Clones

by John Whitman

Maga grunted at them as they passed. His forehead was bumpy and sloped

  down to his eyebrows, which were bushy and thick. Tash recognized the other

  Dantari who were with Maga. She didn't know their names, but she knew they

  were Maga's closest friends, and they didn't like Zak and Tash any more than

  Maga did.

  "Sun falls," Maga growled. "Time to move. You slow us down."

  Tash looked up at the sun. "Sun falls" to the Dantari meant exactly what

  it sounded like: the sun had reached its highest point and was now sinking. It

  was just past midday.

  Maga took an angry step forward. "Offworlders always slow us down." His

  companions growled in agreement and stepped forward, too.

  As the Dantari crowded around her, Tash's heart skipped a beat.

  "That is not true," said the cold, hard voice of Uncle Hoole.

  Tash suddenly realized her uncle was standing beside her. She didn't know

  where he had come from. Hoole, like most Shi'ido, had a gift for moving

  silently and smoothly, and by now she was used to being surprised by him.

  The Shi'ido was as tall as Maga, and stared right into his eyes. "My

  niece and nephew are always ready to move when the tribe moves," he said, "and

  we always move just as quickly."

  Maga blinked. He didn't like Hoole. But he was frightened by Hoole's

  shape-changing power. He wouldn't dare attack the Shi'ido. Maga stared back at

  Hoole for just a moment, then turned away, grunting, "Tribe moves. Do not be

  slow."

  Then he and his followers trudged away.

  Tash scowled at Maga's broad back. "That guy really sets my scanners off.

  Why does he have to treat us so badly? It makes me mad."

  "We must be tolerant," Hoole advised. "Remember, we are their guests."

  "I don't get why these Dantari are always so concerned about starting on

  time anyway," Zak observed. "It's not like there's anywhere to go."

  Hoole frowned. "It may seem that way to us, Zak, but we are on their

  world. They have their own customs. They are nomads, and it is their tradition

  to travel from place to place."

  "You'd think they'd get tired once in a while," Zak muttered.

  "Remember," Hoole said, "the Dantari do not possess modern technology,

  and they know little about farming. They must continually travel across the

  plains in search of food."

  Even after nearly a month, Tash and Zak were amazed by how quickly the

  Dantari broke down their tents, rolled up their animal-skin packs, and started

  off. In minutes, the small village of tents had vanished completely. The

  Dantari began marching away from their campsite in a loose, straggly line.

  With no discussion, the tribe seemed to know where it wanted to go.

  Walking in the middle of the crowd, Tash saw the line of low hills ahead

  grow steadily larger. Because the prairie was so flat, it was hard to judge

  the distance. Tash thought the hills were very far away, but the tribe reached

  them long before sunset. The slopes weren't very high, but they were steep.

  "How are we going to climb those?" Tash asked.

  "Not climb," one of the Dantari said, pointing ahead.

  Tash spotted a crack in the steep slope. As they approached, she realized

  that it was a ravine that led straight through the hills and to the other

  side.

  Without pausing, the tribe of Dantari marched single file into the gap,

  forming a line to fit into the narrow pathway.

  "Uncle Hoole," Tash asked, "how do they know where they're going?"

  Hoole shook his head. "I do not have enough information to make a guess,"

  he explained. "However, I believe they are following a traditional path. Their

  ancestors probably made the same journey, at the same time of year, for

  thousands of years."

  "Boring!" Zak exclaimed.

  His voice echoed loudly in the ravine. A moment later, something rumbled

  in answer.

  "What's that?" Tash asked.

  "More echoes," Zak replied. "I hope."

  But the sound wasn't an echo. It got louder by the second, until it

  sounded as if the mountain itself was roaring. Tash looked up. For a fraction

  of a second, she thought she saw a broad-shouldered Dantari standing at the

  top of the ravine. Then her view was blocked by a boulder that came crashing

  down the slope. Behind it came another, and another. There were hundreds of

  rocks bouncing and tumbling down on them.

  "Avalanche!"

  CHAPTER 2

  The shout of warning was all Tash could manage. She stood rooted to the

  spot, watching a boulder twice her size bounce down the steep hillside,

  heading right for her.

  She watched it bounce once. Twice. Three times.

  There were boulders falling all around Tash. She didn't know if she was

  paralyzed with fear or was just in shock, but she couldn't move.

  Luckily, Hoole could. As soon as the boulders started falling, Hoole's

  skin rippled across his bones-the weird effect that signaled a shape-change.

  In the next instant, the Shi'ido had vanished, replaced by a wide-bodied,

  thick-legged dewback. Tash had seen the creatures once before on a visit to

  the planet Tatooine. They looked like giant lizards, and they were as strong

  as a dozen gundarks.

