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He backed away from the pit opening. On his throne, Jabba ate a fistful of worms. He belched, then looked at Boba.

"Perhaps you also need to sharpen your reflexes?"

Boba bowed hastily. "I will return - with Gilramos Libkath!" he said.

"Not just Gilramos," the gangster overlord warned. "I want his followers destroyed as well. Every last one of them."

Boba's mouth went dry. He thought of Ygabba and the other children.

He remembered the eerie glowing eyes on their palms. He remembered how tired they looked. How hungry.

How despairing, and how sad.

"I will deal with them, 0 Exalted One," said Boba.

And I will, too! he thought. But Jabba doesn't need to know exactly how.

Turning, he raced from the throne room.

"Now what?" Boba muttered to himself. I know where Gilramos is, but how do I get there?

He ran until he reached the end of a long hallway. He stopped, panting, and looked around.

The hall divided into two passages. One passage was brightly lit.

Cool air flowed from it. In the distance, Boba saw service droids and a Drovian servant waiting by a door.

He turned to the other passage. It was dark. The floor was rough.

But it smelled good. It smelled like food. It smelled like cooking.

"Gab'borah!"

"The seventh kitchen," the old man had said. "That is my customary place of employment."

Boba began to run down the dark passage. As he did, the smell of cooking grew stronger. After a minute, he came to an open door. He peered inside.

It was a large kitchen. Steam filled the air. Huge pots bubbled on an open fireplace. An otterlike Selonian cook stood over the pots, stirring. He looked at Boba and frowned.

"Is this the seventh kitchen?" Boba gasped.

The Selonian shook his head. He dipped a long spoon into the pot.

He lifted it, displaying a fat pink tube larva.

"This is the first kitchen," he said. He held the steaming grub toward Boba. "Care to taste?" "Uh, not today!" said Boba.

He raced back into the hall. He glanced back down toward the main entry. He could see figures running back and forth. He heard shouting.

"Durge has already escaped," Boba said. "Man, he's fast - but I'm faster!"

He ran to the next door. Huge tanks filled with water lined the walls. Inside them, green and blue seafah shellfish crawled. Lambro sharks, another delicacy, swam restlessly back and forth.

"Kitchen seven?" Boba shouted at a droid dropping shellfish into a boiling cauldron.

"That way," the droid said, pointing farther on.

Back into the hall! The noise from the far end was louder now. Boba didn't waste time looking. He ran to the next door, then the next.

The third kitchen held vats of bubbling mugruebe stew. The smell was so good that Boba almost couldn't tear himself away.

But he had no trouble leaving the fourth room. It wasn't really a kitchen, but a breeding ground for white worms - millions of them. They squirmed and wriggled in long open trenches. Droids scooped up buckets of slimy worms and placed them on a conveyor belt.

"Yuck!" said Boba.

He would never be that hungry!

The fifth kitchen held only vegetables and fruits. Many of them were alive and still moving.

The sixth kitchen was devoted to meat. Boba stuck his head through the door. A Caridan cook waved a huge knife at him.

"Yes!" The oversized, roachlike alien grinned with excitement. "Finally! Our main course has arrived!"

"Wrong kitchen!" Boba yelled hastily.

He ran back into the hall. From the far end came shouts. He heard a deep voice he recognized as Durge's. He heard the loud explosive burst from a blaster.

He heard footsteps and an angry yell. They were very close.

Just ahead of Boba was the last door. Huttese letters and numerals were carved on it.

"This better be kitchen number seven," said Boba grimly.

He shoved the door open. Several men and women in Tatooine clothing stood around a long