"Please don't cry, Tash," Hoole said. "No one is blaming you for anything. You just had a nightmare."

"It was real. I bit his nasty Gank finger!"

"You dreamed that you bit someone. It seemed so real that it made you walk-or rather, run-in your sleep. These things happen."

"No," she insisted stubbornly. "I was awake. I saw them. Why don't we find that Hutt and make him admit that he sent his thugs after us!

Then ask him where they are now. He'll tell you they disappeared."

Hoole considered the option seriously. "That would be difficult.

Smada has a small fortress just inside the forest. If we went there, I suspect we would not come out again. And I doubt Smada would confess to kidnapping just because we asked him."

Hoole sighed. "Actually, I blame myself. I know how hard things must be for you since... the tragedy. I thought this interest in the Jedi would take your mind off your sadness. But now your imagination is running wild with this Jedi obsession. It's got to stop. First you upset the Lightrunner's navicomputer. Then Chood tells me you were wandering around in the middle of the night, and now these dreams." The Shi'ido put one hand on Tash's shoulder. The gesture was clumsy, but she knew he meant well. "Tash, you just have to understand that not everything in the galaxy is a great mystery. Some things are just what they appear to be.

You don't need to wonder about the Force every time the wind blows. Do you understand?"

Tash looked up at the ceiling, then down at the dirt floor. Did she understand? She wasn't sure. Life was so confusing! Should she trust her feelings, or her common sense? Her feelings told her that she was in danger, that everyone was in danger. But her common sense told her that there was nothing out there to be afraid of, except a madman's stories and her own imagination. Besides Smada the Hutt, D'vouran appeared to be a peaceful planet.

Maybe she was looking too hard for mysteries in everything. Ever since her parents had died, she had felt angry. She didn't know who she was angry at, but she knew the feeling was real. Maybe this feeling of dread was just an excuse to be angry at something.

Her uncle waited for her to speak. Finally she said, "All right, Uncle Hoole. You may be right. Maybe no one did disappear. But you'd better promise me one thing. You and Zak better not vanish."

Hoole almost cracked a smile. "I promise."

The sun rose early the next morning, and Zak Arranda rose with it. He couldn't sleep. Across the bedroom, Tash had finally crashed. After Hoole had talked with them, they'd gone back to bed. Even Hoole had gone to bed then, sleeping on a small cot in Chood's living room. But in their room, Zak had heard his sister lie awake, tossing and turning.

Zak wondered if he'd done the right thing. Had he told the truth or not? He just wasn't sure. And if there's one thing Zak hated, it was doubt. That's why he liked engines, circuits, and physics. When you were building an engine or charting a hypers.p.a.ce course, you were either right or wrong. There weren't any gray areas. It didn't matter what you were feeling. You just double- checked your math and had your answer. If you were wrong, you tried again.

All this talk of shadows, sleep, and dreams made him nervous. He needed to do something. He wasn't like Tash, who could sit and think about a problem forever until she came up with an answer. Zak did his best thinking when he was on the move.

That's why he left Chood's house early the next morning and went out onto the deserted streets of the village, carrying his skimboard.

The morning air was warm, fresh, and scented by the forest that surrounded the town. Zak understood why people had accepted the Enzeen's invitation to settle on D'vouran. It was beautiful.

Zak slid his skimboard out of its carrying case. Before starting the board's microengines, Zak put on his crash helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads. After all, as he had told Deevee a dozen times, he was a daredevil, but he wasn't stupid. Once he was padded up, Zak checked the stick-strips on the top of the board to make sure they were sticky enough to keep him in place.

The skimboard had many high-tech devices, but the most important were the lines of goo called stick-strips. Skimboard riders on Zak's home planet of Alderaan had been nicknamed slashers because of the stunts they pulled by "slashing" through the air, turning flips, and especially going vertical. That meant using the board's built-in anticollision system to fly toward a wall at top speed and then bank straight up. The slasher would be held in place only by the stick-strips that kept his feet connected to the board. Most slashers could get a two-or three-meter vertical ride before gravity caught up and pulled the board into its upright position. The all-time record for a vertical ride was five meters.

