The Brain Spiders Read online

  looking tools as well~lades with jagged edges, and a heavy saw. "For sawiag thmugh the skull," Grimpen explained. "Very difBcult."

  Keeping one hand on Zak, Grimpen pulled a handheld

  yidscreen from his robes. As it powered up, Zak could see

  the Aeshy face of Jabba the Hutt on the small monitor.

  "Jabba," Grimpen said, "I'm in the Great Room. I'm

  ready to operate."

  "Your patient is on his way," the crime lord boomed

  over the speaker. "The sooner the better. I want Karkas's

  credits!"

  "I have the Arranda child as well," Grimpen added.

  "Good!" Jabba crowed. "I'm sure we can make use of

  his body. But only after we're done with the other victim

  I'm sending you."

  Zak looked around desperately. There was nothing in the

  room to use as a weapon. He wished for the rusty knife, but

  he'd left it sticking in the Sarlacc's tentacle.

  Footsteps approached the Great Room.

  "Ah, here comes our patient now," Grimpen said.

  Everything 's going to be all right, Zak told himself, star-

  ing at the floor. Things have been wgrse. Uncle Hoole is

  still out there somewhere, and he always appears at the last

  minute. He always saves us.

  "Welcome," Grimpen said.

  Zak looked up. Tash had entered the room, aceompanied

  by two Gamorrean guards. Not Tash, Zak reminded him- self, but the killer Karkas in Tash's body. She he was guiding a small hoversled. Come on, Uncle Hoole, Zak thought. 8Viere are you? As the hoversled approached, Zak saw that someone lay on it. That someone was Hoole.

  Hoole lay unconscious on the hoversled. He was the other victim Jabba had mentioned. Zak moaned. For the first time, he realized that he might have failed. He would end up trapped inside a jar until the end of time. "They're here," Grimpen said. "I'll call you again after the operation. Grimpen out." He snapped the vidscreen shut. Grimpen nodded to Karkas. "Did you have any trou- ble?" Karkas, behind Tash's face, smirked. "Not much. This girl's body is weaker than a nerf cub. But the Shi'ido wasn't expecting to get brained by his own niece." Karkas 4ughed with Tash's clear laugh. "Get it? Brained!" "Humorous," Grimpen said dryly. "Are you ready?" Karkas snorted. "I can't wait to get out of this stupid body." The criminal leered over Hoole's unconscious fig- ure. "This one will do much better. And the best part of it is, no one will ever suspect that Karkas the killer is hiding inside a Shi'ido." Zak shuddered. They were going to perform another brain transfer and put Karkas's brain inside Hoole's body. Would that mean that Karkas would have Hoole's shape- changing power? Did the Shi'ido ability come from the body or from the mind? Hoole had never told them. "Here, watch the boy," Grimpen said. He shoved Zak toward Karkas. The killer grabbed Zak with Tash's hand, drawing a blaster with the other. For a second, Zak considered fighting back. Karkas was a killer who had terrorized the galaxy, but right now he was trapped in the body of a thirteen-year-old girl. Zak wasn't quite as tall as Tash, but he was strong, and he was more of an athlete than Tash was. He was sure he could beat her. But as soon as Karkas clutched him, Zak abandoned the idea. The hand on his arm was Tash's hand, but it wasn't. They were her fingers, but the grip felt nothing like hers. It was hard and mean. Zak could tell that if he made any sudden moves, Karkas would kill him without a thought. Besides, even if he could wrestle free, he would still have to deal with Grimpen and the two Gamorrean guards. The monk positioned the hoversled next to the table. With the help of Jabba's Gamorreans, he slid Hoole onto the operating table and then bound his hands and feet with the leather straps.

