Boba sat down on the ground, under the wheeling, spinning Bogden moons. He was dizzy again. The tea had worn off completely.
His starship was gone. So was the black book that contained Jango Fett"s code. So was his father"s battle helmet - his legacy.
Even his money was gone, except for ten credits.
Gone, all gone. How could he have been such a fool? How could he have let his father"s memory down? How could he have trusted Honest Gjon?
He put his head in his hands and moaned in dismay and self-disgust.
Then he heard a clucking sound. "Tut, tut, yes."
It was Aia. "I was afraid of this," the skinny moon-being said.
"That"s why I ran back. But I was too late. That Honest Gjon is a crook, yes."
"So are you," Boba pointed out. "You steal things."
"Only my fingers steal," said Aia, holding up both webbed hands.
"And only what I need, yes.
To prove it, I will help you find Honest Gjon. Not so honest, yes."
Boba felt a glimmer of hope "Where did he go?" "His shop. He tears ships down for parts. So they can"t be traced, yes."
"Then we must hurry," said Boba, jumping to his feet. "Before he begins to tear Slave 1 apart. Where is this shop of his?"
Aia pointed straight up, toward a jagged, spinning moon.
"Oh, no!" Boba sat back down. "He has taken it to another world."
"Yes, of course. He thinks you can"t follow, yes." "But he"s right!
I can"t!"
"But you can," said Aia. "Come. Come with me, yes." And he took Boba"s hand and pulled him to his feet.
"If you were any older or any bigger, this would be a problem, yes," said Aia as he led Boba up the path. "As it is, we may just make it, yes."
"Make what?" The path twisted and turned up a rocky hill overlooking the landing pad.
"You will see, yes."
Boba saw - and didn"t like what he saw. The path ended at a cliff.
Boba gripped Aia"s big hand and leaned out, looked up, looked down.
Above, he saw darkness, a few moons, and many stars. Below, he saw only darkness.
He was dizzy again.
"The gravity waves rise and fall with the moons, yes," said Aia.
"If you get high enough, and if you know what you are doing, you can ride them. Like a bird on the wind, yes."
All of a sudden, Boba got it. And he didn"t like it.
He backed away from the edge of the cliff, but not fast enough. Aia was already stepping off into thin air - and pulling Boba with him.
Boba was falling.
Then he wasn"t.
He was rising, soaring, slowly at first and then faster, faster, faster. Rising up through the air.
"You have to ride the vectors, yes," said Aia, whose coat was spread wide like a kite, like wings. He squeezed Boba"s hand. "When one vector gives out, we cross to another, yes."
Let"s hope so, thought Boba.
Aia pulled Boba with him. They plummeted down, then started to rise again.
They were heavy one moment, weightless the next.
Boba ignored the lump rising in his throat for as long as he could.
Then he lost it.
"Yu-ck!" said Aia. "If I had known you were going to do that... I would have... yes..."
"Sorry," said Boba.
He was feeling less dizzy. The higher they soared, the easier it got. All Boba had to do was hang on to Aia"s hand and follow. Other figures darted in and out of the clouds. All of them were small like Aia.
Aia waved at them.
"We are the couriers, yes," he said to Boba. "We are the only ones light enough to travel from world to world. You too, yes. As long as you stay with me."
Don"t worry, Boba thought, squeezing Aia"s hand. I"m sticking with you!
It was getting cold. Boba looked down. He immediately wished he hadn"t.
Bogg 4 was a tiny lump of stone and dust, far away. The stars were too bright. It was hard to breathe.
We"re almost in s.p.a.ce! Boba thought. We have soared too high!
"There, Bogg 11, yes," said Aia, pointing up ahead to where a smaller, darker moon was about to cross Bogg 4"s...o...b..t. Gravity was pulling at both moons, tangling their clouds together in long streams, like seaweed.
"The foam is where the atmospheres brush one another," Aia said.
"That is where we make the jump, yes."
"And if we miss..."
"s.p.a.ce is cold," said Aia. "Eternity is cold. Hang on, hold your breath, yes!"
Boba held his breath. But he couldn"t hold on. His fingers were numb and stiff with cold. He felt Aia"s hand slipping away.
"No!" cried Boba silently, since there was no air with which to shout or scream.
No air to breathe.
He closed his eyes. He was spinning, weightless, drifting away into The Big Isn"t. The nothingness of s.p.a.ce. Of death.
Here I come, Dad, he thought. It was almost a peaceful feeling...
Then he felt gravity pulling at him like fingers, gently. Slowing his spin. Pulling him down.
Boba could hold his breath no longer. He gulped, expecting the cold rip of vacuum in his lungs.
Instead, he tasted air. It was hardly sweet but it tasted great to Boba.
He opened his eyes.
Aia had him by the hand again.
They were soaring in the sky of a different world. A smaller, smokier world.
"Bogg 11, yes," said Aia.
They circled down toward Bogg 11 in long loops. Boba saw Slave I parked in a rocky little valley, surrounded by piles of s.p.a.ceship parts.
"Luckily he"s just getting started," Aia said. "We made it, yes."
They landed on the side of a small, steep hill. Boba fell and rolled to a stop. He got up, dusted himself off, and started running down a rocky path, toward Slave I.
Honest Gjon saw them coming and stared. "What if he won"t give it back?" Boba asked.
He picked up a rock. He wished he had a blaster. "Don"t be silly,"
said Aia. "Put down the rock.
Thieves have honor, yes?"
Yes. It seemed so. Sort of, anyway.
"Can"t blame a guy for trying!" said Honest Gjon, throwing up his hands. The bearded H"drachi"s smile seemed genuine.
Boba shook his head in exasperation and looked into the c.o.c.kpit.
The flight bag was still there. The battle helmet and the black book were inside it. Maybe there was honor among thieves after all.
Boba tried the book, and it opened.
Money is power.
Not much help, Boba thought, since l don"t have any. He closed the book and put it back into the flight bag.
Honest Gjon was watching Boba"s every move.
"What does it say?"
"It says you"re supposed to give me my money back."
"No way!" said Honest Gjon. "I fixed your strut, didn"t I?"
"He did, yes," said Aia.
"Can"t blame a guy for trying," said Boba. They all shared a laugh.
But while Boba laughed, he tried to think of his next move.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.
Boba found that he liked these outlaws of the moons of Bogden.
Crime was just a game to them. They were like bounty hunters, in a way.
"Coruscant"s a dangerous place," said Honest Gjon, when Boba told him where he was going.
"And expensive," said Aia. "You have no money, yes?"
"I have ten credits," said Boba. "I guess that"ll have to be enough."
"There are ways to get money, yes," said Aia. "Such as?"
"Such as crime," said Honest Gjon. "I happen to know of some mmoney being smuggled from Bogg 2 to Bogg 9. A few fellows with a good ship and a little luck could take what they needed.""
"You could be one of those fellows, yes," said Aia.
Boba was intrigued. Money is power. "You"re talking about a hijacking? A robbery?"