Dark Apprentice

by Kevin J. Anderson

  leading her gently down. She could easily have disembarked by herself, but

  she

  enjoyed the attention he showered on her.

  Surrounding the space yacht were wide-boled gray-barked trees with low

  branches that spread out to form a long, flat platform. Brilliant white and

  blue flowers spangled the leaves. Staring around her, Qwi took a deep breath

  of the moist air. Everything smelled fresh and alive, filled with a symphony

  of scents that startled her imagination.

  "Greetings." Qwi turned to see an exceedingly strange-looking alien

  hulking toward them, flanked by two ten-year-old human boys. The hunchbacked

  alien wore a white cape trimmed with braid. Its head looked like a long

  ladle,

  as if someone had taken a face made of soft clay and stretched it into an S-

  curve, looping the front up and yanking out two eye stalks. The mouth was

  hidden far under the sloping canopy of its head. As Qwi watched, the

  cumbersome-looking creature took steps forward with a gentle, careful grace.

  The two human boys beside the creature wore similar white capes, over

  bright-green jumpsuits. Pale-haired and blue-eyed, both wore beatific

  expressions, but neither of them spoke.

  Wedge must have seen how startled Qwi was by the alien's appearance. "I

  guess I should have warned you. The Ithorians are commonly called

  Hammerheads.

  "

  Qwi nodded slowly, thinking about other strange creatures she had seen,

  from the fish-faced Admiral Ackbar to the tentacle-headed Tol Sivron who had

  run Maw Installation. Perhaps not all intelligent creatures in the galaxy

  could be as attractive as some humans... such as Wedge.

  "Actually," the alien said, stepping closer, "we dislike the name

  Hammerheads. It seems deprecating to us."

  "My apologies, sir," Wedge said, bowing slightly.

  "I am Momaw Nadon, and I am honored to be of service to you, Wedge

  Antilles and Qwi Xux."

  Wedge took one step back in panic. "How do you know our names?" he said.

  Momaw Nadon made a hollow bubbling sound that came from both sides of his

  mouth in a stereophonic echo. "Mon Mothma asked me to give you special

  accommodations."

  "Why would Mon Mothma tell you we were coming here?" Wedge said. "We're

  supposed to be keeping a low profile." As Nadon gave a slight bow, his

  ladle-

  shaped head see-sawed up and down. "I have sympathized with the Rebel

  Alliance

  since my days of exile on Tatooine, more than a decade ago. My people

  banished

  me to the desert planet, where I could tend the sands rather than our

  beautiful forests. The Empire had demanded certain agricultural information,

  and I gave it to them to save our forests from being obliterated--but still

  my

  people exiled me. I returned here after the Emperor's death, and I have

  continued to make amends ever since."

  Nadon gestured to the two human boys. "Take their luggage. We will show

  them their staterooms."

  The youths moved in unison--without the pell-mell franticness of young

  boys--entering the space yacht and returning with the slick silvery

  containers

  of vacation clothes.

  Nadon led them away from the landing bay, ducking his head under the low-

  hanging branches that surrounded the landing pad. The passage seemed like a

  living green tunnel.

  "I was also in the cantina in Mos Eisley when Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan

  Kenobi first met Captain Solo. I did not know my brush with history at that

  time, but I remember it clearly, though I was preoccupied with... other

  concerns at the time."

  "I'm amazed you could recall a meeting like that after so many years,"

  Wedge said.

  Nadon indicated a disguised turbolift that opened like a great leafy pod

  in the wall. They all stepped inside and began to descend deeper within the

  Tafanda Bay.

  After a long pause Nadon finally said, "Ithorians have long memories."

  He led them through winding corridors, past small domes that contained

  specimens of plant life from different parts of the planet. Near a

  delicately

  spraying fountain, Nadon pointed to two doors across the corridor from each

  other.

  "I have assigned you these staterooms," he said. "Please contact me if

  you desire other amenities. I am here to serve you." The two mysterious boys

  deposited the luggage in the corridor and stepped back to stand on either

  side

  of Nadon.

  Qwi finally said, "You haven't introduced us to the children. Are you

  their caretaker?"

  Nadon made a rumbling bubbly sound in his twin throats. "They are...

  seedlings, grown from the flesh of my enemy. They are also a memory of my

  days

  on Tatooine." Nadon hung his ladle-shaped head.

  The two boys remained impassive, and Nadon ushered them off. Without a

  backward glance he left Wedge and Qwi standing outside their staterooms,

  wondering what he meant.

  After nightfall on the upper observation deck of the Tafanda Bay, Qwi

  went with Wedge to watch the moons rise. The lavender skies had turned a

  deep

  violet, punctuated by brilliant stars in a wash across the heavens.

  A small moon in full phase climbed over the eastern horizon, while the

  fingernail crescent of a much larger moon hung close to the western sky,

  following the brilliant colors of sunset over the edge of the world. High

  up,

  two other moons showed swollen quarter phases.

