Galaxy of Fear_ The Nightmare Machine Part 2

Lando's ears perked up. "You really like it here?" Zak laughed.

"We've only just arrived, but so far, so good."

"Listen," Lando said, "I'm a businessman. I'm looking for, well, investments, and I'm considering buying part owners.h.i.+p in Fun World. But before I do, I want to get the opinions of some Fun World visitors-especially kids your age."

"And?" Deevee asked. His a.n.a.lytical computer brain told him this was leading somewhere.

Lando turned his charm on Deevee. "And I was hoping Zak and Tash would let me tour the park with them. That way I can get an honest feel for their reactions. Which parts of the Fun World are actually fun, and which ones aren't. Things like that."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," Deevee replied. "I have been charged with the care of these humans, and my master would not appreciate their taking up with a complete stranger."

Lando spread his hands out innocently and smiled again. "You do me an injustice. I haven't been doubted like this since the Battle of Tanaab."

"You were at the Battle of Tanaab?" Zak asked. He had a pa.s.sion for stars.h.i.+ps, and loved to read about famous stars.h.i.+p battles.

Lando shrugged with an air of false humility. "I played a small part in that skirmish."

"I hear those Norulackian pirates were using supercharged Incom BG2300 engines," Zak said. "Were they really as fast as-"

"Excuse me," Deevee interrupted. "But as I said, I am responsible for these children, and I am programmed to be wary of strangers."

Lando frowned. "I see. Well, if you change your mind, I'll be in the park for a few days. I'm staying at a visitor's lodge called the Gravity Well. It's near the center of Fun World."

Lando flashed a das.h.i.+ng smile and turned away. "Deevee, that was rude," Tash scolded.

Deevee stiffened. "Tash, after the number of unsettling events that have befallen us recently, I suggest we remain cautious of strangers."

"Actually," Zak said thoughtfully, "seeing Fun World with Lando might not be such a bad idea. If Uncle Hoole's worried that someone might be looking for two humans and a droid, then maybe they're not looking for three humans and a droid. Seeing the park with Lando might throw anyone trying to track us down off the trail."

Deevee considered. "I'm not sure I agree, Zak. Still, your logic is sound-"

"Great!" Zak said without letting the droid finish. "Hey, Lando!"

he called, chasing after the das.h.i.+ng entrepreneur.

Zak, Tash, and Deevee caught up with their new companion, who led them through a dizzying maze of rides, attractions, and crowds until they reached the visitor's lodge called the Gravity Well. Groups of tourists poured in and out of its doors, and the four newcomers easily blended in with the mob.

"What's that?" Zak asked, pointing to a large structure across the courtyard from the Gravity Well. The building's durasteel walls were so well- polished that they acted like mirrors, reflecting the amazing sights and activities of the park.

"That's the administration building," Lando replied. "I have some meetings there with the park owner tomorrow."

The Twi'lek clerk at the check-in counter knew Calrissian by name, and the attendant droid fawned over Lando as it showed them to their rooms.

Since it was getting late in the day, Deevee suggested that they get some rest before heading into Fun World tomorrow. Tash immediately settled herself in to read a datadisk on her datapad. Zak, however, was restless. An entire holographic galaxy lay just outside his room, but he could not get to it until morning. After several hours of watching boring holoprograms, he wandered into the hallway, down to Lando's room, and buzzed for entry.

"Come!" said a smooth voice, and the automatic door slid open.

Zak saw Lando sitting at a table across from three people. He recognized the Twi'lek from the reception desk, who sat next to a very large humanoid. If he was human, he was the ugliest human Zak had ever seen. Part of his face was hidden by a ragged scarf. Beside him sat a two-mouthed Ithorian, also known as a Hammerhead.

"Zak!" Lando said with a friendly grin. "Nice to see you. Come on in. We'll he done here in a minute."

The humanoid growled, "Just play your cards, Calrissian."

"Patience, Dengar," Lando said happily. "I'm just being sociable to my young friend here." Lando turned his brilliant smile on Zak. "Have a seat. Ever watched a game of sabacc?"

Zak shook his head and sat down.

He had heard of sabacc, of course. It was the most popular gambling game in the galaxy. High-stakes sabacc games were played for thousands of credits, or the owners.h.i.+p of star cruisers and even whole planets.

