass turned to the lead guard and said, “Give mesa da key to Jar Jar’s binders.”
The four guards exchanged bewildered expressions, then the lead guard cleared his throat. “Maxi-pardon for asking, Boss,” the lead guard said as he handed the key to the ruler of Otoh Gunga, “but whosa ganna watch Jar Jar Binks?”
Boss Nass glared at the manacled prisoner. “Guard-n Binks isa job mesa take-n personal-ly,” Boss Nass declared as he pocketed the key. “My wanna make certain dat dare-sa no axadentes be-tweena hair unda Quarry!”
The Gungan-designed tribubble bongo was fifteen meters long. Propelled by rotating electromotive tentacles, the entire vessel resembled something like a mechanical sea creature. There were three bubble-canopied passenger compartments, one on each wing and one at the nose. The wing compartments were loaded with provisions, and the nose compartment housed the cockpit that seated three Gungans.
Boss Nass was squeezed into the navigator seat. To his left, the sub’s controls were in the capable hands of Commander Wollod, who had brought two weapons: an electropole and a short-barrelled stunner.
Buckled in the single backseat, Jar Jar Binks sat in stunned silence, trying to relax his arms so the binders wouldn’t hurt his wrists. Under any other circumstances, Jar Jar might have enjoyed a ride in a bongo. As things were, he was in a daze. He hadn’t even noticed whether they had left Otoh Gunga in the standard or militia-camo bongo, and he couldn’t tell the difference from inside the vessel.
Jar Jar stared over the shoulders of Wollod and Boss Nass, through the cockpit’s hydrostatic bubble canopy. The sub’s navigational lights cut through the murky water and illuminated the treacherous underwater mountain range that lined the route to the Quarry. Tall columns of twisted aquatic plants were also visible, and they seemed to glide past the bongo as it angled toward a deep chasm.
The bongo’s cockpit bubble worked on the same principle as the portal zones on the habitat bubbles of Otoh Gunga. With relative ease, solid objects could pass back and forth through the cockpit bubble. For a brief moment, Jar Jar considered escaping through the cockpit bubble, but he immediately dismissed the notion. Even if he got away from the sub, he doubted he would survive very long near the perilous region of the core, especially since he was wearing binders.
Nearly an hour had passed since the bongo left Otoh Gunga, and Jar Jar knew the sub was only minutes away from its dreaded destination. Jar Jar wished the research facility incident had never happened, that it was all some terrible dream from which he would soon awake. He closed his eyes, then opened them again. No luck.
A light winked on the bongo’s communications console, followed by a burst of static. “Boss Nass!” a Gungan voice crackled from the comm unit. “Dis is Goodrow Neb Nob at Otoh Gunga Traffic Control. Our sensors detecten a seaquake, five kilometers south-west of yousa position. An underwater storm cowdabe headen yousa way. Yousa advise-ed to take defens-ive cover or combackie to Otoh Gunga immidyet-ly.”
Jar Jar Binks didn’t know how to react to this information. Part of him was glad that his voyage to the Quarry had been interrupted, but the possibility of an underwater storm was scary. Jar Jar moved his secured wrists together as he tightened the safety harness that strapped him to his seat.
Commander Wollod raised a viewscreen that showed a navigational chart of the region. The seaquake zone was in close proximity to the new festival arena in Lake Umberbool. Boss Nass leaned back to the comm unit and said, “Neb Nob! Did yousa senda warning to Rep Teers un da festival arena?”
“Wesa lose comm-talkie wit both da festival arena un da Rep heyblibber,” Neb Nob replied. “Wesa tinker da seaquake mighta knocked out all comm-talkie in dat area.”
Boss Nass looked at Commander Wollod. “Anybody else beside-n Rep Teers on da Rep heyblibber?”
Commander Wollod swallowed hard before he answered. “Da Rep heyblibber’s pilot isa Major Fassa.”
Wollod’s statement was followed by a brief silence. From the backseat, Jar Jar could see Boss Nass’s fingers tighten their grip on the comm unit. Jar Jar had never heard of Major Fassa, but he got the impression that the name brought some distress to Boss Nass.
“Dis pleasure cruise isa now official-ly a rescue mission!” Boss Nass declared as he magnified the viewscreen’s navigational chart. From the bongo’s present position, the most direct route to the festival arena was through the chasm that cut past the entrance to the Quarry. Boss Nass showed the chart to Commander Wollod and announced, “Wesa ganna take da speedest way to Lake Umberbool…”
“Hang on, Boss!” Commander Wollod interrupted. Wollod pointed at a yellow warning light that flashed next to the sub’s navigation sensor field indicator. “Sensors say da storm isa ganna hit big-time.”
“When?” Boss Nass asked. As if in response, a sound like rumbling thunder groaned from the deep and grew louder. Suddenly, a dark wall of rapidly churning water and sand fell over the bongo, sending the vessel tumbling out of control. Commander Wollod pulled back hard on the joystick, but as the bongo rolled, his head struck hard against the communications console. Wollod’s body went limp, and he fell against the joystick.
“Wollod!” Boss Nass shouted. “Straighten out da forward diving plane!”