  Qwi took a deep breath of the humid air, smelling a plethora of spicy

  perfumes from green plants and night-blooming flowers, like a complex

  mixture

  of all the perfumes and all the pleasant cooking herbs she had ever smelled.

  The breeze grew paradoxically warmer with nightfall, and she felt her

  feathery hair drifting about. She straightened it with her slender fingers,

  knowing that Wedge liked to see her pearly strands glisten in the light. She

  had changed into a soft wrap swirled with pastel colors that accentuated the

  ethereal beauty of her wispy body.

  The Ithorian eco-city cruised slowly over the treetops. The gentle hum of

  the Tafanda Bay's banks of repulsorlift engines blended with the simmering

  night sounds of the jungle below. The breeze rustled leaves in the tall

  hedges

  and stands of scale trees around the observation deck.

  Other Ithorians arrived, standing in silence or thrumming in their

  strange stereo language. Wedge and Qwi said nothing to each other.

  She stepped closer, brushed against him, then finally let herself snuggle

  up to his side. Nervously, it seemed, Wedge slipped an arm around her waist

  and she--Qwi Xux, inventor of the Sun Crusher, co-creator of the Death

  Star--

  felt honored to be under the protection of General Wedge Antilles.

  She knew that Imperial loyalists would be desperate to regain the secret

  knowledge locked in her brain. But Qwi realized that here, at least, she

  felt

  completely safe.

  Jacen and Jaina continued their trek across Coruscant's dank underbelly.

  They couldn't tell if
the dim half light that filtered down from high above

  signified nighttime or day. The air smelled thick with rotted garbage, dead

  things, corroded metal, and stagnant water. They walked along the widest

  streets, dodging rubble, clambering over fallen and ancient wreckage. They

  had

  seen nothing familiar for hours, and neither of them knew what to do next.

  "I'm hungry," Jaina said.

  "Me too," Jacen said.

  The deep underground was smothered in a silence overlaid with white

  noise. Shadowy creatures, startled by the twins, fled into darker hiding

  spots. Bumping one pile of debris, Jacen and Jaina sparked an avalanche of

  frightening clatters. The twins ran from the noise, generating further

  junkfalls that tinkled and clanged from great heights.

  "My feet hurt," Jacen said.

  "Mine don't," Jaina answered.

  Up ahead they finally saw a welcome sign a cave dwelling made of shored-

  up wreckage, walls built from piled chunks of duracrete mortared together

  with

  a paste of dried algae, mud, and darker substances. Smoky lights burned deep

  inside the cave, looking enticing in contrast to the forbidding bleakness of

  the undercity.

  Jacen and Jaina moved forward at the same time. "Food?" Jacen asked. His

  sister nodded.

  Outside of the strange slumped cave they saw cables running through

  lichen-clogged eye bolts mounted at various points. Along the walls and

  ceilings, metal bands like long fingerbones dangled in a decoration, linked

  together by sagging segments of chain.

  "In here," Jaina said, taking the lead. Dimness folded over them, leading

  them toward the enticing lights.

  Near her head a scratching, scuttling sound came from the shadows. The

  girl looked to see an elongated spider-roach nearly the size of her head.

  Bumping against her, Jacen leaned forward to get a better look at the

  creature. The spider-roach clambered up the lumpy wall and hesitated,

  turning

  three glassy amber eyes at them.

  Suddenly, with a ratcheting clatter, a fistful of metal flanges from the

  ceiling swung loose like a prehensile mechanical hand dangling on chains.

  Dozens of steel fingers slammed against the wall to trap the spider-roach,

  clamping it into a makeshift metallic cage. The creature thrashed and

  flailed,

  clacking its mandibles. Sparks flew as chitinous forelimbs scrabbled against

  the impenetrable bars.

  In panic Jacen and Jaina hurried down the tunnel toward the flickering

  orange lights. But the twins stopped , simultaneously sensing a thrill of

  danger. They looked up just in time to see a much larger cage, all prongs

  and

  sharp metal edges, collapse down around them. Mechanical metal claws

  surrounded them like dozens of fists chained together.

  "Trap!" Jaina said.

  Shuffling footsteps came toward them--a thud, then a scrape as a large

  hulking creature emerged from the depths of the lair. The silhouette

  appeared

  first, a massive tufted head with enormous arms dragging almost to the

  ground.

  One thickly muscled thigh looked the size of a tree trunk, but the other leg

  was much shorter, twisted and withered.

  Jacen and Jaina rattled the sharp metal edges of the cage, but the

  mechanical claws drew tighter together like scissors. "Help!" Jacen said.

  Then their captor came into full view, lit from the side by reflected

  smoky lights. The creature was covered with a pelt of shaggy hair, showing

  no

  distinction between its enormous head and the rest of its torso, as if both

  pieces had been smashed together into one barrel-shaped mass.

  The thing's mouth hung in a long crooked slash, twisted sideways and

  straightened back only partway. Its left eye was overgrown with a mass of

  tumors and rotting flesh; the other eye, nearly as large as the twins'

  fists,

  shone a sickly yellow, streaked with red lines.