  The dewback lunged forward, planting itself between Zak and Tash and the

  avalanche.

  Tash and Zak threw their arms over their heads as the boulder slammed

  into the dewback's side. The dewback Hoole grunted, but didn't move.

  Shocked out of her paralyzed state, Tash felt a flush of anger. She had

  seen someone on the hill. Someone had started the avalanche on purpose!

  Around them, the Dantari shouted and screamed, searching for cover.

  "Over here!" Tash yelled, motioning for the Dantari with her outstretched

  arms. Her voice was drowned out by the rumbling and scraping of falling rocks,

  but many of the Dantari saw her movements and dove for the cover of the

  dewback's broad body.

  More boulders slammed into Hoole, but the Shi'ido stubbornly held his

  ground.

  Most of the Dantari had reached safety behind Hoole, but a small Dantari

  child stumbled and fell to her knees, crying. Her mother turned and started

  back for her just as another boulder came hurtling into the ravine. It was

  going to land right on the child.

  "Look out!" shouted Zak, but they could see that the little girl couldn't

  move in time.

  Tash was too angry to think. She reached out with the Force, trying to

  move the flying rock the same way she'd moved the pendant. She pushed with her

  mind. In the split second before the falling stone would hit the girl, Tash

  felt something give, like a stuck drawer suddenly opening. The rock slammed to

  the ground, just missing the Dantari girl's head.

  "That was close!"

  "Yeah," Tash said. She felt exhausted, as though she'd just finished a

  footrace.

  The dewback shivered, and a moment later, Hoole stood in its place.

  Boulders were piled up all around him. The Shi'ido's stern face wrinkled into

  a grimace of pain, and he rubbed his left arm.

  "Are you all right, Uncle Hoole?" Zak asked.

  "I am... bruised," Hoole replied. "Many of those boulders were quite

  heavy, and trave
ling quickly. Even in the form of a dewback, I'm afraid I took

  a beating."

  It seemed like a miracle, but no one else was hurt. Many of the Dantari

  had not yet entered the ravine. And those who had, managed to find safety as

  the rocks fell.

  The travelers hurried the rest of the way through the ravine and came out

  on the other side of the hills. By now the sun had begun to set. Before them

  stretched the prairie.

  "Oh, that's just prime," Zak groaned. "More grass."

  "This looks different, though," Tash said. She squinted and stared at

  something. On the horizon, she could just make out a few shapes rising out of

  the grassland. They were too small to be hills and too large to be trees.

  "There's something out there."

  Zak squinted, looking where Tash pointed. "I wonder what it is."

  "We'll have to find out tomorrow," Hoole replied. "The Dantari have

  decided to set up camp for the evening."

  This was the most unsettling time of day for Zak and Tash. They were

  nearly blind in the thickening darkness, while the Dantari seemed to have no

  problem setting up their animal-skin tents in the dark. Today, however, Zak,

  Tash, and Hoole quickly set up their tent while the sun was still throwing

  reddish rays over the prairie. By the time it had set, they were sitting

  around a small campfire in front of their tent, just one of a dozen campfires

  lighting the temporary village.

  "I'm glad no one was hurt," Tash said, finally catching her breath. "But

  there's still a problem. Who started the rockslide?"

  Hoole raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask that? I suspect such occurrences

  are quite common in these hills."

  "Maybe," Tash said. "But I think this one was started on purpose." She

  told them what she'd seen on the hill.

  "Are you sure you saw a Dantari?" Hoole asked.

  Tash shrugged. "I can't be sure. Everything happened so quickly. But I

  saw someone... and whoever it was, was as big as a Dantari. As big as a

  certain Dantari we all know and hate."

  Hoole sighed. "You mustn't hate Maga, Tash. Remember, we are intruders in

  his tribe. And we have taken away some of his authority. But," the Shi'ido

  added, "if you think that Maga is the being you saw, we must report this to

  the elders."

  Zak and Tash jumped to their feet and followed Hoole through the

  collection of tents until they reached a campfire burning at the center of the

  temporary village.

  Unlike some other cultures, the Dantari didn't have one single leader.

  All important decisions were made by five or six of the oldest and most

  experienced members of the tribe. These elders generally discussed any

  problems facing their people and tried to find a solution together. The

  closest thing the Dantari had to a king or a chief was Maga, the garoo.

  There were six elders sitting around the fire, their faces lined with

  age. Maga sat nearby, scooping out a bowl of porridge from a cauldron that

  hung over the fire. The elders were already discussing the rockslide, trying

  to decide if it was still safe to travel the ravine, when Hoole approached

  them.

  "My niece has something to say," Hoole announced.

