by Terry Bisson
He felt truly alone now. There was no one he could trust.
Slave /'s engines whined. Boba knew that sound. He stepped back, out
of the way. He watched helplessly as the starship - his star-ship! - rose
into the noxious clouds and disappeared.
Once again, he felt dangerously close to tears. At the same time, he
could barely breathe. Suddenly, he heard a sound behind him.
He turned. A door in the hillside was sliding open. Inside, Boba could
see a brightly lighted hall, leading to a carpeted stairway.
Boba didn't wait to be invited. Coughing and gagging, he ran inside.
Now what? Boba thought as the door slid shut.
Before he had a chance to answer his own question, he heard a voice
behind him. "Welcome to Raxus Prime, Boba Fett."
The voice was familiar. So were the lean, lined face and the hawk like
eyes.
"Count Tyranus! I mean, Count Dooku!"
"You are among friends now, Boba," said the Count. "You can call me
anything you please. Count will do."
"My father told me to find you," said Boba.
"And I made sure it happened," said the Count. "I see that Aurra Sing
did a superb job and delivered you here safely."
"Yes, sir," said Boba. "I mean, no, sir. You see, she stole my ship,
and it's..."
The Count smiled and raised his hand. "Don't worry. Your ship is safe.
Everything will be fine from now on. You must be very tired."
Boba nodded. It was true.
"Don't worry about a thing," said the Count, placing his cold hand on
Boba's head. "Come, let me show you to your room. Let me carry your bag."
Boba followed him up the long stairs. The carpets were deep and soft.
Who would have imagined that there was such an elegant palace on the planet
of garbage? Even the air was sweet. There was only a very faint foul smell
from the planet outside.
"I have big plans for you, Boba," said the Count. "Plans that would
have made your father proud. But first you need to rest. You must be tired
after all your travels."
Boba nodded. He had packed a lot of adventures into just a few days.
The escape from the Jedi starfighter on Geonosis, the escape from the Jedi
woman back on Kamino, the recovery of his ship and the robbery gone wrong
on the moons of Bogden, the struggle with the bartender on Coruscant...
He had lost the ship, but he would get it back. The Count had
promised, hadn't he? Something like that.
A lot of stuff for a ten-year-old, he realized. He was tired. But he
was also confused. He knew he should be happy. He had been lucky. He had
completed the first part of his quest. He had found Tyranus. Now he would
find Wisdom.
So why had he felt a cold chill when the Count put his hand on top of
his head?
Probably just nerves, Boba thought as he followed the Count up the
stairs, toward his room. And his unknown future.