Part 2 (1/2)

”Zaaaaahh . . . kiiiiii . . .”

”Oh my!” Threepio exclaimed. ”It appears that the crown was a b.o.o.by trap, designed to kill any thief who plundered King Da.s.sid's tomb.”

Luke kneeled beside Dustini, lifting the crown to examine it. He spied several tiny holes and needles inside; they must have pierced Dustini's head, he thought. ”Threepio, quick!”

Luke said. ”Summon the medical droids at once!”

The medical droids arrived swiftly, bringing with them a cart to move Dustini to the medical center for examination and treatment. But as the medical droids leaned over to lift him, Dustini struggled, trying to move his paralyzed limbs. ”Zoooock ... izzzzh . .”

Dustini managed to wiggle a finger. The finger trembled as he pointed it toward the jacket of his gray uniform. ”Zaaaahh . .”

”His pocket!” See-Threepio exclaimed. The golden droid inspected Dustini's upper pocket.

Inside, Threepio found a small hologram disc, which he promptly handed over to Luke for inspection.

The medical droids then removed Dustini from the conference room.

”Artoo,” said Luke, ”let's see if this hologram disc fits into your projection slot. It seems to be the right format.”

The little barrel-shaped droid rolled toward Luke on its three metal legs. ”Dzvee boopa-ooonnn,” he whistled as Luke attempted to put the data disc into the correct slot.

”It seems that Kadann's prophecy is starting to come true already,” said Mon Mothma, her brow knitted in deep concern.

”You're right,” Leia agreed. ”Dustini must be the visitor to Mount Yoda who Kadann predicted would be pierced by gold. It had nothing to do with the golden knife Luke found on Z'trop after all. However, Kadann predicted that the last days of the Alliance would begin now.”

”Well then,” Luke said with determination, ”we'll just have to prove that black-bearded dwarf dead wrong.”

Artoo-Detoo spun his domed top left and right excitedly. ”Bdeee-zhiiip!” he beeped.

Seconds later a bright light inside Artoo projected a hologram of Dustini's face. It seemed to float in the middle of the room.

”Zki-mip-conosco-zh.o.r.en,” the hologram began.

Threepio began to translate the message at once. ”Dustini says that he made this holographic recording so that if anything happened to him, his urgent mission on behalf of the archaeologists of Duro would not end in failure, and the Alliance leaders here on Mount Yoda would still receive his message.”

”Khiz-ipm-ikzee-zeldar,” the hologram of Dustini continued.

”Dustini requests that we fly on a mission from Mount Yoda to Duro,” Threepio explained, ”to save Dustini's fellow archaeologists and prevent the ancient treasures of Duro from being stolen by Kadann.”

”Zhik-meez-bzooop.”

”There's more information on the disc, but there seems to be a glitch. Artoo can't tell us any more.”

CHAPTER 5.

Destination Duro Ken awoke the next morning with a churning feeling in his stomach. Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids were going off to Duro without him, and Ken was being left behind to attend cla.s.ses at Dagobah Tech. Ken was feeling upset. Why did he have to go to school, anyway? He could learn everything he needed to know while going off on Alliance missions.

”Hurry, hurry,” said Chip, Ken's personal droid. He was standing beside Ken's bed. ”Get up. Up-up-up. You have to get dressed, wash your face, brush your teeth, comb your hair, and zip downstairs to the commissary to have breakfast. Quickly now-and find your computer notebook. Do you remember where you put it?”

”Okay, Chip, I'm getting up,” Ken said.

Chip certainly is bright-eyed and on his toes for such an early hour of the morning, Ken thought. But then again, droids never had the unpleasant experience of having to wake up from a deep sleep. At all hours of the day and night, droids always remained alert, fully charged, and ready to go.

Ken glanced at the timepiece beside his bed, in the comfortable cubicle he had been a.s.signed to live in at DRAPAC. ”I'm skipping breakfast today,” he insisted. ”I want to say good-bye to Luke and everybody before they blast off for Duro. They haven't left yet, have they?”

”They're probably in the hangar, boarding,” Chip replied. ”You'd better make it a quick good-bye. You won't make a good impression on anyone if you're late for the first day of school!”

Ken washed, dressed, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair; then he hurried outside the main DRAPAC building, running all the way to the hangar where the Millennium Falcon was docked on a landing pad.

”Luke, Leia, are you there?” Ken called out, peering through the open hangar door. He blinked, as the hangar's overhead illuminators glared in his eyes. ”I just came by to say good-bye and wish you a-”

Ken fell silent, suddenly realizing that no one was inside the hangar to hear him.

”Anybody here?” he shouted again, but all he heard was the echo of his own voice. There was no sign of any humans or other biological life-forms in the hangar-not even any droids.

Maybe they were already on board, making last-minute preparations.

Ken walked inside the hangar to see if Luke or any of the others were inside the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. He popped through the hatch and air lock, but was disappointed to discover that no one else was on board. Maybe they were back in the cargo bay of the Millennium Falcon, near the engineering station and service access. They were probably strapping down their gear to get ready for takeoff.

Ken went back to check. When he entered the cargo bay, he discovered that all of the supplies for the journey to Duro had already been packed and strapped, and no one was-CHHH . . . CHHH . . . CHHH.

Ken thought he heard the sound of boots walking near the quadrex power core. He swung around to look, accidentally knocking into a loose transport crate and sending it toppling against the cargo door's emergency control mechanism.

CRAs.h.!.+.

Suddenly the bulkhead door to the cargo bay swung shut.

FWOOOOOP! CLIIIICK!.

It was locked!

Ken gulped. In the dull light of the cargo bay he surveyed the damage to the device that controlled the door. It was broken. And not only was the door mechanism damaged, but a cable attached to the wall was also sliced.

Ken pounded on the door. He tried to pry it open, but he had no luck. His heart sank.

”Help!” he shouted. ”Can anybody hear me? I'm locked in the cargo bay!”

The bulkhead door was very thick. Ken suspected that even if Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and he droids were now aboard, they wouldn't be able to hear him. Even Artoo-Detoo's sound sensors probably wouldn't be able to detect him back here.

Ken tried pus.h.i.+ng on the door one more time, then gave up, collapsing to the floor in despair.

”Help, let me out of here, I'm supposed to start school!” he shouted.

Ken sat there, desperately trying to think of some way to escape. Then the soft white light turned red, and the entire hold rumbled with the sudden sound of the s.h.i.+p's power converter and ion flux stabilizer.

The rumbling increased, and Ken was slammed against the floor of the cargo hold, pressed down by an incredibly strong pressure. Unless he was mistaken, he was now on his way to the planet Duro!