Eaten Alive

by John Whitman

  Tash frowned after him. At least she had gotten him to think about

  something besides their parents. Now if someone could just do the same for

  her.

  While Tash headed toward the cockpit, Zak crept toward the ship's living

  quarters. The last cabin belonged to Uncle Hoole. Zak pressed the caller.

  No answer.

  Zak pressed the opener and the door slid back with a soft whoosh!

  And Zak found himself staring into the face of a fanged and drooling

  monster. Its bulk filled the doorway, and it was so close that Zak could smell

  its hot, stinking breath.

  He cried out and stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet and

  falling to the ground. The creature lunged forward and bent over him. One

  clawed hand reached for his throat.

  CHAPTER 2

  The creature grabbed Zak's shirt and pulled him to his feet. "What are

  you doing here!" it demanded in a voice like sliding gravel.

  "I-I...," Zak stammered. He could feel the creature's putrid breath on

  his face.

  The creature paused. It let go of Zak's shirt and took a step back. Then,

  before Zak's eyes, its flesh began to quiver and crawl. The monster's entire

  body squirmed and changed shape. After only a few seconds, it had transformed

  into something close to human. But its dark gray skin and extra-long fingers

  revealed it to be quite different.

  "Uncle Hoole," Zak gasped. "It's you."

  "You are in my cabin," Hoole said sternly. "Who else would you find here?

  "

  Zak's knees were still shaking, but he felt relieved. He should have

  known this would happen eventually. Uncle Hoole was a Shi'ido. Although they

  looked mostly human, Shi'ido were aliens with a very nonhuman ability: They

  could change shape.

  "Sorry," he said with one final shudder. "I just didn't... I mean, I've

  never seen you do that before. What was that thing you turned yourself into?"

  Hoole turned his back on Zak and began to examine a small datapad. "A

  creature I observed in my travels. It keeps my shape-changing skills in

  practice," he replied.

  "Practice for what?"

  Hoole's gaze was like a blaster bolt. "For eating annoying small boys."

  Tash believed it was her job as the older sister to make things easier

  for Zak, but she missed her parents terribly. She remembered the day she heard

  they were dead: She felt so lost and alone that she thought she'd go crazy.

  The truth was, although she missed Alderaan, the only people she really

  missed were her parents. Tash had always had trouble making friends-other kids

  thought she was weird because she was always finishing their sentences or

  making predictions about what day a pop quiz was going to be held or getting

  strange feelings about things. Usually they were sad or frightening things.

  Like the day her parents died. She knew it had happened even though she was

  light-years away.

  She felt like something was suddenly torn out of her. That had been the

  worst time, but not the first time.

  When she had heard the news, Tash had wanted to lock herself in her room

  forever. But Zak wouldn't let her. He was just as sad and scared as she was,

  but he showed it in a different way. He stopped being afraid of anything. He

  became a daredevil, risking his neck on silly stunts like skimboarding, his

  current dangerous hobby. Tash knew he needed someone to watch over him. And

  she found to her surprise that she actually liked the little womp rat.

  So instead of closing herself off from the galaxy, Tash had decided to

  face it with him.

  And she had made a promise to herself that she would never lose anyone

  close to her ever again.

  Tash entered the Lightrunner's cockpit, with all its delicate instruments

  and gauges. The pilot and copilot's seats were empty, because the Lightrunner

  was operating on automatic.

  Tash slid into the pilot's seat. She double-checked to make sure the

  navigational systems were securely locked on automatic, then grabbed the two

  levers that controlled the main thrusters.

  In her mind she saw an image far sharper than any holographic projection.

  The Imperial battle station was surrounded by a gauntlet of TIE fighters,

  itching to test themselves against a young Jedi Knight.

  Lost in her imagination, Tash was eager to meet their challenge.

  Zak hadn't given up on Uncle Hoole. In fact, staring at Uncle Hoole's

  back while the anthropologist pored over his work, Zak became angry.

  It wasn't fair. Hoole had volunteered to take them, but he refused to

  tell them anything about himself. He didn't even tell them where they were

  going. That bothered Zak, and he knew it bothered his sister, too. For the

  last six months, Hoole had dragged them all across the galaxy on his research,

  but he never explained what he was doing.

  "Where are we headed?" Zak finally demanded.

  Hoole looked up from his work. He scowled at Zak. "Are you still here?

  Oh, very well. The planet is called D'vouran. Does it mean anything to you?"

  "No."

  "Then go away."

  "What are you going to do there?" Zak asked. Hoole was exasperated. He

  handed Zak his computerized datapad. "Read this file. But only this file!"

  The file Zak read told him the planet's story.