Zak planned to break it.

He laid the board on the ground and stepped onto it. The foot controls were near the back. Zak bent his knees for balance, then with a practiced swipe of his toe, he activated the repulsor lift.

His stomach dropped as the board sprang high into the air. Zak almost lost his balance, and the board wobbled beneath him, but he quickly righted himself.

Chewbacca's rewiring had worked well. Maybe too well. The skimboard was designed to hover an arm's length above the ground. Zak had wanted it to go a little higher, but now he found himself floating higher than even a Wookiee could reach. A fall from that height was not going to be fun.

But Zak had no intention of letting that stop him. He had a vertical ride record to break.

Propelling himself forward, Zak skimmed through the air until he reached the Don't Go Inn. It was two stories tall. Even with the extra alt.i.tude of Zak's skimboard, the roof was at least six meters above his head. With a good run to gather speed, Zak and his souped-up board should be able to bank up the wall and get over the top with momentum to spare.

Tapping the accelerator, Zak leaned into a turn and skimmed away from the hotel, then whipped around and hovered. He had a twenty-meter runway straight to the white siding of the hotel. That should do it.

Taking a deep breath, he tapped the accelerator into full. The hot-wired skimboard rapidly picked up speed.

Under his helmet, he heard wind rush past his ears in a m.u.f.fled moan, and he had to squint his eyes so they wouldn't tear. The white wall rushed toward him.

Fifteen meters.

Some slashers had a reputation for being lazy, unambitious delinquents. In Zak's case it wasn't true. You had to be brave and very ambitious to try a vertical ride. Even with the anticollision system, it took real courage to stay calm while you hurtled at high speed toward a solid wall.

Ten meters.

Zak kept his mind on his next move. The real trick to a vertical climb wasn't getting the nose up-the skimboard did most of the work for you. It was the moment afterward. Once the board banked, its nose was pointing straight up into the air. That meant the bottom-side repulsors were pushing off the wall. Unless the rider kept his balance perfectly, and cut power to the bottom repulsors at just the right moment, the board would push off the wall, flipping the rider over and dropping him straight into the ground.

Five meters.

Zak braced himself.

One meter.

Now!

Zak leaned back as the anticollision kicked in. The nose of the skimboard tilted up and Zak tilted with it. Suddenly he was looking up at the sky. Using the foot controls, he transferred power from the bottom repulsors to the rear engine, trying to gain alt.i.tude.

But he forgot to compensate for the skimboard's newly improved engine. The same thrusters that had pushed him off the ground were now pushing him away from the wall. Zak and his board tipped over backward.

He was no longer looking at the sky, he was looking at the town-which was upside down. Or rather, he was. Then gravity, aided by the power of his own upsidedown repulsors, drove him right into the ground with a thud.

He was very glad that he had worn his helmet.

Even so, he felt like his brain had exploded inside his head. He lay flat on his back for a moment, staring at the sky. It felt as though his entire body had just become one big bruise, and he decided he couldn't possibly feel any worse.

Until his view of the sky was blocked by the blubbery body of Smada the Hutt.

"How convenient," Smada said. "We were just coming to kill you."

CHAPTER 10.

Zak scrambled to his feet. But he was already surrounded by five Ganks. Smada the Hutt sat on his hoversled amid folds of fat flesh. The grinning slug stuck one hand into a large gla.s.s bowl filled with live eels. He dropped one of the wriggling eels into his mouth and licked his lips.

"Delicious. Now, where was I?" the Hutt rumbled. "Oh, yes. Boys."

The Ganks raised their weapons.

"Wait!" Zak cried. "Why are you doing this?"

"Blame your uncle," the crime lord said matter-of-factly. "He won't cooperate, so I've decided to convince him to work for me. I'm going to kidnap your sister, and kill you as a warning that I mean business."

"People will wake up soon, boss," one of the Ganks growled. "Lots of witnesses."

