“Everyone in?” I called as she came up the ramp, and went to hit the close button.
Veebee gave an anguished yelp. “Myarm! It fell off!” She jabbed a finger down the ramp at her arm lying in the sun. Just a few meters away from it, the sand worm was trying to constrict the massiff in a mesh of popping bones and painful yelps.
Sian cursed under his breath and sprinted back down the ramp. He snagged the arm.
The massiff kicked, throwing itself to the ground—right between Sian and the ship. The sand worm constricted tighter, and the massiff howled and tore at its belly with its teeth, exposing organs. The worm sagged against it. Then the canine saw Sian. He held up his hands and slowly began to back away.
The massiff prowled toward him, the worm sloughing off like unwanted clothes.
Sian raised his gaze to me. Noola poked out of his jacket, and he hugged her tightly.Go, he mouthed to me, and raised Veebee’s arm like a weapon.
The creature snapped at him. He thwacked it with Veebee’s hand. He wouldn’t be able to fend it off for long.
But I had an idea.
Not even bothering to close the ramp, I raced to the cockpit, where I forwent every preflight check and started the engine. The ship rattled, controls jolting, but I kept a tight grip on them, pushing the ship into the air.
Then I turned it around.
Outside the viewport, the creature had backed Sian up against the abandoned outpost, Veebee’s arm in its mouth.
Don’t move, I thought to Sian.
The predator dropped the metal arm and lunged at Sian—
I landed the ship on top of it. The front landing legsmashed it with a sharp crack. Dust and debris flew into the air as Sian threw his arms over his face to protect it, then looked up at me in the cockpit with wide, wondering eyes.
I buzzed down over the intercom, “No one gets left behind on Hyperlight Tours.”
He was about to shout something back when a howl came from nearby, and he quickly abandoned whatever banter he’d thought up to snatch Veebee’s arm from the ground and hurry up the ramp and into the ship. Once I got the signal that he was inside and the ramp was closed, I took the ship into the sky again, just as half a dozen more massiffs slinked out from the outcropping of rock. There must have been a cave nearby with a den.
Sian limped into the cockpit, clutching Veebee’s arm. “That was a close one,” he said haggardly, and painfully lowered himself into the copilot’s seat.
I looked at him. He looked at me.
And then I started to laugh. I couldn’t help it.
“We almost died!” I cried, tears coming to my eyes. I pushed them back as the ship rose through the sky. “Oh, my stars, did youseethat worm? It was so gross!”
“I think I have some of the massiff in my hair.” He giggled, pulling his hand through a dark spot at his temple, raking out a bit of gristle.
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “But you’re okay, right?”
He looked down at the blood on his jacket. “Yeah, this isn’t mine. I can’t believe we survived that,” he added, his laughter finally dying.
Mine did, too. “I don’t think I’ll ever get that sound out of my head.”
“At least it’s not all over you,” he replied.
I winced.
“Not that I’m complaining! I’d rather smell like a corpse than actually be one,” he added, and Noola finally poked her head out of his jacket and chirped. “She agrees.”
“I’ve never killed anything before,” I realized as I broughtStarstallup through the atmo toward space. There was nothing left on Geonosis anyway, and I really didn’t feel like dealing with more wildlife somewhere else. “I hated it.”
“But I’d be dead if it weren’t for you,” he replied, and nodded to the droids as they finally made their way into the cockpit. Veebee sat in her seat and buckled in, and Entoo went to their docking station.
“We might be dead anyway.” I tapped the almost-empty fuel gauge.
