Star Wars - Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina

by Kevin J. Anderson

  brushing himself off. "About time, Ponda," he told the new

  arrival, stepping to the table to switch the lights back on.

  The returning illumination revealed another Aqualish male

  clutching a freshly fired blaster. But Ponda Baba's left hand was

  the hairy, talon-fingered hand of one of the lesser Aqualish race.

  The right hand and the forearm to which it was fixed were

  artificial, and of a rather crude mechanical type, their skeletal

  metal frame uncovered by bioflesh.

  "You're lucky," Ponda replied in a growl, shoving his blaster

  back into a holster. "I almost left you to take them all

  yourself."

  With that he turned and clomped out of the room.

  The Andoan senator was just rising from beneath the dining

  table. Evazan holstered his own weapon and looked to his guest

  apologetically.

  "Sorry. In the old days, Ponda Baba would have been in here

  like a shot. A real team we were then."

  "He ... ah ... works for you?" the senator said, still

  recovering from shock.

  "We were partners," the doctor tersely explained.

  The senator seemed dismayed by that. "You know, he is of the

  lowest caste here on Ando. Its people have dubious morals and most

  violent habits. They are treated with so much contempt that few of

  them stay on our planet. They go off and often become galactic

  criminals."

  "Well, Ponda couldn't have been a better pal to me," Evazan

  said, pouring out stiff drinks for them both. "That is, until one

  day on Tatooine. Had a run-in at the Mos Eisley Cantina there. An

  old man "with a Jedi lightsaber took off Ponda's right arm for

  helping me. After that we had a kind of falling-out."

  "He's here now," the senator pointed out. "And it does seem he

  just saved your life."

  "Well, I still owe him an arm," the doctor explained. "He's had

  trouble raising enough credits for a good bionic replacement. So

  we've set up an uneasy alliance until I can help him out. I supply

  an arm, he works as my bodyguard . . . supposedly." He took a deep

  draft of his ale.

  "What about them?" asked the senator, looking toward the downed

  attackers.

  "Them?" said Evazan, shrugging carelessly. "Just more bounty

  hunters. Must have climbed all the way up here."

  He set down his glass and walked toward one of the bodies. It

  was clad in a gray jumpsuit and helmet, like the other two, with

  an equipment belt around the waist. He rolled it over with a foot,

  revealing the staring, slack-jawed face of a human male, swarthy

  of complexion, lean and sharp of feature.

  Evazan eyed a small device attached at the man's waist.

  "They used individual field disrupters to get through the

  screens," he said thoughtfully. "Looks like a new type. I'll have

  to boost shield power." He looked around to the Aqualish, adding

  testily, "Senator, I shouldn't have to worry about this kind of

  thing at all. You're supposed to be protecting me, making sure no

  one can even get near here with equipment like that."

  "We can't screen and search everyone who comes to the planet,"

  the senator said defensively. "The security we've provided for you

  is already very great and incredibly expensive."

  Evazan shook his head. "Still not enough. This is the third

  attempt on my life here. They get better every time."

  "We had rather assumed that hiding you in such a fortress on

  such an isolated isle would be protection enough," the senator

  returned with an indignant tone. "Of course, we didn't know then

  that half the galaxy was trying to hunt you down."

  Evazan stepped back toward him. "Are you saying I'm not worth

  it?" he demanded.

  "It is that very point about which I'm here," was the stern

  reply.

  "All right," the doctor assented. "We'll talk about it." He

  waved at the dining table. "Do you want to finish our meal first?"

  The senator looked at their plates still filled with food.

  "Eat?" he said, then looked toward the bodies. "What about them?"

  "Oh, Rover will take care of it," said Evazan.

  The blob had already crawled up to one of the dead men. drawing

  its viscous mass over the form, engulfing and hiding it. The

  creature began to quiver in excitement and gave forth a slurping

  noise.

  "He cleans up all leftovers," Evazan said. "It's part of why

  I've been able to train him with such ease. He's so well fed

  here."

  "I'm really not very hungry anymore," the Aqualish said. He sat

  down and took a very deep gulp of ale. "Let's just get on to the

  point of my visit, shall we? I don't want to ... I mean, I don't

  have much time to stay here."

  "Fine," said the doctor, taking a seat, too. "What's your

  problem?"

  "Credits," the senator replied bluntly. "This whole project has

  gotten at of hand. Supplying this place and your laboratory

  facilities was costly enough. And now there's security. This

  incident only underscores the problem. It's costing our government

  a fortune!"

  "And well worth one," Evazan returned, leaning forward on the

  table to speak with intensity. "For decades now you've been all

  but slaves of the Empire, living by its orders. You've lost your

  pride and your identity to survive. Just how much are you willing

  to pay to get loose from your chains?"

  Rover had finished ingesting the first body. Leaving only a man-

  shaped wet spot on the stone, it crawled to a second form.

