Lives & Adventures

by Ryder Windham

  Maul was surprised to hear about a training room and was instantly curious to see it. He hoped it was larger than the training area outside his own small room. As he wondered how soon his Master would show him the new training room, the six-legged droid, its two damaged legs replaced by a shiny new pair, sauntered back into the chamber.

  Sidious glanced at the droid, then looked back at Maul and said, “Legs are not easily replaced. You do realize you must be punished, do you not?”

  “Yes, Master Sidious.”

  “Always remember…a punishment is a lesson, young Maul. Learn it well. Now, come along.” As Sidious stepped away from the floating orb, he waved his fingers at a tapestry that hung against one wall. The tapestry slid silently up toward the ceiling and revealed an open doorway built into the wall. Sidious walked to the doorway, which Maul assumed was a passage that led to the new training room.

  Maul tried to step away from the orb, but his legs suddenly felt like they were heavy weights, anchored to the floor. He knew he would be punished even more severely if he did not obey his Master, but it seemed his own body—independent of his mind—was refusing to move. But before Sidious noticed Maul’s hesitation, the droid reached out with a pincer and gave Maul a sharp jab in the back of his left thigh, causing him to jump forward. The droid muttered, “Don’t make things worse.”

  As Maul began to follow Sidious, he glanced back at the bottom of the orb for a final look at the two surviving fish. The small yellow-eyed fish was hungrily biting into a dead fish. The large gray fish hovered a short distance away and appeared to be watching the yellow-eyed fish with some interest before its eyes shifted to look at Maul. Maul hurried into the passage, followed by the droid.

  The training room exceeded all of Maul’s expectations. So did his punishment.

  But he survived.

  “Begin!” the droid said.

  Maul ran fast across the training room floor, heading straight for the wall. Several months after his arrival in the training room, he was familiar with the routine. He launched off the floor with his left foot, hit the wall with his right, and ran several steps up the wall before he kicked away, flipping his body backward through the air. He landed on his feet, then sprinted back toward the wall and repeated the exercise again. And again.

  And again and again.

  The six-legged droid watched each move, making sure Maul performed the exercise exactly as Sidious had instructed. Sidious had told Maul that the exercise was designed to build strength, agility, and muscle memory. Sidious had also stressed that if Maul’s timing was off and he flipped away from the wall incorrectly, he could wind up with a broken neck.

  Maul continued the exercise until the droid told him to stop. As he landed on his feet, he felt his heart hammering within his small chest. He wanted desperately to rest on the floor, but resting was not allowed until the droid said so.

  “Your timing has improved,” the droid said. Rapidly extending one of its pincer arms, it swiped Maul with an electrode, giving the boy a shock.

  Maul bared his teeth and snarled at the droid. Although he knew that the droid was simply carrying out Master Sidious’s orders, teaching Maul to be prepared to deal with pain at any moment, he still resented getting shocks when he had not done anything wrong. The droid stared back at Maul through emotionless photoreceptors. Maul could anticipate many things, but he never knew when the droid was about to shock him. The droid was too fast.

  However, Maul had learned much during his time with the droid in the training room. The room had special exercise equipment and weapons, as well as computer consoles that had been programmed to educate and challenge Maul’s mind and mechanical abilities. He could identify hundreds of star systems, assemble complicated three-dimensional puzzles, and pinpoint the vulnerabilities of nearly every native creature on Mustafar. And in addition to running up walls, he could walk on his hands, climb swiftly up a rope, trot across a taut wire, and leap headfirst through an energy ring and come up standing.

  “Go to console three,” the droid commanded.

  Maul went to the third computer console and seated himself before the computer’s holoprojector. As he inserted both hands into the console’s grip sockets, he wondered what the test would be about this time.

  The holoprojector displayed a sequence of three different star systems and rotated each display so Maul could see the holographic stars and their respective orbiting planets from various angles. Then the computer cut off the projector, leaving Maul staring at empty air. The computer said, “Identify the second, first, and third systems, in that order.”

