Boba said.
"What?"
"Can"t talk. Gotta save air. Just hang on to the line - and hope for the best."
Boba"s emergency s.p.a.ce suit had no jetpack, but it did have something that might possibly be used for a jetpack.
The air tank.
Boba disconnected his air tank and pulled it from his back. Now all he had to breathe was the air in his suit. It would last less than a minute.
Boba held the air tank against his stomach and waited for the orange star to appear in his wheeling, whirling field of vision.
There it was! He pressed the release valve. SSSSSSSSSS The universe slowed down, just a little. Boba waited until the orange star appeared again. SSSSSSSSSSSS Slowed more. And this time the ship was closer when Boba saw it swim into view. SSSSSSSSSSSSSS We"re moving! Garr was still spinning at the other end of the lifeline. But Boba was stable. He could see the ship over his shoulder, getting closer, as he aimed the air tank at the little orange star and used the air like a rocket engine.
SSSSSSSSSS.
For every action - like the air hissing out - there is an equal and opposite reaction - like Boba floating backward toward the ship. He felt the line jerk tight, and knew he was pulling Garr with him.
"What"s going on?" Garr asked.
Boba didn"t answer. All he had to breathe was the leftover air in his suit, and it was getting stale.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
The ship was getting closer. Closer. There at the bottom was the open airlock door.
Boba aimed at the little orange star again. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Closer and closer. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS The air in Boba"s suit was almost gone. He gasped for breath.
SSSSSSSSSSSS. He sprayed the air into s.p.a.ce, but he needed it in his suit, in his lungs...
SSSSS SSSSSSS.
The air was almost gone from the tank. Boba could see the ship over his shoulder, getting closer and closer. But not quite close enough.
SSSSSSS.
Boba felt his head spinning. His lungs were burning, begging him for air.
Little orange star.
Garr at end of line.
Ship huge, close - "Teff, are you there? Something is pulling us toward the ship! They must have seen us!"
SS SS SSsssss Last gasp of air. Did we make it?
"Garr, grab handrail!"
Did Garr hear? Boba hit the side of the door and bounced back, into s.p.a.ce. He reached for the handhold by the airlock door, but it was out of reach. Just out of reach!
He was falling again, forever this time And that was when his father came to him, out of the tomb of death, out of the darkness of dream, grabbing his hand, and pulling.
Pulling and pulling...
Boba!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
"Good Job, Teff!"
Boba smiled His father had covered him with a blanket made of stars, and praised him, But didn"t he know his name wasn"t Teff? That was a stupid made-up name for...
"Breathe, Taff!"
Who pulled the blanket away?
"Wake up."
Boba opened his eyes. He saw Garr"s worried face.
They were in the airlock. Boba"s helmet was off. He opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and was like shaking hands with an old friend.
Air! Wonderful air.
"What happened?" he asked.
"You pa.s.sed out," said Garr. "After you saved us. Using the air tank like a little rocket. That was brilliant."
"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction," said Boba. "I think that was one of my father"s sayings. But what about the jump?"
"It happened. Feel it?" Garr placed Boba"s hand flat against the bulkhead, and there it was: the oscillating hum of the ship"s null quantum field generators. "The jump came just after I grabbed the handhold and pulled us into the airlock. We barely made it!"
"Close call," said Boba as he hung up his s.p.a.ce suit. "But I guess a meter is as good as a kilometer."
"Another of your father"s sayings?" asked Garr with a laugh.
"Where were you two?" asked Ulu Ulix when Garr and Boba got back to the Orphan Hall. His three eyes were flashing fire; he was angry. "You know there"s a general alarm before a jump. You were supposed to report in."
"Sorry," said Boba. "It was my fault. We were at the rear observation blister. I, uh, wanted to see what the stars look like from hypers.p.a.ce."
"I appreciate your honesty, Teff," said Ulu Ulix, softening. "But rules are rules. You two are restricted to the Orphan Hall for one day.
No more roaming around."
"No, please!" said Garr. "We"re ten! We can"t spend all our time with a bunch of little kids."
"Apparently one of the airlocks was opened," said Ulu Ulix with a teasing smile. "You wouldn"t know anything about that, would you? You should be more careful. If you get caught breaking the rules, you"ll get me in trouble with Master Glynn Beti. And that"s the last thing I want!"
"That"s also the last thing we want," Boba said quite honestly.
After that sullen day, if Garr ever wanted to find Boba, Garr knew where to look.
