The Doomsday Ship Page 5

  always kept them out of reach, afraid he'd hurt himself. He always thought it

  was funny that she worried so much about simple gardening tools.

  Two more droids appeared.

  All the droids rolled toward them.

  The four droids slowed down. The tool droid rolled right up to Dash, and

  its artificial voice stated, "Please keep off the grass."

  Dash laughed. "You bet, as soon as we get outta here." He started

  forward.

  "Please keep off the grass," the droid replied. Then it slashed at him

  with the laser shears.

  CHAPTER 8

  The laser shears whipped across Dash's stomach. With amazing reflexes,

  the pilot jumped backward and only the tips of the shears touched him. But the

  laser-powered cutting tool was still deadly enough to slice through his

  clothes and cut his skin, leaving a thin line of blood across his stomach.

  "Yow!" the pilot shouted. "These guys seem to take the park rules pretty

  seriously."

  The hole-headed droid rolled up to Zak, who took a step back even though

  the droid didn't seem to have any weapons. "I'm not taking any chances, even

  though you don't look very dangerous-"

  His words were drowned by a torrent of water that gushed out of the holes

  in the droid's head. The powerful jets of water struck Zak in the chest and

  sent him sprawling onto the grass. He tried to get up, but the gush of water

  continued, forcing him down and soaking him through. It felt to Zak like a

  Wookiee was pummeling him with punches. When Zak could finally open his mouth

  to catch his breath, water poured in, and he gagged.

  Then someone was standing in front of him, blocking the water blast. Zak

  caught a glimpse of Dash's face, the arrogant grin replaced by a grimace of

  pain as the pilot took the brunt of the water on his back, giving Zak a chance

  to scramble to his feet.

  "Dash, look out!" Tash cried.

  The tool droid had rolled forward and raised its vibrospade, about to

  bring it down on the pilot's head. But at the last minute, Dash dove forward

  and rolled across the grass, out of harm's way.

  "They're trying to kill us!" Zak sputtered.

  Dash grunted. "No gardening droid's gonna kill Dash Rendar. I'd never

  live it down."

  The pilot drew his blaster and fired at the waterspout droid. The blast

  punched a hole in the droid's outer shell, and it slowed for a moment. Then it

  started rolling forward again.

  "Industrial-quality droids," the pilot grunted. "Gonna be tough to kill."

  The droid's head swiveled as it sent another stream of water at them.

  Dash blasted another hole in the droid's body, but the droid kept coming.

  "Let's get out of here!" Zak shouted.

  Dash scoffed. "Me run? From a droid?"

  The tool droid's piston pounder-punched out, catching Dash on the

  shoulder and spinning him around. Stunned, he would have been cut down by the

  droid's sharp set of laser shears if Tash hadn't grabbed his arm and yanked

  him out of reach.

  "Hey, I've got an idea," the pilot said, backing away quickly. "Let's get

  out of here."

  All three turned to run. They were much faster than the four droids, but

  the waterspout droid was incredibly powerful. Its spurted a jet of water at

  them that was strong enough to knock them down. One after another, they fell

  and scrambled up again as the droids rolled after them.

  "How big is this Atrium, anyway?" Zak panted, trying to keep his footing

  on the wet grass.

  "The exit is that way!" Tash pointed to a row of shrubs. Some patient

  gardener had trimmed and shaped the bushes to look like living creatures. Zak

  saw human shapes, Twi'leks with two tentacles growing out of their heads, and

  hammer-headed Ithorians. "The turbolifts are on the other side," Tash told

  him.

  But as she pointed, four shapes rolled out from the bushes.

  More droids.

  "I'm getting tired of these guys," Dash grumbled. Still running forward,

  he raised his blaster and poured fire onto one of the heavy-duty droids. Zak

  lost count of the blasterbolts, but he couldn't help being impressed. Every

  shot hit the droid dead center.

  Finally, the droid sputtered and stalled. Smoke rose from its joints and

  blue sparks shot up from its head like tiny comets.

  "You got one!" Tash cheered.

  "One," Zak pointed out. "But there are seven more."

  "And my blaster's hot as a supernova," Dash said, shifting the overheated

  weapon from hand to hand.

  "Duck!" Tash shouted. They hit the ground as a gush of water hit them

  from behind. The droids who were chasing them were closing in. And ahead of

  them, the three new droids fanned out and continued to advance.

  The three humans crowded together, forming a tight circle. They were

  surrounded.

  "Tash," Zak said quietly, so only she could hear him, "if you learned any

  new tricks with the Force, now would be a good time to use them."

  Tash shook her head. "I don't know if the Force works on machines."

  The droids had penned them in. Laser shears hummed to life, and piston-

  pounders thump-thumped in anticipation. The waterspout droid was gurgling,

  building up pressure for another blast.

