by John Whitman
next time!"
Unlike the tunnel to the library, this one crisscrossed with a dozen
other passageways. Zak and Tash could have used them to lose their pursuer,
but they didn't want to get lost so they continued sprinting straight ahead.
They had just begun to put distance between them and Dannik when they were
pulled up short.
Another dead end.
"What do we do?" Zak said.
Tash could hear soft footfalls approaching them. She pictured the thin
tendrils wriggling out from Dannik's cheeks, and shuddered.
"There was a secret door at the end of the other tunnel. Maybe there's
one here too!"
She started pounding on the walls. Zak joined in, and together they
banged at the metal walls with both fists.
But this time there was no secret door. The tunnel simply came to an
abrupt halt. There was only a small metal grate set into the wall about waist
high.
"Let's get the grate off!" Tash urged. The opening looked big enough for
them to fit through.
The grating was as old as the rest of Nespis 8. When they both wrapped
their fingers in it and pulled, the metal screen came off with a groan.
A putrid smell rose up from the hole in the wall. "Ugh! Smells like
garbage!" Zak groaned.
"There's nowhere else to go!" Tash hissed. "Get in!" Wrinkling his nose,
Zak scrambled into the hole, and vanished.
The footsteps were closer. Tash followed her brother and wriggled her way
into the opening. The vent traveled straight ahead for a meter, and then
sloped sharply downward. Before Tash could stop herself, she was sliding down
a metal chute, picking up speed as she went. She tried to brace herself
against the walls of the chute, but they were too smooth. Suddenly she was
launched into the air, then she splashed headfirst into a pool of thick,
stinking slime.
Zak helped her up as she sputtered and coughed out a mouthful of stagnant
water. They were standing knee-deep in a pool of liquid. Chunks of various
objects-some hard like metal, some soft and squishy like old vegetables-
floated around them. Tash took a breath and nearly gagged-the room smelled
like something had been rotting there for centuries.
Tash listened. "I don't hear anything. I don't think he's followed us."
"Can't say I blame him. The smell down here could put a bantha on its
back." Zak waded toward the nearest wall. "Let's find an exit and get back to
the solarium. We need to warn Uncle Hoole about Dannik."
Like everything else on Nespis, the garbage pit they had fallen into
seemed immense. They splashed across the wide pool, wading around small hills
of refuse as they used Tash's small, handheld glow rod to search for a way
out.
As they struggled through the garbage-filled water, Tash began to feel
uncomfortable-the way she felt when someone was staring at her. She looked
around, but no one was there but Zak. Still, she could feel eyes boring into
her.
Suddenly, Zak stopped. "Watch where you're stepping," he said.
Tash blinked. "What do you mean?"
"You just bumped your leg against mine," her brother said.
"No, I didn't."
Zak paled. "Well, something did."
Uuuuhhhhhrrrrr.
The moan was low and distant, muffled by the pool of slime. They heard a
distant splash, and then the plunk of something dipping back into the water.
Tash felt her heart bang against her ribs. "We're not alone in here."
She held up her hand so her small light would reach farther. "There!" Zak
said, jabbing his finger.
Tash turned her head and caught a glimpse of a single eye, resting on a
thick stalk. The eye gleamed wetly as it studied them, then dropped quickly
into the water. "Dianoga," Tash breathed.
Dianogas were one-eyed, many-tentacled water creatures that lived in
lakes and stagnant pools. Because they were scavengers, they could sometimes
be found in the cesspools and sewer systems of planetside towns or large space
stations, living off whatever was dumped into the garbage system.
Even if what was dumped was alive.
"Let's find an exit, fast!" Tash urged.
They quickly splashed across the wide pool. Ahead, they could see one
wall of the large pit, and a small doorway half hidden by the gloom.
"There," Tash said, "we can get out th-"
Her next words were cut off as she was dragged down into the slimy water.
CHAPTER 11
At first Tash thought a piece of rope or cable had wrapped around her
ankle. But as she was pulled under, she knew that the dianoga had her. One of
its powerful tentacles had looped around her leg.
Tash managed to get her head above water, where she took in a lungful of
air. Then she was dragged down again. Another tentacle slithered up her body
and wrapped itself around her shoulder and neck, pinning her down.
The dianoga was trying to drown her in the shallow water.
Tash tore at the ropelike limb that held her, but the dianoga was far too
strong. Her lungs started to burn.
