The Golden Globe

by Nancy Richardson

  Something that made him the same as his grandfather.

  "No, Anakin, I didn't mean that you are anything like Darth Vader.

  It's just that we're trusting some strange voice inside your head," Tahiri

  explained. "How do we know that the voice is good?"

  "I just know, Tahiri," Anakin replied in a trembling voice. "And I'm

  going to figure out a way to sneak out of the academy in the next few days.

  "

  Tahiri stared at her friend. She understood why Anakin was so upset.

  It wasn't just the voice in his head. If he got caught, she knew, a lot of

  people would be disappointed in him. His mother and father, his brother and

  sister. Luke Skywalker. Tahiri didn't have to worry about anyone caring

  whether or not she was sent home. That made it easier to take the risk.

  Still, Anakin was driving her crazy. She fixed her friend with an irritated

  look.

  "Is there a problem here?" instructor Tionne asked her students as she

  walked up to their desks.

  "No problem," Anakin replied. "Except that neither of us seem to be

  able to lift this two-kilo weight off our table with our minds," he said as

  he pointed to the work he and Tahiri were supposed to be doing.

  "Then maybe you're doing something wrong," Tionne replied.

  Both students turned and focused on the large hunk of metal that

  Tionne had easily lifted onto their desk. The metal moved a centimeter at

  most. Anakin looked around the room. Several of the other students had

  succeeded in lifting an object with their minds. Across the room were two

  students who looked like huge black flies. They had each lifted their

  weight. Now they were happily buzzing. Anakin stared at them. They weren't

  stronger in the Force than he and Tahiri. He was sure of that. So why

  couldn't he and Tahiri perform this feat?

  "We're not concentrating," Tahiri said, interrupting his thoughts.

  They tried again, but the metal would not move.

  "All of you have different strengths," Tionne said. "You are here to

  figure out where your strengths lie."

  In frustration, Anakin squeezed his eyes shut and forced his mind to

  reach into the object. Be light, he commanded. At the same time, Tahiri was

  focusing on lifting the object. Anakin opened his eyes just in time to see

  the metal shoot toward the classroom's ceiling.

  Wham! It struck with a thud. Both Anakin and Tahiri lost their

  concentration and barely avoided being hit by the weight on its way back

  down. It landed on their table. The table broke in two.

  "Good," Tionne said, hiding a smile. "You're learning your strengths."

  The rest of the students began to laugh. Anakin scowled. Tahiri

  giggled.

  "How did we do that?" Tahiri whispered to Anakin when the class had

  settled back to work.

  Anakin shrugged.

  "Beats me. It's weird, but I was asking the metal to be lighter and

  when I opened my eyes it was shooting toward the ceiling. What'd you do,

  Tahiri?"

  "I just tried again to lift it," Tahiri said. "Guess we somehow make a

  good team," she added. She looked at Anakin and said softly, "Okay,...

  Anakin, if you say the raft will be there, then it will be there. And don't

  think I'm not coming with you. Wild banthas couldn't keep me from sneaking

  out to the river. After all, I've never been rafting before - except in my

  dreams. Did you know that?" Tahiri didn't wait for an answer. "There's just

  one thing I've got to tell you before we go, Anakin: I don't know how to

  swim."

  "I already figured that out," Anakin said with a frown. "I guess

  that's one of the reasons we've got to be aboard that silver raft together.

  " Anakin tried to smile at his friend. But in his heart he was scared. What

  if he couldn't save Tahiri when she fell into the river? What if his dream

  came true?

  Tahiri tiptoed across the floor of her bedroom. She quietly slipped

  her orange jumpsuit over her nightgown and moved silently to the door. She

  pushed gently on it, then poked her head into the hallway. No one was

  there. She crept down the hall. Her bare feet padded softly on the smooth

  stones. When she reached Anakin's door she knocked once. Anakin had been

  waiting for his friend. He pushed his door open and Tahiri quickly went

  inside. It was almost midnight. All of the instructors and students at the

  academy were sound asleep. But Tahiri and Anakin had not been able to

  sleep. They needed to plan how they were going to sneak out of the academy.

  Tahiri curled up on the cushion next to Anakin's bed. Anakin sat

  crosslegged beside her.

  "What if we both pretend that we're sick," Tahiri suggested to her

  friend.

  Anakin made a face. "Both of us? They'll never believe we're both

  sick," he said.

  "Why not?" Tahiri asked. "Well, first of all my uncle Luke knows that

  I've rarely been sick in my life. If I pretended to be sick he'd be really

  worried. He'd probably call my parents and send me home."

  He frowned. "Maybe we should just sneak out at night," he said. "After

  all, everybody is asleep."

  Tahiri shook her head. "It won't work," she said.

  "Why not? We'd have hours to explore," Anakin said.

