Jedi Prince_ The Lost City Of The Jedi Part 2

VWOOOOP!.

The tubular-transport door slid open, inviting him to step inside. This was the moment Ken had been waiting for!

Suddenly he heard the clatter of metal feet approaching him from behind. "Ken, this is very irregular!" a familiar voice cried out.

Ken glanced over his shoulder-it was Chip!

"It's worse than irregular," Chip continued. "It's forbidden. You know full well you're not permitted to enter the tubular transport and go Topworld until you're a man. Besides, you didn't take your vitamin syrup. How do you expect to ever become big enough and strong enough to defend yourself?"

"But I hate the taste of vitamin syrup," Ken protested. "I want to find out what real food tastes like for once in my life. I want to have some dessert for a change. And I don't mean vitamin mints, either-I mean real desserts, like ordinary kids get to have. I want to see the sky, and the rain forest. I want to travel to other stars and planets."

"What would Dee-Jay say about this if he found out?" Chip interrupted in a very annoyed tone. "I'll tell you what he'd say. He'd say I neglected my duty and let you run off where you could be killed by Imperial stormtroopers, or eaten by wild beasts, or-"

"Chip, I'm going Topworld," Ken said insistently. "And don't try to stop me. But as long as you're here, you might as well come along. I may need a droid to help me."

DWEEP-DWEEP!.

The tubular transport started beeping-a signal for all pa.s.sengers to enter.

"You don't know what you'll find up there in the Topworld!" Chip said in a panic-stricken voice. "What do you know about bounty hunters, or, or-" Chip stammered, "or stormtroopers, or Imperial grand moffs, or Mynock bats, or Rancor creatures. There are alien boy-sellers who might steal a boy like you and sell you into a life of slavery in the spice mines of Kessel!"

Ken ignored Chip, and grabbed the silver droid by the arm, tugging him into the tubular transport. Suddenly the door slid shut. Ken pushed the b.u.t.ton that said TOPWORLD, and the tubular transport began to rise like a rocket.

PHWOOOOOs.h.!.+.

Higher and higher it zoomed. Ken stared out the window. Faint lights seemed to be dancing out of the blackness, like sparks of colored fire. It was the glow of luminous rocks.

"Relax, Chip," Ken said. "This will be fun."

"Fun, Master Ken?" Chip said. "Droids aren't programmed to have fun. You should know that by now."

"Believe me, I do," Ken said in a disappointed voice.

Suddenly Ken felt as if his stomach were flying away from him. The tubular transport was going so fast it seemed almost out of control.

Ken and Chip each held tightly onto the handrails with all of their strength. "Oh, mercy,"

Chip said. "I was never designed to take the trip Topworld."

Ken shut his eyes and held his breath. And then, when he had held his breath as long as he possibly could, the tubular transport finally began to slow down, and then it stopped.

DZZZZZT!.

The door slid open, and Ken took his first cautious steps into the rain forest.

In front of them was a beautiful wall of bright green marble. Together they went through an opening in the wall; the soft green light of the rain forest dazzled Ken's eyes.

Ken had a faint memory of having seen this rain forest before. Perhaps it was when he had been a very small child, on that fateful day that the droids had only hinted to him about, when the Jedi Master in the brown robe had carried him down to the safety of the city built by ancient Jedi Knights. There the Jedi Master had left Ken, with no reminders of his past, nothing except the crystal he wore on the silver chain around his neck. Ken didn't even have a hologram photo to remember what his mother and father looked like.

Ken continued to walk forward, leading Chip through the thickets of trees and vines, without knowing where they were going. Ken's ears welcomed the sounds of the jungle-the cawing and chirping that filled the air like a song. It wasn't long before they completely lost track of where they were and how to get back to the round stone wall of the tubular transport!

CHAPTER 3.

Flying with the Force As Trioculus's Imperial strike cruiser plunged through deep s.p.a.ce, Grand Moff Hissa sighed with relief. It was good to be hurtling through s.p.a.ce again. They were safe now.

