These terminals weren't put here so people could come along and break into the ship's main computers, you know."

He punched in a few commands but nothing happened. Zak bit his lip nervously. There had to be a way to get to SIM. The hallway computer was connected to the main computers, which meant they were connected to SIM as well. All he had to do was find the connection.

But slowly he became frustrated. The ship's computer system was as big as the ship itself-he simply didn't know where to look. Just when he was about to give up, Zak got an idea. He punched in a command. "Access game files."

The list of computer games stored in the ship's computers came up.

Zak chose TIE Fighter. The images of the game came on-screen, but then the screen flickered and a word started to appear.

The letters HEL flashed onto the screen, followed by a bunch of scrambled words.

"Is that 'h.e.l.lo' or 'help'?" Tash asked.

Zak didn't know. He typed in, "SIM?"

The screen flickered again.

h.e.l.lO.

There was a long pause.

ZAK.

"Got him!" Zak yelled. Then he typed, "h.e.l.lo SIM. How'd you know it was me?"

YOU WERE SMART TO ACCESS ME THROUGH THE GAME GRID. HOWEVER, THIS IS.

NO TIME FOR GAMES.

"I wasn't planning on playing one."

I KNOW... THAT WAS... A JOKE. HUMANS APPRECIATE HUMOR DURING A CRISIS.

Zak typed again, asking the computer if it was okay.

NO SYSTEMS DAMAGED. TRYING TO MAKE REPAIRS. ESTIMATED TIME FOR.

REPAIRS UNKNOWN SOMETHING IS INTERFERING. I SUSPECT SABOTAGE.

The words limped onto the screen slowly. If SIM had a voice, it would have sounded like an injured person speaking through clenched teeth.

"Sabotage," Zak said, surprised. Then he typed in: "Someone set off those alarms on purpose?"

CAUSE OF ALARM UNKNOWN. INTERNAL SENSORS ARE NOT FUNCTONING. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF ANYONE ELSE IS STILL ON BOARD.

"Ask it if we can send a distress signal," Tash said. Zak did as she suggested.

In answer, SIM displayed a list of all the problems with the ship.

COMMUNICATIONS ARE NOT FUNCTIONING.

ENGINES ARE NOT FUNCTIONING.

FLIGHTS CONTROLS ARE NOT FUNCTIONING.

LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEMS ARE NOT FUNCTIONING.

Zak read the last line several times before it sank in.

"Zak," Tash said, reading over his shoulder. "If the life-support systems are failing..."

"We'll lose our oxygen. We'll die," he whispered. Then he considered. "But even if the computer isn't pumping new air into the ship, a cruiser this big is already full of air. And there are only two of us breathing it. So we have some time."

Tash shrugged in frustration. "Time for what? We can't call anyone.

And we couldn't fly this ship even if the engines were working."

Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "But we could fly our ship. Maybe now that the emergency's over, we can get to the Shroud and fly it out!"

They started toward the docking bay at a run, their footsteps echoing loudly in the empty hallways. But they had only gone a hundred meters down the hall when Zak suddenly slowed to a walk, and then started walking on tiptoe.

Tash slowed down beside him. "What are you doing?"

"I just thought of something," he said in a hushed voice. "If someone sabotaged the ship, they did it for a reason." He was going to add, "They might still be on board."

But he never got the chance.

A strong hand reached from behind and clamped down over his mouth.

CHAPTER 7.

Zak struggled, but whoever grabbed him had a durasteel grip.

Kicking and thrashing, Zak felt himself being turned around until he was looking into an arrogant, handsome face.

The face of Dash Rendar.

"Quiet," Dash ordered. "Both of you."

Tash said nothing. Zak still struggled, but he couldn't remove Dash's gloved hand from his mouth.

Dash didn't look at his prisoner. He seemed to be listening. After a moment he nodded, satisfied, then loosened his grip on Zak, who slapped the pilot's hands away angrily.

"Easy there, kid," Dash chuckled, his face widening into a grin.

"You might blow a circuit."

"What's the - Why'd you - Who do you think-" Zak sputtered, furious.

Dash seemed to understand all of Zak's half-spoken questions. He said calmly, "The idea was to keep you quiet. The why is because I thought I was being followed, and you two were making so much noise I couldn't locate the source of the footsteps. As for who I think I am," he scratched his stubble- covered chin. "It looks like I'm the guy who's got to get you two out of here. "

"We don't need your help," Zak snapped.

"Dash, what are you doing here?" Tash asked. "I mean with all the alarms going off, why'd you stay?"

Dash nodded at her and Zak. "I could ask you two the same question."

Zak didn't respond, but Tash said, "We got shoved into a storage room and the door jammed. By the time we got out, all the life pods had left and the blast doors were down, so we couldn't get to our ship."

Dash burst into laughter. "You got locked in a closet?"

