Star Wars: Jedi Prince 2: The Lost City of the Jedi (3 page)

"Personally, I don’t think real princes have to put up with getting tooth-cleaner pushed into their mouths every morning by some droid. And real princes have banquets, they don’t just drink vitamin syrup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

"My, how you exaggerate," Chip said.

HC, meanwhile, continued to grade Ken’s homework.

"How did I get to be with you droids anyway?" Ken asked. "And when will you tell me who my parents are?"

"Dee-Jay is the only one who is programmed to answer those questions, Master Ken. And he promised to tell you when it’s time for you to know."

"But when will that be?"

"No one knows but Dee-Jay."

"And that’s the way it should be," HC added, without pausing to look up.

"Dee-jay likes to keep secrets," Ken said. "He probably won’t tell me until I’m as old as Commander Luke Skywalker; or maybe not even until I’m two hundred and seven, like-"

"Chewbacca is two hundred and five," HC interrupted.

Chip put the vaporizing tooth-cleaner into Ken’s mouth once again, and Ken promptly took it out.

"Did you ever stop to think that I might be tired of being cared for and protected all the time?" Ken demanded. "Especially by droids."

"I’ve told you a thousand times, Master Ken, I don’t think," Chip said. "You certainly should know that by now."

"And I don’t think, either," HC added. "I merely evaluate and process information-and give grades, of course. Fortunately, one doesn’t have to be able to think in order to give grades."

Ken hopped back into his bed and positioned his pillow under his head. "Well maybe if you droids could think, it would occur to you that I’d like to have some friends who are my own age."

"Why, Master Ken, I was manufactured the same month you were born," Chip replied. "I am your own age."

"I meant a human friend. Not a robot-not a, a droid."

"Please, Master Ken. You must stop thinking about these things until it’s time," Chip said. "And now is the time to wash your face, clean your ears, and drink some vitamin syrup. You’ve got to hurry off to the Jedi Library. Dee-Jay is waiting for you to begin your lessons."

"My ears and my face are clean. And I’m not hungry," Ken said. "And that’s final.

Good-bye, you two!"

Ken gave his mooka a quick scratch behind the ears. He then picked up his computer notebook and stepped out of his dome-house, pretending that he was heading straight for the library.

He walked along the rocky path, looking around at the huge underground cavern. Ken knew that this might be the last time he would see his home for a very long time.

As he looked around, he saw domes of all sizes, lit up by a soothing glow from bubble lights and fluorescent rocks. There were travel tubes, computer cubes, and droids of every imaginable size and shape, all going about their programmed business.

The droids were always busy-modifying the computers, making new droids, repairing old droids, working the power generators, and cleaning and maintaining the hundreds of domes throughout the city. Occasionally they even went Topworld for supplies, and to update the history of the galaxy for the Jedi Library.

When Ken reached the place where the path divided, instead of turning toward the Jedi Library, he stepped briskly toward the tubular transport shaft that went up to the surface of Yavin Four. The low-pitched whine of the shaft was almost drowned out by the loud thump of his excited heartbeat.

Ken opened his computer notebook and took out the metal key-card he had secretly made in Droid Repair Class. The key-card was the same size and shape as the one Dee-jay always used to activate the tubular transport. Ken now had his own key-card, punched with all the correct code numbers. But would it work?

The glowing, round tubular transport was ready to make its journey straight up, through miles of Yavin Four moonrock. And Ken was ready to make the journey Topworld, to a world he had only read about in books, and seen in pictures and holograms.

He clenched his teeth and inserted his homemade key-card into the slot.

VWOOOOP!

The tubular-transport door slid open, inviting him to step inside. This was the moment Ken had been waiting for!

Suddenly he heard the clatter of metal feet approaching him from behind. "Ken, this is very irregular!" a familiar voice cried out.

Ken glanced over his shoulder-it was Chip!

"It’s worse than irregular," Chip continued. "It’s forbidden. You know full well you’re not permitted to enter the tubular transport and go Topworld until you’re a man. Besides, you didn’t take your vitamin syrup. How do you expect to ever become big enough and strong enough to defend yourself?"