The rear observation blister. The ROB.
Boba was watching and thinking. He knew he should understand what secret Dooku thought he possessed. He remembered how bothered Dooku had been when Boba called him Tyra.n.u.s. Why was that so important?
Then suddenly - finally - Boba understood. Tyra.n.u.s had hired his dad to help create an army of clone troopers. But now Count Dooku was fighting the army he"d helped create. Why would you make an army and then fight against it? Boba still had a puzzle, but he was now sure he held an important piece - the piece Dooku had wanted to destroy. As Count Dooku, the man was fighting against the Republic, but, as Tyra.n.u.s, he had helped create an army for that same Republic.
Boba decided to hide that information deep inside him for the moment. He had his father"s instinct for knowing it would come in handy later on. It was part of his father"s legacy to him... for better or for worse.
"Boring," said Garr the next day, staring out.
Boba had to agree. Hypers.p.a.ce looked like a clumsy child"s drawing of a universe, a first draft.
"Those streaks are stars?" Garr asked.
"Stars smeared across s.p.a.ce-time," said Boba. "When we drop out of hypers.p.a.ce, they will look more like stars."
"Like the orange one?"
Boba looked up from his book Operational Starfighters. He had been watching the tiny, flickering orange star for days, almost lost amid the smears.
"It"s not a star," Boba said to Garr. "If it"s not a streak, that means it"s matching our speed exactly. Following us, maybe."
Curious, he thought. He wished he could see it better.
"We"ll find out soon enough," said Garr. "Ulu Ulix sent me to get you. We"re getting ready to jump out of hypers.p.a.ce, and we"re supposed to be secured in our quarters."
"Let"s go, then," said Boba. The last thing he wanted was trouble with Ulu Ulix or his Jedi Master, Glynn-Beti. "Gotta keep them happy!"
The jump was uneventful. Just a weird lurch, a moment"s dizziness.
The orphan kids" moods improved immediately. Boba and Garr went to the commissary for their first untroubled meal. Lunch after hypers.p.a.ce was like breakfast after a long sleep. Everyone was buzzing with excitement.
"We must be near Bespin."
The announcement would come from the bridge soon. Hypers.p.a.ce jumps were a little unpredictable, but only a little.
After lunch, everyone went forward to the main observation blister, or MOB, to see the stars. Everyone except Boba. He went alone, back to the ROB.
That tiny star; there was something about it.. He picked up the viewer and scanned the sea of stars for the little orange light.
It no longer stood out, like it had in hypers.p.a.ce. But he found it, just where he had thought it would be, directly behind the Candaserri.
Boba zoomed in for a better look. It was a ship. It was tiny, and it was several kilometers away, but clearly matching speed and course with the Candaserri.
Following. Shadowing. What for?
The orange color came from the glint of starlight on the rusty, battered hull.
The familiar hull.
Boba wiped his eyes. Could it be that he was overtired, just seeing things? He dialed the zoom, bringing the little ship closer, until he could see the stubby wings, the scratched c.o.c.kpit, the pitted sides. He could even see the pits that had been put into the ship while flying through the asteroid belt on its way to Geonosis.
He lowered the viewer from his eyes. They were filled with tears, at the same time that his fists were clenched with fury.
For the ship was one he knew well. It was his legacy from his father, and it had been stolen from him by Aurra Sing.
It was Slave I.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
"Hey, Teff, what"s up?"
"Not much, Garr." Boba put down the viewer and turned to face his friend, who had just entered the ROB. Keep your emotions to yourself.
"Just stargazing."
"See anything interesting?"
"Nothing much," said Boba. "Star dust, s.p.a.ce trash, you know."
"Well, come on, then," said Garr. "Ulu Ulix has been looking for you. The Padawan wants us to help strap down the little ones for arrival."
"Arrival?"
"We"re going into orbit around. Bespin. Trip"s over. Welcome to your new home!"
Home? Not if I can help it! thought Boba as he picked up his flight bag and followed his friend.
The forward observation blister was filled with crew members and orphans, gazing with wonder at the planet the ship was...o...b..ting.
It was huge. It glowed orange in the light of its distant sun.
"Bespin is a gas giant, with its metallic surface so far under layers of atmosphere gunk that it"s hardly been reached, much less explored!" Garr said excitedly. "The main industry is mining Tibanna gas from the atmosphere. Nothing lives on the surface. All the cities and mines and factories float in the clouds, and... hey!"