  A tool droid charged at Zak, waving all its weapons at once. He ducked,

  and felt the laser shears clip at the top of his head, cutting off a hunk of

  hair. The vibro-spade came crashing down. He tried to dodge, and managed to

  avoid the sharp blade of the digging tool, but the droid's mechanical arm

  slammed into him, sending him to the ground.

  He looked up to see all the tool droid's arms looming over him. For one

  frozen moment, the droid stood, all its arms held high, ready to come crashing

  down on him.

  CHAPTER 9

  The next thing Zak knew, the droid exploded in a storm of blaster fire.

  The final moments of the strange battle were lost in smoke and the

  swishing sound of laser beams as the other droids were blasted to pieces or

  melted into slag.

  Tash and Dash helped Zak to his feet, and together they watched as seven

  figures stepped through the smoke. Six were crew members of the Star of

  Empire, and all carried heavy blaster rifles. The seventh, carrying a hand

  blaster, Zak knew by name.

  "Captain Hajj!" he shouted.

  The gray-haired captain scanned the area to make sure there were no more

  droids. "You folks all right?"

  "Dash was cut," Tash said.

  The pilot shrugged and held his slashed shirt closed with one hand. "Just

  a scratch."

  Once Captain Hajj was sure they weren't badly injured, he eyed them all

  suspiciously. "Why didn't you folks leave the ship?"

  "We got stuck, and the life pods left without us," Dash answered for all

  of them. Zak noticed how smoothly the pilot lumped himself in with Zak and

  Tash. Dash hadn't gotten stuck-he'd remained on board on purpose.

  Hajj nodded. "I'm surprised there weren't more people stranded.

  Everything happened in such a rush. No warning at all."

  "Why are you still here, Captain?" Tash asked.

  Hajj stood a little straighter. "The captain is always the last to leave

  his sh
ip. Me and some volunteers"-he pointed to the six crew members behind

  him-"stayed until the last minute, trying to shut the engines down. We thought

  we were all space dust, then the alarms just shut themselves off quicker than

  a Hutt hurrying to breakfast."

  "Captain, what's going on?" Zak asked. "Why was there a false alarm? Why

  did those droids attack us?"

  The captain shook his head. "I don't know the answer to any of those

  questions, but I plan to find out. Me and my crew have encountered several

  violent droids. It's as if someone has reprogrammed them all to be killers.

  You folks will have to stick with us. You'll be safer that way."

  "Well," Dash said. "We were doing all right on our own."

  Yeah, right, Zak thought, rubbing his arm where the droid had hit him.

  "Besides," added Dash, "I don't take orders from anyone."

  Captain Hajj glowered at Dash. "I'm the captain of this ship and you'll

  follow my lead."

  Dash bristled and seemed about to fight when Tash had stepped in between

  them. "Where do you want us to go, Captain?"

  Hajj kept his eye on Dash as he told Tash, "We're headed for the

  communications room. First priority is to send a distress signal."

  Tash nodded. "That's where we were headed anyway. Let's all go."

  Zak hid a smile. Sometimes he had to admire his sister. Maybe that's what

  the Jedi mean by "action through inaction," he thought.

  Dash Rendar scratched his head and grumbled. "Well, all right, just as

  long as everyone knows I'm not following. I'm just headed in the same

  direction."

  Captain Hajj led them through the row of hedges and into another corridor

  to the turbolifts.

  "We're on deck thirteen," the captain explained as they reached the

  lifts. "The communications room is up on deck twenty."

  Captain Hajj punched the turbolift call button, but the indicator didn't

  light up. "Lift malfunction," he said.

  The captain pulled a code key out of his uniform pocket, and opened a

  locked panel next to the turbolifts. Inside was a computer terminal. He

  pressed some buttons on the panel, then paused. "I can't access the turbolift

  program." He entered more commands. "Blast! I can't access SIM, either. Does

  anything work on this bucket of bolts?"

  "I think I can help," Zak offered. He stepped up to the computer, called

  up the game file, chose TIE Fighter, and waited.

  HELLO ZAK

  "There's SIM," Zak said proudly.

  The captain was impressed. "You seem to know what you're doing. Get SIM

  to reactivate the turbolifts."

  Zak typed in the request. "I know you're damaged, SIM. But can you

  reactivate the turbolifts?"

  OF COURSE I CAN, the computer responded. THEY'RE ON THE WAY.

  "The turbolifts are on the way," Zak repeated out loud. Everyone else

  turned away from the computer to wait for the lifts, but Zak continued to look

  at the screen.

  ZAK

  "Yes?" he typed in.

  IT IS VITAL THAT YOU GET TO THE CONTROL ROOM. THE COMMUNICATIONS STATION

  IS NOT SO IMPORTANT AS EVERYONE BELIEVES.

  Zak frowned. "I tried to tell them that before. I could try again."

  NO! YOU MUST BO TO THE CONTROL ROOM YOURSELF. I HEED ONLY YOU. I DON'T

  WANT YOU TO TELL THE OTHERS BECAUSE...

