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He began to press the vibroshiv against, the shapeshifter's jugular vein. Then he stopped.

If Nuri's body is found, Wat Tambor will know there's an intruder inside his fortress, But if I let him go, he'll sound the alert....

Boba looked around the dim tunnel. His gaze lit on a clump of the paralyzing Xabar fungus. That's it!

He began to drag the Clawdite toward the fungus. Nuri fought furiously. But Boba was stronger.

"I've been really curious about how this stuff works," he said. He pinned the Clawdite to the ground, then grabbed the shapeshifter's arm.

"Now I can find out."

Nuri struggled as Boba pushed his arm down.

Sensing prey, the Xabar's tentacles reached upward, wriggling in anticipation.

Closer... closer...

The Clawdite's hand hung above fungus. Then, like pale, grasping fingers, the tentacles grabbed him.

"Unnnhhh...!"

Abruptly the Clawdite went slack. He hung, dead weight, from Boba's hands. Boba recoiled, worried that the toxin might somehow reach him.

"Nuri?" he said in a low voice. "Nuri?"

The Clawdite sprawled before him. He looked dead. He had no pulse.

He was not breathing. His eyes stared upward, blank and cold as stone.

When Boba gingerly touched his arm, it felt stiff.

"Well," Boba said, scrambling back to his feet. He gazed at the fallen Clawdite lying beside the Xabar fungus. If anyone found him, they would assume he had accidentally stumbled upon the paralyzing mushroom.

"I hope that stuff works for a good long time. Long enough to get me to Wat Tambor, at least."

He began to run down the passage. It was noticeably warmer here.

And there were more signs of Wat Tambor's technological genius.

Ribbons of circuitry gleamed along the tunnel's soft, slimy walls.

Phosphorescent globes hung alongside shining plasteel tubes that crackled with electricity. Computer monitors the size of Boba's thumb blinked like crimson eyes. Xabar fungus sprouted from discarded bits of droids like hair.

And always there was that steady, powerful thrumming, like the beating of a massive heart.

Boba tried not to think about that too much. He didn't like to imagine what kind of creature would have a heart that size.

Ahead of him the deep-blue glow of the tunnel began to brighten.

Now it was hard to see the walls of the passage behind all the layers of metal and computer circuitry. The tunnel turned, and turned again. Boba's steps slowed. He crept alongside the wall, eyes fixed on what was before him.

Just a few meters away, the tunnel ended. A high, smooth archway opened into a single large chamber. Silvery violet light spilled from it, threaded with deep purple and blood red.

The light was so intense it hurt Boba's eyes. He paused and adjusted his optical sensors. Then he checked his weapons. His blasters, his vibroshiv, Ygabba's holoshroud, ion stunner, dart shooter...

Which would help him capture Wat Tambor?

All of them - or none?

Boba's stomach clenched. For the first time a shiver of apprehension went through him.

Fear is energy, he told himself. Use it.

He took a deep breath. Then, keeping as low as he could, he ran the last few meters from the tunnel through the archway.

And found himself face-to-face with Wat Tambor.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Boba sucked in his breath sharply.

He was in a large chamber, more like a cavern than a room. Blinking and shimmering circuits covered the slivery walls. Banks of monitors stretched everywhere. There were heaps of parts belonging to droids -

arms, legs, blasters, power cells. Clumps of Xabar fungus sprang up between them, and other mushrooms as well.

None of this surprised Boba.

But what was in the center of the chamber did.

Thrusting up from the floor was a huge, shapeless, purple mass. It pulsed and shuddered like a massive slime mold. Flickers of crimson flame raced inside it. From it protruded dozens of tentacle-like tubes. Each time it pulsed, Boba could see darkly glowing violet