Hissa's pulse quickened as he recalled the narrow escape he and Trioculus had made from the Whaladon-hunting submarine back on Calamari. They had escaped just moments before the gigantic underwater explosion caused by Luke Skywalker.

Now they were on their way to the Null Zone to see Kadann, the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side. And three-eyed Trioculus, who had declared himself to be the new ruler of the Empire, proudly wore the glove he had found during their undersea journey-the glove of Darth Vader.

Grand Moff Dunhausen, Hissa's most-trusted commander, came hurrying over, his earrings jangling and shaking. Dunhausen always wore earrings shaped like little laserblasters.

As Dunhausen informed Hissa of a dismaying message that had just been received, Hissa bit his lip and lowered his head. Hissa would have liked to have had good news to bring to Trioculus, but it seemed good news was in short supply.

Grand Moff Hissa found Trioculus inside the ruler's private quarters aboard the strike cruiser.

"My Dark Lords.h.i.+p," Grand Moff Hissa began, "Grand Admiral Grunger still refuses to accept your claim to be Emperor-that is until Kadann, as Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, officially gives you his dark blessing. In that case, Grunger will withdraw his objections and will order his fleet of starfighters to follow your command."

Trioculus gritted his teeth. "And what is his excuse for withholding his loyalty?"

"Like so many of the others, my Lords.h.i.+p, he doubts your claim to be the son of Emperor Palpatine."

Trioculus snarled in anger. "What about COMPNOR?" he hissed in a low growl. "Has COMPNOR replied to my demand for loyalty?"

COMPNOR was the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order-a group of powerful, brutal Imperial terrorists.

"My Lords.h.i.+p, COMPNOR also waits to serve you until you receive the dark blessing of Kadann."

Trioculus furiously blinked all three of his eyes-his two ordinary ones, plus his third eye, which was perched in the middle of his forehead. "What more does that black-bearded dwarf want?" Trioculus stormed. "He made a prophecy that the new Emperor would wear the glove of Darth Vader, and I have found the glove-that should be enough for him!"

"Kadann may be a dwarf, but I suggest that you don't underestimate him, my Lords.h.i.+p,"

Grand Moff Hissa offered. "Before he will give you his dark blessing, he has to examine the glove himself to make sure it's really Darth Vader's. I suggest you respect him-and be wary of him. He's crafty and sly. Expect him to try to trick you. And to test you."

With his right hand-the very hand that wore the glove of Darth Vader-Trioculus gripped a round control k.n.o.b on the navigation panel.

"One other thing about Kadann, sir," Grand Moff Hissa added. "It's important that you speak the truth to him, no matter what he asks you. No one has ever deceived the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side and lived to tell about it."

Trioculus frowned, squeezing the control k.n.o.b even harder, as if he were choking a disobedient stormtrooper. The beacon at the top of his Imperial strike cruiser turned on.

It sent out an intense light, sweeping across the blackness of s.p.a.ce in search of his destination-s.p.a.ce Station Scardia, home of the Prophets of the Dark Side.

Luke Skywalker was just above the top of the rain forest on Yavin Four, speeding faster than his airspeeder was designed to go. Luke squinted against the onrus.h.i.+ng wind, racing madly without giving any thought to where he was going. It was as if someone else were the real pilot of his airspeeder-as though he were being pulled by a power greater than his own.

When he looked down, the tops of the trees blended together into a streak of blurry green.

The only landmarks on the horizon were the tops of the ancient pyramids.

But Luke was soon out of sight of the pyramids, lost and alone in the sky, with no understanding of where he was headed or why. Then he saw a stone sticking up very slightly above the treetops.

He slowed down his airspeeder, hovering and circling the stone.

He could see that it was like a steeple, perched at the top of a small temple hidden among the trees-a temple built by the ancient Ma.s.sasi tribe of Yavin Four.

Luke piloted his airspeeder to a landing, breaking through the thick blanket of leaves at the treetops. At last he was on soft ground, near the base of the ancient temple. The floor of the rain forest was dark. The foliage was so thick the skylight couldn't s.h.i.+ne through.

Luke felt the pull again. The Force was guiding him, drawing him to walk past the tangle of twisting vines and radiant flowers that were in front of him.