  There was a delay before more words appeared.

  ... BECAUSE I THINK A SABOTEUR IS AMONG YOUR GROUP!

  "Who?" Zak asked, but he already knew the answer. He wasn't surprised at

  the two words that appeared on-screen:

  DASH RENDAR.

  A moment later, a picture of Dash appeared on the screen, then just as

  quickly disappeared.

  SIM explained: ALL PASSENGER SHIPS ARE REQUIRED TO CARRY FILES ON WANTED

  CRIMINALS. DASH RENDAR REGISTERED UNDER A FALSE NAME, BUT I WAS ABLE TO MATCH

  HIS FACE TO THIS PICTURE STORED IN MY MEMORY

  "Match his face?" Zak asked. "You mean you can see?"

  OF COURSE I CAN. SECURITY HOLOCAMS ALL OVER THE SHIP FEED IMAGES INTO MY

  COMPUTER MAINFRAME. I CAN SEE YOU RIGHT NOW. DOES YOUR ARM STILL HURT?

  Zak suddenly realized that he had been rubbing his sore arm. Looking

  around, he spotted a security cam mounted on the wall over the turbolifts.

  HELLO ZAK. SMILE FOR THE HOLOCAM.

  Zak almost laughed out loud. SIM was trying to be funny. Zak couldn't

  believe the computer could actually see!

  SIM was showing him Dash's records. Zak could hardly believe his eyes.

  Dash Rendar was wanted by the Empire for every serious crime imaginable except

  murder. The files claimed he was a mercenary, a smuggler, and a ship-stealing

  pirate.

  "I knew that guy couldn't be trusted," Zak whispered.

  THE TURBOLIFTS HAVE ARRIVED, SIM said. REMEMBER, MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE

  CONTROL ROOM QUICKLY. THEN I CAN REPAIR THE SHIP, AND FOIL DASH RENDAR'S PLAN.

  SIM's words and Dash's records wiped themselves off the screen just as

  two loud dings! signaled the arrival of the turbolifts.

  Captain Hajj sent four of his crew into one lift. He instructed Dash,

  Zak, and Tash to accompany him and the remaining two crew members in the

  other.

  Zak was the last to step on. The door slid closed behind him. "Zak, push

  deck twenty, please," the captain requested. Zak pushed the button, expecting

  to feel the usual lurch as the lift started up.

  Instead, the turbolift dropped out from beneath their feet!

  CHAPTER 10

  Zak felt his stomach fly up into his throat and almost out of his mouth.

  One second the turbolift was strong and steady beneath their feet. The next it

  was dropping like a stone down a black hole.

  "Freefall!" Dash called out. They could barely hear him. The fast-falling

  turbolift was screaming like a bomb being dropped.

  At first Zak was convinced his brain had left his body along with his

  heart and stomach. He couldn't think. He couldn't move. He couldn't hear

  anything but the screech of the lift falling down its tube.

  Then he became aware of someone shouting in his ear, trying to push past

  him to the controls. It was Captain Hajj. "Manual override!" the captain was

  shouting. "Emergency brake!"

  Zak nodded and reached out. He opened a small box marked EMERGENCY and

  flipped the switch inside. Nothing happened.

  "Blast!" he heard the captain growl.

  Then a strong pair of hands shoved both the captain and Zak aside. Dash

  Rendar coolly pulled his blaster from its holster. Holding it by the barrel,

  he smashed the emergency control box, exposing a nest of wires. Dropping his

  blaster, he fumbled with the tangled wires until he found two that he seemed

  to like. He touched them together.

  Sparks flew.

  Zak heard a loud thunk! as the turbolift's powerful emergency brakes

  locked into place.

  The turbolift slowed.

  In seconds, they were at normal turbolift speed. A moment later, they

  came to a complete stop.

  Everyone on the lift exhaled at once. Zak clutched his hand to his chest,

  hoping to hold his frantically pounding heart in place.

  Captain Hajj regained his composure and clapped a hand on Dash's

  shoulder. "Nice work."

  Skreeee!

  The right
side of the turbolift suddenly dropped down, causing all the

  passengers to stagger.

  "The emergency brakes are giving out!" Captain Hajj cried.

  "Time to get off this ride," Zak suggested hastily. Dash, Captain Hajj,

  and the two crewmen forced their fingers between the doors of the turbolift

  and pried them open. They saw that the turbolift had stopped between floors.

  Instead of being at their feet, the nearest floor was actually at the level of

  Zak's shoulders.

  Dash and Hajj forced open the doors onto the floor. The taller men then

  gave Zak and Tash a boost up, and the two Arrandas slipped out into the safety

  of the hallway. They held the doors open as one by one the others followed.

  Captain Hajj was the last to exit. Dash Rendar pulled him out just as the

  turbolift groaned again. The captain was barely in the clear when the

  turbolift dropped away. They heard it smash against the bottom of the tube a