Star Wars: Jedi Prince 2: The Lost City of the Jedi (2 page)

With Chewbacca serving as Han’s copilot, they departed with Luke and the droids at dawn.

The Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive unit was in tip-top condition. At faster-than-light speed, it was the quickest trip Han had ever made from Cloud City to the fourth moon of Yavin. As they made their approach, the moon loomed before them in space, wrapped in the green glow of its luxurious forests.

When Luke awoke from a long nap, Chewbacca was already shutting down the hyperdrive thrusters, and See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo were preparing for the landing.

The Millennium Falcon began a smooth descent toward the main landing bay of Yavin Four.

There they were met by Princess Leia.

"Don’t worry, your Highness," Han said in a reassuring voice, as Leia led them toward the Senate building. "Luke had a little run-in with an exploding bomb, but fortunately your brother’s like a Kowakian lizard-monkey that has nine lives."

"Thanks for bringing him home," Leia said.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Han said, putting an arm around her. He stared deeply into her bright, brown eyes. "Luke said you missed me," he said. "Sorry I’ve been such a hermit, Princess. I’ll make it up to you. I promise."

Han stopped Leia to give her a very long kiss. And against the Princess’s better judgment, she didn’t try to make it any shorter.

While Luke lay in bed in the Central Clinic of Yavin Four, recovering from the operation that repaired his mechanical hand, Princess Leia asked his permission to send Threepio and Artoo to the neighboring town of Vornez.

"I want them to examine and help upgrade a new group of protocol droids that arrived from the planet Tatooine," she explained. "The new droids can’t speak as many languages as Threepio, and they’ve never been programmed to translate the beeps of an Artoo unit, either."

"I guess I can survive without Threepio and Artoo for a week or two," he said.

A few days later, when Luke had almost completely recovered, he went home from the Central Clinic to his private hideaway on Yavin Four-a white stone tower, built long ago by a vanished alien race called the Massasi. On this foliage-covered moon, many of the ancient archaeological wonders of the Massasi still stood, reminders of these ancient people and their society.

Luke’s bedroom was at the top of the tower, just beneath the turret. Standing by one of the windows, he admired the sweeping view that overlooked the neverending rain forest. As dusk became nightfall, Luke lay on his bed and stared up at the stars. Before he knew it, he was sound asleep.

Soon Luke’s sleep became fitful.

In his dream, Luke saw himself on a secret mission, zooming along on his airspeeder. He was close above the treetops of the rain forest-and then suddenly the forest burst into flames, with smoke rising all around him. Luke was coughing, choking, losing control of his airspeeder.

It tumbled down into the burning foliage. Luke fell off, plunging through the vines and thick leaves. He landed with a thud on the forest floor. When he looked up, he saw a circular wall made of blocks of green marble. In the center of the circle was a tubular transport for descending underground.

Luke dreamed that he could see his Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, standing at the wall, beckoning him, signaling Luke with a wave of his hand to come closer and enter.

"Luke," said Obi-Wan, "this is the entrance that leads underground to the Lost City of the Jedi. The entire history of the galaxy and all its worlds is recorded there, protected by the caretaker droids of the city. Your destiny is linked to one who lives down there.

"Memorize this code, Luke," Obi-Wan continued. "Its importance shall soon become clear to you: JE-99-DI-88-FOR-00-CE." Then he began to fade away.

Gasping, Luke suddenly awoke from his dream. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. He still felt some pain from his ribs.

It was early morning. Luke climbed out of bed, walked over to the narrow tower window, and looked down at the treetops of the rain forest. He wondered what his dream meant. Since the day when Obi-Wan Kenobi had been cut down by Darth Vader’s lightsaber blade, the Jedi Master had appeared to Luke several times in visions. At the moment of his death, Obi-Wan’s body had mysteriously vanished, leaving the physical universe for a world unknown.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Master of the Force, but now Luke could feel the Force inside himself.

He dressed quickly, walked down the tower stairs, and climbed into his airspeeder.

Soon he was soaring above the rain forest, just like in his dream, thinking about Obi-Wan Kenobi’s mysterious words.

Luke flew the airspeeder faster and faster.

He didn’t understand why. He didn’t know where he was headed.

He just trusted the Force-and kept going.

Ken’s Secret Journey

Ken was sound asleep when his pet mooka leapt onto his bed and licked his face, trying to wake him. It was like this every morning. When would his mooka learn that boys didn’t like to get out of bed in the morning? Especially twelve-year-old boys like Ken who always went to bed late.