  "One cannot be too careful," he observed as he began to qort through the trayful of instruments. "I think I'll do this fhe old-fashioned way," he said, casually picking up the skull saw. "No! " Zak yelled. Grimpen only smiled. He lowered the saw until its sharp teeth rested on Hoole's forehead. Hoole's eyes flew open. One of the Gamorreans snorted. "He's awake! " Karkas yelled. "It's of no concern," Grimpen assured him. "I've had several patients wake during the brain transfer. He's se- curely tied down." Karkas lunged forward, aiming the blaster. "No, you id- iot. He's a Shi aahh!" His warning turned into a cry of surprise-as Zak tripped him up. Tash's body sprawled onto the stone floor of the Great Room of the Enlightened. On the table, Hoole tugged once at his restraints and then closed his eyes. His entire body shifted and collapsed on itself, morphing into the form of a Circapousian water snake. The snake slithered easily out of the straps and dropped onto the floor as the Gamorreans squealed and jumped back in surprise. They recovered quickly, and both guards chopped down with their axes. But Hoole changed ~hape again, this time becoming a tall, thin-bodied Duro. ~~e axes passed harmlessly on either side of him and struck ~"e floor in a shower of sparks. A few meters away, Zak dove on top of Khrkas, strug- gling to gain control of the blaster. He managed to pin down the hand that held the blaster, but he didn't know what to do next. He was fighting his own sister! Karkas lashed out with a savage elbow that snapped Zak's head backward. For a moment the blaster came free, and Karkas leveled the weapon at Hoole. "No!" Zak shouted. He punched as hard as he could, hitting the side of Tash's face. The blow made the blaster shot go wide, slamming into the wall and shattering a shelf full of brain jars. Yellow-green chemicals and gray brains oozed down the walls and onto the Aoor. Near the shelf, Hoole shiAed again. He became a vornskr, leaping forward on all four feet, his poison tail whipping behind him. The vornskr lunged at a Gamorrean, jaws snapping. At the same time, its tail lashed out at the other guard, slashing the guard's snout. The first guard struck back with his ax, but the vornskr easily dodged away, then snapped the ax handle in half with one bite of its jaws. Weaponless, the Gamorrean fled in terror. The vornskr' turned back to its first opponent, but the guard, stunned by the poison, had already fallen to the ground. Zak was still on the ground, too. Now he was throwing= punches. It was Tash's face he was hitting, but his blows, were rattling Karka's brain. The killer blacked out and the blaster dropped from his hand.

  Zak's heart was still racing from his fight with Karkas. He scrambled to his feet, aiming the blaster at Grimpen. "Don't move or I'll enlighten you in a whole new way."

  Grimpen kept as still as stone. Hoole, back in his own shape, walked over to Zak's side.

  Zak said, "I'm so glad you woke up." Hoole nodded. "I was never really unconscious. I only pretended to let Karkas overpower me. I could not make a move with Jabba's personal army all around." "You mean, you knew it wasn't Tash?" Zak said, star- tled. "Only at the last moment," the Shi'ido confessed. "I took my own advice when I noticed how extremely odd she was acting. I could not find the real Tash in her, so I be- came suspicious. Of course, I did not know the whole story until Karkas brought me down here." He looked proudly at Zak. "You, however, found out on your own. Excellent work." "Thanks, Uncle Hoole," Zak said. "For a minute there I thought you were dead. Looks like you've saved us again." He pointed at Grimpen. "But now what?" "I suggest that we " Hoole started to say, then stopped. B'omarr monks were gliding into the room on quiet feet. ~he first few monks moved quickly to the damaged shelves, gathering up the brains that had burst free of their jars. ~~~~6dly, the monks collected the brains in deep pans, pouring liquid over them. But as more monks entered the chamber, they turned toward the intruders. First a few, then a dozen, then twenty, then so many Zak lost count. The brown-robed monks formed a circle around Zak, Hoole, and Grimpen. They were surrounded.