  The elders looked at Tash. She had never really spoken to the elders of

  the tribe before. She had never thought of them as leaders-just quiet old men

  and women wearing animal skins. But now, looking at them, she realized that

  despite their primitive ways, they really were leaders.

  Their keen, bright eyes reminded her of a look Princess Leia Organa had

  once given her, long ago.

  "I...," she began, then stopped. She glanced at Maga.

  "Perhaps this should be said in private," Hoole suggested.

  One of the elders, who had a gap between his front teeth, shook his head.

  "Not Dantari way. No secrets from people."

  Tash nodded. It was probably a good way to run the tribe. Or the galaxy.

  Secrets and hidden schemes were methods the Empire used. Still, she felt

  uncomfortable accusing Maga to his face.

  "I saw...," she started again. "That is, I think I saw Maga standing at

  the top of the hill just before the avalanche started."

  "Maga push rocks?" another elder asked.

  Tash nodded.

  All six elders turned toward their garoo, who was glaring at Tash. But

  instead of becoming angry, Maga shrugged and said through a mouthful of

  porridge, "Girl is wrong."

  The gap-toothed elder turned back to Tash. "You saw his face? You know?"

  Tash frowned. She hadn't seen a face. Finally, she admitted, "Everything

  happened too fast. I saw something up there. Then the rocks came down. I

  thought it was Maga... but no, I didn't see his face."

  Maga snorted. "Not see my face because Maga was not there. Ask Bann. Ask

  Durba."

  Tash scowled. Bann and Durba were two of Maga's friends. They'd say

  anything to protect him.

  One of the elders shrugged. "Maga is garoo. Garoo does not lie."

  But the gap-toothed elder shook his head. "Girl has power. Girl is like

  garoo."

  "Only Maga is garoo!" Maga growled, leaping to his feet.

  The elders stirred briefly, unsettled by his outburst. They murmured to

  each other in low voices for a moment, then nodded. Finally, the gap-toothed

  elder spoke. "Girl says she saw, but is not sure. Maga says he was not there,

  and was seen by eyes of others. We will do nothing. Water mixes with water."

  Tash sighed. "Water mixes with water" was a popular Dantari saying. The

  Dantari believed that some problems could not be solved. It was like one cup

  of water poured into another cup of water. Which water was which, and did it

  even matter?

  "But I saw someone!" Tash insisted.

  "Who?" the elder asked.

  Tash didn't answer.

  Maga grinned. His teeth were crooked and yellow. "Yes, offworlder," he

  said. "Who?"

  Again, Tash didn't answer. Maga snorted. "Girl is crazy. Whole family is

  crazy. Parents probably crazy, too."

  Tash bristled at the mention of her parents. Anger boiled up inside her,

  hotter than a nova. Gathering her strength, she glared at Maga and lashed out

  with the Force.

  CHAPTER 3

  Tash was surprised at how easily the Force bent to her will this time.

  The cauldron near Maga suddenly tilted. A blob of hot porridge sloshed out of

  the pot, spilling right into his lap. The big Dantari leaped to his feet,

  howling as he tried to wipe the hot, sticky substance away.

  The elders and Zak laughed. To them, it looked as if Maga had stumbled

  against the pot and spilled the porridge all over himself.

  Tash turned away to hide the smug expression on her face. Without saying

  a word to Zak or Uncle Hoole, she went back to their tent, crawled onto a soft

  fur blanket that served as her bed, and fell asleep.

  That night, Tash dreamed.

  She was standing on the bridge of a starship. Through the viewport, she

  could see her home planet, Alderaan, floating in space like a blue-green gem

  on a necklace of stars. She felt happy. She was going home to see her parents.

  Everything was all right.

  Suddenly, a shadow fell across the planet as a
large dark object passed

  between Alderaan and the sun.

  It was the Death Star. Tash watched the Imperial battle station slowly

  rotate until its enormous superlaser pointed directly at her homeworld.

  "No!" Tash screamed, hut her voice made no sound. The Death Star was

  preparing to fire.

  Tash remembered the Force. She had moved the tiny pendant. She had moved

  the large boulder. Maybe she could even move the Death Star. She tried to calm

  herself to find the peaceful place within her where the Force seemed to be.

  Then she reached out and willed the Death Star to move.

  It didn't.

  She tried again, pushing harder, but still the battle station crept

  forward, preparing to destroy her home planet, her parents, and everything she

  loved.

  Tash's stomach twisted into an angry knot. She couldn't let her parents

  die! She wouldn't!

  The minute she grew angry, Tash felt the Force take on a new shape inside

  her. It wasn't calm or peaceful - now it rolled and wriggled inside her as if

  she'd swallowed a snake. But it was powerful. Very powerful. With it, she knew