Frija’s tauntaun made a grumbling sound, and she patted the side of the beast’s neck. “Because I’m not my father,” she said. “I couldn’t let you die. I just couldn’t.”
Luke smiled at her. “You’re very brave.”
“That’s kind of you to say,” Frija said sadly. “But I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t have a selfish interest in keeping you alive. Last night, I thought you were still unconscious up until you jumped off the tauntaun to stop my father, but…I guess you were awake, and you heard me, what I said about…needing someone young and attractive? To keep me company?”
Luke blushed. “Yeah,” he said. “I did hear you say that.”
“But I didn’t mean that I needed just anyone,” Frija said hastily. “I mean, I’m really, really glad I found you.”
“Me too,” Luke said, liking the girl more and more.
“There’s your ship,” Frija said, pointing to a distant gray spot in a wide white valley below their position. A fresh dusting of snow rested on the crashed vessel, which lay at an angle near a rocky outcropping.
As they rode down a hill toward the wreckage, Luke said, “Why didn’t your father seek refuge with the Rebel Alliance, Frija?”
“He hates both sides.”
Luke looked at Frija, expecting her to explain, but she didn’t. Although he was curious about the reasons for her father’s actions, he didn’t want to upset Frija with too many questions.
A moment later, Frija interrupted the silence. “I’m sorry about our communicator, Luke. My father smashed it when we first arrived here.”
Luke shook his head. “He’s sure serious about isolating the two of you from the Empire and the Rebellion. But I think I’ve got a solution to the problem, especially since Threepio locked him away where he can’t interfere.”
As their tauntauns arrived at the crash site, Frija said, “Luke, I’m willing to defy my father to help you, except…what can we do here?”
“Yeah, my ship’s communicator is as useless as yours,” Luke said. “However, between the two, I bet we can cannibalize enough parts for a working model.”
They dismounted the tauntauns and entered the ship. Once inside, Frija huddled beside Luke while he began disassembling the components he needed. Despite the freezing temperature, Luke could feel the warmth of Frija’s breath against the side of his face.
It didn’t take long for Luke to gather the necessary components. When he was finished, he said, “That does it, Frija. With the parts we’ve salvaged from this wreck’s communicator, combined with the damaged one back at your cave, I’m sure I’ll be signaling the Rebel Alliance in no time.”
“It’s wonderful working with you, Luke,” Frija said. “Actually sharing some purpose…instead of just existing in isolation day after day as my father insists I do.”
Frija helped carry the parts out to the tauntauns and load them into the saddle packs Luke had brought. “You don’t know how happy I’ve been today,” she said, “sharing your company, doing meaningful work.”
“Hoth is a great place for hiding from the Empire, Frija,” he said as he secured the packs, “but for a young girl like you to be isolated here is—”
A man’s voice interrupted, “Her father’s business! Which you’ve interfered with for the last time!”
Luke and Frija turned fast to see the renegade Imperial governor staring down at them from atop the nearby outcropping. The governor held a blaster rifle.
Luke had no idea how the governor had escaped from the base. He hoped that C-3PO was undamaged.
“Father, leave us alone!” Frija cried. “I’m happy helping Luke!”
“He’ll soon bring his Rebel friends swarming, Frija, and the Imperials won’t be far behind. The war I deserted the Empire to save us from will be right here on Hoth! You’ll thank me for this later, child.”
The governor aimed his rifle at Luke, who was standing within arm’s reach of Frija. At the same moment the governor squeezed the trigger, Frija threw her body against Luke’s and shouted, “No!”
The energy beam crashed into the ground near the feet of the two tumbling figures, and the explosive noise echoed through the valley. Luke rolled quickly to his feet and pulled Frija up from the snow.
“Frija! You almost took that blast meant for me!”
“I won’t let him hurt you, Luke!” Frija said. “He won’t dare shoot again if I’m right beside you!”
“I can’t take that chance,” Luke said. He pointed to the tauntauns. “Get out of here, Frija. I don’t know where the governor got that blaster, but it’s me he wants, not you. I can handle him.”