  "What do you want?" Hoole demanded. One of the monks stepped forward. "This must end. Your presence has caused great disturbance." "Don't blame us, blame him," Zak said, pointing at Grimpen. The monk who had spoken bowed his head once in ac- knowledgment. "He has given our secrets to outsiders. He shall be punished." "You won't do anything to me," Grimpen snarled. "Jabba will have your heads!" The monk nodded to some of his brothers. At his silent />   "~at? No!" Grimpen cried. His shouts were suddenly ~u%ed as he vanished behind a curtain of brown robesZak did not see them take the treacherous monk out of the room. Grimpen simply vanished. The first monk turned back to Hoole and Zak. "Now go," he ordered them. "Wait." Hoole pointed at the two brain spiders that had been lurking in the shadows. "We need your help. My niece is trapped inside that brain spider. You must return her to her own body." The monk paused. "For what purpose? In this state she may achieve enlightenment." The spider droid holding Tash's brain scuttled to and fro frantically. It was easy to see what she was saying: No, no! "She's not a monk," Hoole argued. "She is not pre- pared for this kind of enlightenment." The speaker intoned, "The universe moves as it will. We have no interest in undoing what has been done. We do not take interest in the actions of outsiders." Hoole, however, was not finished with them. He pulled a: tube from the pocket of his robe. Popping the cap off the end of the tube, he withdrew a scroll. "Then perhaps you will take an interest in this." A murmur rippled through the crowd of monks the,' loudest noise they had made in all that time. They recog-'. nized what Hoole was holding. It was the scroll Jabba had stolen. "You value your secrets," Hoole said. "Then let make a bargain. If you return my niece to her natural state, will give the scroll back to you. If you refuse, I will sprea,,:

  (Qe contents of this scroll from one end of the galaxy to the other. Everyone will know how you sometimes use tricks to attract students. Worse still, the entire galaxy will know yppl secrets for brain transference." The monks had no choice but to agree. They quickly set
  EPI LOGU E

  "Starship Shroud, you are cleared for takeoff," said a voice over the loudspeaker. "Affirmative, trafFic control," Hoole replied. "Preparing to launch." The Shi'ido turned to Zak and Tash. "Are you strapped in?" "Ready," they both said. As they waited for takeoA; Zak looked out over the city of Mos Eisley. "Do you think Beidlo will be all right?" he wondered. Tash shrugged. "I hope so. His body was gone, so his brain had to stay in the brain spider. But he wasn't like me. He wanted to have his brain transferred someday. The monks will help him adjust to his new life." Zak turned to check on his sister one more time. The monks had done their work well, and Tash looked as if she'd never been through the amazing procedure. The monks were so skilled, in fact, that there weren't even any scars left over from the operation. The only physical proof that she'd been through anything at all was the set of bruises Zak had pounded into her body. "I wouldn't want to make a brain spider my permanent home, but it wasn't that bad," Tash continued. "I could sort of see and hear through the droid's sensors, but it was all foggy." She paused.

  "Of course, I guess my senses were kind of foggy even before that. Zak, I'm sorry I didn't see through Grimpen's flattery right away. I'm also sorry about... about every- thing. I hope you weren't too mad." Zak laughed. "I'm over it. Besides, how often does a guy get to pummel his own snobby sister and come out looking like a hero?" Tash groaned as the ship lifted ofF and headed into infi- nite space. Below Jabba's palace, in the Great Room of the Enlight- ened, Jabba roared at the row of monks standing before him. He yelled so loudly that the hundreds of brain jars on the walls shook. "Where is Grimpen?" the Hutt demanded. "Where is Karkas?" The monks said nothing. "I could have you all vaporized!" Jabba threatened. "The universe moves as it will," one of the monks re- sponded. Jabba fumed. He would not kill them all. He needed them to find Grimpen. Grimpen was the only monk willing to reveal their secrets. "Someday I'll find him," Jabba declared as he turned and slithered away. "Someday." The monks watched him depart. Above their heads, on the fourth shelf from the top, in the third jar from the left, one of the brains almost seemed to shudder frantically in its pool of yellow-green chemicals. I'm here! Grimpen screamed. But he had no mouth to yell with. Help me! No one heard him, except perhaps for a few very enlight- ened monks. But they ignored him. They knew that Grimpen would remain on his shelf until he became en- lightened, or until the end of time. Whichever came first.