“Metinks Commander Wollod isa knocked out!” Jar Jar observed from the back seat as he tried to keep his own head from bouncing off the canopy rim. “Looks liken Wollod also bust-ed da comm. Lemme outta dese binders! Wesa gotten swim! Ye guds, wesa ganna get pasted!”
“Shut yousa talkity-trap!” Boss Nass snarled as he tried to push Wollod’s unconscious body off the controls. “Nobody isa getten pasted unless-n mesa say so!”
An alarm began beeping loudly within the cockpit. Unable to see anything but roiling darkness outside the bongo, Jar Jar glanced past the struggling Boss Nass at the oval navigation sensor field indicator. Jar Jar wasn’t very good at reading sensors, but from what little he knew, it looked like the seismic wave was sweeping the bongo into the mountain range.
“Oie boie!” Jar Jar whined. “Dissen ganna be messy!”
Without warning, a rip current slammed down on the bongo’s starboard side, sending the vessel into a dizzying plunge. The hydrostatic field generators let out a mecha
nical screech as the passengers were tossed within the cramped cockpit. As the bongo headed even faster toward the mountains, only one Gungan remained conscious.
He reached desperately for the controls.
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Jar Jar Binks couldn’t believe his bad luck. He was in binders, Boss Nass and Commander Wollod were unconscious, and their tribubble bongo was caught in a turbulent underwater storm. Jar Jar couldn’t see anything but mud and sand outside the cockpit, but the submersible vehicle’s sensors indicated the bongo was barreling toward an aquatic mountain range.
Moving his bound wrists from side to side, Jar Jar quickly unbuckled his seat belt and leaned forward, placing himself between the two front seats. He had limited experience with bongos, but he knew the cockpit could eject as an emergency escape pod. Since the sub was rapidly rolling near the mountain, Jar Jar feared he’d only launch the cockpit straight into a wall of rock.
He located what he believed to be the sub’s automatic guidance system and flipped a switch. To Jar Jar’s dismay, the switch made the forward diving plane retract into the sub’s nose, making the bongo roll even faster. With his head bouncing against the cockpit bubble’s hard rim, Jar Jar threw the switch back into place, pushed the navigational controls, and hoped for the best.
The sub continued to roll, and Jar Jar pushed harder on the throttles while turning into the direction of the roll. Miraculously, the bongo righted itself and slowed to a stop. Jar Jar still couldn’t see much outside the cockpit, so he stared at the sub’s sensor monitor. On the sensors, he saw a small image of the sub, hovering between two angular lines. Jar Jar guessed that the sensor indicated that the sub was hovering in an underwater chasm between two high cliffs. A wide ledge jutted out from the cliff face at starboard.
Suddenly, two large objects appeared on the sub’s sensors. Both objects were descending from above. More information flashed on the sensor screen, and Jar Jar realized the objects were mammoth boulders — several times bigger than the bongo — probably knocked from the top of the chasm by the powerful storm.
“Oyi, ye guds!” Jar Jar gasped. With his hands still in binders and his wide eyes on the sensor screen, he pulled back on the controls, trying to steer the bongo under the wide ledge. The bongo slipped under the ledge just as the two boulders crashed into the chasm. Jar Jar closed his eyes and gritted his teeth at the sound of the impact above him.
Outside the cockpit, the churned-up sand dropped away, settling down to the lake floor. At first, Jar Jar thought the storm had subsided and the danger was over, but then the sub’s sensors indicated that the two boulders weren’t the only stones that had crashed down from the underwater mountains. The storm had caused a massive avalanche, and the chasm was completely sealed off by many layers of wide, heavy rocks.
Jar Jar was relieved that the avalanche had not reached the sub, but he wasn’t sure how to proceed. There wasn’t any way to use the chasm as a route to the Festival Arena in Lake Umberbool. He looked at the unconscious form of Boss Nass.
“Mesa never tinken mesa say dis, Boss,” Jar Jar muttered, “but mesa surr wish-n yousa come outta da sleepies un do sumptin smarty. What can mesa do? All lock-ed up in dese binders…”
At that moment, Jar Jar remembered the binder key.
Jar Jar dipped both of his hands into Boss Nass’s pocket, retrieved the key, and quickly popped the locking mechanism. He smiled as he massaged his freed wrists and flexed his fingers. Although he was nervous about finding a way out of the chasm, he could hardly wait to get his hands on the bongo’s controls.
With much uncomfortable effort, Jar Jar pulled Commander Wollod out of the pilot seat and transferred him to the backseat. After Wollod was securely belted in. Jar Jar slipped behind the control console and tried to familiarize himself with the various switches and buttons.
Jar Jar tried to calm his panic. He didn’t want to die! He believed the sub was equipped to launch an emergency distress beacon. The beacon could provide tracking information to help Otoh Gunga locate the bongo. The sub’s communications system was damaged, but everything else appeared to be fully operational. The only problem was getting the beacon out of the chasm.
Jar Jar gulped and gazed up through the cockpit to the layers of fallen rocks that closed off the chasm. By sheer luck, he found a small gap between two wide slabs of stone. The gap looked just large enough to allow passage for the emergency distress beacon.
