The Fight to Survive

by Terry Bisson

  bang and crash, day and night. Kamino is called the "Planet of Storms."

  Boba hung onto the railing and leaned over the edge of the platform.

  He looked down, waiting for a lull in the waves.

  Finally, there it was - a long green stretch of smooth water. It

  looked perfect for a little sea-mouse!

  "You're free, little buddy," Boba said as he dropped the tiny creature

  into the water. The sea-mouse stared up as it fell, as if it wanted one

  last look at its benefactor, its protector, the great giant Boba who had

  rescued it from its bowl....

  It hit the water with a little plunk.

  Then Boba saw a dark shape in the water, and a flash of teeth from

  below.

  And the sea-mouse was gone.

  Not even a stain on the water was left.

  Boba spent the rest of the day playing hologames and staring out the

  window into the rain. He was tired of books. He was tired of reading about

  happy families and kids with friends. And pets.

  He was tired of being home alone.

  He missed Zam's jokes (even the dumb ones). He missed his father's

  sayings (even the ones he had heard a million times).

  The next morning he picked up the last sea-mouse out of the bowl.

  "Sorry, buddy," he said as he dropped it into the eel's tank. "It's just

  the way the world works."

  Then he sat down to eat his own breakfast and wait for his father and

  Zam to get home.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  All day Boba was excited, waiting for a certain sound.

  Or a bunch of sounds.

  Finally, late in the afternoon, there they were: a symphony of little

  clicks and clacks, all coming from the locks that hung on the apartment

  door.

  Then the door slid open, and there was Jango Fett, looking strong and

  bold in his Mandalorian battle armor, standing in a puddle of rainwater in

  the hall.

  "Dad!" Boba said. "Where's Zam?"

  "Later," his father said.

  Jango Fett took off his battle armor and laid it out on the floor of

  the bedroom while Boba watched. He called it "the suit." He was much

  smaller without it.

  Jango's face under the helmet was sad and grooved with old scars. The

  face on his helmet was ruthless and cruel. Boba never wondered which was

  his father's "real" face. Both were real to him: the worried father, the

  fearless warrior. "Where's Zam?" Boba asked again.

  "Why are you asking all these questions, son?"

  "I have a joke to tell her." He didn't really, but he figured he could

  always think of one.

  "You'll have to save it for somebody else."

  Somebody else? There wasn't anybody else! But Boba knew better than to

  argue with his father.

  "Okay," he said. He hung his head to hide his disappointment and

  started to leave the room. He could tell his father wanted to be alone.

  "Zam won't be around anymore," Jango said. Boba stopped at the door.

  "Ever?"

  "Ever," said Jango.

  Only the way he said it, it sounded like never.

  When Jango Fett wasn't wearing the Mandalorian battle armor, he wore

  regular clothes. Without the helmet, few recognized him as Jango Fett, the

  bounty hunter.

  The armor was old and scarred, like Jango Fett himself. He always took

  it off and cleaned it after returning from a job, but he never polished it.

  He left the scratches alone.

  "You don't want it to shine," he told Boba as they worked together

  cleaning the armor later that afternoon. "Never call attention to yourself.

  "

  "Yes, sir," Boba said.

  Jango Fett's face seemed even sadder and older than usual. Boba

  wondered if it had to do with Zam.

  Finally he got up the courage to ask.

  "She was about to betray us," Jango said. "It couldn't be allowed.

  There are penalties. She would have done the same if it were me."

  Boba didn't understand. What was his father trying to tell him? "Did

  something bad happen to Zam?"

  Jango nodded slowly. "Being a bounty hunter means you don't always

  make it home. Someday the inevitable will happen. And when it does.."

  "What does inevitable mean?" Boba asked.

  "Inevitable means a sure thing. Death is a sure thing."

  Suddenly Boba got it. "Zam is dead, isn't she, Dad?"

  Jango nodded.

  Boba fought back tears. "How - how did it happen?"

  "You don't want to know."

  Boba felt sadness wash over him like a wave. Followed by a colder wave

  of fear. If it could happen to Zam, could it happen to his father?

  Boba didn't want to think about that. His dad was right: He didn't

  want to know.

  After he had finished helping his father clean the battle armor and

  reload the weapons systems, Boba went out and walked all the way down to

  the end of the street and back.

  Zam, dead. No more dumb jokes. No more bright laughter. Boba Fett's

  lonely world had just gotten even lonelier.

  Kamino is a good planet for feeling sad because it's always raining.

  When you've been in the rain, nobody can tell you've been crying.

  When Boba got back to the apartment, he saw that his father had been

  walking in the rain, too.