"Kshhhhhhhh," the mooka cried. "Kshhhhhhhh."

"Down, Zeebo," Ken said, pushing his mooka away. "Get down. How many times do I have to tell you not to bounce onto my bed in the morning. Do you think I like your feathers getting all over my pillows?"

"Kshhhhhhhh."

"And stop kshhhhing in my ear," Ken added. "You do that every morning too. Just once I wish I could hear the bark of a dog, or the meow of cat, instead of the kshhhhh of a mooka."

Zeebo made a whining sound.

"Oh, c’mon, Zeebo-I didn’t mean it." Ken pet his mooka behind one of its four pointy ears.

"Don’t be jealous. You know I love you. Besides, I’ve never even seen a cat or a dog-except in pictures in the Jedi Library."

Ken got out of bed and stood on tiptoe to reach his computer notebook, which had a small data screen designed to help write essays and organize his assignments. Ken kept it behind some supplies on his highest shelf, hidden away so that his Homework Correction Droid, HC-100, wouldn’t find it if he came snooping around.

HC-100 resembled a droid Ken had studied about called See-Threepio, a golden, human-shaped droid that belonged to the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker.

DJ-88, the ancient, very knowledgeable droid who was the caretaker of the library, had custom-designed HC-100 for the specific purpose of correcting and grading Ken’s homework assignments.

Ken examined his computer notebook, pressing the keypad to call up a report he was working on called "The Moons of Yavin."

When the words flashed on the data screen, a number flashed up, too: "65."

After the number was the comment: "You can do better than this, Ken. Suggestion: Add more detail about moons one and two."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Ken. "This isn’t fair at all, Zeebo. HC obviously snuck into my dome-house, found my computer notebook, and graded my report, even though I didn’t even finish it yet! He gave me a 65; that’s practically failing! HC is turning into a spy and a nuisance and-and I won’t miss him a bit when I leave today on my secret journey Topworld."

"Kshhhhhhh. . ." Zeebo whined, jumping into Ken’s arms and licking his face affectionately.

"Of course I’ll miss you," Ken said. "And I know you’ll miss me. Chip and Dee-Jay would probably miss me, too, if droids could have real feelings."

Ken considered Chip, short for Microchip, his best and only friend. Ken often wished that Chip were a human boy, rather than just a metallic droid who was programmed to act like a boy and keep Ken company.

Dee-Jay, Ken’s nickname for his caretaker, DJ-88, was a droid that Ken deeply admired. But Ken didn’t really consider Dee-Jay a friend, since he was also his one and only professor.

Dee-Jay taught Ken astronomy, ecology, computers, and about fifteen other subjects.

"In a way, Zeebo," Ken said, "it was thanks to Dee-Jay that I finally discovered the code to make the tubular transport leave here and go Topworld. Of course Dee-Jay doesn’t know that I know it. I peeked into one of his files-a file he told me was none of my business.

I know it was wrong. But I’ve been waiting all my life to take a journey Topworld, and none of the droids will let me. Just think what it will be like-getting to see the rain forests of Yavin Four, riding a starfighter with the Affiance, and maybe even-"

Suddenly, without even a knock, the door to Ken’s dome-house popped open, and Chip hurried in carrying a tube of vaporizing tooth-cleaner and a canister of foam soap.

"A very pleasant wake up to you, Ken," said the boy-shaped silver droid, who had flexible, ribbed arms and legs that could bend in almost any direction. "I see that you’ve hardly even begun to get ready to go to the library for your lessons with Dee-Jay. I’ll have to stop trusting the mooka to wake you up on time."

Ken took the hint and began to get dressed. He took off his silver pajamas and then put on his silver school clothes. He didn’t know why, but silver was his favorite color. Maybe it was because of the semitransparent, silvery crystal he always wore around his neck. Or maybe it was because silver was the color of Chip. And Chip had been his droid friend and helper for as long as he could remember.

Chip’s clumsy boot-shaped feet clattered as he stepped over to the trickle of water flowing down the back wall. The hot, natural water never stopped flowing into Ken’s dome-house. It came from an underground stream, and he used it to wash up every morning.

The boy-droid, who was about the same height as Ken, picked up a bowl and began to fill it.

"You should have vapor-cleaned your teeth and combed your hair half an hour ago!" Chip exclaimed.

