Prelude to Eternity - Chapter 5

5:
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"Of course they do!" Rabnas shot back. "Everything needs to rest, even 'droids. Don't worry; even though they seem wide away, they're really in a sort of waking sleep. Trust me, I've studied them for years!" He leaned past Xicanti and whispered to Lowie, "Perhaps now is the right time. They'll be a little uncertain, even if awakened. If a man-eater attacked them, they'd be more likely to want to kill it, thinking it just part of a dream."

Xicanti found the old man's reasoning to be a little odd, especially when applied to 'droids. Lowie, however, nodded as though he believed every word of it, then looked away from the hiding place the companions had chosen in a pile of dirt. He focused on a spot which bent around a corner, then began to hum. This last action greatly surprised the young thief. "Why does he hum?" he whispered to Jacen.

"It helps him concentrate," Leia's son replied. "He finds it easier to reach for the Force when he's humming or singing." He shrugged. "I guess it's a Wookiee thing. You should see Uncle Chewie when he's practicing with his bowcaster and he doesn't think anyone's watching. He'll sing at the top of his lungs, which is pretty loud. I'm surprised he can stand being in the same room with himself when he does that." Jacen screwed up his small face. "Not because he sings badly, of course. It's actually very nice, if you can understand the language. Those grunts they let out are just ambient noise, you know. The real sound's imbedded underneath, so high that you wouldn't be able to hear it unless you're another Wookiee, or a Jedi who can amplify hearing. The outer sounds are their own language too, though. That's why Dad can understand Uncle Chewie when he speaks in Wookiee, without having to be a Jedi. But that's off topic, now isn't it? Well, what I was really getting at is that Wookiees have very sensitive ears, and loud noises bother them."

Xicanti grinned at his nephew. "You're starting to sound like Rabnas, getting off track like that!" he whispered. Jacen grinned back. He seemed about to say something, but was cut off by Lowie's humming, which had reached a new level. Xicanti peered out of the hiding place and saw why. The man-eater illusion which the young Wookiee had shown them earlier was coming around the corner!

The Battle Droids evidently saw it too. They snapped out of their rest period, bringing up their blasters in a gesture of defense. Lowie hummed at a slightly higher frequency, and the man-eater attacked, attempting to slash a 'droid with its teeth. The tall machine was ready for it, though, as Lowie had known it would be. It aimed the blaster so the bolt would travel down the slug's throat, killing it instantly.

This was far from what Lowie wanted, so he tactfully moved the slug aside at the last minute, narrowly avoiding the death sentence the 'droid had written. His man-eater did not escape unscathed, though. The blaster bolt bit into its neck, scorching the slimy flesh. Lowie hummed even more, seeming to create two or three separate tunes at once. The slug screamed as a spurt of blood was ejected from its thick, slimy neck. With Lowie visibly sweating and humming for all he was worth, the slug turned tail and tried to run off down the street.

The Battle Droids had other ideas, though. They weren't about to allow such a creature to escape alive. They raced after the slug, their blasters shooting wildly.

And leaving the transport open to the four escapees.

"Now!" Rabnas hissed. The companions burst from their hiding place, running as fast as they possibly could towards the lift. Lowie went immediately to the controls, punching the codes he knew would open the door. As he punched in the last number, Xicanti heard the death shriek of the man-eater. "How are you keeping the illusion up and getting us into the transport?" he asked his friend, panting from the stress of the situation.

Lowie looked up momentarily, the code finished and the doors of the lift opening. "I'm not," he whispered hoarsely. "It's taking care of itself. I'm just stopping the Battle Droids from heading back here now."

For the first time, Xicanti looked at the place where the slug's blood had spurted out. It was thick and sticky. And utterly real. "You mean we lucked out, and one just came along?" he asked.

Lowie shook his head. "No. It was real. After I started to think about it, I found that I didn't trust my illusions as much as I'd thought I did at first. I'm much better at mind control. So I searched for the vilest creature I could find and took it over. I made him come here and attack the 'droids. Once he was wounded, I let go of him. He followed his natural instincts, the power I used forced the Battle Droids to follow him, and we managed to escape." As the young Wookiee completed his statement, a blaster bolt ricocheted around the corner. "And that'll all be for nothing if we don't get in the lift quick!" he added, motioning for all of them to get in.

Each of them rushed into the lift, Jacen and Xicanti helping to support an exhausted Lowie. Their final view of the lowest level of Coruscant was the 'droids heading back around the corner, firing their blasters furiously. Xicanti knew that he'd never forget the moment when the two halted in their tracks and realized that they had allowed for an escape. If he hadn't been so tired, the young thief would have laughed at them.

