Tash shuddered, thinking of the wraiths. "Do you suppose-?"
"You stay here," Meex ordered. "I'm going to check out the other ship."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Zak argued. "We should stick
together. Maybe we could fly one of these ships to get the others, and then
scan for Uncle Hoole."
"Not until I find out what happened to the crew we left here," Meex said.
He looked suspiciously at Eppon. "If the wraiths got them, I want proof."
Through the Falcon's cockpit window, Tash, Zak, and Deevee watched Meex
creep slowly to the other ship, moving quietly, his weapon drawn. Meex reached
the ship and pressed himself against the hull, holding his blaster steady.
Then he opened the hatch, and quickly jabbed his blaster inside.
Nothing happened.
Cautiously, he slipped inside the cargo ship.
Tash and Zak waited for three minutes. Five minutes. Seven minutes.
When ten minutes had passed, Tash whispered, "It seems like we've been
waiting forever. Should we go after him?"
Zak shook his head. "Not yet."
Eppon's eyes were riveted on the other ship. "Eppon," he whispered.
"What if he doesn't come back?" Tash wondered aloud.
"At least we're safe for the moment," said Deevee.
"Eppon!" Eppon suddenly shouted. Before they could stop him, he scampered
out of the cockpit and toward the exit.
"Stop!" Tash and Zak yelled, starting after him. "Wait!" Deevee called
out.
Tash and Zak were faster, and they reached the hatch ahead of the droid.
They dashed outside to see Eppon streaking toward the other ship. They were
both surprised at his speed-hours ago Eppon couldn't even walk. Now he was
running faster than any five-year-old possibly could.
"Eppon, stop!" the two Arrandas yelled.
They were so busy watching the boy, they did not notice the shadows
creeping toward them.
"What's he doing?" Tash gasped to Zak.
"What makes you think I know?" Zak retorted. "I can't even see him
anymore. He ran into the shadow of the ship."
Zak pulled up short, his heart suddenly leaping into his throat.
The shadow of the starship had suddenly grown enormous.
And it was still growing.
In seconds, the giant shadow had surrounded them. "Oh, no."
That was all Zak had time to whisper before a great wave of darkness rose
up and fell crashing down around them, and everything went black.
CHAPTER 10
Zak had no idea why he had passed out, or how much time had gone by since
he did. All he knew when he awoke was that his arms and legs felt heavy, like
he was waking from a deep sleep. The back of his head was sore-he felt like
he'd been using a rock for a pillow. His eyes were closed, and it was very
dark. He opened his eyes.
The darkness didn't go away.
Zak blinked to make sure his eyes were really open. The darkness around
him was complete. It was darker than a deep hole, darker than deep space
itself.
"Where am I?" he said aloud.
A thousand whispering voices answered him at the same time. You are in
the heart of our misery! You are at the center of our hatred!
Zak felt the wraiths moving all around him. When they brushed over his
skin, it felt like a sudden gust of warm, musty air. Zak knew that the wraiths
could tear him to shreds at any moment. He shuddered.
His hand touched something soft beside him. It was cloth. Groping about,
he felt Tash's hand. He found her shoulder and shook it gently. "Tash. Tash!"
Although she was less than an arm's length away, he could not see her,
but he heard her stir. "Zak?" she muttered drowsily. "Zak, where are we?"
Then, her voice trembling, she said, "Oh, no. The wraiths."
Zak nodded. "They've got us."
Zak and Tash stood up together, holding hands. They felt stone beneath
their feet, and knew that they were standing somewhere on Kiva. But everywhere
they looked, they could see nothing but darkness.
"What do we do now?" Zak wondered.
"I don't know," Tash replied from the darkness. "We've lost Uncle Hoole.
We've lost Deevee. Meex is gone. Eppon ran away. We're-We're alone again."
Zak squeezed her hand. "Not while we've got each other." His voice
hardened. "Maybe we can fight our way out of here."
"No, we shouldn't fight them, Zak," Tash said firmly. "Whatever these
creatures are, they're angry, they're full of pain. Something terrible
happened to them, and for some reason they blame us. We've got to make them
understand that we don't mean any harm."
Zak felt a wraith pass close by, its shadowy form brushing the back of
his neck with a hiss. He shivered. "I'll try anything."
Tash called out, "We haven't done anything to you. We're not your enemy!"
