Galaxy Of Fear_ The Hunger Part 6

"Really?" Zak said.

A rush of excitement filled him. If there really was an imp, this would be his chance to do something important. He'd been letting Tash and Uncle Hoole take control for too long. Now it was his turn to be a hero.

"Come on," Zak said, starting forward.

"No, no!" Galt said, holding him back. "It's not safe."

Zak snorted, thinking of the smuggler's head. "It's not very safe here either, is it?"

"But it's a waste of-"

Zak didn't hear the end of Galt's statement. He was splashing through puddles and jumping over fallen logs. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that what he was doing was dangerous. The next puddle could swallow him whole, or his next step could land him in the mouth of some swamp beast. But none of that mattered. He felt an irresistible urge to move forward.

Zak didn't think he had run very far, maybe a hundred meters. His legs weren't tired. But suddenly, the urge to run left him. The moment it did, he felt drained, like a power cell with all the energy sucked out.

And into the s.p.a.ce left behind poured all the fear he had ignored for the past few minutes.

He was alone in a clearing in the swamp where one person had already been killed. He couldn't see the Children's village. He wasn't even sure in which direction it was.

"What am I doing?" he asked aloud.

"Stepping on me, you are," said a throaty voice at his feet.

Zak nearly jumped out of his skin. He stumbled backward and fell into a muddy puddle. Propping himself up on his arms, he found himself at eye level with one of the strangest beings he'd ever seen.

The creature was less than one meter tall. Its skin was the color of the Dagobah mud, dry and cracked with age. Tufts of gray hair, grew in little bushes around its large, pointed ears. But its eyes were youthful and bright.

Those eyes were round, and soft, and deep, and they reminded Zak of nothing he'd ever seen before, except maybe the feeling he had when he looked up at night and saw the whole galaxy spread out across the sky.

"Deaf as well as blind, are you?" the creature said. It poked him in the ribs with a little cane it held in one hand.

"Wh-What?" Zak stammered.

"Asked a question, I did. Where are my seeds?" Zak was utterly confused.

"My seeds, my seeds. Ah, here! Hiding with you, they are!"

The creature struggled to push Zak aside and get at something beneath him. Zak rolled away, and the creature started to gather up a pile of round seeds it had been collecting, humming, "Good for the soup.

Good for the bones, mm-hm."

"You eat those?" Zak said doubtfully, staring at the seeds. Each one was about the size of his fingernail, but they all looked as hard as rocks.

"Eat them? Eat them, no," the creature said. He looked at Zak and smiled. "Plant them, I do. Grow and bear fruit, they will. That is the way."

"Who are you?" Zak asked.

The creature dropped the seeds into a little pouch at his side.

Then he jabbed the stick into Zak's ribs again. "Not important who I am.

The question you should be asking is, Who are you?"

"I know who I am," Zak replied.

"Do you?" asked the creature.

Zak wanted to laugh. The creature sounded silly and looked even sillier. But something about the way he asked the question made Zak pause. If there was one thing he'd learned after all his adventures with Uncle Hoole, it was that appearances could be deceiving.

"A good lesson!" the creature cackled, as though reading his thoughts.

Not knowing what else to do, Zak said, "My name is Zak Arranda.

What's yours?"

The creature cackled again gleefully. "I am Yoda." Zak shook his head. "For a planet that's supposed to be uninhabited, Dagobah sure is getting crowded."

Yoda made a gurgling sound in his throat. "Uninhabited, do you say?" The little creature spread his small arms wide. "Have you no eyes?

No ears? Life is all around."

"Oh, right," Zak said, surprised by the little creature's suddenly serious tone. "I just meant, you know, intelligent life."

"Intelligent, huh!" Yoda said with a grunt of disgust. "What is this intelligence?"

Zak opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. He thought of the most intelligent people he knew-Tash and Uncle Hoole.

"Intelligence means learning. Being able to figure things out.

Knowing how the universe works," Zak finally said.

"Ahhh," the little creature said, nodding meaningfully. "Come here," he said, shuffling toward a nearby tree. When Zak hesitated, Yoda waved his stick. "Come, come, come!"

Not knowing whether to be amused or frightened, Zak followed. Yoda stood next to a rotting log. With his stick he poked the log, and a chunk of dead wood fell away. Inside, hundreds of worms as thick as Zak's finger wriggled and squirmed.

"Yuck," Zak said.

"Rotworms," Yoda said. "Are they intelligent?"

"No," Zak answered, trying to explain. "You see-"

Yoda spoke again as the exposed rotworms burrowed into the soft, decaying wood and disappeared. "Rotworms learn that dead logs make the best homes. They figure out how to burrow into the wood. Burrowing, they help the log to rot, and the bits of dead wood enrich the soil, making good ground for new trees to grow." The little creature stared at Zak.

"That is how the universe works."

Zak blinked. A moment ago this strange creature had seemed like a clown. Now he wasn't so sure. "Who are you?" he asked again.

Yoda nodded mysteriously. "Someone you will meet again. Now go.

Others await you."

Zak started to ask another question, but Yoda chattered, "Go, go, go. Away with your questions!"

The little creature turned to leave. His movements were awkward, more like a waddle than a walk, but he was gone so quickly that Zak was half-convinced that Yoda had simply vanished into the misty air.