For the next few hours, the four who had escaped the lowest level of Coruscant, home of man-eaters and similar evils, rested in the lifts. Xicanti judged that it would likely have been about a day since he, Jacen and Lowie had left the former Imperial Palace on the planet's first level. Leia and the rest would have realized they were missing, and become worried. Unless they were glad to see me go, Xicanti thought to himself as he slumped against the wall of the lift. But even if they were glad I was gone, Leia and Han'd worry 'bout Jasa, and Chewie'd be practically ripping people apart, he'd be so anxious after Lowie! The young thief was surprised to find that he felt twinges of jealousy as he thought about his two friends and their parents. Would my parents have been worried 'bout me? he wondered. I know they wouldn't have been proud of me - it'd be pretty hard to be proud of a thief who gets into no end of trouble - but I still wish I knew them, and knew how they would have felt about me. The thought of his parents, long dead and, in the case of his mother, nearly forgotten, came very close to bringing tears to Xicanti's eyes. Another unpleasant surprise, he thought wryly as he fought to hold them in. I've never cried before. Even that first time Rettar beat me. He found that it wasn't such a terrible experience after all, although it hurt to keep the tears in. Although the pain at the back of his throat wasn't terrible, the young thief - No, Xicanti thought to himself. I'm a thief no longer! Surprisingly, this thought also made him want to cry. He'd been a thief for all his life; it was a part of who he was. Looking around, Xicanti saw that his companions had all fallen asleep. Deeming it safe, the boy let out his tears, crying for the first time in his life. Yet, as he wept, his sobs coming from deep within his throat, he realized that he really didn't know why he cried. He just needed to.

It seemed like no time at all before the lift was at the first level, where the Palace was located. His eyes long dry, Xicanti awakened his friends to tell them they were there.

Rabnas rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Here already?" he asked groggily. As he awakened further, the old man let out a whoop. "Here already!" he cried joyously. "We've made it up! We're alive and free!" He leaped to his feet and made for the controls to open the door of the transport. "Let's got and get drunk to celebrate. They never let you get drunk if you're a Senator, so it'll be a wonderful new experience! The best ever!" He motioned to the rest. "Come on!"

Lowie seemed eager to follow. He leaped up with just as much vigor as had Rabnas, letting out a grunt in his own language in reply to the former Senator's urging. Jacen, however, was not so eager. "You know," the little boy said thoughtfully, "if we go out there right now, we're going to get really embarrassed, being naked and all."

Rabnas slapped his forehead with the heel of his palm. "Damn it, I forgot all about that!" he cried. "Lowie doesn't need clothes, and I have my tunic, but the two of you are as naked as the day you were born!" He paused for a moment, as if thinking. "Me and Lowie could go on ahead to the Palace and bring you back something to wear. But that'd probably take too long, and I'd think the two of your would be eager to get home." Rabnas began to pace. "Or, we could go and steal something. But that'd take quite a bit too. Plus I'm not a very adept thief. I could give you my tunic and have you go to steal me something," he said to Xicanti, "but there's a very good chance that someone could come to the lift while you were gone, and I'd be in a bit of trouble then." The old man scratched his head. "I'm afraid none of those ideas are very good," he said apologetically, "but I've been away from other civilized life forms for nearly twenty years, so I'm not too up to date on peoples reactions. Anyone else have any ideas?"

And so they all set about thinking. In the end, it was Jacen who came up with the idea. "Your tunic is pretty long," he said to Rabnas, "so if you ripped off four of the scalps, two for me and two for Xicanti, we could put them on like loincloths. Then we wouldn't be completely naked!"

It wasn't perfect, but it was the best idea they had. Grudgingly, Rabnas ripped off four scalps, removing some of the sinew they were sewn together with at the same time, and handed them over to the boys. Before long, the two were reasonably presentable, (if one was thinking in terms of wild cave men), and would be able to move around outside without being arrested. Many of the races of the galaxy went about as scantly clad as this, so it was far from illegal on Coruscant.

Having gotten everyone set up, Rabnas punched in the code for the doors, causing them to open. Xicanti was the first out. He looked about him and saw that it had to have been at least a day since he and his friends had made their attempt to return him to his den. The ceiling was dark overhead, meaning that it was likely past midnight.

Xicanti started to walk back in the direction he had come from what seemed like so long ago, finding that he no longer considered the Palace to be such a bad place after all.

copyright 1998, Jadis Darkmore