  D'vouran was a typical life-bearing planet: tree-covered continents,

  salty blue oceans, and fresh, breathable air. According to rumor, it was the

  richest and most beautiful planet within a thousand light-years. It was

  inhabited by creatures who called themselves Enzeen. They were intelligent and

  very friendly. Considering the hundreds of magnificent unstudied planets in

  the galaxy, D'vouran didn't seem worth an anthropologist's time. Except for

  one thing.

  No one had ever noticed it before.

  D'vouran was less than a light-year from one of the galaxy's busiest

  space lanes, and yet it had never appeared on anyone's star charts. One day

  the planet wasn't there, and the next day it was.

  "That's impossible, of course," Hoole said as Zak finished reading.

  "Planets do not just appear out of nowhere. It's a mistake in the star charts.

  "

  "Oh." Without thinking, Zak pressed Next on the datapad, and a new file

  popped onto the screen. He saw the words IMPERIAL ORDERS and PAYMENT RECEIVED

  just as Hoole snatched the pad from his hand.

  "I told you to read nothing else!"

  "Sorry, I was just-"

  "You were just snooping," Hoole interrupted. "Don't ever snoop in my

  cabin again." The Shi'ido turned back toward Zak, towering frighteningly over

  him. "If you do, you will be very, very sorry."

  Hoole took another step forward and Zak gulped. Whatever Hoole planned to

  do next, he never got the chance. Both he and Zak were thrown to the floor by

  a sudden jolt. The Lightrunner shuddered and groaned as though some giant

  force had grabbed hold of it. Over the scream of the engines, Zak heard his

  uncle cry, "We're out of control!"

  CHAPTER 3

  Zak and Uncle Hoole rushed to the cockpit, stumbling every time the ship

  shuddered. When they reached the pilot's room, Tash was still sitting at the

  controls, her
knuckles white with fear and her eyes wide.

  "I didn't do anything!" she said in a panic. "I didn't touch anything!"

  Through the viewport, they could see that the white blur of hyperspace

  was gone. They were in realspace, and the Lightrunner was plunging toward a

  blue-green planet.

  Uncle Hoole's jaw tightened as he looked at Tash. "Move."

  She scrambled out of the way as Hoole slipped into the pilot's chair and

  began to work the controls at a frantic pace. Deevee came up last, his gyros

  struggling to maintain their balance. The droid dropped into the copilot's

  chair and began to help his master.

  "We're going to crash!" Zak shouted.

  The planet surface was rushing up to meet them. Hoole's hands flew across

  the Lightrunner's control panels. At first nothing changed-they continued to

  plummet as the planet grew larger and larger. But their uncle hit one last

  button and pulled back on the control stick, and the Lightrunner pulled out of

  its nosedive.

  "I didn't touch anything I wasn't supposed to," Tash said in a small

  voice.

  "What happened?" Zak asked.

  Uncle Hoole pointed to an indicator light. "The ship has been dragged out

  of hyperspace."

  Zak and Tash still had a lot to learn about astrophysics, but they

  understood the principles of space travel as well as they understood basic

  math. Starships used two different types of engines. Hyperdrives propelled

  vessels through an alternate dimension known as hyper-space, which allowed

  them to travel great distances in a short period. These powerful engines only

  worked in the absence of gravity. When on or near a planet, starships used

  their slower sublight engines.

  Hoole continued, "I told the navicomputer to plot a course that would

  automatically take us out of hyperdrive just before we reached the planet

  D'vouran. But..."

  "But what?" Zak asked.

  Hoole double-checked his readouts. "We seemed to have arrived at our

  destination fifteen minutes ahead of schedule."

  Zak said, "And D'vouran's gravity yanked the Lightrunner right out of

  hyperspace!"

  Tash studied the innocent-looking blue-green planet. "You mean that

  planet tried to suck us in?"

  Zak rolled his eyes. "Please, it's only gravity, Tash. Uncle Hoole, it's

  got to be a mistake in the navicomputer. Either that or the planet moved."

  Hoole did not take his eyes off his instruments. "Planets do not change

  course. And there's nothing wrong with the navicomputer." He spared a brief,

  irritated glance at Tash. "Most likely the instruments were interfered with."

  "I didn't touch anything I wasn't supposed to," Tash repeated.

  But Hoole wasn't satisfied. "You were in here daydreaming again. This is

  a working starship, not a place for you to pretend you're a Jedi Knight."

  Tash muttered, "Sorry," and looked down at her shoes.

  Hoole ignored her apology. "Buckle yourselves in. The ride down will not

  be smooth."

  That was an understatement. The sublight engines threatened to fail with

  every passing moment, and the ship's stabilizers had shorted. As they

  descended through D'vouran's gravity, every bolt in the Lightrunner's frame

  shrieked at the strain. Through it all, Uncle Hoole remained cool and

  collected. Only the tightness in his jaw and his furrowed brow revealed his

  concern.