  "Because in the dream it's daytime," Tahiri explained. "We have to do

  exactly what we do in the dream, otherwise we're not following our destiny.

  "

  "Tahiri, I don't think we should blindly follow what you believe is

  our destiny," Anakin replied. "Following our destiny is a pretty romantic

  notion. It's important, but we have to take other things into

  consideration."

  "Like what?" Tahiri demanded. "Are you talking about that strange

  voice again?"

  "Yes and no," Anakin began. "I think you're right that we are in some

  way meant to take the silver raft of our dream down the river of Yavin 4.

  And I think we're meant to do it together. But not just because we've had

  the same dream. I think there is a lot more involved. And yes, I do mean

  the voice inside my head. It's real, Tahiri," Anakin said softly. "It's

  real, and it's not just any voice. I'm just about certain that it's the

  voice of a Jedi Master."

  "How do you know that?" Tahiri cried in surprise.

  "I just do," Anakin said. "And the voice leads me to believe that we

  are both needed somewhere. I don't know where, or why, but it is the voice

  that I'm following, not just the call of destiny."

  "So where does that leave us?" Tahiri asked. "Are we going to raft the

  river at night?"

  "No, I think you're right about going in the daytime, for two reasons.

  First, it is light in our dream, and that fact may be important. But

  second, and more important, we should go during the day simply because we

  don't know where we're going or what we're looking for. Whatever it is we

  are being drawn to will be easier to see in the light."

  "So will we," Tahiri said slowly. "I know that you don't want to think

  about this, Anakin, but there's a good chance that we are going to get

  caught. We might even get sent home."

  Anakin frowned. He knew that Tahiri was right. "I guess we should just

  figure out how to sne
ak away from the academy. And after we raft the river

  we'll try to get back without anyone seeing us. But we shouldn't count on

  it," Anakin finally said.

  "So how do we sneak out?" Tahiri asked her friend.

  Sneaking out of the academy was going to be hard. The instructors

  would be able to sense their emotions. They would have to be very careful

  to hide their excitement. It took several hours before Anakin and Tahiri

  came up with a good idea. Each afternoon the students were given two hours

  of free time before dinner. The friends decided that they would leave the

  academy during this period. The only problem was that two hours wasn't a

  lot of time. Especially since Anakin and Tahiri didn't know exactly where

  they were going. But it would have have to do. More and more, Anakin felt

  certain that he and Tahiri were being called to the river for a reason-and

  that it was a matter of grave importance.

  "What day do you want to go?" Tahiri asked Anakin. He sighed before he

  answered. "I guess tomorrow afternoon. That means you only have to fall

  into the river one more time in the dream," Anakin said with a small smile.

  He knew that falling into the river was terrifying for Tahiri. He didn't

  want to make her do it any more than she had to.

  "Where should we meet?" Tahiri asked her friend.

  "The hangar bay in the bottom of the Temple. It has an exit door that

  opens into the jungle," Anakin said.

  "How do you know that?" Tahiri asked in surprise.

  "It's that voice in my head again," Anakin explained. Tahiri frowned.

  Anakin didn't say anything, but he knew that she was worried that they

  were trusting that voice too much. After all, it could be leading them to

  use the Force for evil. Anakin sighed. There was only one way to find out.

  "We'll leave after our morning class and go down to the hangar," he

  said firmly. "Then we'll sneak out of the Great Temple and make our way to

  the river."

  Tahiri nodded in agreement. With luck they could get back to the

  academy before the bell for the evening meal, she thought. She didn't want

  to think of what would happen if they didn't return in time.

  "I guess we should get some sleep," Anakin said with a yawn. It was

  almost dawn. In a few more hours the bell for the morning meal would ring.

  "It's a good plan," Tahiri said as she stood up from the cushion. Her

  orange jumpsuit was rumpled. And her long blonde hair had fallen out of her

  braid. It hung loose around her shoulders. "Hey, Anakin, if we do get

  caught and get sent back home, can we still be friends?" Tahiri asked.

  Anakin smiled at Tahiri. "Sure thing," he replied.

  But he knew that his home planet was far away from Tatooine. If he and

  Tahiri were sent home they might never see each other again. Anakin met

  Tahiri's green eyes with his blue ones. He could see she also knew this

  might be their last few hours as friends.

  "Sweet dreams," Tahiri said before she left Anakin's room.

  Anakin fell asleep quickly. And he had the river dream again. Except

  this time both he and Tahiri were in the raft. Anakin was in the back,

  paddling hard.

  Tahiri sat in front, gripping one side of the raft. The water was

  crashing in waves over the sides. The wind howled and tossed the small raft

  sideways just as a gigantic wave slammed it. Tahiri was thrown backward.

