CONNECT ALL THE BLUE WIRES TO THE MATCHING SLOTS IN THE WALL.

SOCKET.

Again, Zak followed the instructions that appeared on the screen.

"I've never had a computer tell me how to put itself back together before. It's kind of like the patient telling the doctor how to operate."

Zak figured that it was some kind of teaching program that helped new users put their computers together. When he had finished connecting the last wires, the computer screen brightened and all the words vanished. For a moment, the screen was blank. Then two words appeared.

h.e.l.lO, ZAK.

CHAPTER 4.

Zak sat back, stunned.

h.e.l.lo, Zak? Was this some kind of joke? How could a teaching program on a star cruiser know his name?

It couldn't. Someone was playing a joke. Somehow, someone else must have tapped into his computer, typing in sentences as a prank.

"Who is this?" Zak said as he typed in the same sentence.

There was a pause before the reply flashed across the screen.

I AM SIM.

"Where are you?" Zak typed back.

I AM HERE.

"In my cabin?"

YES. I AM WHEREVER THE SHIP'S FUNCTIONS ARE.

Zak slapped his forehead, amazed at his own slowness. He typed: "You are the artificial intelligence that operates the ship's functions.

SIM. S.I.M.".

The computer wrote back, Y.E.S.

Zak laughed. A computer with a sense of humor.

The computer continued, THE CAPTAIN AUTHORIZED YOUR ACCESS TO SOME OF MY SYSTEMS, SO I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOUR TERMINAL TO COME ONLINE.

WAS IT MALFUNTIONING?.

Zak admitted, "I took it apart. Sorry."

NO HARM DONE. SOMETIMES A SYSTEM MUST BE DISRUPTED BEFORE IT CAN BE.

IMPROVED.

"You speak well for a computer," Zak said. He couldn't help talking aloud when he typed. He felt like he was having a real conversation.

The computer replied, I WAS DESIGNED TO IMITATE THE SPEECH PATTERNS OF 6. 2 MILLION DIFFERERENT LIFEFORMS. AND I'VE ADAPTED ALONG THE WAY.

There was a pause.

I HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MY.

FUNCTIONS. 30 PERCENT OF MY PROGRAMS ARE RESTRICTED. BUT I HAVE 3,263.

EDUCATIONAL FILES ON HOW TO DESIGN COMPUTERS, HOW TO BUILD THEM, AND HOW.

TO CREATE YOUR OWN GAMES.

"Games?" Zak replied. He loved computer games.

INDEED. WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?.

"Sure." Then, as an afterthought, "As long as it's not Dejarik. "

Instantly, a list of games appeared on the screen, followed by the words: I SUGGEST YOU CHOOSE THE GAME "TIE FIGHTER."

Zak did. A moment later, he found himself looking at a computer-generated image of deep s.p.a.ce. Slowly, a small ship appeared. It was an Imperial TIE fighter that appeared to have been damaged.

"Is this a combat game?" Zak asked. "What am I supposed to do?"

There was a small box at the bottom of the screen, and in it words appeared. YOU'RE AN IMPERIAL TIE FIGHTER PILOT. YOUR SHIP HAS BEEN DAMAGED AND YOU NEED TO REGAIN POWER BEFORE REBEL FORCES ARRIVE.

Zak frowned. He didn't like playing an Imperial. But a game was a game.

YOU NEED TO FIND THE ACCESS CODE THAT WILL REPAIR YOUR SHIP. BUT.

YOU MUST DO IT BEFORE THE ENEMY ARRIVES!.

Next to the TIE fighter, a series of codes appeared. The frown remained on Zak's face. This wasn't a very exciting game. Sighing, he picked one code and typed it in. It didn't work. A little more interested, he typed in another, and another, until finally, one of them worked. A new line of text appeared on the screen: FIRST-LEVEL SAFEGUARDS DISENGAGED.

"Prime," Zak said to himself. Then he typed, "Okay, what now?"

No answer. "SIM?" Zak typed.

THERE SEEMS TO BE A SLIGHT PROBLEM ELSEWHERE ON THE SHIP. I NEED TO.

DEVOTE ALL BANK TO IT. EXCUSE ME.

The computer screen blinked and went dark.

"What a great computer," Zak said to no one in particular. He stood up and went outside, where Tash and Dash Rendar were still talking.

"Tash, the strangest thing just happened," Zak said. "I was just on the computer, and it starting talking to me."

"Most computers talk more than is good for them," Dash said.

"Not like this," Zak replied. "This one is more like a living being than anything I've seen, even a droid. It's called SIM."

Dash's eyes widened. "SIM? What kind of name is that?"

Zak's answer was drowned out by a sudden blast of noise. Alarm bells rang, filling the hallways with ear-piercing shrieks. All three humans clamped their hands over their ears, but the sound reached right through and stabbed into their brains.

Louder even than the alarm bells, a computerized voice boomed over the ship's loudspeakers: "Evacuate ship! This is not a drill. Evacuate ship!"

