Hoole relented. "Very well. Deevee will stay with you. I will meet you back at Chood's house. Do not go far."

"Prime," Tash muttered as her brother and uncle left. "The dreariest droid ever designed will make great company."

"I can't say I'm any happier than you are," Deevee intoned. "I'd rather be counting the sand fleas on a nerf. Although I could probably find plenty on your new friend here."

Bebo had squatted down in the dust. He rocked back and forth, muttering to himself. When Tash approached him again and put a hand on his shoulder, he did not respond. "Bebo? That's your name, right?" No response. "Are you okay?" No response. "Do you know about these disappearances?"

"Disappearances!" The word brought Bebo to life.

"Yes, the disappearances! You know."

"What can you tell me?"

"Let me show you what I found!" He leaped to his feet and grabbed Tash's hand. "Come on! Hurry!"

He rushed off, pulling Tash along behind him.

"This is beginning to look like an adventure," Deevee grumbled as he hurried after them. "I detest adventures."

Zak decided that his skimboard was a little too powerful. He walked back to the s.p.a.ceport, where he could use the Lightrunner's tools. He had watched Chewbacca work, and he was sure he knew what he was doing.

Using one of the Lightrunner's landing pods as a seat, he popped open a panel on his skimboard. He would lower the power just enough so that he'd still have a powerful ride, but without as much height.

He was just about to make the adjustment when a shadow fell across him.

A moment later, Zak was gone.

Bebo led Tash away from the town and into the surrounding woods. It was a dark forest, where trees grew thick and very close together. Their trunks were gnarled, with big roots that broke out of the ground. They reminded Tash of tentacles.

"Um, should we really be out here?" she asked. She looked back, but Deevee had been left far behind.

Bebo didn't answer. Instead he led her even deeper into the forest, until they came to the base of an enormous tree. Giant roots curled up as high as Tash's head, and the branches were so thick that she could not see the sun. Beneath the tree, it was almost as dark as night. In the shadow of one of the great roots, Tash could just make out an opening in the ground.

"Down there," Bebo said, pointing toward the hole. "Go on."

"Down there?" she asked. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Safe? Safe! Heh, heh, heh!" Bebo cackled. "If you wanted to be safe, you shouldn't have come to D'vouran! "

And he shoved her down the hole.

CHAPTER 11.

Tash started to scream, but the fall was so short that her cry came out as a short "Yip!" as she landed on something as soft as a large cushion. Wherever she was, it was pitch black.

Tash had just enough sense to get out of the way before she heard Bebo drop down after her, still muttering and chuckling softly to himself.

"What are you doing! Why did you push me?" she yelled angrily.

"Sorry, sorry. Have to hurry, though. No time to waste."

She heard Bebo shuffle away into the darkness. "Don't leave me here! Where are you?"

But he didn't go far. Tash heard the creak of a lever being turned, and then light flooded the room.

She was standing in the middle of an underground laboratory. Or at least what used to be an underground laboratory. Vials and test tubes lay scattered on tabletops, and broken gla.s.s was everywhere. There was lots of computer equipment, too, but most of it was broken or taken apart.

Over in a corner, a dirty sleeping mat was unrolled, and bits and pieces of junk were gathered around it. Propped up on a little shelf, Tash noticed a few holographic pictures meant as keepsakes. All of them were of the same attractive woman. In the last holograph, the woman wore camping gear and looked like she'd been in the wild for months. In the background, Tash recognized the trees of D'vouran.

"Lonni," Bebo said.

"This is your friend Lonni?" Tash asked. "Then she does exist."

"Did exist. Did exist," Bebo mumbled. "Gone. Vanished." He heaved a long, sad sigh. "Come with me!"

Tash followed Bebo down a flight of stairs that led deeper underground. "We found the laboratory soon after the crash. The Imperials came after me. They wanted to arrest me."

"They blamed you for the crash," Tash said. "I read it on the HoloNet."

"They blamed me, but it wasn't my fault. D'vouran wasn't on the charts! It wasn't my fault!"

"I believe you," Tash said, although the truth was she wasn't sure what to believe.

In all the excitement, Tash seemed to have shaken the feeling that she was being watched. Though now, as she descended beneath the surface of D'vouran, the feeling came back stronger than ever. Whatever it was, she was drawing close to its source.

At the bottom of the stairs was a cavernous underground chamber, large enough to house a dozen star freighters. The steel walls were lined with more decrepit scientific equipment, and in the center of the room was a vast pit. It must have measured twenty meters across. It led down even deeper into the planet... so deep that Tash could not see the bottom. The hair on the back of her neck rose.

Whatever was in the pit was pure evil.

"What is this place?" she whispered.

Bebo whispered, too. "We only found the top chamber at first. I didn't uncover these stairs until recently. This place must have been here before we came."

There was a winch and a crane attached to the side of the pit.

Obviously, at some point, things-maybe even people-must have been lowered into the pit by whoever ran the laboratory. Tash couldn't imagine who would have the courage to go down there. She peeked over the edge of the pit and shuddered. There was nothing there, but the feeling of overwhelming dread was so powerful, it made her dizzy. Yet, at the same time, it triggered something else inside her, a powerful and comforting force that seemed to fight against her fear and give her strength. But the feeling of terror grew stronger. Whatever was making people disappear, it had started here. She was sure of it.

"Maybe the Enzeen built it," she suggested. "Maybe. But what's that?" Bebo pointed at markings on the wall. Tash gasped.

Carved into the wall was the insignia of the Empire, old and worn but unmistakable.

