• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

"Maybe you're right," he said grudgingly. "But I'm still not going to become a thief."

Ygabba shrugged. "Suit yourself."

She pushed at a piece of scrap metal that served as a door, and stepped out into an alley choked with garbage. "Sooner or later, people like us end up here with Libkath. There's no place else to go."

Boba followed her outside. "Who is Libkath?" he asked.

"An exiled Neimoidian," said the girl. "At least, I think he's an exile. I'm not sure. The other kids, they don't even wonder who he really is. But I do. All the time. He gives us shelter and food. Not much, but better than nothing. He protects us from the Hutt gangsters. In return we do what he asks."

"Do you ever actually see him?" said Boba. "I mean, the real him, and not just a holo."

"Yes." Ygabba shuddered. "Believe me - the holo is better."

Boba thought of those evil glowing eyes boring into him. "I'll take your word for it. What about those?"

He pointed to her hand. Ygabba lifted it, opening her palm so that he could see the lidless eye in its center. "It's a tracer orb," she explained. "Advanced nanotechnology and organic matter. When the Master takes us, he has a med droid implant these in our hands."

"Does he watch everything you do with them?"

"No. They're monitors, that's all. If we leave the planet, they're programmed to release a toxin into our bloodstream."

"That's awful!"

"I know. That's why we listen to him. That's why we do what he asks. We have no choice."

Boba listened thoughtfully. "Do you ever really see him?" he asked.

"Or does he only communicate like that?"

"Oh, we see him, all right. Him and his battle droids," said Ygabba grimly. "Whenever we perform a mission. He has us do his dirty work -

stealing weapons, or crystal fuel, or water. Sometimes he has us hide things for him. Then he comes back here and collects the goods. He takes them away and sells them."

Boba nodded. "I get it," he said. "He's smuggling weapons!"

Ygabba shrugged. "I guess so. All I know is that he takes whatever we steal for him. He gets the fortune, and we get scraps. If we're lucky."

"Does he work alone?"

"No," said Ygabba. "He has soldiers. Mercenaries. And droids."

She began to walk down the alley. She picked her way carefully among dead weeds and heaps of burned-out circuitry. Boba stayed at her side. He didn't put the helmet on yet. He had a feeling that he might attract more attention if he did.

A Mandalorian warrior, followed by a bunch of ragged children?

The thought made him smile a little. It also made him sad.

If I was a real warrior, I would free them, he thought. I'd bring them back to their families and make sure the Master paid for this!

Behind him trailed the children. They pushed at one another, laughing and talking quietly.

Now and then one of them would stop and poke at a heap of rubbish.

Once Boba looked back. He saw a boy pull something long and squirming from the ground and pop it into his mouth.

After that, Boba kept his eyes straight ahead.

"Can I ask what you're doing here on Tatooine?" Ygabba asked after they had been walking for a while.

Boba hesitated. "I'm here to find Jabba the Hutt," he said at last.

"Jabba?" Ygabba's blue eyes widened. "You've got a long way to go, then. His palace is at the edge of the Western Dune Sea. That's hundreds of klics from here."

Boba felt a pang of dismay. "Then I'll just have to find a way across the Dune Sea," he said.

"Wait." Ygabba stopped. She put a hand on his arm. "Let me think."

Her brow furrowed. After a second she nodded excitedly. "Yes! I bet I'm right!"

"What?" asked Boba. "Tell me!"

She began walking faster. "There are night Pod-races this evening -

they're being sponsored by Jabba," she said. "And this shipment of weapons that we're supposed to go after - it's probably for Jabba, too.

I'll bet you dinner at KiLargo's Cantina that Jabba will be at the arena."

She snapped her