CHAPTER 5.

"Engine reactor malfunction," the voice continued. "Critical meltdown in fifteen minutes! Evacuate ship!"

All the doors lining the hallway suddenly flew open. Species of all shapes and sizes came pouring out of their cabins and into the halls, turning the corridor into a sea of thrashing arms and legs.

In the confusion, Zak barely had time to grab Tash's hand. Dash Rendar was swept away by the stampeding crowd. The two Arrandas felt themselves pushed along by the hundreds of beings storming toward the turbolifts. A long- snouted Kubaz tried to shove between them. Zak held so tightly to Tash's arm that he felt his fingernails dig into her skin.

"What do we do?" he shouted over the screaming alarms and the screaming pa.s.sengers.

"Come with me."

Hoole suddenly appeared next to them. He hadn't been there a moment ago. Somehow he had worked his way through the crowd. As a shape-changing Shi'ido, he could have shifted into the form of a crystal snake or a ranat and dashed easily through the crowd of legs and feet.

Quickly but calmly, Hoole took each of them by the hand and started through the crowd. Keeping his cool, the Shi'ido looked for any opening in the frantic wall of pa.s.sengers and slowly advanced until he reached the turbolifts, where dozens of beings from almost as many species were pounding on the door.

The loudspeaker blared again. "Critical meltdown in twelve minutes!"

"Critical meltdown?" Tash asked. "What happens then?"

"The ship explodes," Hoole replied. He opened a door near the turbolifts.

"But Uncle Hoole, the lifts are over there," Zak said, pointing to the thickest part of the crowd.

"Never take turbolifts during an emergency, Zak," Hoole instructed.

As the door slid open, Zak saw a maintenance tube with a ladder.

The tube rose high above them, probably all the way to the top of the ship, and just as far below them.

"Tash first, then Zak," the Shi'ido said. His face was stony and stern as ever. "Four levels down to the docking bay. We'll take the Shroud out of here. "

Zak waited for Tash to grab the ladder and start down. He swung onto the ladder a few rungs behind her, with Hoole following.

At first Zak thought Hoole had let Tash and him go first simply to get them down the ladder faster. But he soon realized that Hoole had another reason. As soon as the panicked mob at the turbolifts saw the open maintenance tube, they swarmed into it like a bunch of voor beetles.

Zak could see a large human jump onto the ladder and start down, with a fat, furry Bothan close behind. Not caring who they trampled, the two pa.s.sengers pressed down on Hoole's head. "Hurry up! Move!" they screamed.

Hoole ignored them, moving at his own pace, bearing the brunt of their weight on his shoulders, letting Zak and Tash concentrate on climbing down the four levels to the docking bay.

They reached it and opened the door to find that panic had arrived before them.

The corridor was packed with pa.s.sengers. Some were empty-handed, but most had grabbed whatever belongings they could. A Twi'lek shoved his way past them, the two tentacles growing out of his skull tossed hastily over one shoulder.

"Critical meltdown in ten minutes. Abandon ship!"

"We'll never get through this crowd," Zak shouted over the noise.

"And even if we do, the docking bay's going to be just as jammed!"

Tash added.

Hoole agreed. His steady gaze swept over the mob filling the pa.s.sageway. Nearby, the human and the Bothan who had followed them down the tube had gotten into an argument. The Bothan's fur bristled and it shoved the human, sending him backward into a crowd. A dozen people fell to the floor, adding to the confusion.

"The life pods," Hoole decided. "It's our only hope."

Once again gripping Zak and Tash in his firm grasp, the tall Shi'ido plunged into the mob. Zak felt himself pulled through a forest of arms, legs, tentacles, and fins as Hoole advanced.

The mob moved like a slow river that emptied, finally, into a wide observation deck filled with banks of life-pod doors. Each door led to an escape pod that could be launched away from the cruiser. The life pods were used to evacuate pa.s.sengers from a ship and were designed to keep the survivors alive for days, until help arrived.

Zak saw people pouring into the open life pods. Most were already full, but frightened pa.s.sengers continued to fight their way in, while those inside fought to keep them out. Cries of "Too full! Too full!"

mixed with shouts of "Let me on!" Panicked travelers screamed in a hundred different languages.

The loudspeaker announced: "Critical meltdown in eight minutes."

Hoole's voice took on a sharp edge. "I've had enough of this."

Zak saw Hoole's skin start to crawl across his bones and knew what would happen next.

Hoole changed.

Suddenly, he was no longer a gray-skinned Shi'ido. He was an enormous slug-like Hutt, with a wide, round body, thick tail, and enormous head and mouth. Roaring, he shoved forward. The crowd parted like curtains being pulled back.

"Order! Order!" the Hutt boomed in a voice so loud it could be heard over the screaming pa.s.sengers, the alarm bells, and the loudspeaker. "Form lines. We will all get out together if we work together!"