"Tash, Tash!" Zak cried desperately. He had seen where she went down. He
looked around desperately for a weapon and saw a long piece of durasteel pipe.
It had been snapped in two, leaving a sharp, jagged edge. Snatching it up, Zak
pressed the sharp edge against one of the dianoga's tentacles and began to saw
at the tough, slimy flesh.
The single eye popped up from the surface a few meters from Zak to see
what was attacking it. It stared at him coldly, studying its next meal. Then
it plopped back below the water.
"Let's try that again," Zak growled.
He sawed at the tentacle some more and waited. "Come on, come on!" he
urged. Tash couldn't hold out much longer. She was thrashing desperately.
Now Zak tried to pry the tentacle away. Again, the eye stalk shot up from
beneath the water. This time, Zak was ready. Quick as lightspeed, he pulled
the pipe free and swung with all his might. The metal tube smashed into the
eye stalk, putting out its light.
A squeal rose up from somewhere beneath the slime. The tentacles suddenly
flailed loose, splashing and flopping in the stagnant pool. Zak grabbed his
sister by the jacket collar and hauled her to her feet. Tash came up gasping
and sputtering for breath, her body and clothes soaked with the scummy fluid.
"Now's our chance!" Zak said, darting forward.
"Wait!" Tash blurted. She pulled him back. She had only been a few
seconds away from drowning and she had no desire to be pulled under again. She
remembered some‑thing Deevee had taught them. "Some water creatures are
attracted by big movements, like splashes. We should try to go slow."
Zak agreed. Holding on to one another for support, they took slow, soft
steps toward the door. They raised their feet gently out of the slime, and
then softly put them back down, taking careful steps. It was nearly
impossible, knowing that the dianoga was out there somewhere waiting to grab
them. The urge to run was almost irresistible.
"This is driving me crazy," Zak muttered.
"Stay with it," Tash whispered. "I think it's working."
Uuuhhhhrrrrr. A low growl rose up from the water again. They heard the
plink, plink of moving water and saw several tentacles wriggling about,
searching for them. The single eye rose up above the water, but it blinked
continuously and had filled with a bluish haze.
"That's one big black eye," Zak boasted. "I don't think it can see us."
"It can't find us," Tash said softly. "Just keep moving slowwwww..."
One of the tentacles swept toward them, but didn't reach far enough.
Walking gently and patiently, Zak and Tash reached the door, a hatch set into
the wall. They opened the hatch and quickly climbed out, then slammed the door
behind them, locking the dianoga in the garbage pit.
"Are you all right?" Zak asked his sister.
Tash shuddered, and tried to wipe the slime from her face and neck. "I
think so. Just a little slimy. Thanks for saving me."
Zak grinned. "What are brothers for? C'mon, let's find a way out of here.
"
The passageway they were in was plain and unmarked, giving no hint as to
where they might be. They knew they were deep inside Nespis now, well below
the solarium and even farther down than the library level. Both Tash and Zak
felt a cool draft flowing from their right.
"The ventilation shaft," Tash guessed. "It must be that way."
They hurried down the corridor. After a few minutes, they could see that
it opened up into a wider room.
"Maybe that's the ventilation shaft," Zak said. "Then we can find the
stairs and climb back up to the solarium."
The reached an opening, but it did not lead to the ventilation shaft.
Instead, the corridor widened to a gallery like the one leading to the
library.
But this one was full of bodies.
CHAPTER 12
The bodies were stored in rows inside large containers made of
transparasteel and metal. Each container leaned against a wall and held one
body. The tanks were surrounded by pipes and wires leading to a bank of
computer equipment at the far end of the room. Inside each container, a cloud
of mist covered the bodies like a fog.
Cautiously, they crept toward the closest of the tanks. Through its
transparent walls, they could see the person inside. It was a human man-pale
and lifeless. He wasn't breathing.
"Is... is he...?" Zak started to ask.
"I think so," Tash answered. She shivered. "It's cold here."
Cautiously, Zak approached one of the containers and touched the
transparasteel. He jerked his hand away. "These containers are freezing. I
think they're cryogenically sealed."
"Cryo what?" Tash asked. She was smart, but every once in a while her
techno-loving brother came up with a word she didn't know.
"Cryogenically," he repeated. "It means the bodies are frozen so that
they don't decay. Somebody is preserving these bodies for some reason." He
exhaled and watched his breath appear in a thin fog. "This must be where the
cold is coming from, not the ventilation shaft"
Tash took a few cautious steps toward one of the containers. "But what's
this storage room doing in an abandoned space station? And who are these
people?" she wondered. "Could this be left over from ancient times?"