The center of the table was covered in piles of multicolored chips, and all the players looked anxious-except Lando. The Twi'lek nervously rubbed one of the two thick tentacles that grew out of the back of his head. The human, Dengar, scowled down at his cards. The Ithorian hummed anxiously in stereo out of his two mouths. Lando Calrissian yawned.

"Bet's to you, Calrissian," Dengar growled.

"Ah, yes," Lando replied with an air of boredom. "Let's make it interesting, shall we? I bet a thousand credits." Lando took a stack of sabacc chips from his personal collection and dumped them into the central pile.

"A thousand credits!" the Twi'lek moaned. "You've already taken everything I had. I can't bet that." Lando smiled. "Then I guess you're out."

The Twi'lek slapped his cards down on the table and stroked his tentacled head furiously.

The Ithorian piped a grating, worried note out of its two mouths and laid its cards down on the table, dropping out of the game.

"I'm in," Dengar growled. He tossed more chips into the pile. He had only a few left. "Time to deal the last card."

Lando reached over to a small box-an electronic shuffles that randomly mixed the cards-and pulled out two. The first one he gave to Dengar. The second he kept for himself. As he added the card to his collection, Lando's grin widened. "Ah, sweet starlight," he crooned. He picked up another pile of chips. "I bet another thousand."

"Stang!" Dengar swore. "That bet'll wipe me out. But I gotta see your cards."

Lando looked Dengar right in the eye. "Then you better toss your credits in the pot."

Zak watched Dengar and Lando. Dengar fingered his last few chips and glared at his opponent, while Lando merely smiled and waited calmly.

His hands were poised over his cards, ready to reveal his hand.

Everything about him promised victory.

Finally Dengar made his decision. "I'm out!" he roared, throwing his cards onto the table.

Lando sighed. "All right." With a grand flourish, he swept all the chips into his pile.

"Wait a minute," Dengar growled. "Show me your cards."

"I don't have to show you anything," the gambler replied. "You went out. That means I don't have to reveal my hand."

"Show me your cards!" Dengar roared. He reached for the blaster on his hip.

Quicker than lightspeed, Lando pulled a small black object from his sleeve. It was pointed at Dengar's heart before the angry man could draw his own weapon. "Get out of here, Dengar," he said softly. "Before my little hold- out blaster puts a hole in you big enough to fly a star freighter through."

Dengar continued to scowl, but he carefully moved his hand away from his gun. "You ain't heard the last of me, Calrissian," he promised as he backed out of the room. He was followed by the Twi'lek and the Ithorian. Only when they were gone did Lando show any sign of nervousness, releasing a huge sigh of relief as he put his hold-out blaster on the table.

"Sorry you had to see that, Zak," the gambler said as his smile returned. "Sometimes these games get out of hand if all the players aren't gentles like myself."

"Why didn't you want to show him your cards?" Zak asked. "I mean, if you had such a winning hand..."

He turned over Lando's cards and gasped. He was no expert card player, but he knew enough to see that Lando had the worst hand possible!

"Y-You would have lost!" Zak stammered. "You were bluffing the whole time! It's lucky he didn't stay in the game."

"Kid, luck's got nothing to do with it," Lando boasted. "Here's your first lesson in sabacc and in life, my young friend. Nothing is what it seems. " He picked up his small hold-out blaster-and Zak gasped again.

The "blaster" was actually a small, harmless remote-control device.

"This is the homing beacon to my s.h.i.+p," the roguish gambler said with a laugh. "As I said, nothing is what it seems. Want to learn how to play?"

Before he knew it, Zak was deep into a lesson in sabacc gambling.

He learned how to bluff an opponent into thinking he had a good hand, and to guess when his opponent was bluffing, too.

"A good rule to follow," Lando explained, "is that if the other guy is acting normal under unusual circ.u.mstances, you can bet he's bluffing."

Lando showed Zak how to operate the small electronic shuffler by inserting the seventy-two cards and squeezing the grip. Lando made it look easy, but when Zak tried it, he found out that the electronic shuffler was more complicated than it seemed.

"Watch out!" Lando yelled. He ducked just in time as all seventy-two cards came flying out of the shuffler's chute in a rain of plastic.

"Sorry," Zak said.

"The shuffler is touch-sensitive," Lando explained. "It takes practice. Keep that one until you get it down."