Frija hesitated for just a moment. Then she grabbed the reins for Luke’s tauntaun and jumped up onto the back of her own.
The governor said, “I’ve weapons hidden in every compartment of our ice cave, Skywalker. That’s how I blasted my way out of confinement! I knew the day would come when Rebels or Imperials would threaten our safety here.” He took aim and fired again.
Luke leaped aside as the next energy beam slammed into the icy ground. As the governor prepared to fire once more, Luke looked at Frija and the tauntauns, who hadn’t budged. “He’s berserk!” Luke said. “Get those communicator parts to Threepio! I’ll draw your father’s fire!”
Hearing this, the governor said, “Communicator parts!”
Frija dug her boots into her tauntaun’s sides while she tugged the reins for the other tauntaun. Just as the beasts began moving away from Luke and the wrecked ship, another blaster shot rang out.
The blast caught Frija in the back. She fell from her mount and collapsed against the snow.
Luke gasped.
The governor lowered his rifle. “Frija!” he cried. “No! I wanted to hit the pack with the communicator parts!”
Luke was outraged. He was already running for the governor as he drew and ignited his lightsaber. The governor heard the lightsaber’s energized hum and turned to see Luke’s approach. Glaring at the governor, Luke said bitterly, “You wanted to keep her cut off on this planet so badly you killed her!”
“It’s your fault my daughter turned against me!” the governor snapped. “It’s your fault I had to shoot her…and now you’ll die for it!” He raised his rifle.
Luke had no choice but to swing his lightsaber. Its blade met the rifle’s barrel just as the governor squeezed the trigger. The rifle jerked as it backfired a split second before the lightsaber swept through the sleeve of the governor’s tunic and across the back of his right hand.
The governor collapsed in the snow and lay motionless.
Luke stood over the governor’s body. He hadn’t meant to cut the man down, only disable his rifle. Luke was amazed that he had somehow avoided the rifle’s blast, but he was even more stunned by what he saw through the torn fabric across the governor’s chest.
Wires?
Luke bent down beside the lifeless form. The governor’s open wound exposed not only wires but other mechanical components. Luke noticed that a layer of synthetic flesh had peeled away from the back of the governor’s right hand to reveal bare metal fingers and joints.
He’s…an elaborate sort of droid!
“Luke?”
It was Frija, calling weakly from where she’d fallen. Both tauntauns remained standing a short distance from her.
Leaving the governor’s body, Luke ran through the snow until he arrived at the girl’s side. As he knelt down next to her, he saw that one of her hands was also an exposed tangle of wires and robotic metal fingers.
Frija was trying to push herself up from the ground. Luke’s eyes met her ice blue gaze. At first he wasn’t sure what to say. Then he saw her lower lip tremble.
“Frija,” he said. “I never meant for anything to happen to you or your father.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Luke!” Frija said. “We’re both mechanical…created by Imperial technicians.” She coughed, exhaling steam into the frigid air.
Luke eased his arm under her back to elevate her head and sho
ulders. As he held her close against him, she continued, “We were designed to be decoys…programmed to imitate the real governor and his daughter so they could flee a Rebel attack.” She lifted her eyebrows. “Perhaps we were programmed too perfectly. My father’s survival instincts were so strong he had us escape instead.” She coughed again. “The Empire designed my father and me to be targets for the Rebels. That’s why he hated both sides.”
Luke shook his head. “If I hadn’t crashed here, Frija, the two of you would be living safely and happily.”
“No,” Frija said. “Merely existing. And we weren’t created to last long.” She raised her hand and pressed her robotic fingers against the sleeve of Luke’s jacket.
Luke reached for her hand and held it in his own.
“You brought purpose and enjoyment to the time I had,” Frija said. “Don’t regret what happened here, Luke. I thank you for it.”
She coughed again, and Luke felt her hand go slack.
“Rebuild the communicator,” Frija said, “and summon your friends. I’m sorry my father fought so against you…but I’m glad you came to Hoth.”
“For the chance to have known you, Frija, so am I…so am I.”