Zak examined the wires and cables that ran toward the far end of the
room. "I don't think so. This machinery looks brand new. Look at that."
Atop the computers at the far end of the room stood a large crystal
globe. Inside, lights swirled and bobbed. The whole crystal glowed.
Zak said, "That thing doesn't look ancient. I'd say someone set up this
equipment recently."
"And these people," Tash added. "The treasure hunters mentioned that
people disappeared from Nespis 8 once in a while, but they thought the missing
people either left or got lost. Maybe they're here! Someone's been collecting
them."
"Dannik Jerriko," Zak guessed.
Tash shook her head. "No way. All the treasure hunters said he was a
recent arrival. He couldn't have built all this equipment. But who did-and
why?"
Zak looked at one of the bodies. "It reminds me of Necropolis." Zak had
had a terrifying experience on the planet Necropolis-he'd been buried alive.
He shuddered to remember it. "Well, at least we solved one mystery. We know
that Dannik is the killer. You saw what he did to Domisari?"
Tash nodded, but she wasn't really paying attention. Something had
distracted her, a faint whispering in her head, like someone talking from a
great distance.
"I hope this convinces you that there's no dark-side curse," Zak
continued. "Not that we're any better off, because I think Dannik is an
Anzati, which means we're all in danger unless we can get to Uncle Hoole..."
Zak's words faded from Tash's ears. The whispering in her head had
deepened and slowed to a murmur, the same whisper she had heard earlier. Only
now it sounded more urgent. Another wave of cold fear washed over her. She
steeled herself, trying to make sense of the voice. She took a deep breath to
calm her tightening stomach, and focused on the voice.
... get out... get out... get out...
Tash concentrated. It was like trying to pick one voice out of a crowded
room where everyone was talking. The voice grew clearer.
... get out... get out... get out...
It was the same voice Tash had heard in the library. "Do you hear that?"
she whispered to her brother.
Zak looked around. "Hear what?"
"That voice!"
"I don't hear anything." Zak noticed the tense look on his sister's face.
"Tash? This place is as quiet as a lifeless moon."
Tash frowned. Why couldn't Zak hear it? The voice was all around them
now, and it grew louder and stronger as she continued to focus.
GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!
A voice can't hurt me, she told herself. A voice can't hurt me.
But what happened next hurt her a great deal.
There was no one near her, but Tash felt something brush against her
neck. Just as she reached up to brush away whatever had touched her, two cold
hands clamped down on her throat.
CHAPTER 13
Tash struggled against the hands wrapped around her neck, but the grip
was unbreakable. She was being choked.
"Tash?" Zak said, as his sister clutched at her throat.
Zak! Help! Tash wanted to scream. Couldn't he see that someone was
choking her? But she couldn't even breathe, let alone call for help.
With all her strength, Tash turned herself around. No one was there.
The grip on her throat tightened.
Tash reached out desperately to her brother. As Zak stepped toward her,
Tash felt the grip on her throat drive her backward. She was being pushed
toward the wall.
"GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!"
The voice roared in her ears. Tash braced herself to be crushed against
the durasteel wall.
Instead, the moment she hit the wall it gave way, revealing a secret
passage like the one that led to the library. GETOUT! GETOUT! GETOUT! Tash
felt herself shoved hurriedly up the dark passage for twenty meters before she
was suddenly dropped to the ground. The voice stopped.
Dizzy, Tash fought
to get to her knees, and used the wall to brace
herself as she tried to stand. She had reached her feet just as Zak came
running up the tunnel.
"What was that?" he cried. "Are you all right?"
Tash shook her head. "No. None of us are. We're all in danger!" She told
Zak about the voice that screamed in her ears, and the hands that gripped her
throat.
"I didn't hear anything, Tash," her brother insisted. "And I'm telling
you there's no curse. Dannik Jerriko killed those people."
"Then what grabbed me and pulled me twenty meters along this hallway?"
she demanded.
Zak pointed back toward the morgue. "Maybe that place has an automatic
defense system. It could have been a repulsor unit like the ones that power
starships. Only this one was designed to push intruders out of the room."
"Come on, Zak-"
But Zak wouldn't let her argue. "Tash, we can talk about this later.
Whatever happened, at least we found a way out of the morgue. We need to get