  “Malastare, Eriadu, and Denon,” Maul answered quickly. He hoped the computer would next ask him to name the trade route that linked all three systems, because he knew the answer was the Hydian Way.

  But the computer said, “The Malastare system includes three gas giants. Name the remaining planets that have more than one moon.”

  “Malastare and…Cogalle!” Maul said, his slight delay earning him a sharp sting in the palm of his left hand. Maul was still wincing in pain when the computer’s audio speaker erupted with a recorded beast’s roar.

  “Identify the species,” the computer droned.

  “Tulrus.” Maul suddenly felt searing pain in his right hand, and he corrected himself. “Northern tulrus!”

  The questions continued for several minutes. Maul made only three more mistakes. When the computer was done, he removed his aching hands from the console sockets and massaged his knuckles. As he rose from his seat, the six-legged droid said, “Go to the ring.”

  The droid followed Maul to the ring, a circular platform that was elevated thirty centimeters above the training room floor. Maul hopped onto the platform while the droid ambled over to a nearby rack of weapons and selected a slender staff made of wood. Gripping the staff with a single pincer, the droid climbed onto the platform and faced Maul. “I will attempt to strike you. You will attempt to dodge the strike. Each successful strike or dodge counts as one point. Knocking an opponent off the platform counts as three points. The exercise ends when one of us has scored five points. Understood?”

  “Yes.” The word was barely out of Maul’s mouth when the staff connected with the side of his left leg. He grunted in pain and anger.

  “You forgot to jump,” the droid said in a mocking tone. “My point.”

  The droid swung again, this time angling for Maul’s right leg. Maul jumped. The droid let the staff’s tip bounce off the platform and brought it up sharply to strike the bottom of Maul’s right foot. Maul tumbled across the platform and came up standing, his eyes burning with fury at the droid.

  “That must have hurt,” the droid said. “The next strike will hurt more.” The droid made a quick jab toward Maul, but the boy threw his body to the side and rolled, careful not to go over the edge of the platform.

  “Your point,” the droid said as it tossed the staff into the air. Maul ignored the airborne staff and kept his eyes on the droid. The droid caught the staff with a different pincer, then leaped forward. Maul dived under the droid, and as he somersaulted across the platform, he heard the staff whoosh past his head.

  “Your point again,” the droid said. “We are tied.” The droid tossed the staff back and forth between three pincers, then seized it with a single pincer and rotated its arm so the staff spun like a propeller. The droid increased the speed of the rotation, transforming the staff into a barely visible blur.

  Expecting the droid to advance toward him, Maul braced himself to jump away. He was not prepared when the droid threw the spinning staff directly at him, and he felt the slap of hard wood against the side of his face. The staff fell away from Maul and landed between him and the droid.

  “I hope you are learning from this,” the droid said. “The score is three to two.” The droid stepped forward and reached for the staff.

  Maul felt a rush of anger. The droid’s pincer was still descending for the staff when the weapon leaped from the platform and flew t
oward Maul. Maul caught the staff with both hands as he glared at the droid.

  The droid backed up. Maul held the staff out in front of him. He didn’t know how the staff had sailed into his grip, and he wasn’t sure what to do next. The droid had not mentioned that the staff could move by itself or said whether Maul would gain points if he obtained the staff or struck back at the droid.

  “You’ve never done that before,” the droid said, sounding surprised.

  Maul didn’t know what the droid was talking about. “The staff jumped. I…I only caught it.”

  “I must summon Master Sidious immediately.” The droid’s photoreceptors blinked and turned yellow as it transmitted a silent signal.

  Maul wondered what he had done wrong. Then he wondered whether the droid might be trying to trick him by pretending to contact Sidious, and whether it might be preparing to attack again. The droid’s photoreceptors flickered back to red, but it did not budge from its position on the opposite side of the ring. Maul continued clutching the wooden staff, his eyes locked on the droid.

  Sidious entered the training room. Maul held tight to the staff but turned to his Master. Facing Maul, Sidious came to a stop at the edge of the elevated platform and said, “Tell me what happened.”