  "No amount would be too great to be free of the Empire," the

  senator admitted, trying not to watch the creature's grisly work.

  "Still, my appropriations subcommittee needs reassurance to

  continue your financing. Our present budget squeeze-"

  "Your budget be scorched!" Evazan shouted. "When I finish my

  research, you'll have a secret so valuable to the Empire that

  they'll give you your freer dom and anything else you'd want."

  "Yes, yes, so you assure us," the senator replied. "But we've

  had little evidence of late to support your claims for some great

  medical breakthrough. Perhaps if you give me some proofs of your

  progress, something solid I can take back, then I can convince

  them to go on."

  "Fair enough," the doctor conceded. "I'll show you how very

  close to total success I am. It's already been tested several

  different ways. In fact, I only need one last thing to prove my

  breakthrough works. I have to find a specimen of a human male-a

  young, strong, healthy, perfectly formed one."

  The senator's large eyes narrowed in curiosity. "Why?"

  "You'll see for yourself." Evazan got to his feet. "I'll take

  you down to the laboratory right now."

  The senator looked up at him. "To your . . . laboratory?" he

  said with clear misgivings. "Is that really necessary, Doctor?

  Surely some other evidence would suffice. Research data, perhaps,

  or-"

  "I insist," Evazan said. "You have to see what I've done here

  for yourself!"

  The Aqualish sighed and, with great reluctance, got to his

  fee
t.

  "This way, Senator," said the doctor, ushering him from the

  room.

  Behind them the Meduza noisily finished its second meal and

  moved on to the final course. The third dead man lay curled

  halfway on his side. A small comlink unit attached to his belt was

  partly visible. The tiny green "power on" indicator light was

  aglow . . .

  Outside the castle, not far above the windows, a single figure

  clung to the sheer stone wall-a man of slender build and dark

  complexion, with hawkish features, deep brown eyes, and a black

  mustache. He was clad like the three dead men.

  Both his feet and one hand were wedged in narrow cracks to hold

  him in the precarious spot, his body pressed tight to the wall

  against the tearing wind. His free hand held his own comlink close

  to one ear.

  He had listened in on the conversation between Evazan and the

  senator. He had heard the two depart. Now he listened to the

  grotesque squooshing sound as the creature enveloped his last

  comrade.

  With a crackling of shorted power the comlink channel went

  dead, and the man's face tightened into a grim expression.

  Hanging his comlink back on his belt, he clambered up the casde

  wall with great dexterity, onto a slanting section of roof. A long-

  range comlink unit in backpack form was fastened to the smooth

  slate by suction-support webbing. Cramming his body into a corner

  between the roof and a spire to secure himself against the wind,

  he pulled the conlink headset from the pack and spoke urgently

  into its mouthpiece.

  "Hello, Mother? It's Gurion. Do you copy?" He looked up to the

  clouded sky with some concern. "Are you still up there?"

  "Still in orbit, Gur," came a reply. "What's the report?"

  "All dead," Gurion answered bluntly. "All but me. Evazan must

  have some heavy protection inside there. They were the best."

  After a heavy silence, the voice came again, carrying a tone of

  sorrow not fully masked. "That's it, then. You get off there, Gur.

  Right now. We'll pick you up."

  "No. Not me," he said firmly. "I'm going to go inside, get

  close to him. It's the only way to be sure of nailing him."

  "By yourself?" said the voice in surprise. "That's suicide!"

  "If it has to be. I don't care," Gurion said fiercely. "I mean

  to get to him, and I think I know how!"

  Within the casde, Evazan and guest descended a long spiraling

  stairway. The deeper they went into the mysterious lower sanctums

  of the doctor's lair, the more apologetic the Andoan senator

  became.

  "For my part, there's never been a question of your integrity,"

  the alien explained in a voice pitched ever higher by his rising

  concern. "It's my Senate colleagues who have been picking up

  rumors. Some are saying you have the death sentence on ten

  systems."

  "Twelve, actually," Evazan said carelessly. "It may be more by

  now. I haven't checked."

  "Really?" said the senator, his voice rising a bit more. "And

  then there have been tales of some of your ... ah ... medical

  practices."

  "I won't deny there's some truth to them, too," the doctor

  admitted. "I don't apologize for what I've done. It was all to a

  good end."

  They reached the bottom of the stairwell. Evazan unlocked and

  opened a massive metal door. It creaked back on its hinges, and

  they both passed through.

  Beyond, a single space took up all the huge castle's basement

  area. Squat pillars and heavy arches of stone held up the high

  ceiling. Stretching into the far shadows, bank after bank of large

  glass cylinders glowed faintly, filled with gold liquid . . . and

  something else. The senator stepped forward, staring in shock.

  Each cylinder appeared to contain some type of being.

