Part 9 (1/2)

”But the Jedi are good,” said Garr. ”They are the guardians of peace and...”

Boba began to see how hopeless it was. Garr would never understand.

”It was a misunderstanding,” said Boba. ”But because of it, I can't stay with the Jedi.”

”You can stay with me!” said Garr. ”My parents will be returning for me soon, I know they will! They will take you in. We can be brothers.

Or brother and sister. Or whatever.”

Boba shook his head. ”You are truly my friend,” he said, ”but I can't afford to have friends. I have my own road to travel, alone. I must go my own way.”

”But..” Garr's big brown eyes were filling with tears.

”We must say farewell,” said Boba.

”Good!” came a voice that was at the same time familiar and frightening. For the second time that day, Boba felt a hand on his shoulder. Only this one was cold, with a grip like steel.

”Boba Fett.”

Boba turned, slowly, because of the hand that pinned his shoulder.

He saw bone-white skin, black eyes rimmed with kohl, a muscular but womanly figure in a red jumpsuit, and a shaved head topped with a single long lock of bright red hair.

And blazing angry eyes.

”Aurra Sing!” It was the bounty hunter who had captured him and stolen his s.h.i.+p. ”I knew it! I saw Slave I following the Candaserri.”

Boba tried to twist away but Aurra Sing held his shoulder tight.

Then Garr started kicking her. ”Let go of him! Take your hands off him!”

”Who's this?” Aurra Sing asked, picking up Garr by the hair, so that the kicks only afflicted the air. ”Do I kill it or just toss it over the side?”

She held Garr out over the railing, suspended by a lock of hair over a thousand kilometers of empty air.

”Neither!” said Boba, finally twisting free. He put his hands on his hips and faced Aurra Sing defiantly. ”Garr is my friend. As you are not. What is it you want with me?”

”I want to make you an offer you can't refuse,” said Aurra Sing.

With a quick toss, she dropped Garr back on the bench.

”O000ph!” said Garr. ”What's going on here? Who are you? Who is Boba Fett?”

”Your little friend is too nosy,” the bounty hunter said to Boba, without looking at Garr. ”You and I have business, so tell him to make himself scarce.”

”Go,” Boba said simply to his friend. He tried to keep his voice cold. That was the only way to get Garr to leave. ”I told you, I have no room for friends. You heard what she said. Disappear.”

Garr resisted. When Aurra's hand moved to her blaster, Garr was convinced.

”Good-bye,” Garr said sadly in farewell.

Boba allowed himself to say a heartfelt goodbye back. Though his heart felt real pain, that was it.

”What is this offer?” Boba turned to Aurra Sing and demanded as soon as Garr was gone. ”All I want from you is my s.h.i.+p back.”

”Then we're in agreement,” said Aurra Sing. ”That's what my offer is - your s.h.i.+p back.”

”Slave I.” Boba's eyes were wide with hope and excitement. ”Where is it?”

”Not here.” Aurra Sing's eyes scanned the other beings on the terrace. ”Too many eyes and ears. There is a city called Tibannapolis, not too far from here. Meet me there at noon tomorrow.”

”And if I don't?”

”You will, if you want to see Slave I again,” said Aurra Sing. She tossed Boba a coin. ”Here - a good faith offering. It will rent you a cloud car, which you will need to find Tibannapolis. Look for me near the ancient refinery known as Revol Leap. If you show up with Jedi or officials, the deal's off. You'll never see your precious s.h.i.+p again. Now I have to tend to business.”

Then, with a flip of her topknot, and without a word of farewell, she was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

One hundred credits.

Boba checked the prices, and found out that he had barely enough to hire a cloud car, with enough left over for, a meal, as long as it was a, small one. He dragged it out as long as possible, wondering what he was going to do to pa.s.s the time until his meeting with Aurra Sing. He knew he'd have to avoid the Jedi who might be looking for him - and he wondered why Sing would want to give him back his s.h.i.+p. She must want something in return, or was it a trap? And What if she were caught by the Jedi? Unfortunately, he couldn't exactly turn her in himself.

Noon tomorrow - it seemed like a long time away. But it wasn't.

Bespin turned so swiftly on its axis that the days were only twelve hours long. Boba barely had time to grab a nap on a park bench before it was time to go.

The cloud car was a neat little item: two open-c.o.c.kpit cabs, or nacelles, attached by a three meter-long shaft that held the repulsorlift engines. Boba chose to ride in the c.o.c.kpit with the driver, a short and p.r.i.c.kly Ugnaught, a native of Bespin - or so Boba thought.

”You from around here?” he asked, just to make conversation... and maybe learn a thing or two about the planet he was now stuck on.

”We were brought here by Lord Figg,” said the driver. ”He gave us our freedom, in return for our labor building Cloud City. We are eternally grateful to him for...”

The Ugnaught driver droned on, but Boba was more interested in studying the cloud car's simple controls: a ring that was pushed in for down and pulled out for up, or twisted for turns.

I could fly this thing better than him!

As Cloud City dwindled into the distance, and the cloud car darted in and around the multicolored towers of fog and vapor, Boba began to appreciate the exotic beauty and appeal of Bespin. The atmosphere was buoyant and thick, so it required little energy to fly or to float.

Things fell slowly, when they fell.

Evolution had produced thousands of forms of small, colorful life, which fed on one another with happy abandon. Boba saw larger creatures, too. Great floating sacks, with amorphous forms and s.h.i.+fting colors. They were herded by men on batlike creatures.

”Wing riders,” said the cloud car driver. ”Riding on Thrantas. Not native to Bespin. But then few of us are. We Ugnaughts were actually brought here by...”

”You already told me,” said Boba.