  “The droid and I were exercising, Master Sidious.” Maul held the staff out before him. “This landed in the middle of the ring. Then it…it jumped up and landed in my hands.”

  Sidious nodded as if he understood. “Maul, what did you feel just before the staff jumped up?”

  Maul glanced at the droid. “The score was three to two, Master. The droid was winning.” He looked at Sidious. “I was thinking that the exercise isn’t fair. The droid can hit me, but I can’t hit back.”

  “Few things in life are fair, young one.” Lowering his voice, Sidious continued, “But I did not ask you what you were thinking. I asked…what did you feel?”

  Maul looked at the droid again. “I felt angry, Master.”

  Sidious smiled brightly. “Good. Good!” Without taking his eyes off Maul, he turned his head slightly and said to the droid, “Prepare my cruiser.”

  “Yes, Master Sidious,” said the droid as it stepped down from the ring.

  “Come along, Maul,” Sidious said. “We’re going for a ride.”

  Sidious’s cruiser was a sleek vessel with a long prow, its aft area bracketed by angular fins that folded inward during landings. It raced through hyperspace, the dimension of faster-than-light travel. Sidious was on the cruiser’s bridge and had left Maul alone, belted into the cruiser’s passenger compartment. The boy sat quietly, his feet extending only a few centimeters over the edge of his seat.

  Maul peeked through a rectangular viewport to see the luminous cascade of hyperspace. He had been excited to leave Mustafar, but he was also nervous, because he didn’t know where his master was taking him or what the purpose of their journey was. Earlier, when they’d boarded the cruiser, Maul had briefly wondered if Sidious intended to take him to a faraway, extrasolar place to kill him. But after some thought, he decided it was unlikely that his Master would take him somewhere to kill him. If Sidious wanted him dead, he would not waste time traveling across hyperspace to get the job done.

  The journey did not last long. Maul heard the cruiser’s hyperdrive engine winding down. He continued gazing through the viewport. A moment later, the bright colors of hyperspace melted away and were replaced by a field of stars. The cruiser banked to port, and Maul saw they had arrived in the orbit of a small planet. He recognized a cluster of stars and realized they were still in the Atravis sector.

  The cruiser descended to the planet’s surface and landed. Sidious stepped into the passenger compartment, glanced at Maul, and motioned him to get out of his seat. As Maul unclasped his safety belt and lowered himself to the deck, Sidious passed his hand over a wall-mounted control switch, which simultaneously opened the starboard hatch and extended the boarding ramp. Maul followed his Master out of the cruiser.

  “Welcome to Tosste,” Sidious said.

  A murky yellow sky hung over the bluish-gray terrain. Maul gazed across a wide area of mostly flat land and noticed some strangely angular rock formations in the distance. The ground was covered by sporadic clumps of stones and boulders. Maul saw no sign of movement.

  “Take a good look,” Sidious said. “We are standing upon what was once the bottom of an ocean. If it ever had a name, that name was lost to time many eons ago. Here, the only historic records are the geographic evidence.” Sidious took a few steps away from Maul and looked toward the horizon. “It’s hard to believe that Tosste was once home to billions of life-forms. While life on other worlds evolved and reached for the stars, Tosste’s inhabitants were never so inspired. They stayed here. They died here. And what is their legacy? Nothing but fossils.” He shook his head sadly. “To live without leaving a mark is a terrible thing. To die forgotten is even worse.” He turned to face Maul. “It is…irresponsible.”

  Sidious’s words chilled Maul. Was his Master implying that he was irresponsible? He wasn’t sure. He stood very still and remained silent.

  Sidious looked at the horizon again. “Walk with me.”

  Leaving the cruiser behind, they proceeded to a nearby outcropping of bedrock, which was bordered by a broad field covered by small stones. The tops of a few large boulders loomed over the stones. Sidious and Maul stopped at the edge of the bedrock. Surveying the stones, Sidious said, “What do you see?”

  “I see rocks, Master Sidious.”

  Sidious frowned. Then he pointed to the center of the field of stones and said, “Go stand over there.”

