Part 6 (1/2)

The two made their way up the fin, then to the top of the pod.

Standing roped together, and secured by their magsoles, they cautiously worked their way forward until they had reached the top edge of the wide forward window.

Boba knelt, Garr beside him. They crept over the edge of the window and looked down. Boba felt totally exposed. If any of the crew looked up, they would see two helmeted heads looking in from s.p.a.ce!

Every alarm in the s.h.i.+p would go off.

But no one was looking up. The bridge was quiet. Crew members sat at their control consoles, while officers circulated among them, checking the system coordinates.

”Awesome!” said Garr. ”This is the main command center. Everything happens here first.”

The captain and the first officers, in their brightly colored uniforms, were consulting with a robed Jedi at a holomap table. Boba recognized Glynn-Beti, the Bothan Jedi who had questioned him.

I'm lucky she got distracted, he thought. If she had made me open that flight bag, I would probably be a prisoner right now.

”I wonder what they are talking about,” Garr said. ”Maybe they got word about some of the parents. I would like to see my parents again.”

Boba didn't say anything. It was an awkward moment.

”Someday you will meet my parents,” said Garr. ”You will like them.”

”Maybe,” Boba said. I doubt it, he thought.

Boba was ready to go, but he was waiting for Garr - who liked watching people as much as Boba liked watching stars.

Garr lay facedown, looking through the window at the crew on the bridge.

Boba lay on his back, staring up. He loved the dizzy feeling he got, looking deep into a sea of stars and galaxies.

They had been on top of the bridge tower module for almost twenty minutes. Boba checked his air tank and it was still over half full. But his heater was running down. He could feel the chill of s.p.a.ce seeping into his suit, especially at his feet and hands.

”We should be heading back,” he said to Garr. ”Couple of more minutes, ” said Garr. ”They're looking at another holomap.”

”A map? Let's see.” Boba rolled over and looked down.

”That's a weird map!” said Garr. ”I can't tell anything about it.”

”Uh-oh,” said Boba.

”What?”

”We'd better get back into the airlock, fast!” ”What's wrong?”

Garr's voice was sharp with fear.

Just then a siren wailed. The two could feel it reverberating through the hull.

”That's the ten-minute alarm!” Boba said. ”That was a hypers.p.a.ce map they were looking at. The s.h.i.+p is about to jump!”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Faster!

Down, down - Faster!

Around, around Boba was no longer feeling the cold, even though the little; heater in his suit was almost drained.

Garr was gulping air, spinning through the vacuum, grabbing at one handhold and then another.

Neither spoke. There was no time for words. They hurried toward the back of the s.h.i.+p where the big ion jets were staining the universe a pale blue.

How much time do we have left? Boba wondered. Six minutes? Five?

”What happens if.?” Garr asked as they made their way down the fin from the bridge tower module.

”If what?”

”You know what! If we don't get inside the s.h.i.+p before the jump into! hypers.p.a.ce!?”

”At best, we will see a flash of light, and be fried to a crisp in the plasma flare of the hyper-s.p.a.ce warp.”

”That's best? What's worst?”

”At worst we won't feel a thing or even see a flash of light. We will just look around and see no s.h.i.+p. It will be gone. And we will drift here all alone, endlessly, until we die.”

The alert siren still wailed but they heard it only when they touched the hull, through their hands or the soles of their boots.

At the steepest part of the wing, Garr missed a step, and spun off into s.p.a.ce. Boba grabbed a seam and held on for dear life. The safety line snapped tight - yanking Garr back into Boba.

000MMPPHHHFF!.

”Careful,” Boba said. He wanted to say ”slow down” but he knew he couldn't. If they slowed down, they were lost.

”You idiot!” said Boba as he untangled the line and started down, over the rear of the wing.

”I'm sorry!” Garr said. ”I missed a hold.”

”I was talking to myself!” Boba said. ”This whole thing is my fault. It was a stupid idea!”

I lost track of what was most important. A bounty hunter never does that.

Through the window Boba could see crew members running, security droids clearing the halls, and clone troopers scurrying in formation.

How much time left? Three minutes? Two?