William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back (3 page)

So then upon a tauntaun’s back I’ll ride.

Though with especial foulness they abuse

My nose, they are the speediest we have.

But Sir, the temp’rature doth drop too fast

For any living being to survive.

’Tis true, and my dear friend doth bear the brunt.

He shall not die while I have life or breath,

For neither snow nor ice nor gloom of Hoth

Shall stay my rescue of my greatest friend.

Thy tauntaun shall but freeze ere thou canst ride

Unto our prim’ry marker, I predict.

Then I shall dine with thee tonight in Hell!

[Exeunt Han Solo, Chewbacca, and deck officer.

Enter
L
UKE
S
KYWALKER
,
hanging upside down from balcony.

What warren, friends, is this? I am within

Some icy shelter. Now I do recall—

The creature large hath ta’en me by surprise,

Then quickly did my body overpow’r

By knocking me aside with painful blow.

It kill’d my tauntaun with its vicious claw,

Unmovèd by the creature’s awful scream.

It must have dragg’d us to this frozen lair.

E’en now I hear it gnaw my tauntaun’s flesh,

The stench of musty death is in my nose.

Now I’m awake, hung up by my own feet,

And sounds of tearing skin and crunching bone

Do echo through the monster’s gloomy cave.

The tauntaun, though, is only the first dish,

And I am bound to be the second course.

Indeed, I have a problem grave, and how

Shall I make rescue for myself? But wait—

What’s there—a’lying on the snow nearby?

It is my lightsaber—how fortunate!

’Tis still too far to grasp with my own reach:

Thus call I on the Force to save my life.

O concentrate, and call upon the things

Thou learn’st from Obi-Wan when he still liv’d.

Forsooth, I feel the Force begin to flow—

Within, nearby, inside, surrounding me.

O Force most strong—the lightsaber’s at hand!

Now am I free to flee the fierce beast’s clutch,

But, lo, the creature comes to me anon!

It will attack me in its fiery rage

Unless I am the first to strike. Lay on!

Enter
WAMPA
.
Luke cuts off the wampa’s arm and exits quickly.

Alas, how I am by this man abus’d—

Could I, for seeking food, not be excus’d?

It seemeth that this wampa shall have strife.

Thus, gentles all: have pity on my life.

[Exit wampa.

O horrid interim of waiting, time

That doth like snail unwillingly creep by.

Full many hours have pass’d without a word

Of Master Luke or Captain Solo. Now

The day grows late, and whisper’d words of fear

Throughout the base are heard for these men’s fate.

It seems that all lose heart, and think the worst,

For how can e’en our bold Han Solo stand

The harsh and unrelenting chill of Hoth?

But now, no more, C-3PO; thou art

Not made to worry and to fret. Be brave!

Come now, R2, there’s no more we can do.

Behold, my joints are freezing.

—Whistle, hoo.

Say not such things! Of course we shall set eyes

On Master Luke again. And he shall be

In perfect health, thou impish little droid.

Aye, he shall be in perfect health.

[
aside:
]          —I fear

This chill that doth e’en now my metal frame

Assault. ’Tis cold unto the core. ’Tis cold,

I fear, unto the death. Bear up, droid soul,

And listen to C-3PO’s advice:

Be thou a helpful strength amid distress.

Sir, all patrols are in, and still no sign

From either Skywalker or Solo.

—Dread!

My Mistress Leia, R2 makes report

He hath not any signals yet receiv’d.

However, he admitteth that his range

Is far too weak to give up ev’ry hope.

Your Highness, I do fear there’s nothing more

That we may do tonight. The shield doors must

Be closèd.

—I consent, but with a heart

That breaketh even now.

[
to Lieutenant:
]          —Aye, close the doors.

Meep, beep, meep squeak.

—Now R2 doth report

The odds of their survival in the cold

Are seven hundred twenty-five to one.

[The shield doors close.

Egh, grrm, egh, auugh!

—Though R2’s wont to make

Mistakes, from time to time. O dear, O dear.

[Exeunt Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Lieutenant, and Major Derlin.

[
aside:
] Why did I speak? O curse my beeping tongue!

“A helpful strength” I pledg’d that I would be,

But now have made these matters worse, for I

Have giv’n our princess reason to be scar’d.

Yet I do worry for my master’s life,

And though I would not cause undue distress

I fear that he may never make return.

[
To C-3PO:
] Beep, squeak.

—Nay, fear thou not, my silver friend.

I’ll warrant he shall surely be all right,

For Master Luke is clever, young, and spry

E’en for a human being. So say I!

[Exeunt.

O what a torment have I just endur’d!

For after my attack by creature cruel,

I quickly made my exit from his lair

And made my great escape amidst the snow.

Far, far I ran to find a refuge safe,

Yet too far from the rebels’ base I’ve gone.

And now my strength has left—I fail again—

My body falls, too weak to make its way.

[He falls.

But now, e’en now, what vision comes to me?

Luke!

—Ben?

—Attend me, Luke. Thou shalt unto

The system Dagobah go.

—Dagobah?

There thou shalt learn the Force from Yoda, aye—

The Jedi master who instructed me.

[Exit Ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Ben, leave me not! Alas, I fall again.

[Luke collapses as Han enters and dismounts his tauntaun.

Amid the burning snow and winter’s bite,

Have I this journey ta’en to find my friend.

But lo, what is this sight that now I see?

’Tis Luke, collaps’d! O lad, be thou not dead!

Give me some sign thou livest! Aye, Luke, live!

The cold of Hoth shall yet be warmth to me

If thou art still alive. Come now, good friend!

[The tauntaun falls over, frozen to death.

[
muttering:
] O Ben, O Dagobah!

[Han takes Luke’s lightsaber and cuts open the tauntaun, pulling Luke close to its warmth.

—We’ve not much time.

Stay with me, Luke. ’Tis true, this shall smell bad,

But also shall it keep thee warm until

The shelter hath erected been. O, vile!

These tauntauns have an awful stench outside,

But nothing did I know of wretchedness,

Disgusting rot, and sick’ning filth till this

New smell hath made attack upon my nose.

[Han sits with Luke as night passes.

The shelter now is fashion’d by my hands

Both strong and deft. We shall await the morn

With only tauntaun’s guts as company.

O guardian of nighttime travelers,

Be with me and my comrade Luke this eve,

For we are merely pilgrims far from home

Who wish to come again unto our mates.

Now sev’ral anxious hours we’ve huddl’d here,

And with the morning dawns the light of hope.

My rebel friends shall surely make attempt

To find where Luke and I have spent the night.

Search well, my lads, the prize waits to be found!

The speeders all have been prepar’d, and now

A proper search for Luke and Han begins.

But what is this? Shall fortune be so kind?

My sensors do report some life forms near,

Mayhap the cherish’d find shall yet be mine.

Pray listen, Echo Base, to my report:

There’s something here my scanner hath just found.

’Tis yet unsure, but may a life form be.

Commander Skywalker, dost thou hear me?

’Tis Rogue Two. O good captain Solo, dost

Thou hear? ’Tis Rogue Two.