  Anakin turned to spot her in the water, and the surprise of what he saw

  almost made him fall in too.

  "Oh no," Anakin moaned when he saw that Artoo-Detoo was now in the

  raft with him. "I can't be expected to sneak out with that noisy droid," he

  cried. But even as he searched the water for Tahiri he knew that tomorrow

  he would bring Artoo with them. If Artoo was in the dream, then he was

  meant to be a part of the adventure. Anakin knew that, but it didn't mean

  he had to like it. A soft bell rang in the distance. Anakin realized it was

  time to wake up and begin the adventure for real. He rolled over and slowly

  opened his eyes.

  "Tahiri, there's been a slight change of plans," Anakin whispered to

  his friend over breakfast. "We have to take Artoo-Detoo with us."

  Tahiri's jaw dropped. "I don't understand. Why should we take Artoo?"

  Tahiri didn't receive an answer. She studied her friend for a moment

  before she spoke again. Anakin looked exhausted. Ever since he'd begun to

  have her dream, tired purple circles started to appear under his eyes.

  Tahiri, on the other hand, had slept wonderfully the last few nights. She

  hadn't had the dream once.

  "Anakin," Tahiri began again, "you've got to be kidding. We can't take

  that droid. He'll ruin everything. We can't even understand him. And if he

  fell into the river we'd never be able to get him out," Tahiri added

  without stopping for a breath.

  "He was in my dream last night," Anakin said softly. "That means that

  we might need him wherever we're going."

  "And we might not need him," Tahiri said with a scowl. "I thought we

  weren't going to follow our dreams without question," she added.

  "Better safe than sorry?" Anakin asked his friend.

  "That's true," Tahiri sullenly admitted. "Well, how are we going to

  get him to sneak away with us?"

  "Leave that up to me," Anakin said with a little smile.

  It was hard to concentrate on schoolwork that morning. Both Anakin and

  Tahiri kept looking at their wrist-chronometers. They were excited,

  nervous, and scared. It seemed like years before class was over. When the

  other students had filed out of the room, Anakin sauntered over to

  ArtooDetoo.

  "Hey, Artoo, want to show me around the rest of the Great Temple

  during my free time?"

  The droid bleeped several times.

  "I take it that means yes," Anakin muttered. "Good. There's just one

  thing. We need to develop a way to understand each other. Let's start with

  one beep for yes and two beeps for no, okay?"

  Artoo beeped once.

  "Let's go, buddy," Anakin said with a smile. Anakin and Artoo headed

  away from the group down one of the hallways. Tahiri quickly caught up to

  them. The three rounded a corner and Anakin checked to make sure no one was

  behind them. Once he was sure they were alone he and Tahiri began to race

  down the hallway. Artoo whistled in surprise, then scooted to follow them.

  Anakin knew that his uncle Luke had probably asked the droid to keep an eye

  on him. He'd banked on Artoo's following him once he and Tahiri started

  running. Tahiri's bare feet slapped on the stone floor as they tore down

  the stairs that led to the hangar bay.

  She didn't see Anakin stopped in front of her until she'd crashed into

  his back. He didn't have to warn her to be quiet. She immediately spotted

  Luke Skywalker and Tionne. They were walking down a hallway on a lower

  level. A door opened to their left and the two Jedi disappeared inside.

  Anakin and Tahiri both sighed in relief and then began to run again. By the

  time they reached the hangar both were out of breath, and Artoo had stopped

  beeping. Anakin and Tahiri opened a large wooden door and slid into

  darkness. Artoo followed behind them. They began running
their hands along

  the stone walls, seeking the exit door.

  "I can't find it," Tahiri said in a desperate voice. Then a thought

  struck her. "Anakin, the lower level of the Temple is partially

  underground. How can there be a door?" Tahiri cried.

  "There has to be some kind of exit to the jungle," Anakin whispered in

  the darkness. "The voice said so. We must be doing something wrong." Anakin

  dropped to his knees and began searching the floor of the storage room.

  There was a chance that they were looking for the door in the wrong place.

  His fingers ran along the smooth surface. All of a sudden his left thumb

  caught on something. It was a thick crack. He traced the crack with his

  fingers. It was in the shape of a large square. "Tahiri, I think I've found

  it," he called.

  Tahiri ran over to Anakin and saw the outline of a trapdoor on the

  floor beneath her.

  "How do we open it?" she asked. Artoo began to beep-beep. "Quiet, you

  silly droid,"

  Tahiri whispered angrily. Artoo kept double-beeping.

  "He's saying no," Anakin said under his breath. Anakin looked up and

  saw the droid standing by a large wooden handle in the wall.

  "You're trying to tell us that we're doing this all wrong, aren't you,

  " Anakin whispered to the droid. "Give it a try your way, Artoo," he said.