Ken ran his fingers through his moppy, light-brown hair. "I happen to like my hair when it’s messy," Ken explained. "And I don’t think a twelve-year-old boy needs help vapor-cleaning his teeth. Do you?"

"Master Ken, you know very well that I don’t think. I follow my program. And my program is quite strict. Wake Ken. Wash Ken. Feed Ken. Tell HC whether or not you’ve done your homework. And speaking of homework, look out the window, Ken!"

Ken didn’t have to look out the window to know that HC was about to enter through the rounded, arched front door. HC had very distinct footsteps, like a soldier marching, and Ken could always hear him coming from the rhythmic sound of his metallic feet.

Sure enough, HC entered Ken’s dome-house, his bright blue metallic eyes taking everything in, and his round, open mouth looking as if he had just been caught by surprise. As soon as HC began talking, he sounded like a sergeant in the Rebel Alliance army.

"Time for homework corrections!" HC-100 declared. "And I certainly hope you’ve given more attention to your other assignments than you did to your report on the moons of Yavin."

"I wasn’t even finished with that report, yet, HC!" Ken protested. "And you snuck in here and graded it already!"

"Excuses, excuses," replied HC. "It looked finished to me!"

"Well it wasn’t," Ken insisted. "For your information, I was planning on adding stuff about moons one and two. I wish you’d stop coming into my dome-house when I’m not here and grading my computer notebook before I’m ready."

"You know the rules," said HC. "I’m allowed in here for a surprise homework-check at any time."

HC immediately went over to Ken’s desk and found the notebook he was looking for.

"Let’s see, for Jedi philosophy you’ve written an essay on the Force. Well, that’s a very worthwhile subject to write an essay about," HC said, nodding his head enthusiastically.

"And I see that you’ve finished your quiz on the history of the Great War against the Empire. You’ve learned to spell Emperor Palpatine’s name correctly. He certainly was a horrible emperor, no doubt about it. The galaxy is better off now that he’s dead. And what have we here-hmmmmmm, you’ve correctly described Darth Vader’s role as Emperor Palpatine’s second-in-command, but, oh no, you’ve made a serious mistake in your quiz on the Rebel Alliance. Luke Skywalker didn’t pilot the Millennium Falcon in the first battle against the Death Star. It was Han Solo, and Chewbacca was his copilot. I thought you knew that, Ken!"

Ken sighed. "I do. I guess I must have been daydreaming."

"Daydreaming?" HC asked, surprised. "About what?"

Ken wondered how much to tell HC about his daydreams. He thought about it, as he slowly ran his forefinger across the crystal he wore around his neck. It was shaped like half a sphere, veined with deep blue lines and attached to a thin, silver chain. Ken had worn that crystal as long as he could remember, since the days before he had been brought to this underground place as a very young child. Ken didn’t know who had given it to him. And if any of the droids knew, none of them had ever been willing to answer any questions about it.

"I guess I was daydreaming about actually meeting Luke Skywalker and Han Solo and Chewbacca," Ken said finally. "I wonder what it would be like. Imagine, flying off with them in the Millennium Falcon!"

"Honestly, Master Ken, you worry me sometimes," HC said, shaking his head. "Imagine, a boy of your age, wanting to go gallivanting around the galaxy with the Alliance! Remember what Dee-Jay told you. Down here where we live, there’s no evil. But up there, Topworld, the spies of the Empire are everywhere, and the Dark Side is strong!"

"I’m not afraid of the Dark Side," Ken said, as he finished getting dressed. "I’m old enough to go Topworld. I want to find out for myself what the real world is like."

"Nonsense."

While HC continued going through Ken’s school files, Chip turned on the vaporizing tooth-cleaner and stuck the tip of it into Ken’s mouth. "You’ll be old enough to find out about the real world when Dee-jay says you’re old enough, and not a day sooner!" Chip exclaimed. "Never forget that it’s the duty of us droids to take care of you and make sure no harm ever comes to you. You’re a very important boy! Aren’t I right, HC?"

"Indeed," HC agreed.

Ken yanked the vaporizing tooth-cleaner out of his mouth. "What makes me so important?"

"Well, for one thing, because we raised you," HC replied. "It isn’t just any boy who can say he was raised by caretaker droids of the Jedi Knights. And we’ve allowed you to learn many Jedi secrets, I might add! Why do you think we treat you like royalty here? Like a prince-a Jedi Prince."