Looking at the control console, Jar Jar tried to locate the button that would launch the beacon. There were dozens of buttons, and almost all of them bore an icon to represent the button’s function. But none of the icons looked anything like an emergency distress beacon. In truth, Jar Jar wasn’t even sure he’d recognize such a beacon if he saw one. Then he noticed five unmarked red buttons. Since they were red, Jar Jar was pretty certain those particular buttons were to be used in an emergency (and this was one!), but he still didn’t know which button might launch the beacon.
Jar Jar’s right hand covered his eyes while his left hand hovered over the red buttons. Preparing to jab a button at random, he wagged his left index finger as he whispered a gibberish countdown he vaguely remembered from childhood: “Ipsee, mipsee, monsee… mope!” At the final word, Jar Jar brought his finger down.
The bongo’s interior was instantly filled by the wail of a loud siren. Jar Jar’s hands flew over his ears, and when he looked down at the red buttons, he realized he had no idea which button he’d pushed. Frantic, Jar Jar tapped at each button.
First, he activated and deactivated a set of flashing emergency lights. Then he increased the volume of the siren, which sent his ears flapping behind his head. He pushed that same button again and the siren stopped. With the siren’s noise still echoing in his skull, Jar Jar mumbled, “Dese buttons isa bad bombin on me noggin!”
Jar Jar braced himself as he pushed another button, then heard a great whoosh as the emergency distress beacon launched from the sub’s belly. He craned his neck to gaze through the cockpit canopy, and watched the globe-shaped beacon rise up through the gap in the rocks and out of the chasm. Jar Jar crossed his fingers, hopeful that Otoh Gunga Traffic Control would soon pick up the beacon’s signal and send out a rescue team.
It was not merely impatience that made it impossible for Jar Jar to wait for a rescue team to come. The more he thought of the many tons of rocks piled over the chasm, the more he imagined the horrors of another avalanche. He also imagined how thankful Boss Nass would be if Jar Jar could deliver the bongo to the festival arena, or if he rescued the Rep heyblibber. Jar Jar would be a hero! He wouldn’t have to go to the Quarry…
Nearly delirious with the idea of a grateful Boss Nass, Jar Jar wondered if he should also try to recover the lost creatures.
Jar Jar looked at Boss Nass and Commander Wollod. Both were still knocked out, but appeared to be breathing steadily. It was as good a time as any to try to find a way out of the chasm.
Testing the controls, Jar Jar increased power to the sub’s navigational lights and scanned the chasm walls. The sub’s lights illuminated a large, jagged entrance to a cavern. Jar Jar checked the navigational charts, and noted that the cavern led to the Quarry. Despite the storm and avalanche, Jar Jar had stumbled upon the entrance of his dreaded destination.
Jar Jar felt a chill race down his back. As a youngster, he had heard all the tales of the Quarry. He believed his instructor had taken some cruel delight in frightening her pupils with stories of the inescapable underwater prison.
Except for the cavern, the charts did not reveal any other access or outlet to the Quarry, but the storm and avalanche had left Jar Jar with limited options. It seemed the only way out of the chasm was to ent
er the cavern and journey to the Quarry.
Although the bongo’s drive was on hold, the sub was moving slowly through the water, drifting toward the mouth of the cavern. Jar Jar knew that water flowing into the cavern meant the possibility of some kind of current. He decided to sit back and enjoy the ride.
The bongo drifted into the cavern. Jar Jar aimed the sub’s navigational lights down the length of the wide, water-filled cave. The sub was barely twenty meters into the cave when the entire vehicle suddenly lurched hard to the right. Jar Jar suspected the sub’s electromotive drive fins had snagged on something in the cave, and he scanned the darkness behind the sub.
The bongo hadn’t snagged anything at all. In fact, something had snagged the sub.
It was a giant colo claw fish.
Sixty meters in length, the colo claw fish was a fanged, serpentine predator easily distinguished by its distensible jaw, which allowed it to swallow prey larger than its own head. Unless Jar Jar could free the bongo from the colo’s jaws, the monster would tear the sub open and devour everyone inside.
Hoping to speed forward into the cave, Jar Jar grabbed the controls and pushed the throttles, but accidentally shifted into reverse drive. Jar Jar was surprised when the bongo backed up with a sudden burst of speed, but the colo claw fish was even more surprised. The monster’s head whipped sideways as it was pushed back, smacking hard against the cavern wall.
Jar Jar threw the bongo into forward drive and the sub sped away, leaving a trail of bubbles in its wake. Behind him, the colo braced itself against the wall and pushed off, swimming fast after the bongo. The colo rammed its head against the side of the unarmed submersible, and Jar Jar pulled hard to the right to prevent the bongo from crashing into the cavern wall. Jar Jar tried to fight off his growing sense of panic, then gave up and screamed. He didn’t care whether Boss Nass or Commander Wollod woke up and heard him. He just wanted to get out of the cavern.
Star Wars - Episode I Adventures 009 - Rescue in the Core Page 2