Frija closed her eyes, and her head tilted back.
Luke just sat there for a moment, holding Frija. He almost didn’t notice the snowflakes that had begun to fall from the darkening sky. And then he heard C-3PO calling to him.
Although C-3PO had been unable to prevent the governor from escaping the cave, he had followed the tracks through the snow until he arrived at the crash site. Greatly relieved to find Luke unharmed, he listened with interest as Luke told him that Frija and her father had been mechanical beings, and then explained why her father had been so angered by Luke’s arrival.
When Luke was finished, C-3PO said, “Fortunately, Frija didn’t share her father’s hatreds, sir. She seemed particularly happy with you.”
“Thanks to her, we’ll leave Hoth soon, Threepio,” Luke said. He lifted Frija’s body carefully from the ground.
C-3PO noticed Frija’s exposed robotic hand. “Most remarkable,” he said. “I believe the Alliance scientists will be quite interested in learning about this human replica droid.”
“But they won’t,” Luke said. He turned his head so the golden droid wouldn’t see his grief-stricken expression. “I’m going to bury her. And her father.”
After Luke and C-3PO returned with the tauntauns to the ice cave, Luke had no difficulty patching together a makeshift communicator. He quickly notified the Alliance of his whereabouts and proposed that they relocate their headquarters to the remote ice world. Soon he was reunited with his friends, and the Alliance Corps of Engineers went to work, expanding the original ice cave and creating many larger ones.
He had no need to tell the engineers about the two graves near his crash site, an area already covered by a fresh, heavy layer of snow. And although he could only ever imagine why his uncle had removed the headstones from the family plot on Tatooine, he realized that he cherished his memories of Frija more than he felt compelled to leave a monument on Hoth that would eventually give way to time.
He left both graves unmarked.
“Help!” a woman screamed from across the forest. “Please! Someone! Help!”
Luke was surprised to hear any stranger’s voice. Because the Millennium Falcon’s sensors had not detected any evidence of civilization on the jungle planet, he hadn’t expected to encounter any intelligent life forms. Without hesitation, he turned and bolted through dense foliage, running toward the unseen woman.
Luke, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2 had been on the Falcon, traveling with the Rebel fleet after hastily evacuating their former base on Yavin 4. They had guided the fleet to a hyperspace jump point that would take them directly to their new base on the ice planet Hoth. Unfortunately, when they had attempted to follow the other ships through hyperspace, the Falcon’s navigational computer had gone haywire. The Falcon had emerged from hyperspace in an unknown sector, and the crew had been forced to land on the uncharted world to make repairs to the navicomputer as well as the hyperdrive.
Han had been anxious about the planet even before they’d landed. He maintained that trouble always had a way of finding them on apparently peaceful worlds, and he had encouraged Luke to scout around to make sure that nothing unpleasant would interrupt their work on the Falcon. Initially, all Luke had found were strangely beautiful plants, towering trees, and a few small nonthreatening creatures. He had been musing that Han’s anxiety was unfounded—before the woman’s scream pierced the tranquil forest.
Luke vaulted over a thick, fungus-covered root of an enormous tree to arrive at the edge of a clearing. He found himself facing a monstrous plant with an eyeless, bulbous head and a gaping maw. Long tentacle-like tendrils extended from beneath the head, and one tendril was coiled around a terrified girl. She had fair skin and blond hair, and her scant clothing appeared to be made from animal skins. To Luke’s astonishment, he recognized her.
Tanith Shire?
He hadn’t seen Tanith since they’d gone their separate ways at a spaceport on the planet Kabal, where they’d parted with a kiss. She’d been wearing more conventional clothes at the time.
Luke ignited his lightsaber and rushed the carnivorous plant. His blade swept through one tendril, but then another appendage lashed out and struck his wrist so hard that the lightsaber was knocked from his grasp. As the lightsaber fell to the forest floor, Luke found himself suddenly lifted off his feet by the powerful monster.
The tendrils snaked and constricted around Luke’s body. He managed to extend his right hand over the grip of his holstered blaster pistol, but the monster pinned his arms to his sides. Desperate to reach his blaster, he extended his fingers as far as he could.