"Thanks!" Zak replied. "And thanks for showing me how to play sabacc."

"My pleasure," the gambler replied. "Just remember that tomorrow you'll return the favor when we tour Hologram Fun World together."

The next day, Tash, Zak, and Deevee met Lando in front of the Gravity Well, and together they plunged into the holographic craziness of Fun World.

There were crowds of people everywhere. Zak spotted members of a hundred familiar species in the first hour, and a hundred other species he'd never seen before. They strolled past magic shows that made entire audiences vanish for a full minute, and holodrama theaters where the characters in the stories were projected ten meters high.

But the greatest attractions were the rides. Zak and Tash hoverskied down the side of an exploding volcano. They entered the Star Chamber, an enormous room that contained a hologram of the entire galaxy.

In the chamber, the two Arrandas walked across the cosmos, striding past planets shrunk to the size of blumfruit and stars no larger than melons.

Outside, they hopped onto the back of a pa.s.sing Star Dragon and rode it around the top of Fun World's giant protective dome. The Star Dragon dropped them off at the sh.o.r.es of an inlet that led out to an impossibly large ocean. The digital sign at the entrance to the beach read: WELCOME TO SWEETSAND LAGOON.

"Isn't this amazing?" Tash yelled.

"I could stay here forever!" her brother replied. "I'm beginning to think this might be a good investment," Lando murmured.

"It's really all an illusion," Deevee hastened to point out. "In reality, most of what you are seeing is not actually there."

"Don't ruin it," Zak interrupted. "We know they're holograms, too, but it's still fun. Can't you just pretend?"

"I am a scientific research droid," Deevee sniffed. "Once I acquire information, I cannot simply forget it."

"Your loss." Zak shrugged and turned to his sister. "Let's go for a swim. "

Jumping off the dragon's back, they swam out to a waiting Whaladon-an enormous fish the size of a stars.h.i.+p. As the Whaladon floated patiently on the water's surface, Zak and Tash crawled up along its scaly, barnacle-covered side to its back, then hung on for dear life.

With a swipe of its ten-meter tail, the Whaladon sped off on a cruise along the holographic sh.o.r.e.

Finally the Whaladon deposited them back at the Sweetsand Lagoon.

Lando was just asking them which rides they liked best when he was interrupted by an ear-shattering roar.

The rancor had returned.

Instinctively they all turned as the carnivore charged at them. But no one ran. They watched calmly as the rancor pounced on them, raking its huge claws toward their bodies.

The claws pa.s.sed through them as harmlessly as a breeze.

"It must roam around the park, scaring the heck out of the new visitors," Zak guessed.

Together they left the lagoon and wandered back in among the attractions. Down one of Fun World's side streets, they saw a small building with a sign, THE ANY-WHERE ROOM.

"What's this?" Zak asked the attendant droid who stood at the door.

"The Anywhere Room," replied the droid in a pleasant voice. "This room will take you to your heart's desire. See the flaming falls on the fire rivers of Sittana. Sit on the Emperor's throne. Visit your homeworld. Whatever you desire, The Anywhere Room will take you there."

"Even-" Tash said hesitantly, "even if your homeworld was destroyed?"

"If it ever existed, it's stored in here," the droid said with a mechanical jerk toward the door. "We have holograms of every known planet in the galaxy."

"Tash," Zak said, guessing his sister's thoughts. "We could go back to Alderaan. We could see our house again!"

Brother and sister came forward, just to the doorway. With just one step, they could enter the room. They could revisit the planet that the Empire had destroyed. They could actually go home.

Neither took another step.

"We could go home," Tash said. "But it wouldn't be real. It would just be a hologram."

Zak nodded. "I don't want to."

They turned away.

"You're from Alderaan?" Lando asked. Like many people in the galaxy, he had heard that the Empire's doomsday weapon, the Death Star, had blasted Alderaan to rubble. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks," Tash managed to say.

Zak said nothing. He'd been happy a few minutes before. For a brief moment, he'd forgotten about his parents and his homeworld. He'd even forgotten about Project Starscream. Now it all came hack, and he needed to take his mind off it.

Farther down the lane, Zak saw a small-domed building with a sign outside that announced: HOLOGRAM FUN WORLD'S LATEST ATFRACTION: THE NIGHTMARE MACHINE!.