  Jacen and Jaina were too afraid to say anything. Their ogrelike captor

  shambled past, ignoring them for the moment as he rocked back and forth on

  his

  stubby withered leg. He picked up the small trap to inspect the frantic

  spider-roach.

  The children could smell the stink from the monster as he next bent

  toward the bars of their cage, thrusting his giant yellow eye close, but

  Jacen

  and Jaina scrambled to the other side of the cage.

  The ogre disconnected long chains from the wall, draped them over his

  shoulder, and dragged the twins' cage clattering down the corridor into his

  firelit den. The cage rolled and crashed against unseen obstacles, and the

  twins had to scramble to keep themselves upright.

  Inside, gnawed bones from large and small creatures cluttered the

  monster's lair, some piled in baskets, others cracked and strewn over the

  broken floor. Smoky red flames came from smoldering pots filled with a

  rancid-

  smelling fat.

  Chained in a cleared area of the pit sat a tusked ratlike creature

  covered with bristling fur. Its black rubbery lips stretched back in a

  perpetual snarl. Gobbets of drool flew from its mouth as it snarled and

  threw

  itself to the end of its chain.

  A set of broken manacles from a detention area hung on the spike-

  encrusted walls of the chamber. As the ogre moved about in the brighter

  light,

  tatters of an old prison uniform could be seen among his greasy curls of

  body

  hair.

  The ogre pried open the metal fingers of the small spider-roach trap. He

  picked up the arachnid with his lumpy bare hands and tossed it to the giant

  rat-monster. The glossy spider-roach flailed its long legs as it tumbled end

  over end, and the rat-monster snapped it out of the air. But the bug managed

  to grab on to the rubbery lips with its sharp legs, and it stung hard.

  The rat-creature yelped, gnashing its tusks until it chomped down and

  split the exoskeleton of the spider-roach with a cracking pop. Then,

  contented, it slurped the juicy soft meat and licked its black lips. The

  rat-

  creature panted and rolled its wet red eyes at the two children.

  Hopeful, the twins peered out from the cage. "We are lost," Jaina said,

  calling to the ogre from between the bars.

  "Please help us find our home," Jacen added.

  The ogre fixed its yellow eye on them. A foul wet stench came from his

  mouth, like slime scraped from the bottoms of a thousand sewers. He spoke in

  a

  bubbling voice, slurring the words. "No," the ogre said. "Gonna eat you!"

  Then he tottered off on his shriveled leg toward a smoldering fireplace.

  The ogre found a pair of long sharp tongs resting in the hot coals. Holding

  the implements high, the ogre turned back to the twins.

  Jacen and Jaina both looked at the top of their cage. The articulated

  finger joints were held together by small pins clogged with grease and rust,

  but smooth enough that the cage could open and close.

  The twins each knew which pins the other concentrated on--and used their

  rudimentary ability with the Force, just as they did wh
en they played tricks

  on Threepio and played the games that their Uncle Luke showed them.

  They popped out the cage pins two at a time in rapid succession. Small

  pieces of metal flew like tiny projectiles in all directions. Suddenly

  without

  support, the long metal fingers fell open to the ground with an incredible

  clang.

  "Run!" Jacen cried. Jaina took his hand and they scrambled toward the

  tunnel.

  The ogre let out a furious roar and stumped after them, but he could not

  keep up on his uneven legs. Instead he grabbed the thick chain holding the

  rat-monster to the wall and yanked out the long spike that held its collar

  together.

  Set free, the rat-creature lunged. Turning, it tried to snap its teeth at

  the ogre - comb he used a muscle-swollen arm to bash the rat-thing away from

  him. He gestured toward the fleeing children.

  And they ran, and they ran.

  The rat-creature came howling and slavering after them. The twins ran out

  of the firelit opening and dashed down an alley. Behind them they could hear

  the steam-engine sounds of the creature as it snorted, following their

  scent.

  Its claws clattered on the pavement.

  Jaina found a small dark gash in the wall, a hole broken into the layered

  duracrete. "Here," she said.

  Jaina dived into the tiny hole headfirst, and her brother clambered

  after. Only a second later the rat-creature jammed its tusked snout against

  the jagged opening, but it could not get its head through the hole.

  By that time Jacen and Jaina had scrambled on their hands and knees,

  burrowing deep into the unexplored darkness.

  "Oh, we never should have agreed to baby-sit!" Threepio wailed. "I wonder

  how often baby-sitters actually lose their children." Chewbacca growled at

  him.

  "Why didn't you listen to me, Chewbacca? Mistress Leia will have all your

  fur shaved off so she can make a new rug. You will be the first bald Wookiee

  in history."

  Chewbacca bellowed a suggestion as they stormed down the corridors, still

  searching the Holographic Zoo for Extinct Animals.

  "You can go to the control room if you like. I think we should sound the

  alarm here and now. It is perfectly acceptable to summon help. This is an

  emergency."

  Threepio found the fire alarm and activated it with one golden hand;

  next, he searched among the holographic exhibits until he also found a