Anakin's Quest Page 5

  With that, the old spacer nudged the nose of the Lightning Rod

  downward so that it pointed straight toward Dagobah. Before long the ship

  was surrounded by white mist. Tahiri could see nothing but white through

  the viewports, no matter which direction she looked. The ship bounced and

  shuddered a few times on air currents as the atmosphere got thicker.

  "Well, this isn't really so bad," Peckhum said, but Tahiri got a funny

  feeling at the back of her neck when he said it. A feeling that something

  wasn't quite right. Just then the ship shuddered and jolted and old Peckhum

  groaned.

  "All the scopes are dead; I can't get any readings. Look's like we're

  pickin' up speed, though." Artoo-Detoo blooped and twittered in alarm.

  Tahiri watched as the white mists in the viewports became, if

  anything, even whiter, and harder to see through. Artoo-Detoo tweeted a

  suggestion. Peckhum looked down at the screen that translated the little

  droid's words for him.

  "All right then," the pilot answered, "if you think you can find a

  good landing spot from here, you go right ahead. I can't see a thing."

  Artoo buzzed once in acknowledgment. The Lightning Rod hurtled

  downward through the atmosphere. Tahiri felt her stomach muscles tighten

  and she gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists.

  From her perch on Anakin's shoulder, Ikrit reached out a forepaw to

  touch her arm.

  "It'll be fine," Anakin said. "I've just got a feeling about this."

  Artoo-Detoo whirled and bleeped several times.

  "He says we're almost there," Peckhum translated.

  Tahiri tried to keep her voice steady.

  "Good-the sooner the better."

  Suddenly the Lightning Rod broke through the cover of heavy clouds

  into the grayish-blue air over the swamps of Dagobah. Less than a minute

  later Artoo-Detoo brought the ship in for a landing in a wide marshy area

  surrounded by incredibly tall trees. The ship slid as it came to a stop,

  teetered for a moment, and then tilted sideways into the muddy water.

  "I thought you said you knew the best area to land," the old spacer

  grumbled.

  Artoo-Detoo swiveled his head and gave a few sharp bleeps. Old Peckhum

  groaned again and shook his head.

  "What did he say?" Tahiri asked.

  Peckhum looked at the monitor screen.

  "He said," the pilot explained, "that this is the best place to land."

  "Well, we made it," Anakin said. "We're actually here."

  There was a tingling feeling-in the pit of his stomach now that he was

  so close to his goal. He wanted to find the cave and put an end to all his

  bad dreams. At least that's what he hoped would happen.

  "Are you sure you don't want to come along, Peckhum?" Tahiri asked,

  tugging at a few strands of her wavy pale yellow hair.

  "Nope," the old spacer said. "I'm gonna stay here and check out all

  the ship's systems and make sure everything's in good working condition.

  Nearly scared the boots off me when my sensors blinked out like that before

  we landed."

  "Boots!" Anakin said. "That reminds me." He looked down at Tahiri's

  bare feet. "You might want to put something, um, er... on before we go out

  there."

  He knew how much Tahiri hated wearing shoes, so he tried to say it

  carefully to avoid upsetting her. He could see right away that he had

  failed, though. The blond-haired girl planted both fists on her hips.

  "Oh no you don't, Anakin Solo. You may be my best friend, but I'm not

  putting on shoes-not even for you."

  Ikrit unbuckled his crash harness, scampered over to a storage locker,

  and removed a small knapsack. Anakin had no idea what the Jedi Master was

  up to. Ikrit tossed the pack to Tahiri, who caught it easily.

  "The Jedi Tionne packed this for you," he explained.

  Anakin watched Tahiri open the sack and rummage through its contents.

  There was a small medikit, a glowrod, some emergency food packets, and a

  pair of buttery-soft leather boots. Tahiri blushed, but Anakin couldn't

  tell if she was pleased or embarrassed.

  Ikrit handed Anakin a similar small pack of provisions. Anakin slung

  the straps over his shoulders and said,

  "All right then, let's get moving."

  Tahiri shrugged and put her knapsack on as well.

  "Might as well bring it with me," she grumbled. "But I won't promise

  to wear the boots."

  "Sure," old Peckhum said, "you kids go ahead. I'll trust the Jedi

  Master and Artoo there to keep an eye on you while you get the lay of the..

  . uh... swamp."

  Ikrit scrambled up onto Artoo-Detoo's domed head. The droid, who

  seemed not to mind, gave a confident whistle. Peckhum opened the exit hatch

  and lowered the ramp. Together, Anakin, Tahiri, Ikrit, and Artoo walked,

  rode, or rolled down the ramp. The air outside was warm and thick with

  moisture, but the first thing Anakin really noticed was the smell.

  A heavy, boggy odor clogged the air: mildew mixed with the scent of

  blooming flowers and rotting plants and a thousand other smells Anakin

  couldn't name.

