From the sandcrawler, Veebee said, “We are doomed.”
Sian clicked his tongue in admonishment. “This is a famed and terrifying artifact from a long-extinct era,” he began dramatically. The Jawas seemed very dubious. “I spent the better part of my life trying to acquire it. Countless people have died for it and by it—including my own mentor. It is a cursed and terrible thing, and it’s wanted by some of the most nefarious people in the galaxy!”
“Droids can’t be worth that much to trade. You lie,” said the third Jawa as their buddy switched on the electric baton again to give Sian another zap.
I quickly added, “He isn’t!”
The Jawas exchanged looks again. Then the third one asked, “Then why trade?”
“Because…” I racked my brain. Sian motioned for me to keep going, so I did. “Because…what could we do with a relic? My d—mycaptain—needs those droids for his ship, but we’re too novice to know what to do with a relic. But you guys? I’m sure you’ll know immediately.”
“But whatisit?” asked the first Jawa, and the others chattered in agreement.
Sian and I exchanged looks, and then he held out the package. “Why don’t you see for yourself?”
The first Jawa took it and undid the string, rolling the saber out into their other hand. The old metal flashed in the afternoon suns like a flare. The Jawa said something to their friends, too fast for me to figure out, and handed it to the second one.
The second Jawa pressed the button. There was a satisfying click and then—
Nothing.
The Jawa shook it. The saber’s insides rattled.
The first one jabbed a finger at me and accused, “You lie!”
I winced. “We never said it worked?”
The fourth Jawa, the one with the baton, gave an enraged cry that in any language sounded like death, and the other Jawas reached for weapons in their robes.
Oh, no.
“Noola!Now!” Sian cried.
Suddenly, a loud thunk came from the sandcrawler again, and then it shivered and slowly began to ease forward. The Jawas looked at each other, counted four, and realized no one was left on the crawler. So there was no one to drive it. And it was currently gathering speedawayfrom them.
Regrettably, with both my droids still on it.
With shouts of surprise, the Jawas abandoned us completely. They tossed the lightsaber away and ran after the crawler. Sian stumbled to his feet and caught it as I lurched after my droids.
“Vee!” I cried.
VB-35 turned her head just enough to watch me dodge between the scrambling Jawas and make it to the crawler first. “This your plan?” she asked as I passed her going into the vehicle, found N2-0’s head on a workbench, and shoved it back onto the rest of the droid.
Entoo gave a war cry, popping out a small arm with a blowtorch attached. I shoved them off the ramp, and theysmacked against the hard ground and rolled to a stop, almost knocking Sian down in his rush to follow me.
The Jawas had caught up to the crawler, though it had begun to pick up even more speed.
Suddenly, something small and scaly darted between my legs and scrambled up the side of the crane. Noola bit into the wires and chewed through them.
“Well, sh—” Vee crashed onto the ramp and, with agonizing slowness, slid off into the sand with a screech of metal on metal.
Noola jumped onto my shoulder and purred.
“Thanks, friend,” I whispered, scrubbing the top of her head, and grabbed Veebee’s missing arm from the nearby workbench. A moment later, the Jawa with the baton smacked it against the bench, electrifying it. I jumped away and slowly sidled toward the edge of the ramp, the angry Jawas cornering me. I held Veebee’s arm tightly to my chest. “But how arewesupposed to get out of this?”
The Jawa with the electric baton crept closer. I shuffled backward until my heels dipped off the edge of the ramp. The crawler was going fast enough that if I jumped, I’d get hurt. I’d get hurt very, very badly.
“Thief!” the Jawa cried, jabbing the baton at me.
