Clones

by John Whitman

  bolted after whatever had vanished.

  By the time she reached the corner, whatever it was, was gone.

  However, she knew she had reached the center of the ruins.

  Before her stood the building she had seen from outside, the only intact

  structure still standing in the ruins. It wasn't very tall, and it wasn't very

  wide. It was built in the shape of a short round tower.

  And the Force was strong inside it. She could feel it from the outside.

  Cautiously, Tash crept forward. She felt as if she were being watched.

  She reached the entrance. There must have been a door here once, but it

  had been blasted away, leaving a hole framed by jagged edges. Carefully, Tash

  put her hand on the rough edge of the broken entryway and peered inside. The

  room was empty. But that didn't stop a chill from running down her spine like

  ice water. She felt something here.

  The dark side of the Force.

  The sensation that someone, or something, was watching her grew stronger.

  Her skin tingled, and the tiny hairs on her arms and the back of her neck

  stood on end.

  The dark feeling frightened her. But at the same time, she felt something

  inside her reach out for it. She didn't want it to happen, but she couldn't

  stop it.

  Distracted by the cold feeling of the dark side, Tash never heard the

  footsteps that closed in behind her. She didn't hear anything until a hand

  wrapped itself around her neck.

  Tash felt herself jerked backward until she lost her footing. An arm

  encircled her throat, cutting off her air. Whoever it was, they were strong.

  Maga! she thought. He's trying to kill me!

  But then she heard a male voice speaking without the harsh Dantari

  accent. "Don't struggle, I-"

  She didn't know who her attacker was, but she didn't plan to wait to find

  out. Briefly, Tash considered trying to use the Force to lift up a nearby rock

  and hurl it at his head. But she couldn't concentrate, so she settled for

  something simpler.

  She bit him.

  Her teeth sank into his arm and the man howled in pain. He loosened his

  grip and she broke free, turning to face her attacker. He was human, with a

  round freckled face and reddish hair. He had backed away, preparing himself

  for more trouble as he clutched at the bite wound on his arm.

  When she saw that the man had given up the fight, Tash eased up a little.

  "Who are you? Why are you here? Why did you grab me?"

  "I think I should be the one to ask the questions," the man said.

  But he didn't get a chance to ask any. Something large and dark and furry

  vaulted over Tash's shoulder and slammed into the stranger, driving him into

  the ground.

  CHAPTER 6

  Tash couldn't tell what species the creature was. All she could tell was

  that long, curved fangs stabbed out from its upper jaw. Then, an instant

  later, the creature shivered as if very cold, and transformed into a tall,

  gray-skinned Shi'ido.

  "Uncle Hoole!" Tash shouted.

  "Tash, are you injured?" Hoole said, never taking his dark eyes off the

  stranger. He loomed over the man, who lay flat on his back, stunned.

  "No," she said. "It's all right, you can-"

  "Tash!" her brother yelled. He came running up from behind. "Sorry it

  took me so long to get here. I thought I'd better go back and get Uncle Hoole.

  And then we heard the screams."

  Hoole still hadn't taken his eyes off the red-haired man. "We would have

  reached you sooner, but the design of these ruins is most intriguing. And

  confusing."

  "Yeah," Zak agreed. "And I think Maga knew about it. He wanted you to

  wander in here and get lost, rash."

  Tash had nearly forgotten about Maga and didn't care about him at the

  moment. She pointed to the man. "I think it's all right, Uncle Hoole. You can

  let him up.

  Hoole stepped back, his face still dark with anger. "Why did you attack

  my niece?"

  The man stood up and dusted himself off. He was wearing an old flight

  suit. His red hair was a tangled mess and dust now covered his face. His eyes

  were bright but, Tash thought, kind of empty.

  The glowpanels are lit, she thought, but nobody's home. "I didn't attack

  her," the man answered. Words tumbled out of his mouth. "I was so surprised to

  see anyone here... we never get visitors... I just didn't know if she was

  real."

  "Where did you come from?" Hoole demanded. "Over there," the man said,

  waving his hand toward the river.

  "How did you get here?" Hoole demanded.

  "I walked," the man replied.

  Hoole's frown deepened. He tried an even simpler question. "What is your

  name?"

  "My name is Eyal, and as I said, I should be the one asking questions."

  Eyal's eyes brightened, as though he'd just gotten a brilliant idea. "But why

  don't we go back to our base? We can talk there."

  Hoole raised an eyebrow. "Your base?"

  "Sure," Eyal said warmly.

  He pointed in the direction of the group of newer buildings.

  Hoole and the two Arrandas exchanged glances, and Tash could tell her

  brother and uncle had the same questions she had: Was this the old Rebel base?