Luke still had much to learn about the power of the Force. He wasn’t even trying to use the Force when the pistol sailed out of its holster into his waiting grip. As the monster twisted and tightened its hold on him, Luke squeezed the blaster’s trigger.
He shot the monster at point-blank range. It let out a rasping shriek, and then all of its tendrils went slack. Luke rolled away from the creature. As he pushed himself up from the ground, he was surprised to see Tanith running off into the forest.
“Tanith!” Luke called out. “What are you doing? Come back!” But she did not pause. Wondering if the girl was in shock or required medical attention, Luke recovered his lightsaber, holstered his blaster, and then ran after her.
Luke wondered how Tanith had wound up on the jungle planet. He couldn’t understand why she was running away from him. Doesn’t she recognize me?
“Tanith!”
Broad-leaved plants whipped at Luke as he raced through the jungle. He’d lost sight of Tanith in the shadows of the surrounding growth. Ducking under the fleshy, umbrella-shaped cap of a tall fungus, he suddenly spotted her again. She was running straight for the ledge of a high cliff.
“No!” Luke yelled as he sprinted after the girl. She stopped short at the edge and turned, allowing Luke to see her frightened face. Luke leaped forward, grabbing her arm in an effort to haul her back from the edge, but then she lost her footing and fell backward, pulling Luke with her.
They fell and plunged into the water of a deep, swiftly moving river. Having grown up on Tatooine, Luke was an inexperienced swimmer and had to fight his way to the surface. He saw Tanith flailing ahead of him, her wet hair plastered over her face. As the river carried them downstream, Luke struggled over to her side and caught her by the arm.
“Tanith! Hang on! I’ve got you!” He pulled her toward the shore until he found his footing in the shallows. When they reached the river’s edge, he finally got a good, close look at the girl’s face. Although her eyes were filled with fear, he could see she was very beautiful.
But she wasn’t the girl he remembered.
“You’re not Tanith Shire,” Luke said in a daze as he followed the girl up onto the mucky shore. She
backed away from him, cringing. She had long dark hair and a lean face with grayish blue eyes that Luke found strangely haunting. He couldn’t understand why his own eyes had deceived him earlier, not just when he’d first seen her, but right up until the moment they’d fallen into the stream.
The girl continued to look at Luke with apprehension. Luke felt slightly dizzy as he faced her from the stream’s edge. “What’s going on around here?” he asked. “Who are you? What made me think you were Tanith Shire? You don’t look similar at all.”
“I am S’ybll,” the girl said, her voice trembling. “I fear the atmosphere of my world is sometimes too rich. For strangers, almost intoxicating. It is easy to imagine things.…”
“It’s sure got me confused,” Luke said. He looked away from the girl to survey the jungle. “If I mistook you for someone totally different, how much else have I imagined? Wondering all the time if what I see is real or not could turn into quite a…problem!”
Luke’s wandering gaze had landed on an Imperial stormtrooper who stood just a short distance away, in the shadow of a tall tree. The white-armored trooper held a blaster rifle that was leveled in the direction of Luke and the unarmed girl.
Luke moved without thinking, pulling his lightsaber from his belt and igniting its energy beam as he leaped at the trooper. The trooper didn’t flinch as Luke swung his lightsaber hard and fast through the plastoid armor. Luke was surprised when the shattered armor instantly fell away to reveal that it had been stuffed with bundled sticks. The armor and sticks collapsed with a loud clatter.
Luke looked down at the heap that rested at his feet. “S’ybll? This is just an empty suit of stormtrooper armor. Why…?”
“I placed it here, Luke, in hopes it might keep intruders at bay,” S’ybll said as she stepped past the armor. “My home is just ahead.”
Did she just say my name? Luke didn’t remember whether he’d introduced himself to S’ybll, but decided he must have. “Intruders?” he said as he followed her. “What kind of intruders?”
“My planet appears to be a tropical paradise, but there are dangers…wild beasts and such.”
Lives & Adventures Page 22