  Funny, thought Boba. I didn't see him out there.

  After supper, Jango Fett said, "Boba, listen up." Boba listened up.

  "What happened to Zam could happen to any of us. To any bounty hunter.

  Do you understand?"

  Boba nodded - but his nod was a lie. He was determined not to

  understand. He had promised himself not to think about it. He couldn't

  imagine it, anyway. Who or what could get the best of his father in a

  fight?

  "Good," said Jango Fett. "So, son, I want you to take this."

  Jango handed Boba a book.

  Boba was shocked. My dad?! A book?!

  Jango seemed to know what Boba was thinking. "It's not a book, son,"

  he said. "It's a message unit, from me. For you, when the time comes."

  Not a book? It looked like an ordinary book, about two fingers thick,

  with a hard cover. It was black, with nothing on the cover. No words, no

  pictures. Nothing, front or back.

  Boba tried to open it but the pages seemed stuck together. He pulled

  harder on the cover, and his father shook his head.

  "Don't open it," Jango said. "Because when you open it, your childhood

  will be over. And it is too soon for that. I want you to have what I never

  had: a childhood."

  Boba nodded. Though he was confused. Why had his father given him a

  book if he didn't want him to open it?

  Then his father told him:

  "If something happens to me, you should open it. It will tell you what

  you need to know. Who to ask for. Who to avoid. What to do. What not. Until

  then, keep it closed, and keep it hidden. Understand, son?"

  Boba nodded. He tossed the black book (that was not really a book)

  into the pile with his library books. He wasn't going to need it. Ever. No

  way. Like, something bad was going to happen to his father, the fiercest,

  fastest, most fearless bounty hunter in the galaxy?

  No way. Unthinkable. Which simply meant that Boba was not going to

  think about it.

  CHAPTER FIVE<
br />
  The next day, Boba and his father went fishing. The rain was light, so

  they sat on a rock at the edge of the sea. Boba took potshots at rollerfish

  with his pocker, a laser-aimed spear-thrower. Jango made him turn the laser

  off and sight by eye.

  Boba knew that the fishing trip was his father's way of trying to make

  him feel better, so he'd forget about Zam's death. Boba did his best to

  concentrate.

  He kept on fishing even when Taun We, one of the Kaminoans, stopped by

  to talk with Jango. She was tall and white, like a root that has just been

  pulled out of the ground. Her dark eyes were as big as saucers, her neck

  long and thin.

  Boba usually liked Taun We, but today it was business, business,

  business. Something about the clones. Boba tried not to listen. He didn't

  want to hear about the clone army - his ten thousand twin brothers. It made

  him feel creepy just thinking about it.

  He was glad when Taun We left, and to prove it, he speared a few more

  rollerfish. He tried to act excited to please his dad, but the fun had gone

  out of it.

  Boba couldn't stop thinking about the clones. He couldn't stop

  thinking about Zam.

  Boba did get excited again, though, when they passed the spaceport on

  their way back to the apartment. There was a new ship on the landing pad.

  It was a sleek starfighter he had only seen in pictures before.

  "Wow!" he said. "It's a Delta-7!"

  "And what of the droid?" Jango asked, pointing to the nav unit behind

  the cockpit.

  "It's an R4-P," said Boba excitedly. While his father listened, he

  listed the starfighter's features. Extra armaments, extra speed - the

  Delta-7 with the R4-P was the kind of ship only a few, select pilots could

  handle.

  "Like who?" Jango asked.

  "Like you!" Boba said as they hurried home in the rain. He was happy

  to show off what he had learned from his reading. And even happier to bring

  a smile to his father's face.

  But the smile didn't last. Jango seemed thoughtful. Preoccupied. Even

  worried.

  He went into the bedroom to take a nap while Boba sat down with a

  reference - Starfighters of the Galaxy. He was curious to know how such a

  sleek ship as the Delta-7 had found its way to out-of-the-way Kamino, where

  nothing important or exciting ever happened.

  Boba had barely started to read when he heard the door buzz. He and

  his father didn't have any friends, especially with Zam gone, so he was

  surprised.

  It was Taun We again. And this time she wasn't alone. The man standing

  next to her wore a simple robe and no jewelry. Under his robe Boba could

  see the outline of a lightsaber.

  A Jedi.

  All of a sudden, Boba knew where the star-fighter had come from.

  Cautiously, he opened the door.

  "Boba, is your father here?" Taun We asked. "Yes."

  Say no more than necessary. That was a favorite saying of Jango Fett.

  And Boba knew that it especially applied when the Jedi were around.

  "May we see him?"