  Maul always felt especially vulnerable when he could not see his Master, but he did as he was told, stepping across the stones until he reached the designated spot. He stopped.

  “Turn around.”

  Maul turned to face his Master. Sidious stood with his legs apart, his hands clasped behind his back. Sidious said, “I suspect that every creature that ever lived on Tosste did not think much about rocks either. I had hoped that you would be smarter. I’ll ask you again. What do you see, spread out on the ground all around you?”

  Maul’s yellow eyes darted back and forth. He saw only rocks. Some were pebbles, others large stones, and there were the tops of a few boulders. As ever, he did not want to disappoint his Master, but he did not know any other answer than the one he had already given. Returning his gaze to his Master’s face, he said hesitantly, “I see rocks, Master Sidious. Thousands of rocks.”

  Something hard slammed into Maul’s left shoulder blade. He ducked as he spun to confront his attacker, and as he moved, he saw the object that had struck him. It was a stone, which fell on the rocks near his feet.

  Maul looked across the bluish-gray landscape. Not a trace of movement. No one had been standing behind him.

  Another stone smashed into Maul’s right bicep. He grunted as he spun again, this time to look back at his Master.

  Sidious had not moved. His hands remained behind his back. But from the trace of a wicked smile on the Man’s face, Maul suddenly knew the stones weren’t flying by themselves.

  Lifting his gaze to the sky, Sidious said, “The creatures that once roamed this now dead ocean, they lacked imagination. Ultimately, that is why they all perished. They failed to see…potential.”

  Potential?! Maul suddenly sensed a small stone whizzing toward his head. He raised his hand to deflect the stone as he ducked, but the stone sailed past his fingers and clipped one of his horns. “Weapons!” Maul shouted. “I see weapons!”

  Sidious sighed. “The correct response is…”

  “I see weapons, Master Sidious!”

  “Not fast enough,” Sidious said as a stone smashed into Maul’s lower back.

  Maul crouched and grabbed the nearest rock. He no sooner lifted it from the ground than he felt it burning into his hand. He yelped as he reflexively opened his fingers and let the rock fall. How could the rock have generated such intense heat? He
suspected it was his Master’s trickery.

  “Oh, come now,” Sidious said impatiently. “Almost any humanoid with fingers can do that.”

  Two stones smacked into the backs of Maul’s legs, knocking him off his feet. He gasped as his small body fell on the hard rocks. Looking up, he saw two more stones rise from the ground. He twisted his body fast, trying to shield his head.

  “Maybe I was wrong about you being special,” Sidious said as he watched the two stones strike Maul. “Maybe you are just as useless and stupid as—”

  Several stones hurtled up from the ground around Maul’s body. Battered and bruised, Maul glared at Sidious. The stones sailed through the air, all heading straight for his Master.

  Sidious whipped one hand out from behind his back and extended it before him. The rocks stopped in mid-flight, then fell to the ground. “Is that the best you can do?” Sidious sneered. “I should crush you now.”

  Maul snarled as he jumped to his feet and swiped at the air with both hands. Dozens of rocks launched up from around Maul and raced toward Sidious. Sidious moved his other hand out from behind his back and flexed his fingers. The approaching rocks rebounded as if they had struck an invisible shield.

  Some of the rebounding rocks fell near Maul’s feet. Surprised, he stumbled back. He wasn’t sure what had just happened.

  “Well done, young one,” Sidious said as the dust settled around him. “You passed the test.” He began walking slowly toward Maul. “The droid told me that you moved the staff without touching it, but I had to see what you could do with my own eyes. Did you feel it? Did you feel the power of your anger?”

  “Yes, Master Sidious,” Maul responded automatically. Until that moment, he had not known that he had in fact been responsible for making the staff jump up from the ring in the training room. He looked at the rocks on the ground. He hadn’t given any thought to launching them through the air either. He had just…done it.

  Sidious came to a stop beside Maul. Looking down at the boy, he smiled and said, “I want to show you something. Stay close to my side.”