"You're right. Kill the boy and dump his body on the doorstep. Then we'll find the girl."

"Doomed!" Someone shrieked the word so loudly that even the Gank killers jumped back.

"Doomed!" the voice shrieked again.

Bebo appeared around a corner, shuffling through the center of town. He swayed this way and that and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"We're all doomed!"

"That madman no longer amuses me," Smada bellowed. "Turn him into nerf meat."

One of the Ganks pointed his blaster at Bebo and fired. The blaster bolt streaked through the air straight toward Bebo. But then it missed.

Zak blinked. He must have hit his head harder than he thought. He could have sworn that the blaster bolt veered away at the last minute.

"You missed!" one of the other Ganks laughed. "But I won't."

He fired one shot. Then a second. Both shots missed and shattered the side of a building far down the street. Bebo, shocked but unhurt, ran for cover.

All the Ganks lost their tempers. Five blasters fired at once, and the air was filled with the scream of energy bolts. Bebo was lost behind a cloud of dust and smoke.

When it cleared, Bebo lay cowering on the ground. But he was untouched.

"You cursed old fool!" Smada roared. "I'll kill you myself!"

"You'll kill no one, Smada." It was Hoole's voice.

Smada and his bodyguards turned. Behind them, Hoole stood at the head of two dozen villagers, foul-tempered from lack of sleep and all armed with blasters. Tash and Deevee stood behind the Shi'ido.

Smada laughed. He reached one fat hand into the bowl of eels and ate another one. "Hoole, you're a fool. Do you think a few frontier settlers are a match for my Ganks!"

Hoole's voice was like steel. "Do you want to kill that man so badly that you're willing to find out?"

"I am Smada the Hutt! I kill who I want, when I want."

"Not today."

Hoole waited.

A low, angry growl rumbled from deep within Smada's cavernous belly. He was a Hutt. That meant he wasn't afraid of a few villagers. But it also meant he was smart enough to know when to cut his losses. Winning this standoff wasn't worth the risk to his own precious skin.

"That's twice you've foiled me, Hoole," Smada said. "But in the end, you will work for me." The Hutt cast a threatening eye on Bebo. "And you'll be dead before another day is over."

One of the Ganks jumped on board the hoversled and steered it down the street as the rest of the thugs followed. No one dared to stop them.

Only when the crime lord was out of sight did the settlers, and Hoole, relax.

"Zak, are you all right?" Tash asked.

"I think so," her brother said. "I've got him to thank for it." He pointed at Bebo.

"Please," Bebo screeched to the gathered crowd. "You've got to listen to me. I've found something!"

But the settlers had had enough excitement for one morning. With a few short thanks from Hoole, they turned and headed back to their houses.

"You're all doomed!" Bebo yelled after them.

"What happened?" Tash asked Zak.

Zak shrugged. "I don't know, but it saved my life. It was amazing.

Those Ganks kept firing at him, but every single shot missed, and he just stood there. He's pretty brave."

"Or a fool," Deevee added.

"Urn, Tash, I think you may have been right." Zak reddened a little. "At least about Smada's men being after us. He was after me this morning."

"I told you!" she nearly shouted.

"But I don't know anything about the Ganks disappearing," he added.

"Disappearing!" Bebo pounced on the word. "Yes, yes! Disappearing!"

Hoole interrupted. "Zak, Tash, please. It is too early in the day for this."

But Tash had finally found someone who believed her, even if he was a madman. "Uncle Hoole, I'd like to stay and talk with him for a while."

Hoole looked around. The Hutt was gone, but for how long? "I don't think that would be safe, Tash."

"Well then you can stay with me. Or Zak."

The Shi'ido shook his head. "I have to go," he said. "Where?"

"I have more business to take care of," the Shi'ido said mysteriously. Again Tash was reminded of what Smada had told her the day before in the cantina. What was Uncle Hoole up to?

"And I didn't get much of a chance to practice my skimboarding,"

her brother explained.

"Just for a few minutes, Uncle Hoole. Please!" she pleaded.