Murderers! Children of the murderer! a thousand voices replied. Listen to
us! Once, a beautiful civilization thrived on Kiva. Now nothing is left but
our tortured spirits.
"Maybe we can help," Tash offered.
Her words caused a violent hiss to crisscross the darkness. When it
stopped, the voices mocked, Help? Help? Years ago, strangers came to Kiva
offering help. They promised to make us great and powerful. Instead, they
destroyed us! All our people were wiped out! They disintegrated our bodies,
leaving only our shadows.
"We're sorry!" Zak yelled. "We know how terrible that must have been."
You cannot know! the shadows wailed. Have you ever lost your whole world?
"Yes, we have!" Tash cried out. "The Empire destroyed our homeworld,
Alderaan. We lost everything!"
Her words caused a strange reaction. The darkness seemed to swirl about
itself, suddenly confused. The wraiths whispered among themselves. Finally,
one voice spoke above the others.
But you came here with the murderer! You are the children of Mammon!
"No, we're not!" Zak said. "We didn't come here with any murderer. Who
are you talking about?"
"They are talking," replied another voice out of the darkness, "about me.
"
The darkness parted like a curtain, and into the center of the black
circle stepped a solitary figure with slumped shoulders and a tortured look on
his face.
It was Uncle Hoole.
CHAPTER 11
The wraiths closed around Hoole, leaving him and the Arrandas in the
dark.
Murderer! Killer! Revenge! Revenge! the voices chanted.
"Uncle Hoole?" Tash asked, reaching out to him. She found her uncle's
hand and held it. "What do they mean? What's going on here?"
"It's time you knew the truth about me." Hoole's voice drifted from the
darkness. The strong, commanding tone Zak and Tash were used to was gone. In
its place was a quiet whisper, telling them a sad story.
"Zak, you once pointed out that I had never told you and Tash my name. I
was Hoole, and that was all you needed to know. The truth is that I abandoned
my first name years ago. I tried to leave it buried in the past."
There was a pause. "My first name is Mammon."
The shadows hissed.
Hoole continued. "Almost twenty years ago I was a scientist. I thought I
was brilliant, and I wanted to become
famous in the field of genetics. I
didn't want to just clone things. I wanted to create life.
"When the Emperor came to power, I saw my opportunity. The Empire
encouraged research in new areas of science. Another scientist and I were
given millions of credits by the Empire and allowed to begin our experiments."
"You worked for the Empire?" Tash said, hardly believing it. "Didn't you
know how evil the Empire was?"
"No," Hoole replied. "No one knew how evil the Emperor was until it was
too late. Besides, I was too busy with my research. Eventually, we finished
our basic experiments. We needed more room, a larger facility. To create life
out of nothing, we learned, we would need an incredible amount of energy. The
Emperor built a huge laboratory here, on Kiva. Here, we explored the secrets
of life itself."
Hoole took a deep breath before continuing his story, as the wraiths
continued to hiss and swarm around them.
"We created huge generators that could focus the power of an entire star
into one tiny test tube. But we lost control of our experiments. Instead of
creating new life, we let loose a blast of energy that swept across the entire
planet, wiping out every living thing."
"And then you just left these wraiths to suffer?" Zak asked.
Hoole shook his head. "No. I had no idea that the Kivans survived at all.
The accident... it happened so fast. I tried to broadcast a warning, but the
energy we released disrupted the transmission. My partner and I barely escaped
before the explosion."
A terrible thought snaked its way into Tash's mind. She tried to hold it
back, but it was too strong, too terrible. Several old, nagging questions
repeated themselves in her brain.
How had Hoole known about Project Starscream and its leader?
How did so many underworld figures like Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt know
Hoole?
How did Hoole know where Gog's headquarters would be?
Finally, she asked the question, afraid of hearing the answer. "Who was
your partner? Who was the other scientist?"
Hoole's voice was filled with agony. "It was Gog."
"No," Tash said.
"That's impossible," Zak said. "This is all some kind of terrible lie. It
can't be true. Gog nearly killed us, and you worked with him?" His voice
became shrill with anger.
"Zak, Tash, there's more to the story-"
"I don't care!" Tash said, her voice cracking. "You lied to us. And
what's worse," she choked, "you destroyed an entire planet. All these
creatures-you turned them into nothing but ghosts. What you did... it was as
bad as what the Empire did to Alderaan!"
"All that you say," said Hoole, "is true."