  He walked farther forward, looking down a row of creatures

  floating in amber fluid. There were giant Wookiees and diminutive

  Jawas, skeletonlike Givins and one-eyed Abbyssins. There were

  horned humanoids from Devaron and insectlike creatures of the

  Kibnon race, along with countless other species from planets all

  across the galaxy.

  "Are they . . . dead?" the senator nervously inquired, peering

  into the cylinder of a reptilian Arcona wh o stared back with

  blank, jewellike eyes.

  "Unfortunately," said Evazan. "Preserved in my special

  embalming fluid. They're some of my patients who didn't survive my

  surgical attempts to help them. But the medical work I did on them

  has still been of great value to me."

  The senator looked at the corpses again, more closely. All had

  been worked upon in a manner that might loosely have been termed

  "surgical," though the word "butchery" might better have been

  applied. Most were mutilated, their bodies slashed open, various

  limb parts or organs missing. In some cases the beings' own

  elements had been replaced with things quite clearly alien.

  "I say they've helped me," Evazan went on, walking down a row

  of his "patients." "Mostly by showing where my research had

  reached a dead end" - he cast the senator a ghastly smile - "if

  you'll pardon the expression."

  "You experimented on them?" the senator said in horror.

  Evazan waved the idea away. "Of course not. I meant to help

  them through my creative techniques. I intended to give them

  greater health and longer life. In theory, at least."

  He touched the cylinder holding the eviscerated form of a

  rodentlike Ranat. "I've devoted my whole life to helping others.

  They've called me a madman, a criminal, for my pains. But no one's

  understood. I was only using my skills to re-form life in various

  ways, trying to create something better." He sighed and looked

  back to the Aqualish. "But it wasn't enough."

  The senator looked up and down the long ranks of the doctor's

  victims. "Not enough?"

  "Physical alteration wasn't enough."

  The doctor moved on to the next cylinder. Within was a

  particularly hideous specimen. It was a creature that had been

  constructed of parts scavenged from dozens of different beings,

  stitched and stapled together to form a patchwork monstrosity.

  "As you see, even cutting and splicing together the best of the

  galaxy's body parts couldn't achieve the effect I wanted." He

  lifted a hand to touch the scarred right side of his skull. "No,

  it was the mind that was the key. That's why my research took a

  new direction. Come over here."

  He led the way along the cylinder rows and into a large area in

  the middle of the room. Here a complex assemblage of electronic

  equipment towered to the ceiling in a rather precarious way. Its

  various systems, rigged together with tangled festoons of wire,

  crackled and sizzled uneasily even with the minimal power input

  now running through them.

  The key feature of this haphazard but high-tech pile was two

  platforms set with operating tables. Straps clearly meant to

  restrain subjects added to their sinister look. Above each an odd,

  sievelike dev
ice dangled by a dozen wires from a pivoting boom.

  More wires connected these to the central machine.

  "This is my transfer instrument," Evazan said proudly. "The

  main components were modified from advanced Imperial

  transmogrification units originally intended to alter droid

  programming. Ponda and I managed to 'liberate' this equipment from

  an Imperial research facility. But I've adapted it to use on

  living beings."

  The senator had been staring with mixed awe and skepticism at

  the dubious-appearing mass. Now he looked at Evazan in disbelief.

  "Living beings?"

  "Living brains also store their gained knowledge

  electronically, much like a recording. That record can be altered,

  erased ... or moved. The means to do it is now sitting before

  you."

  "To what end?"

  "To have something no one has ever had before," said the doctor

  grandly. "I'm finally on the brink of creating a practical form of

  immortality!"

  The senator's disbelieving look grew more pronounced. "You are

  joking, Doctor."

  "No joke at all," said the other. He moved closer, speaking

  with sober intensity. "Just think of it! Not even the greatest of

  the Jedi Masters with all their powers over matter have achieved a

  real immortality. They may be able to prolong life to some extent,

  but they still decay and die eventually. My method will transfer

  the higher levels of a being's intelligence into a fresh, new body

  whenever needed, just by the flick of a switch. Think how valuable

  that would be to the Empire. Their greatest rulers, their finest

  military minds could live on forever, gathering even more

  knowledge with each lifetime."

  "I suppose that is something the Empire would pay almost

  anything for," said the Aqualish, but with grave misgivings in his

  tone. "If the thing works."

  "It'll work," Evazan said confidently, "and I'll soon be able

  to prove it." He grinned in sardonic delight. "Ironic, isn't it,

  that Evazan, the one they've called Dr. Death, will be the one to

  create such eternal life!"

  A nearby intercom console beeped an alert to an incoming

  transmission. Evazan turned to see the face of Ponda Baba appear

  in its tiny viewscreen as a voice came with some urgency from the

  speaker.

  "Evazan, someone is at our door!"

  "Our door?" the doctor repeated.

  "At the sea gate below the castle. Says his aqua-speeder just