"But I hate the taste of vitamin syrup," Ken protested. "I want to find out what real food tastes like for once in my life. I want to have some dessert for a change. And I don’t mean vitamin mints, either-I mean real desserts, like ordinary kids get to have. I want to see the sky, and the rain forest. I want to travel to other stars and planets."

"What would Dee-Jay say about this if he found out?" Chip interrupted in a very annoyed tone. "I’ll tell you what he’d say. He’d say I neglected my duty and let you run off where you could be killed by Imperial stormtroopers, or eaten by wild beasts, or-"

"Chip, I’m going Topworld," Ken said insistently. "And don’t try to stop me. But as long as you’re here, you might as well come along. I may need a droid to help me."

DWEEP-DWEEP!

The tubular transport started beeping-a signal for all passengers to enter.

"You don’t know what you’ll find up there in the Topworld!" Chip said in a panic-stricken voice. "What do you know about bounty hunters, or, or-" Chip stammered, "or stormtroopers, or Imperial grand moffs, or Mynock bats, or Rancor creatures. There are alien boy-sellers who might steal a boy like you and sell you into a life of slavery in the spice mines of Kessel!"

Ken ignored Chip, and grabbed the silver droid by the arm, tugging him into the tubular transport. Suddenly the door slid shut. Ken pushed the button that said TOPWORLD, and the tubular transport began to rise like a rocket.

PHWOOOOOSH!

Higher and higher it zoomed. Ken stared out the window. Faint lights seemed to be dancing out of the blackness, like sparks of colored fire. It was the glow of luminous rocks.

"Relax, Chip," Ken said. "This will be fun."

"Fun, Master Ken?" Chip said. "Droids aren’t programmed to have fun. You should know that by now."

"Believe me, I do," Ken said in a disappointed voice.

Suddenly Ken felt as if his stomach were flying away from him. The tubular transport was going so fast it seemed almost out of control.

Ken and Chip each held tightly onto the handrails with all of their strength. "Oh, mercy,"

Chip said. "I was never designed to take the trip Topworld."

Ken shut his eyes and held his breath. And then, when he had held his breath as long as he possibly could, the tubular transport finally began to slow down, and then it stopped.

DZZZZZT!

The door slid open, and Ken took his first cautious steps into the rain forest.

In front of them was a beautiful wall of bright green marble. Together they went through an opening in the wall; the soft green light of the rain forest dazzled Ken’s eyes.

Ken had a faint memory of having seen this rain forest before. Perhaps it was when he had been a very small child, on that fateful day that the droids had only hinted to him about, when the Jedi Master in the brown robe had carried him down to the safety of the city built by ancient Jedi Knights. There the Jedi Master had left Ken, with no reminders of his past, nothing except the crystal he wore on the silver chain around his neck. Ken didn’t even have a hologram photo to remember what his mother and father looked like.

Ken continued to walk forward, leading Chip through the thickets of trees and vines, without knowing where they were going. Ken’s ears welcomed the sounds of the jungle-the cawing and chirping that filled the air like a song. It wasn’t long before they completely lost track of where they were and how to get back to the round stone wall of the tubular transport!

As Trioculus’s Imperial strike cruiser plunged through deep space, Grand Moff Hissa sighed with relief. It was good to be hurtling through space again. They were safe now.

Hissa’s pulse quickened as he recalled the narrow escape he and Trioculus had made from the Whaladon-hunting submarine back on Calamari. They had escaped just moments before the gigantic underwater explosion caused by Luke Skywalker.

Now they were on their way to the Null Zone to see Kadann, the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side. And three-eyed Trioculus, who had declared himself to be the new ruler of the Empire, proudly wore the glove he had found during their undersea journey-the glove of Darth Vader.

Grand Moff Dunhausen, Hissa’s most-trusted commander, came hurrying over, his earrings jangling and shaking. Dunhausen always wore earrings shaped like little laserblasters.

As Dunhausen informed Hissa of a dismaying message that had just been received, Hissa bit his lip and lowered his head. Hissa would have liked to have had good news to bring to Trioculus, but it seemed good news was in short supply.