"That was prime," Zak said aloud. "Weird. But prime."

He turned to go. He felt confident about his directions now. In fact, the way back was so obvious, he wondered why he'd been worried. He started to jog. But his feet slowed down as he caught the dull glint of metal in the gloomy swamp.

Curious, Zak approached the metal object. As he did, he realized that it was very large. Creeping nearer, he saw that it was a ship. And when he was only a few dozen meters from it, he realized that it was a ship he recognized.

He'd seen it on the Shroud's scanners.

The ship belonged to Boba Fett.

CHAPTER 10.

"Boba Fett!" Platt spat the name out like a curse. "This is getting worse all the time!"

Zak had brought the news back to the village as fast as he could run. First, he had told Tash and Uncle Hoole, adding everything that had happened with the strange character called Yoda.

"Yoda," Tash had replied. "There's something about that name . . ."

"Intriguing," Hoole had agreed. "There seems to be yet another being on this supposedly empty planet. But our first concern is the bounty hunter."

So Hoole had gone immediately to tell the others. The smugglers had gathered in the center of the village to discuss Zak's news, but the Children were nowhere in sight.

Apparently, they had managed to catch something in the swamps, and were eagerly preparing a rare feast. They had even converted Galt's hut into a kitchen to cook the food they had found.

"How could Fett have followed us here?" Tash said in disbelief.

"I don't know," Platt growled angrily. "But if I'd known that killer was after you, I'd have dropped you off on the nearest asteroid and let you deal with him yourselves."

Hoole stiffened slightly. "We thought Boba Fett had been eliminated. We had no intention of placing you in his line of fire."

"Yeah, well, we're there anyway, aren't we?" Platt said. "And he's already killed one of my men."

Zak was surprised. "How do you know it was him?"

"Isn't it obvious? Right now the odds are six blasters to one in our favor. He's trying to whittle us down before he comes in for the kill." Platt kicked at the soggy ground in frustration. "He's probably out there right now, watching us. Waiting to make his next move."

Zak scanned the surrounding trees, but all he saw was the endless swamp, moss-covered trees, vines hanging from gnarled branches, and the mist that drifted formlessly across Dagobah's landscape.

"How long before the ship is ready to fly?" Tash asked. Platt scowled. "Twenty-four hours."

"Long enough for Fett to take us all out," Zak said.

"Right," the smuggler agreed. "So we're not going to wait for him.

We're going to go out there and get him."

Tru'eb and the other smugglers were startled.

"Go after Boba Fett?" Tru'eb growled. "Have you come down with swamp fever or something? He'll pick us off like fleas on a nerf."

"And what do you think he'll do if we stick around here?" the smuggler snapped back.

When Tru'eb had no answer, Platt started organizing her small gang into hunting parties.

"We could use you, Hoole," Platt said to the Shi'ido. "With your shape-changing power, you might be able to spot the bounty hunter before he spots you."

"Out of the question," Hoole replied. "My first responsibility is to my niece and nephew."

Tash spoke up. "I want to find this Yoda."

Zak felt a pang of sudden jealousy and bit his lip to stop himself from saying "No!" He didn't want Tash to meet Yoda. He wasn't sure why, but he felt a connection with the little creature. He didn't want Tash barging in.

So he was relieved when Hoole said, "No, Tash. Remember there is a price on your head, too. You should stay here."

"And do what?" Tash replied. "Wait for Boba Fett to knock on the door while the smugglers are out hunting?"

"Tash, it seems-"

"Actually," Platt interrupted, "it's not such a bad idea. I'm curious about this little creature myself. He's a wild card, and I don't like wild cards. Why don't I send two of my boys along with your niece and nephew to look for him? This creature talked to Zak once. Maybe he will again."

In the end, Hoole relented. He knew his powers were best used in the hunt for Boba Fett. And with two armed smugglers for guards, Zak and Tash were as safe as they were going to get.

"Be careful," Hoole said. He looked at Tash. "Listen to your instincts. And do not do anything rash. I will see you back here shortly."

The smugglers broke into two parties. Platt and one of the smugglers went off in one direction, while Hoole, Tru'eb, and another smuggler went the opposite way. That left Zak, Tash, and the two remaining smugglers in the village just as Galt and some of the bony Children appeared, carrying a large pot pounded out of sc.r.a.p metal.

"Where are you going?" Galt asked. "The feast is just about to begin!"

He held the pot under Zak's nose. It was full of a bubbling brown broth in which floated ribbons of fat and large chunks of meat. The delicious smell rising out of the pot made Zak's stomach rumble, and he realized that he hadn't eaten all day.

"Come on," Tash said, tugging at his arm. "We can eat when we get back."

"Maybe just a taste," said Zak, reaching to dip his finger into the broth.

"Let's go!" Tash urged, pulled him away. Zak cast one longing look back at the untasted food and then turned away.

He led Tash and the two smugglers in the same direction he'd gone before. At least, he thought it was the same. There was no stone path to guide them, and the ground seemed to shift and drift in the murky swamp water. The plants-especially the giant gnarlwood trees-all looked exactly alike. The trees had ma.s.sive roots that grew above the surface. The roots were taller than the smugglers, and looked like pillars holding up the giant trees.