  Wasn't it supposed to be abandoned?

  "Excuse us," Hoole said, pulling Zak and Tash to one side. Eyal simply

  nodded and smiled.

  "I don't like this," Zak said. "He attacked Tash!"

  "Yes," Hoole agreed in a low voice. "But his presence also raises some

  intriguing questions. I am curious to know who is on this planet. If there are

  Rebels here, they could help us in our efforts to evade the Empire."

  Zak was still suspicious. "Uncle Hoole, you're usually the one who warns

  us to keep out of trouble. Don't you think we should avoid this guy like a

  black hole?"

  Hoole considered. "You have a point, Zak, but if we keep our eyes open we

  should be fine."

  Before they left the Jedi ruins, Tash asked Hoole and Zak to examine the

  round room, wondering if they would feel the same thing she had. They did. Zak

  said it felt like the electric tingle of a scanner. Hoole merely shrugged.

  Eyal led them out of the ruins. Although the layout of the place still

  confused Tash, Eyal seemed to have an excellent sense of direction.

  "How do you know where you're going?" Tash asked him. Try as she might,

  she couldn't tell exactly where they were. If she hadn't known better, she

  would have thought the ruins were shifting around, making new paths and

  blocking old ones. But of course that was impossible.

  "It just takes some getting used to," Eyal explained.

  Instead of taking them back toward the prairie, from where they'd come,

  he led them in the opposite direction. As they exited the ruins, they found

  themselves near the river. To Tash's surprise, she saw that a bridge had been

  built across the river. It was simple, made of bilba tree wood, but it was a

  good, solid construction.

  "I didn't think the Dantari built anything," she said.

  "Oh, the Dantari didn't build this," Eyal said. "They never come here. I

  don't think they like the ruins, or the base."

  The abandoned Rebel base rose up out of the grassland as i
f it had been

  put there by mistake. Located a short distance from the river, it had only

  five buildings-round, modern, brown domes that rose several stories high.

  As they drew near, Tash and Zak heard sounds of activity. Voices were

  carried to them on the wind, as well as the sounds of hammering and drilling.

  "I thought the Rebel base was abandoned long ago, before the Death Star

  even," Zak said as they crossed the bridge.

  Eyal blinked. "What is the Death Star?"

  "Are you kidding?" Zak answered. "I thought everyone had heard about the

  Battle of Yavin, and the Death Star. The Rebels destroyed it!"

  Eyal shrugged. "We have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy for some

  time. In fact, that's why I'm bringing you to the base. I'm hoping you can

  help us get off this planet."

  Hoole and the Arrandas quickly saw what Eyal meant by us. Not only was

  the Rebel base not abandoned, it was filled with people. All of them were

  dressed in jumpsuits that looked as if they'd come out of the same box. There

  were humans, and short, gill-faced Sullustans, and Bothans, and several other

  species Tash didn't recognize. They all seemed to be working hard, carrying

  bundles this way and that.

  Tash noticed that all the activity revolved around one building in the

  center. As they approached, the Rebels all stopped and stared-except for one

  Sullustan, who trotted toward them. He was shorter than Tash and had large

  dark eyes and even larger ears.

  "Eyal," he said in a thick accent. "Who are the strangers?"

  "Hello, Dr'uun," Eyal replied. "I found them wandering in the old ruins.

  I thought our leader should meet them right away."

  "You're right," Dr'uun said. "But he's away at the moment."

  Eyal considered. "Should we wait?"

  The Sullustan shook his head. "The leader wouldn't want any delays. If

  these people can help us, we should get started immediately."

  Tash had no idea what they were talking about, and she could see that Zak

  was just as confused. She wanted to ask questions, but Hoole spoke first. "We

  would be happy to help in any way possible. But I do not know what we can do

  for you."

  "Come with us."

  Eyal and Dr'uun led them toward the central building. There were more

  stares, and a small crowd began to follow them until Eyal called out, "I know

  you're excited, but you all have duties to perform. Get back to work until our

  leader returns. He'll tell you everything you need to know about the new

  arrivals."

  At the mention of their leader, the crowd of Rebels nodded, muttered, and

  returned to their duties, which seemed to involve scurrying around the base

  for no obvious reason.

  Whatever it had been before, the central building had been turned into a

  giant aircraft hangar. The roof was high and the inside of the building

  totally hollowed out, making one enormous space. It wasn't empty, though.

  Squatting in the middle was a spaceship. Or at least, what might have

  been a spaceship, if spaceships were made out of old scrap metal, bilba tree

  wood, and patches of woven grass. It was like a giant model of a star

  freighter, several times larger than their own ship, the Shroud. It was the

  kind of thing children might build in their backyard, only on a much bigger

  scale. It obviously wasn't real. So what Eyal said next caught the three

  newcomers by surprise.