Zak broke in, his voice full of bitterness. "I'll bet that's why you
wanted to take care of us. When Alderaan was destroyed, it reminded you of
your own crime. You felt guilty. You didn't take us in because you cared about
us. You just wanted to make yourself feel better!"
Hoole said nothing.
The shadows closed in. The wraiths pressed about them so thickly that
they became almost solid.
The voices declared, Years ago we swore vengeance. Today we shall have
it. The murderer Mammon will be punished for his crimes.
"What are you going to do to him?" Zak asked.
Before we were destroyed, our laws stated that victims had the right to
confront those who harmed them. Thousands upon thousands died here because of
him. He will stand here, and be forced to hear the agonized voices of each
person he destroyed.
Tash and Zak both shuddered.
The voices continued. And then, when Mammon has seen all the misery he
has caused, he will be executed!
CHAPTER 12
He will be executed!
The phrase was repeated over and over again, carried through the shadows
by hundreds and thousands of voices. Hoole remained as still as stone.
Tash and Zak felt shadowy hands grab them. They were pushed from behind
and pulled from the front, carried away from Hoole. Seconds later, the shadows
parted, and Tash and Zak found themselves standing in the gray light of Kiva
once again, not far from where the Millennium Falcon had landed.
Turning quickly around, they saw, in the center of the valley, a huge,
were on the outside.
For a moment, the two Arrandas just stood there, dazed. Neither of them
knew exactly how to feel. Hoole had taken them in, he had cared for them. He
had even saved their lives, more than once. But he had also kept a terrible
secret from them.
Zak was the first to speak. "I can't believe it."
"He lied to us," Tash said.
"He-He's a murderer."
"Worse than a murderer," Tash said. "A planet-killer." She paused. "But
he's still our uncle."
Zak nodded. "He's done so much for us. And he's still in there. They're
going to kill him! What do we do?"
Tash shook her head. "He didn't seem to want to be saved. And I'm not
sure we could save him. Maybe we should go back to the ships to find Deevee
and Eppon. Then figure out what to do."
Zak felt numb. "We can't just leave him in there."
"What choice do we have?" his sister replied.
Zak had no answer.
Together, they started back toward the Millennium Falcon. Neither of them
spoke. Neither of them wanted to admit the horrible truth going through both
their minds: they weren't sure they wanted to save Hoole.
They reached the Falcon and the cargo ship. As they approached, two
figures hurried toward them. One shone silvery in the gray light. The other
looked like Eppon except...
"He's bigger!" Zak groaned.
"It appears to be true," Deevee agreed. "I found the boy again only a few
minutes after you vanished. He had already grown to this size. Fortunately, I
was able to locate a spare jumpsuit in the cargo ship. It fits him rather
well."
Zak stood next to the mysterious boy. "I'll say. He's bigger than me."
It was true. Eppon had grown into a teenage boy. His hair now reached
well past his shoulders. His face had lost all its baby fat, and he had
started to develop strong muscles in his arms. Even his voice had changed.
"Eppon!" he said in a deep-throated bark.
"That mark is bigger, too," Tash noticed. The purple bruise on his brow
had spread. It covered most of his forehead now and looked like it was
spreading down his face. "It looks bad. What do you think it is, Deevee?"
Deevee shook his head. "My knowledge of biology is limited. Also, based
on his rapid rate of growth, I would say this boy is not entirely human, so I
cannot say for sure what illness he might have."
The only thing that hadn't changed about Eppon was the twinkle in his eye
for Zak and Tash. He smiled at them both and said again, "Eppon!"
Deevee was equally delighted to see them. "I thought I'd never see you
two again! What happened?"
They hurried into the Falcon as Zak and Tash explained how the wraiths
had captured them. When they got to the part about Hoole's confession, Deevee
&
nbsp; did not seem surprised. "I must confess that I had my suspicions," the droid
said.
Zak's eyes went wide. "What? How long have you-?"
"Not long," the droid explained. "In fact, I had no idea until a few
hours ago. It was the droid Artoo-Detoo who told me. Do you recall how he
plugged into the fortress computer?"
"Yes," Tash said. "He said he couldn't find any files about Project
Starscream."
Deevee nodded. "That is true. But he did find some old files from twenty
years ago. They revealed that two Shi'ido had been running the experiments
that destroyed Kiva. After that, I put my highly efficient computer brain to
work. However, I wasn't completely sure until you told your story."
Tash shook her head. "All this time. We were with him all this time, and