Zak felt his dislike for Dash Rendar growing. The man was rude, arrogant, and, Zak was sure, completely untrustworthy. "Yeah, so what's your excuse?" he said. "You're still here, too."

Dash wiped a tear of mirth from his eye and chuckled, "Locked in a closet." Then he sighed, "Me, I stayed aboard on purpose."

Tash was surprised. "Why? The ship was going to explode!"

The pilot shook his head with utter certainty. "No way. Ships this size don't just explode. They have back-up systems and all sorts of devices to prevent accidents. If something had happened, we would have heard from the captain before it got this bad. The warning siren came too quick for my taste. "

"So you stuck around to see what would happen," Tash said, impressed. "That's pretty brave."

"Pretty unbelievable," Zak said.

He gave the pilot a long, suspicious look. Dash was exactly the kind of person Zak had worried about when they came aboard the Star of Empire. Now, studying Dash up close, Zak felt his instincts raise an alarm louder than all the cruiser's sirens.

If Dash noticed the stare, he didn't pay attention. "I figure someone triggered the alarm on purpose. It's the easiest way to get everyone off the ship. Then all that someone would have to do is stay behind, and the ship is all theirs."

"You mean stay behind," Zak noted sarcastically, "kind of like you did?"

Tash looked around at the ship. "What made you think of that in the middle of all the panic?"

"Well," the pilot admitted with a sly grin, "it is, as Zak seems to think, just what I'd do. If I were the type of person to commit a crime, of course."

"So who might have done this?" Tash asked.

Zak answered her. "It could've been anyone. There were thousands of people on the ship. It could have been a group of smugglers, or thieves, anyone." He looked at Dash when he said that.

"And if they're still onboard," Tash concluded, "then we'd better get out of here as soon as possible. If they're pirates, they'll have another ship on the way. Dash, we were just on our way to the docking bay to try to get to our ship."

Dash shook his head. "No good. I just came from there. The blast shield doors are stuck tight. I was going to find the communications room and send a distress signal. Then the authorities could handle whoever might be onboard. The only problem is, I have no idea where to look. The communications room is restricted, so it's not listed in the ship's guide."

"It is if you know how to look," Zak replied.

They continued along the corridor until they came upon another pa.s.senger a.s.sistance terminal. There, Zak typed his way past the main screen until he found SIM.

h.e.l.lO ZAK.

Zak typed in their problem and their plan to reach the communications room. Flashing images onto the computer screen, SIM showed them where the communications room was. Then SIM added: HOWEVER, YOUR PLAN HAS ONLY A 15 PERCEPT CHANCE OF SUCCESS. I SUGGEST AN ALTERNATE PLAN. GO TO CONTROL ROOM. THERE, I CAN INSTRUCT YOU TO MAKE REPAIRS TO MY MAIN PROGRAM. THEN I CAN REPAIR SHIP, OPEN DOCKING.

BAY DOORS, AND SEND A DISTRESS SIGNAL.

"Hey, guys," Zak called back over his shoulder. "SIM wants us to go to the control room and repair him instead."

"Repair him?" Tash replied. "How do you know it's a male computer?

Maybe it's female."

"Okay, it," Zak replied. "It says that once it's repaired it can do anything we ask."

Dash considered this. "But what if we can't repair it? We'd have wasted a lot of time. I say we get to the communications room."

"Me too," Tash echoed.

"But-" Zak began, but Tash and Dash had already started down the hall. He followed them reluctantly.

The ship was huge, but it was easy to get around in. After all, it had been built to make pa.s.sengers feel welcome. The halls were wide and brightly lit, and all the doors and areas were clearly marked. There seemed to be nothing to worry about. Except, of course, the other beings who might be on the ship with them.

Only once during their walk did anything unusual happen. Tash suddenly stopped in midstride, pulling up so suddenly that Zak b.u.mped right into her.

"What-?" he started to say.

"Shh!" she said. "Listen!"

They listened. The halls were silent.

"My scanners are clear," said Dash, using s.p.a.ce pilot slang for "there's no trouble."

"What do you hear?"

A worry line formed on Tash's forehead. "It's not exactly what I hear. It's more like"-she paused and looked at Zak-"more like something I feel."

Zak understood. Over the last few months, Tash had proven several times that she was in tune with the Force, the mystical energy that bound the galaxy together. Tash had learned of the Force by studying the Jedi.

A year ago, Zak hadn't even believed that the Force existed, let alone that his sister might be able to use it. But now he recognized that her Force-feelings had often proved true. On three separate occasions she had even used the Force to save their lives.

So when Tash said she felt something, Zak paid attention. "Are you still feeling it?"

She nodded. "There's danger nearby. I feel something... no, someone watching. You know that feeling you get when you're not looking at someone, but you feel them staring at your back? It's like that." She shivered. "Whoever did this to the ship, they're right around here.

They're close."

After that, they walked quietly for a while, not speaking. But nothing happened. No one appeared. And eventually, they all began to relax again.