  "You can help us with this," Eyal said. "Can you get our spaceship to

  fly?"

  CHAPTER 7

  Tash waited for Eyal to laugh-he had to be joking. But the Rebel

  continued to look at them seriously. Hoole raised an eyebrow-it was as close

  as her stone-faced uncle would ever get to looking surprised.

  "That will not fly," Hoole told Eyal.

  "That's true," Dr'uun said. "Especially if I don't get back to work.

  Eyal, make our visitors welcome, and come see me after you've talked." The

  Sullustan hurried toward the ridiculous starship and disappeared inside.

  Eyal sighed. "I'm afraid you're right. We had several dismantled ships,

  and we put all the parts together. But we don't have a working repulsor unit

  to get the ship off the ground. And we couldn't get very far in deep space

  anyway, because we don't have a hyperdrive motivator."

  Zak couldn't contain himself any longer. "Yeah, not to mention that your

  ship is made of wood and grass!" Eyal blinked.

  He didn't seem to understand Zak's point.

  A hint of suspicion entered Hoole's eye. "You are trying to leave the

  planet?"

  "Of course," Eyal said. "We've been stranded here for a long time. Our

  leader says we need to get off Dantooine right away."

  "Can't others in the Rebellion pick you up?" Tash asked. "Don't they know

  you're here?"

  "Apparently not," Eyal admitted. "We have no communications equipment,

  and no one has arrived on Dantooine except you."

  "How did you get here?" Tash asked.

  Eyal blinked. He looked, Tash realized, as if he'd never considered the

  question before. "We were... we were left here."

  "You mean when the rest of the Rebels abandoned the base?" Zak asked.

  Again Eyal paused. "Yes."

  Hoole considered. Tash could sense that he was bothered by the strange

  behavior of these Rebels. But he didn't seem to think they were a threat.

  Finally, Hoole said, "If you need to get off the planet, we can help. We have

  a ship. It's far too small to accommodate everyone. But we could take a few of

  you, and-"

  "You have a ship!" Eyal shouted. "That's perfect! Where is it?"

  "In hiding," Hoole explained. "We didn't want to frighten the Dantari."

  "Could we reach it quickly?" Eyal asked.

  "There is no need to go to it," Hoole said. He pulled a small device from

  the folds of his robe. It was a flat, black rectangle with several buttons. "I

  can summon the ship with this remote. The autopilot is programmed to fly

  slowly and safely, but the ship could reach us in"-he paused to check the

  readout on the small remote's computer screen-"in a little over a standard

  hour."

  A Sullustan trotted past them. "Hello, Eyal!" the Sullustan called out.

  "Hello, Dr'aan!" Eyal called back as the Sullustan passed by.

  Tash did a double take as the small Sullustan hurried away. "Did you see

  that?" she asked.

  "What?" Zak asked.

  "That Sullustan," she sputtered. "He-He looked just like Dr'uun."

  Zak turned, but by that time the second Sullustan was out of sight. He

  shrugged. "Maybe all Sullustans look alike," he said wryly. "Maybe all humans

  look alike to them."

  Tash ignored the joke. "Maybe it was the jumpsuit," she muttered.

  "They're all wearing the same uniform."

  She looked at Eyal as if to ask a question, but their guide was too

  absorbed by Hoole and his small remote.

  Hoole entered a code into the remote, and watched as the screen showed

  him a series of signals. "The remote shows that all systems are functioning.

  The Shroud should be here in approximately two hours and forty minutes."

  Eyal looked extremely relieved. "This is the best news we've had. Will

  you excuse me? I need to tell some of the others.
"

  "Of course," Hoole replied. "What should we do in the meantime?"

  "Feel free to look around," Eyal said. "Or you can walk back down to the

  river. It is pleasant there. I'll be back shortly." He hurried out of the

  building.

  Hoole, Zak, and Tash exchanged glances. Hoole nodded for them to follow

  him, and they left the hangar. Hoole led them back toward the river, where

  they sat in the grass near the wooden bridge. Beside them, the wide river

  flowed quietly and peacefully. They were well out of earshot of the Rebels.

  "Do you get the feeling these people are a few starships short of a

  fleet?" Zak said.

  "At least one starship short," Tash laughed, thinking of their ridiculous

  ship.

  "I agree there is much to question," Hoole said. "Starting with the fact

  that anyone is here at all. When I first heard mention of Dantooine and

  considered it as a place for us to hide, I learned that there was an abandoned