  "Do you know which direction Yoda's training area was from here?"

  Anakin asked.

  Artoo-Detoo beeped once and led the way.

  Anakin was a bit surprised that the little droid was able to maneuver

  so well on the marshy ground. Ikrit gave a thoughtful rumble deep in his

  throat.

  "Mmmmm. There is much energy from the Force. Many creatures are here."

  "I can sense them too," Tahiri agreed, waving a hand in front of her

  face, "but the only ones I can really see are these bugs."

  She was right, Anakin noticed. There were insects everywhere-billions

  of them flying in swarms.

  Tahiri coughed.

  "I think-I think I just breathed one in."

  She flapped her hand again, as if trying to wave away the clouds of

  insects.

  "Stay calm, child," Ikrit said. `The Force is in all creatures, even

  ones so small. Calm your mind. Direct the creatures away from you with your

  thoughts."

  Still following Artoo-Detoo, Anakin let his eyes fall half shut and

  thought at the swarms of insects that buzzed and hummed about him. He

  imagined the creatures staying away from him, moving back a bit. To his

  surprise, although the insects did not go away, they came no closer than

  about ten centimeters-as if there were a tiny force field surrounding him.

  "Hey, it works!" Tahiri said.

  Anakin looked over at her and noticed that she had managed to repel

  the insects, too. He was less worried about the animals he could see than

  the animals he could not, however. Walking through the swamp was eerie. The

  misty air above let little sunlight through and covered the tops of the

  trees so that the day was never quite light and never quite dark. Shreds of

  mist clung to tree trunks and hovered above pools of brackish water. A

  stream of bubbles made a gurgling sound in one of the murky pools. Anakin

  wondered whether the bubbles came from a submerged spring or from some air-

  breathing creature that lurked beneath the surface.

  Around them on every side, unseen swamp dwellers croaked, hissed,

  chi
rped, trilled, growled, and belched. Anakin felt a prickling at the back

  of his neck and shivered. He hoped it wasn't too far before they came to

  the cave. Ikrit seemed to think that it was time for a lesson, because he

  began to talk to Anakin and Tahiri.

  "Since the Force is in all things," he said, "it can teach us much. If

  one can simply learn to listen to the Force-"

  Just then a cry rang out behind them, a cry of pain and terror. It

  came from the direction of the Lightning Rod.

  Tahiri and Anakin cried out at the same time.

  "Peckhum!" Tahiri said.

  "No!" Anakin yelled.

  The two friends whirled and ran back toward the Lightning Rod. Ikrit

  sprang down from Artoo-Detoo's head and dashed after them. The barrel-

  shaped droid followed, whistling and beeping his distress. Tahiri's loose

  blond hair streamed out behind her as she ran. Her bare feet thudded softly

  against the muddy ground. She was a fast runner, but Anakin kept up with

  her. She heard the voice calling for help again.

  "Hang on," Anakin yelled back, "we're on our way."

  Tahiri felt her heart pounding in terror, but not for herself. She

  jumped over a rotten log and ducked under a curtain of moss that hung from

  a tree branch. A part of her mind was thinking how proud she was that

  Anakin had reacted so quickly to hurry to the aid of a friend. With her

  next step, Tahiri felt a sharp pain in her foot. She gasped, but there was

  no time to stop now, she decided. The Lightning Rod was just up ahead. She

  could see it.

  Limping ever so slightly, she ran the last few steps into the

  clearing. She panted for breath as she looked around in dismay. There was

  no sign of the pilot.

  "Peckhum, where are you?" Anakin called, running up beside her.

  "Heeelp!" A faint voice drifted toward them from the far side of the

  Lightning Rod.

  "This way," Ikrit said, scrambling past them. The Jedi Master's white

  fur was filthy and matted from running through the mud. Tahiri and Anakin

  followed him to the far side of the ship, where half of the Lightning Rod

  rested in a shallow pool of scummy water. Tahiri's mouth gaped open with

  the shock of what she saw there.

  "Uldir!"

  Uldir nearly fainted with relief when he saw his friends Anakin and

  Tahiri round the side of the ship. He had been frozen with fright for what

  seemed like hours; but maybe it had only been minutes since he had opened a

  tiny escape hatch in the cargo bay of the Lightning Rod and climbed out-

  only to land in what looked to him like a a sea of swamp slime. Of course,

  Uldir had realized instantly that he'd made a dreadful mistake by leaping

  down from the exit hatch without looking first, but it had been too late to

  correct his error.

  He'd turned and tried to slosh toward solid ground, but lost his

  footing and plunged face-first into the muck. He'd panicked. Thrashing with

  his arms and legs, Uldir had managed to get his head back above the swampy

  water, only to find that his struggles had made him sink deeper into the

  ooze.