Everyone in the galaxy recognized that symbol. It looked like a wheel within a wheel-like a star inside a black circle. But everything about it was rigid and mechanical, as though declaring that even the stars obeyed the Emperor.

Tash was jolted by a sudden roar. Her heart stopped and she scurried away from the pit, thinking that whatever lay down there was coming up. Bebo squealed and cowered, covering his ears as a second roar echoed through the underground laboratory. Tash frantically looked around for the source of the terrible noise.

And saw Deevee standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Deevee!" she cried. "Did you do that?"

The droid stepped between Tash and Bebo. "Don't worry, Tash. I am fully capable of protecting you."

"Protect me? From what'?"

"From this madman," the droid said. He glared at Bebo, who still lay trembling on the floor, his hands covering his ears. "He tried to kidnap you. Luckily I am equipped with infrared sensors and was able to follow you through the forest."

Tash couldn't help but smile. This was a side of the droid that she'd never seen before. "Why D-V9, you actually came to my rescue!"

The droid seemed to straighten a little. "That is my job.

"I thought you hated taking care of us," Tash pointed out. "Maybe you decided we're not so bad after all, hmm?"

Deevee sniffed. "Nonsense. I just try to do a good job, whatever it is." He looked at Bebo. "I take it, then, that you are in no danger?"

"Not from him. What was that sound you made?"

Deevee pointed at his mouth-the tiny speaker on the front of his face. "Part of my job as a research unit is-was, I should say-to record sounds that I hear. Once, on a visit to the planet Tatooine, I heard a krayt dragon. I thought it might come in useful."

Tash coaxed Bebo out of his shock while Deevee examined the room.

"This equipment is in poor shape," he observed, "but it is very complicated machinery. Whoever built this must have been working on a highly advanced experiment."

"What do you think they were doing?" Tash asked.

"I cannot say," the droid replied, examining an old computer terminal. "Most of the equipment is gone, and the computer files have been destroyed. But it was something important. Master Hoole will want to know about this immediately."

Tash turned sharply. "He will? Why? Deevee, what is Uncle Hoole up to? Why did Smada the Hutt say there's a lot about our uncle that we don't know?"

"I could not tell you," Deevee replied quickly "Couldn't?" Tash accused. "Or won't?"

Bebo piped up. "Don't argue! There's no time. Don't you see?"

"No, I do not," Deevee answered. "I see nothing but an old hermit, half out of his mind, who lives in an abandoned laboratory. And if people have been disappearing for so long, why haven't you gone with them?"

In answer Bebo removed a small pendant from around his neck. "Look!

Look! " he urged.

Taking the pendant, Tash saw that it was a tiny device encased in crystal.

"What is it?" she asked.

"This," Bebo said, "is protection."

"From what?" Deevee asked.

"I don't know," the madman replied. "The technology is too advanced for me, but I think it makes some kind of energy field. I found it here in the laboratory and kept it to study later. Ever since then, I've been safe from whatever is causing people to disappear."

Deevee was skeptical. "Which is what?"

"I wish I knew!" Bebo said.

"Then how do you know you're safe?" Deevee scoffed.

"Because I'm still here," Bebo rasped. "I have not disappeared.

Others have. Many others."

Many others? Tash wondered. "What do you mean? Tell me what happened."

Bebo sighed. Finally he said, "D'vouran wasn't on the charts. We crashed. Twenty of us survived, including Lonni and me. We sent out a distress signal and waited. But we were fine. The Enzeen had welcomed us.

They treated us well, and they fed us." His eyes grew distant. He was remembering something terrible. "Then people started disappearing. At first, just one or two. We thought they'd gotten lost in the forest. Then another, and another. Then in groups of two or three! They just disappeared!"

He shuddered in fright. "We didn't know what to do. We searched for them but never found a trace. Instead, the last few of us found this place. We stayed here. As long as we were here, no one disappeared. But we had to check the distress beacon. And every person who went out, never came back."

"What about the Enzeen?" Tash asked. "Couldn't they help?"

Bebo twitched. "I don't trust them." He continued. "Finally only Lonni and I were left. The Enzeen told us that the Empire had investigated the crash and blamed me. I had to hide here. It was the only safe place. Then when I heard that settlers were coming to D'vouran, I had to warn them. I had to tell them about the disappearing!"

His shoulders slumped. "But they won't listen. I didn't have any proof. Not until now."

Although they were alone, Bebo's voice had become a whisper.

Deevee examined the pendant. "There is some kind of circuit inside," the droid announced. "It appears to be a kind of tiny energy generator. I'd say it creates a small force field, like the starship shielding used to deflect blasters. But this one is much smaller. And it's been tuned to a very unusual frequency. I'm not sure what it's for.

However, it does match the design of the equipment around us."

Tash concluded: "So whatever it is, this pendant was left by the same people who built this place. The Empire. Maybe Bebo's right, Deevee.

Maybe people are disappearing. And I bet this laboratory has something to do with it. You're right, Deevee, we should tell Uncle Hoole."

Tash and Deevee wanted to return to the village, but Bebo wouldn't follow. "Stay here!" he pleaded. "It's not safe outside. That's how people vanish. That's how everyone goes. In here, it's safe."

"I'm sorry, Bebo. I have to go."

"Then take this." He put the pendant back into her hand. "It will protect you out there."

Tash tried to refuse. "I can't take it, Bebo. It's yours."

"Take it!" Bebo insisted. "They think I'm mad with guilt. Maybe they're right. But you believe me. So you must convince them. There is a danger!"

Tash slipped the pendant over her head and hid it under her shirt.