  "Are we going to make it?" Zak asked as the Lightrunner's engines

  sputtered.

  Hoole didn't answer.

  Through the observation port, Tash saw clouds roll back and, beneath

  them, a green forest laid out like a blanket. In the distance, a white spot

  appeared, growing steadily larger. The ship groaned as Hoole banked toward it.

  "Is that a spaceport?" Zak said. "It looks more like a junk heap."

  The Lightrunner did not fall apart. The engines kept them aloft as Hoole

  guided the ship onto the small launch deck. As the massive repulsors took

  over, lowering the cruiser clumsily to the tarmac, Hoole sighed with relief.

  But then the Lightrunner gave one final shudder and the engines died.

  "That is not encouraging," Hoole said. "We should look at the engines."

  "All right!" yelled Zak, a born tinkerer. "Let's go, Tash."

  "Right behind you."

  Tash was still sulking after the near accident. She was sure she hadn't

  damaged anything on the ship. She had been daydreaming about the Jedi Knights,

  but she didn't deserve to be scolded for it.

  Because she was still surly, she lagged behind her brother on his way to

  the exit. She would rather have a tooth pulled than look at a starship engine.

  By the time she had unbuckled her crash webbing, Zak and Uncle Hoole had

  lowered the ramp and were outside.

  The moment Tash reached the door, a hole opened up in the pit of her

  stomach. She was overcome by a feeling of dread-as though some terrible evil

  was looming right before her eyes, staring at her, about to pounce on her. She

  had gotten such a feeling once before-on the day her parents died. She

  shivered.

  But there was nothing there. She peeked out the hatch, but all she saw

  was the spaceport's landing pad and the blue sky above it. Still, the feeling

  lingered. Something was out there.

  "Zak? Uncle Hoole?" she whispered. "Deevee?"

  No answer.

  Tash crept out of the Lightrunner's door. The spaceport was very quiet.

  Most star ports were crowded with ships coming and going, workers unloading

  cargo, pilots hurrying to and from dozens of flight decks, and maintenance

  droids busily trying to repair the wear and tear of constant arrivals and

  departures. Not this place. D'vouran's spaceport looked deserted, and there

  were only a few ships on its flight deck. All of them looked like flying junk

  heaps-the thrown-together ships of poor travelers on the move.

  The feeling of being watched was still there.

  Tash took another step out. Where was her brother? "Zak?" she whispered..

  .

  ... As something cold and slimy dropped around her neck.

  CHAPTER 4

  "Aaaagh!" she cried, pulling at the thing that grabbed her. It was soft

  and squishy, and when she yanked, it broke away. Tash saw that her hand was

  full of flowers.

  "Nice going, Tash," Zak laughed, stepping around the side of the ship

  with Deevee beside him. He and Deevee both had necklaces of flowers around

  their necks. "I'm sure the Enzeen really appreciate you tearing their gifts

  apart."

  Zak pointed at a person standing right beside Tash. She had been too

  nervous to see the man-well, not a man exactly. He was definitely humanlike,

  except that he had blue skin, and instead of hair, the top of his head was

  covered with short needlelike spines. He was plump, with chubby fingers and a

  round face covered mostly by a very friendly smile. He was holding a pile of

  flowered hoops. "Welcome to D'vouran. I am Chood, an Enzeen."

  "N-Nice to meet you," Tash stammered. "Sorry about the, um..."

  "Friendship necklace," Chood finished pleasantly. "That's quite all

  right. Have another." He hung another flower necklace around her neck.

  "The Enzeen use these to welcome people to their pla
net," explained

  Deevee, coming up closer from around the side of the ship. "A nuisance, if you

  ask me.

  "If you'd come out with us, you wouldn't have been so surprised," Zak

  added.

  "Where were you?" Tash asked. "I called your name."

  Zak pointed toward the tail end of the ship. "Sorry. Uncle Hoole had

  opened up the exterior panels to the lateral stabilizer, and I went with him

  to watch. I've never seen the inside of an ion thruster before."

  "Thrilling," Deevee said, sounding as sarcastic as a droid could.

  Uncle Hoole appeared, wiping oil from his hands and frowning even more

  than usual. "The damage is severe. Chood, is there anyone on D'vouran who can

  help us repair our ship?"

  The Enzeen looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry. We Enzeen are not great

  travelers, and we don't know much about starships. In fact, we have very

  little use for any technology. However, there are several starpilots on the

  planet who may be able to help. Most of them spend time at the local cantina."

  "Excellent," Hoole said. "Would you take us there?"