  He was now up to his armpits in the stinking grayish-green water. 'Ib

  make matters worse (if that were possible), his splashing had attracted the

  attention of one of the ugliest and, well, slimiest creatures he had ever

  set eyes on.

  Uldir froze. The thing, whatever it was, had a long sausage-shaped

  body-about ten meters long, Uldir guessed. Its melon-round head and its

  long body were covered with slick greenish-gray fur, the same color as the

  swamp water. The creature raised its bulbous head high into the air above

  Uldir, then tilted it from side to side, trying to get a good look at him

  through its six milk white eyes.

  Uldir, still frozen with fright, had hoped that the furry snake

  monster would decide that he was much too large to eat and simply go away.

  But no sooner had this hope crossed Uldir's mind than the animal bent over

  and pushed its round furry face close to Uldir's so that he could see its

  three enormous flat front teeth.

  The teeth were nearly as long as Uldir was tall. Uldir tried to take a

  step backward, but his feet were fixed firmly in the mud. A long strand of

  algae was stuck between two of the creature's front teeth, and when it

  opened its mouth enough for him to smell its foul breath, Uldir couldn't

  help himself-he screamed.

  The creature jerked its head back and blinked its six milky eyes at

  him. Uldir thought he heard an answering yell in the distance. The furry

  snake thing turned its head around almost in a full circle, as if searching

  for the source of the noise, then swiveled back toward Uldir again. Its

  melon head dipped down toward him and it opened its mouth again-and gave

  out a roaring, stinking belch.

  Uldir screamed again and used the only weapon he could find. He threw

  handfuls of mushy algae directly at the monster's mouth. The creature

  coughed and gulped and made a loud rumbling sound deep in its throat, but

  it did not eat Uldir. So, for what seemed like an eternity, each time the

  massive head approached him, Uldir threw globs of slimy algae and yelled.

  Finally Uldir heard a strange wheezing voice he didn't recognize,

  saying,

  "Over here!" Then he saw Anakin and Tahiri rushing to help him. The

  sausage animal backed up again to get a look at the new arrivals. Uldir

  glanced around to locate the source of the strange voice but saw no one

  except Anakin, Tahiri, and Anakin's furry pet Ikrit. Tahiri called out

  Uldir's name in surprise.

  "Help me get out of here before this monster eats me!" Uldir called

  back.

  Tahiri, who seemed to be limping, looked puzzled.

  "Can't you swim over here?" she asked.

  "No," Uldir said.

  The creature's face approached again, and he slung another handful of

  algae at it.

  "I'm stuck in the mud."

  Uldir noticed that Anakin's pet had moved away from the water and

  figured that it must be afraid of the swamp, or of the slimy-furred sausage

  monster, or of both.

  "Stay calm. We're going to get you out," Anakin said.

  Tahiri took a step toward Uldir, but Anakin stopped her.

  "It wouldn't be a good idea for us to go out there even if you were a

  good swimmer."

  Tahiri looked sheepish.

  "Oh-right. We could get stuck, too, and then we wouldn't be any help

  to Uldir."

  "Anyway," Anakin said, "I'm pretty sure that monster won't hurt him. I

  think I've got an idea to get rid of it."

  "I will assist Anakin," Uldir heard the strange wheezing voice say,

  but he couldn't see who was speaking.

  Tahiri stopped to think for a moment.

  "Okay, I'll get a stick or a rope or something to help pull him out,"

  she said.

  "A really long branch ought to work, or maybe a vine. I could probably

  find a rope in the Lightning Rod. If not, I might be able to tie some

  cables together. I can be quite resourceful, you know."

  Uldir sighed. He wished the girl would do less talking and get around

  to rescuing him.

  "Are you sure you can tak
e care of the, um, wildlife?" Tahiri asked,

  looking over her shoulder.

  Anakin nodded.

  "I can handle it." The blond-haired girl limped off to a stand of

  trees and Uldir saw Anakin shut his eyes and raise his hand toward the

  furry snake monster, almost as if he were greeting it. The melon head swung

  around to look at Anakin, cocking this way and that to get a better view.

  Uldir wondered if the younger boy was using some sort of Jedi trick to

  control the animal's mind. Seeing that the beast was distracted, Uldir

  tried to wriggle free, but only sank deeper in the mud.

  The smelly water came up to his chin now. With his eyes so close to

  the surface of the pool, Uldir saw something very strange happening. Blobs

  of floating algae were gathering together to form a larger blob. From

  across the gray-green pool, more lumps of algae floated toward the growing

  mass. Soon the algae formed a thick pulpy carpet on the surface of the

  water, nearly two meters wide. It floated slowly toward the furry snake

  beast.

  "Can you reach out to the creature's mind and persuade it to go away?"

  Anakin asked.

  Uldir looked toward him and could see that the boy must have been