Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 04_ Backlash - Aaron Allston [64]
Why didn’t Monarg command his droids to surround her and hold her in place? Obviously, it was because he couldn’t. Their spindly bodies didn’t have a lot of room for processors. Probably they knew only how to go places and fix things.
Another droid rolled past Monarg, was confirmed by him as a droid, and was released. It rolled on toward R2-D2. Allana moved forward and slid into its carry-rack as it passed.
This rack was full of tools. It was not comfortable to sit on, and she could not help but make a little noise as she situated herself on it. She saw Monarg turn back toward the noise, his eye stabbing around, seeking her.
Between her feet, she saw a metal file that looked like it might be able to pry R2-D2’s restraining bolt loose. She snatched it up. Then an idea occurred to her. She picked up the hydrospanner beside her knee and flung it as far as she could toward the tables she had so recently hidden behind. It came down on the floor with a series of clangs as it bounced to a stop.
Monarg’s head snapped in that direction. The droid Allana rode stopped, then reversed direction and headed off toward the spanner. Allana rolled free and came up in a crouch. She was now only a few meters from R2-D2. She moved as quietly as she could to stand before him.
Monarg reached the vicinity of the hydrospanner, vainly looking for the source of the noise, and inadvertently kicked the tool. His extensible optic pointed straight down at it.
Allana turned away from him and managed to get her improvised pry-tool jammed under one edge of the restraining bolt. She began tugging at it. It came a few millimeters free. She looked back again.
Monarg now had the hydrospanner in his hand and was looking around in its vicinity. The droid Allana had ridden last rolled up to him and took the spanner from him, returning it to its tray. Then its head swiveled around, detecting Allana, and it rolled toward the girl.
Frantically, she returned her attention to the bolt and tugged harder. Another few millimeters—
A shadow fell across her, and Monarg’s hand clamped across her arm again. He yanked her away from the droid. Allana heard the clang of her pry-tool hitting the floor.
Monarg hauled Allana off her feet, holding her at arm’s length so she could not kick him. The optic pointing out of his eye socket, looking around as if it had a mind of its own, made things even worse. She screamed again.
He waited for her to run out of breath.
And waited.
She didn’t so much run out of breath as realize that her arm hurt. She choked off her wail and thrashed, trying to break free of the man’s grip, but he seemed to be as strong as a loader droid.
“The problem with little girls,” he told her, “is that, unlike droids, they can’t be memory-wiped and reprogrammed. Meaning that if I let you go, no matter what you promise now, someday you’ll tell on me.”
She glared at him, wishing that she could make one of her own eyes scary. “I’m not going to promise you anything. I will tell on you. You stole Artoo.”
“Yes … I think you need to see the inside of a trash compactor.”
Allana heard feet shuffling toward her out of the hangar’s dark corners. Monarg must have heard them too, because his prosthetic eye began swinging back and forth, peering into shadows.
Allana struggled, swatting ineffectually at the arm by which he held her. She opened her mouth to tell Monarg that he was in a lot of trouble, but it was not her voice she heard next.
“I say, I think you should unhand the little girl. If you do not, I will be forced to thrash you.”
MONARG’S EXPRESSION CHANGED TO INCREDULITY. HE SWUNG AROUND toward the doors and the source of the