Grand Moff Hissa found Trioculus inside the ruler’s private quarters aboard the strike cruiser.

"My Dark Lordship," Grand Moff Hissa began, "Grand Admiral Grunger still refuses to accept your claim to be Emperor-that is until Kadann, as Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, officially gives you his dark blessing. In that case, Grunger will withdraw his objections and will order his fleet of starfighters to follow your command."

Trioculus gritted his teeth. "And what is his excuse for withholding his loyalty?"

"Like so many of the others, my Lordship, he doubts your claim to be the son of Emperor Palpatine."

Trioculus snarled in anger. "What about COMPNOR?" he hissed in a low growl. "Has COMPNOR

replied to my demand for loyalty?"

COMPNOR was the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order-a group of powerful, brutal Imperial terrorists.

"My Lordship, COMPNOR also waits to serve you until you receive the dark blessing of Kadann."

Trioculus furiously blinked all three of his eyes-his two ordinary ones, plus his third eye, which was perched in the middle of his forehead. "What more does that black-bearded dwarf want?" Trioculus stormed. "He made a prophecy that the new Emperor would wear the glove of Darth Vader, and I have found the glove-that should be enough for him!"

"Kadann may be a dwarf, but I suggest that you don’t underestimate him, my Lordship,"

Grand Moff Hissa offered. "Before he will give you his dark blessing, he has to examine the glove himself to make sure it’s really Darth Vader’s. I suggest you respect him-and be wary of him. He’s crafty and sly. Expect him to try to trick you. And to test you."

With his right hand-the very hand that wore the glove of Darth Vader-Trioculus gripped a round control knob on the navigation panel.

"One other thing about Kadann, sir," Grand Moff Hissa added. "It’s important that you speak the truth to him, no matter what he asks you. No one has ever deceived the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side and lived to tell about it."

Trioculus frowned, squeezing the control knob even harder, as if he were choking a disobedient stormtrooper. The beacon at the top of his Imperial strike cruiser turned on.

It sent out an intense light, sweeping across the blackness of space in search of his destination-Space Station Scardia, home of the Prophets of the Dark Side.

Luke Skywalker was just above the top of the rain forest on Yavin Four, speeding faster than his airspeeder was designed to go. Luke squinted against the onrushing wind, racing madly without giving any thought to where he was going. It was as if someone else were the real pilot of his airspeeder-as though he were being pulled by a power greater than his own.

When he looked down, the tops of the trees blended together into a streak of blurry green.

The only landmarks on the horizon were the tops of the ancient pyramids.

But Luke was soon out of sight of the pyramids, lost and alone in the sky, with no understanding of where he was headed or why. Then he saw a stone sticking up very slightly above the treetops.

He slowed down his airspeeder, hovering and circling the stone.

He could see that it was like a steeple, perched at the top of a small temple hidden among the trees-a temple built by the ancient Massasi tribe of Yavin Four.

Luke piloted his airspeeder to a landing, breaking through the thick blanket of leaves at the treetops. At last he was on soft ground, near the base of the ancient temple. The floor of the rain forest was dark. The foliage was so thick the skylight couldn’t shine through.

Luke felt the pull again. The Force was guiding him, drawing him to walk past the tangle of twisting vines and radiant flowers that were in front of him.

A voice inside Luke, however, told him he should go back. His conscience was telling him that Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca would be worried about him.

But for the moment Luke followed a different voice instead. It was a quiet voice that made scarcely a sound. It was the inner voice of the Force, a voice that only a Jedi Knight could hear.

Luke left his airspeeder near the base of the temple and walked through the thick foliage.

He heard someone speak in rhyme, and he stopped cautiously in his tracks.

"You come from afar

So very welcome you are."

A strange alien humanoid with green, rubbery skin was leaning over, digging up a purple flower. When the alien stood erect, Luke could see that he was almost nine feet tall.

Instead of hair, there were short, snakelike vines growing out of the top of his head.

The alien glanced at Luke and spoke again:

"Baji is my name

I’m glad that you came."

Luke’s experience in life had taught him never to be too trusting. He put one hand on his lightsaber, unsure whether Baji was a friend, or an enemy pretending to be a friend.