Spore, page 10
Spore was following them.
Tash wasn't sure whether Spore would come after them. After all, it had
an entire Star Destroyer at its disposal-why chase down a few more victims?
She had gambled on something Fandomar had told her, that Spore was driven to
infect every being it met. The creature itself had confirmed that when it
pursued the Ithorians in the forest.
Spore wanted everyone to join it.
As the two Starflies flicked in and out among the asteroids, the
Vengeance surged forward. Its pointed front end sliced into the asteroid field
like a knife. Power turbolasers blasted any space rocks that came close. The
asteroids that weren't destroyed bounced off the Destroyer's deflector
shields.
So far, so good, Tash thought. She took a few deep breaths, trying to
regain the awareness of the Force she'd had a few minutes before.
"That won't work, you know," Spore whispered in her ear.
Tash nearly jumped out of her skin. Zak was awake. He had spoken through
the comlink in his helmet, and hers had picked it up.
Tash tried to calm her racing heart. The Starfly didn't provide any
atmosphere of its own, she reminded herself. The inside of the little ship was
just like the vacuum of space. Spore couldn't infect her. And since Zak was
tied up, he didn't pose much of a threat, either.
"I'm going to warn the Empire," Tash threatened. "You'll be hunted down
and destroyed before you can infect one more person."
"You'll never get the chance," Spore said in Zak's voice. Tash was
surprised at how evil her brother could sound. "You will join me. You'll be a
part of me. Didn't you want to become one with the Force? Isn't that what you
told me?"
"I told Zak!" Tash snapped.
She swerved just in time to avoid another asteroid. Spore was trying to
distract her. She couldn't listen.
Spore continued, "The Force is nothing. If it ever existed, it belonged
to Jedi who died years ago. I can offer you something more. Join me, and you
will join thousands, millions of others." Spore laughed. "You are just what
I've been waiting for. Jerec thinks I'm mad for chasing you down, but I
control the crewmen, so I control the ship. He's right here with me, on the
bridge of the Star Destroyer."
For an instant, Tash let herself be impressed by Spore's power. He could
be in many places at once. He was with Tash in the Starfly, and he was on
board the Imperial ship. It was frightening.
Spore continued. "Jerec doesn't know of your Force sensitivity. But I do.
Should I tell him?" the creature taunted. "Or should I keep it to myself? You
know, you're not strong enough to stop me. Not nearly strong enough. Once
you're under my control, I'll make you my primary host. I will be you."
Tash saw what she was looking for. A cluster of moon-sized asteroids
spackled with cavernous holes. She aimed for the middle of the cluster.
"You'll have to catch me first," she said through clenched teeth.
Again, Spore laughed. "The asteroid field won't stop me. The Vengeance is
powerful enough to survive the collisions. The asteroids are nothing."
Tash plunged into the enormous cluster of asteroids, her Starfly buzzing
them like a swamp midge darting around a herd of nerfs.
Behind it, the Star Destroyer continued cutting a path, whole batteries
of turbolasers firing at once. Dozens of asteroids were blasted into space
dust.
Waves of rubble showered the large asteroids, causing vibrations in the
rock.
Inside the asteroids, creatures stirred.
The Star Destroyer entered the cluster.
Spore grinned. "I have you now."
Tash felt a tractor beam lock onto her tiny Starfly. The ship froze
instantly in place. She was caught.
At the same time, something huge and gray launched itself like a missile
from a cavern. The space slug had never before encountered anything its own
size, and it lunged forward eagerly.
The giant worm struck, battering the Vengeance before it bounced off the
Star Destroyer's shields.
"You see?" Spore said through Zak's mouth. "My ship can withstand-"
Zak's mouth stopped working.
Another space slug had attacked from another angle. The Star Destroyer
shook.
"You were saying?" Tash said.
The tractor beam dropped off. Tash hit the accelerator and slipped out of
the asteroid cluster.
Behind her, the Vengeance tried to change course, but it was attacked
again and again. The two space slugs were too stubborn, or too stupid, to give
up. And Tash doubted that Spore knew how to command the Star Destroyer. It
moved sluggishly, slowly. The ship had been hit a dozen times before it
managed to turn around.
By that time, its shields were failing, and with its shields gone, the
Star Destroyer could not fend off the asteroids. And at nearly two kilometers
long, it was a big target. Space rocks slammed into its hull at a hundred
different points. Plumes of fire started lifting from its main deck. A moment
later, the bridge exploded.
Tash saw a gaping hole open up the side of the star-ship. As she reached
the edge of the asteroid field, she imagined the vacuum of space rushing in to
find Spore.
EPILOGUE
"So I have an evil laugh, huh?" Zak asked. He gave a wicked-sounding
chuckle.
"Not even close," Tash replied.
They were aboard the Tafanda Bay, lounging in one of the floating city's
many parks. All of them seemed relieved except Fandomar, who sat with her eyes
downcast and muttering to herself in sorrowful tones.
Her theory had been correct. When the hole had opened up in the side of
the Star Destroyer, the air inside had escaped, just as it had at the mining
facility. Spore and his minions had been unable to seal the damage, and soon
the entire ship had been exposed to airless space.
Spore had been neutralized.
Soon after the Vengeance had lost power and started drifting, Zak had
fainted. When he came to his senses a few hours later, he had no memory of the
time of his infection. Neither he nor Hoole had asked for details, which was
fine with Tash. She still turned pale at the thought of the weird tentacles
hurtling from their mouths and eyes. She didn't need to describe it.
Hoole walked up to them. "The Shroud is refueled," their uncle said.
"It's time to go."
Tash put her hand on Fandomar's shoulder. "Will you be all right?"
Fandomar sighed. "I do not know. I have committed a crime far worse than
my husband's," she said. "He gave up our secret technology to save the Bafforr
trees. I betrayed the Law of Life and helped destroy all those people on the
Star Destroyer."
"But you probably saved countless lives by doing so," Hoole replied.
"Besides," Tash argued, "you didn't do anything to those Imperials. You
were only following me."
Fandomar blinked. "I'm afraid my conscience may not be as forgiving as
you are."
Tash got to her feet. "Please don't feel bad, Fandomar. You're a hero. I
mean, Spore is dead, right?" she asked. "If Zak and Uncle Hoole and those four
Ithorians have all returned to normal, Spore must have died."
Fandomar nodded. "I hope so."
On the outskirts of the asteroid field, Imperial salvage crews sorted
through the wreckage of the Vengeance that floated around in space. There
wasn't much left to pick up, but they'd been ordered to scan the garbage with
extra-fine sensors. The order had come from Jerec himself, who had survived
the wreck by escaping aboard a Starfly moments before destruction.
The salvage crews grumbled, and swept the asteroid field again. Hardly
anything showed up on their scopes.
So far, a few small objects had escaped their attention. If they kept
looking they might find, drifting in the debris, a few undamaged TIE fighters,
the ship's computer core with all its Imperial secrets intact, and, nearby, a
human body and a dark object the size of a human fist. It looked like a large
seed.
The corpse was nothing important-just the body of someone named Hodge,
who had once been chief partner of a mining station. He had died when the Star
Destroyer lost its air.
Beside it, the small fist-sized object floated.
And waited. Eventually, someone would find it. Someone would pick it up..
.
John Whitman, Spore