A voice inside Luke, however, told him he should go back. His conscience was telling him that Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca would be worried about him.

But for the moment Luke followed a different voice instead. It was a quiet voice that made scarcely a sound. It was the inner voice of the Force, a voice that only a Jedi Knight could hear.

Luke left his airspeeder near the base of the temple and walked through the thick foliage.

He heard someone speak in rhyme, and he stopped cautiously in his tracks.

"You come from afar So very welcome you are."

A strange alien humanoid with green, rubbery skin was leaning over, digging up a purple flower. When the alien stood erect, Luke could see that he was almost nine feet tall.

Instead of hair, there were short, snakelike vines growing out of the top of his head.

The alien glanced at Luke and spoke again: "Baji is my name I'm glad that you came."

Luke's experience in life had taught him never to be too trusting. He put one hand on his lightsaber, unsure whether Baji was a friend, or an enemy pretending to be a friend.

"What are you doing here, Baji?" Luke asked.

"A Ho'Din healer am I May these plants never die From them comes health The only true wealth."

Baji held up the purple flower just beneath Luke's nose. Luke cautiously took his hand away from his lightsaber and touched the flower. He took in its sweet, strong fragrance.

Baji explained: "A Ho'Din healer never lies Kibo plants cure the eyes So rare and hard to find For the blind man, so very kind."

Suddenly Luke noticed a silvery gleam of light s.h.i.+ning from behind a shrub. It was something made of metal, and it was moving.

Could it be a weapon?

Luke leapt to his feet, drew out his lightsaber, and turned on its power. It was now a deadly, glowing sword, ready for battle.

"Come out from behind there, whoever you are!" Luke said.

There was the sound of crinkling leaves. Whoever was hiding in the brush was trying to crouch and keep out of sight.

"Show yourself," Luke said. "This is your last warning!"

A silver, boy-shaped droid instantly popped up from behind the bush. "This is highly irregular!" the droid exclaimed. "Do you always threaten innocent droids who are merely taking a walk in the forest?"

"Why are you spying on us?" Luke asked. "Who are you?"

"I'm not programmed to give out my name to strangers," the silver droid said.

"That's just what I'd expect a spy to say," Luke replied.

A boy who seemed to be about twelve or thirteen poked his head up alongside the droid.

"Don't blame Chip," the boy said. "I was the one who said we should come here. But I'm warning you, if you're a soldier of the evil Empire, you'll never take me alive!"

Luke grinned. "I'm not an Imperial soldier," he said. "I've probably fought more Imperial stormtroopers than you can count. What's your name?"

"Ken," he replied.

"Ken what?"

The boy shrugged. "Just Ken. I was never given a last name by the droids."

"What droids?" Luke asked suspiciously.

"Chip, and the droids who live near my dome-house, of course," Ken said, touching the silvery crystal he wore around his neck. Then he squinted and looked Luke in the eye. "Do you always ask strangers so many questions?"

Ken brushed the leaves and thorns off his clothes and stepped out from behind the branches. Chip, whose feet were tangled in a vine, struggled to get free of the twisted plant.

"Here, let me help," Luke offered.

FWOOP!.

With one quick stroke of his lightsaber, Luke cut the vine between Chip's feet, setting the droid free. Then Luke returned the lightsaber to his belt.

"Thank you," Chip said. "That's much better. But just in case you were wondering, I was about to get untangled all by myself."

"And now we'd appreciate it if you'd tell us your names," Ken said.

Baji spoke first: "Baji is my name From the planet Moltok I came."

"And I'm Commander Skywalker," Luke volunteered, "Jedi Knight and Alliance pilot, from Tatooine."

Ken's mouth fell open in shock, his sparkling blue eyes gleaming with wonder.

He dropped down on one knee and bowed his head, as if he were a serf who expected to be knighted by a great king. "Commander Luke Skywalker," he said, "I can't believe it. I thought it was you, but I said to myself no, it couldn't be. This is the greatest honor of my life!"

"You've heard of me, then?" Luke said.

"Heard of you! I've studied you! I know almost everything you've ever done!"