  The Jedi said nothing. Just stood there, watching and listening. Cool

  and collected. But also a little scary.

  Boba tried to be cool himself. "Sure," he said. Always be polite.

  Especially to your enemies.

  And the Jedi, as keepers of the peace, were the natural enemies of

  bounty hunters, who operated outside the law.

  Boba stepped back to let them in. The Jedi was looking around as if he

  had never been in an apartment before. Nosy! Boba thought. He decided to

  ignore him.

  "Dad! Taun We's here!"

  Jango Fett came out of the bedroom. He looked at both of the visitors,

  and he didn't seem to like what he saw.

  "Welcome back, Jango," Taun We said, pretending she hadn't just seen

  him. "Was your trip productive?"

  "Fairly."

  Boba listened carefully. Taun We was sounding friendly, as usual.

  Meanwhile his father was looking the Jedi up and down. To say that Jango

  didn't seem to like what he saw would be obvious, like saying Kamino is

  rainy. It was more than that.

  Boba wondered if they had met before. He wondered if the Jedi had

  anything to do with the death of Zam.

  "This is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi," Taun We said. "He's come to

  check on our progress." "That right?" Jango said.

  The two men stared at each other. It was like a battle fought without

  words or weapons.

  Boba watched, fascinated. It was obvious to him that his father could

  have whipped the stupid Jedi with one finger. But something was holding him

  back.

  "Your clones are very impressive," said the Jedi with a slight bow.

  "You must be very proud." "I'm just a simple man," Jango Fett said, bowing

  back. "Trying to make my way in the universe." "Aren't we all?" said the

  Jedi.

  It was like a fight to see who could be most polite!

  Meanwhile, the Jedi was looking into the bedroom, where the

  Mandalorian battle helmet and armor were lying on the floor.

  Jango moved in front of the door to block the Jedi's view.

  "Ever make your way as far into the interior as Coruscant?" the Jedi

  asked.

  "Once or twice," Jango answered coolly. "Recently?"

  This is one very nosy Jedi! Boba thought. He wondered why his father

  was talking to him at all. "Possibly," said Jango, and Boba knew from the

  tone of the answer that his father had been to Coruscant.

  And the Jedi knew it, too.

  Now Boba knew for sure that the Jedi and Jango had encountered each

  other before, and that the Jedi had had something to do with Zam's death.

  How he hated the Jedi's smug little smile!

  "Then you must know Master Sifo-Dyas," the Jedi said.

  "Boba, close the door," said Jango in Huttese, a language they both

  knew well.

  Boba did what his father asked, never taking his eyes off the Jedi. He

  wanted him to feel his hate.

  Meanwhile Jango Fett was fencing. Using words instead of a sword to

  block the Jedi's moves. "Master who?" he asked.

  "Sifo-Dyas. Isn't he the Jedi who hired you for this job?"

  "Never heard of him," said Jango.

  "Really!?" said the Jedi. For the first time, he looked surprised.

  "I was recruited by a man called Tyranus," said Jango. "On one of the

  moons of Bogden." "No? I thought..."

  Taun We stepped in then. "Sifo-Dyas told us to expect him," she said

  to the Jedi, pointing to Boba's father. "And he showed up just when your

  Jedi Master said he would. We have kept the Jedi's involvement a secret

  until your arrival, just as your Master requested."

  The Jedi seemed surprised by all this. And trying not to show it.

  "Curious," he said.

  "Do you like your army?" Jango Fett asked. His cold smile seemed to

  Boba like a sword thrust straight toward the nosy Jedi's heart.

  "I look forward to seeing them in action," said the Jedi. A pretty

  good parry, Boba had to admit.

  "They'll do their job well, I'll guarantee that," said Jango.

  The Jedi gave up. "Thanks for your time, Jango." "Always a pleasure to

  meet a Jedi," said Boba's father with a sl
ight, sarcastic smile.

  The door slid shut and the locks began to snap closed. Boba was

  thrilled. After winning an encounter like that, he figured his father would

  looked pleased, even triumphant. Instead, Jango Fett's face was creased

  with lines of worry, and he seemed deep in thought.

  Boba began to wonder if his father had really won the battle. "What is

  it, Dad?" he asked. "Pack your things," Jango said. "We're getting out of

  here for a while."

  CHAPTER SIX

  While Jango Fett put his battle armor on, Boba threw everything the

  two owned (which wasn't much) into an expandable flight bag.

  "Get a move on, Boba!"

  Boba knew his father wasn't afraid of anything. But after the

  encounter with the strange Jedi, Jango seemed nervous. Worried. Not