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Evar nodded smugly. This Bith certainly seemed to know his place. “Our equipment’s over here,” he said, gesturing with two tentacles.

Max bounced happily on his seat in the airbus, thinking of the meal ahead. He hadn’t been this hungry in hours. He turned to the Bith next to him, intending to ask about the cantina’s kitchen facilities, when the Bith abruptly pulled a blaster from under its robes.

“What’s that for?” Max asked. He turned. “Evar, he has a—”

Max broke off. All the other Biths had drawn blasters, too, he saw suddenly. Something had definitely gone wrong. He swallowed and felt his ears starting to stand up in fear. What was going on? It was almost enough to make him forget about dinner.

“Hands up!” one of the Biths said. “Now! We would hate to make a mess inside the airbus!”

Max complied instantly. Sy and Snit did the same, he was relieved to see. Only Orbus hesitated.

“I don’t understand,” Orbus said. “We’re under contract!”

“The cantina already has a band,” the Bith driver said. “We don’t need another one.”

“I have a contract—”

“So do we,” said another Bith.

“One we need to keep,” said a third.

“I begin to see,” said Orbus slowly.

Max said, “I don’t see,” hoping someone would explain.

“Be quiet, Max,” Sy Snootles told him.

Max glared at her. What right did she have to tell him to be quiet? Orbus was the band’s leader, after all, not her.

“So,” continued the Bith driver, “we’d like you to audition for someone else. Someone very special out on the Dune Sea. A certain Sarlacc in the Great Pit of Carkoon.”

They all laughed as if that were funny. Max looked from one Bith to another. Somehow, he thought this meant trouble. At the very least it would certainly delay dinner.

Evidently Orbus felt the same way; he suddenly lowered one tentacle. Flames blasted from its tip, spraying across the airbus’s cabin toward the driver and the controls. The tentacle must have been a fake, Max realized. He never would have guessed it hid a weapon. Orbus had so many tentacles, who would notice an extra one?

With an unhappy whine, the airbus swung wildly out of control. Several of the Biths cried out in panic. Sy screamed and Snit grunted. Evar was shouting orders. Max pressed his eyes closed and tried not to be sick.

With a sudden bone-jarring crunch, the airbus hit something. Max felt the universe swinging wildly around him. He opened one eye and saw the ground—still moving—directly over his head. No, no, no, he thought. This couldn’t be happening.

The airbus hit again, flipped twice more, then skidded to a stop upside down. Everyone lay in a heap on what had been the ceiling. Max swallowed, then tried to rise. His balance seemed to be off. The cabin still felt as if it were moving even though he could see it wasn’t.

A tentacle suddenly whipped around his arm. “Come on, Max!” Evar said, pulling at him.

Max focused on his boss a little blearily. “Wha—?”

“We have to get out of here! They’re going to kill us!”

Max suddenly snapped back to attention. Yes, they had to get away. Sy Snootles was lying on top of Snit. He picked up her limp form a little hesitantly. Her proboscis drooped across his arm like a limp snake. Luckily she was still breathing.

One of the Biths had climbed to his feet and was staring numbly at them. “Do you realize what you’ve done?” he cried softly. “We borrowed this airbus!”

“Not my problem,” Evar said. He now held two of the Biths’ blasters in his tentacle, Max saw. “Stay where you are!”

Then a blaster shot from one of the Biths on the floor caught Orbus in the side. The force threw him across the airbus. He hit the wall with a wet thump and slid to the floor, leaving a pale green stain behind. The smell of roasting meat filled the air.

Max turned and fled, for once not the least bit hungry.

Sy Snootles opened her eyes and saw a blur of duracrete. She raised her head. She was in Max’s arms, she realized, and he was running down a long deserted street with Snit in tow. She gazed up into the velvety blue fur of his face, saw tears in his eyes, and realized things had gone