Spore, page 9
gotten so involved in this?"
"Because," Fandomar said, "it is all my fault!"
CHAPTER 17
"What do you mean it's your fault?" Tash asked.
The shadows of the cave seemed to wrap around Fandomar as she answered.
"The Ithorians have kept Spore a secret for four hundred years. We knew that
someone might be tempted to open the tomb. Only the High Priests knew of the
tomb's location."
Fandomar sighed, then continued. "I learned about its location
accidentally, from my husband, who was a High Priest. The Imperial officer who
forced my husband to reveal his secrets was a terrible, violent man. He would
have killed my husband and wiped out an entire forest of Bafforr trees without
thinking. I was afraid he would not be satisfied with the secrets my husband
gave him"-Fandomar shuddered-"so I told him about Spore!"
Tash gently put her hand over Fandomar's. She had guessed the rest. "You
said you volunteered to make the shuttle run to the mining station. Was that
so you could keep an eye on the tomb?"
Fandomar nodded. "I had to make sure no one opened it, especially after
the miners discovered the slug hole. I thought I could manage, until the
Imperials arrived."
Tash wondered how Jerec had learned about Spore. She shrugged. The Empire
was evil and corrupt. Officers traded information to get more power. Jerec had
probably bought or stolen the secret of Spore from someone, then kept it for
himself. It didn't matter.
Tash had more important things to worry about. She stood up. She had been
sipping Fandomar's broth as they talked, and she felt better. Fandomar
followed her as they walked toward the front of the cave. The planet-dwelling
Ithorians shied away as they passed.
"Fandomar, isn't there any way to stop Spore and save the others? Or at
least to warn the herd ships?"
The Ithorian shook her head. "There are no communication devices here,"
she said, pointing out the primitive lifestyle of the Ithorians around them.
"As for stopping Spore, I have a theory. Hodge is the first person infected.
That makes him the primary host, or the main body. If he is forced into space,
I think Spore will go dormant and lose his power over the others."
They reached the front of the cave. They were on a mountainside. Below
them, the Ithorian forest stretched on forever. It was an inspiring view, but
Tash's shoulders slumped. "We might as well just wish it away. I doubt Hodge
will accidentally step out of an airlock."
Fandomar agreed. "There is only one thing in our favor at the moment.
When Spore and his victims were looking for you, I sabotaged the medical craft
with this." She held up a blaster. "I found it near the wreckage of the cargo
ship."
Tash guessed that it was probably the same blaster Hoole had been holding
just before the cargo ship started its fall.
"I am unfamiliar with weapons," Fandomar admitted, "but I set it on its
highest strength and fired into the ship's engines. They will not function.
Since no other Ithorians come down here, Spore will be unable to find any more
victims. He still controls the crew of the medical shuttle, your brother, and
your uncle, but at least he has been neutralized. There is no way for Spore to
leave the surface of the planet now."
But Fandomar spoke too soon. Even as the words left her mouth, an
Imperial shuttle streaked over their heads and shot toward the forest floor.
Tash and Fandomar hurried through the forest as quickly and silently as
possible. Around them, Tash knew, were half a dozen of the shy, planet-
dwelling Ithorians. But they moved so stealthily that she never saw or heard
them.
Fandomar had persuaded the Ithorians to help with a desperate plan. They
knew that Spore would try to steal the next ship that came by, Imperial or
not. Fandomar's native friends would cause a distraction, then vanish into the
forest. Meanwhile, Tash and Fandomar would sneak on board and steal the ship,
or at least damage it so that Spore could not fly to a more populated area.
They reached the clearing where the Imperial shuttle had landed, and
crept closer. From behind a Bafforr tree, Tash saw that the shuttle's ramp was
lowered. At the foot of the ramp stood Jerec himself. Facing him stood Spore,
in Hodge's body, with his victims crowding behind him. Zak and Hoole were
among them.
Silently, Tash cursed herself for not taking the blaster from Fandomar.
She had a clean shot at Spore. But she doubted that killing one of Spore's
victims would kill Spore itself. Besides, she had to admit, she wasn't sure
she could bring herself to shoot someone in cold blood.
"You were brave to come alone," Spore said in a half dozen voices.
Jerec sneered. "I am not about to feed you any more victims, Spore."
Spore laughed. The sight of her brother and uncle laughing with the
others made Tash wince. "So you think you know what I am," said Spore. "Let me
give you a closer look!"
Spore and all his servants opened their eyes and mouths. A forest of
vinelike tentacles shot toward the dark-cloaked Imperial.
Jerec raised one hand. Tash felt a ripple of dark-side power flow from
his fingertips. When Spore's tentacles met the dark-side energy, they withered
and died in midair.
Jerec snorted. "Your power is hardly a match for the dark side of the
Force." He cast an evil grin at Spore. "However, you have your uses."
"If you are so powerful," Spore said, "what do you want with me?"
Jerec smoothed the band of black cloth that covered his eyes. "Your
ability to control thousands of other beings is of use to me. I do not mean to
be the Emperor's servant forever. I have plans of my own, and to achieve my
plans I need an army. Unfortunately, most Imperial soldiers are loyal to the
Emperor himself. I want you to take control of the Imperial army and navy, so
that, through you, the soldiers will follow my commands."
"And you become the new Emperor," Spore guessed.
"Exactly," Jerec agreed.
Spore growled. "Why should I help you?"
Jerec smiled. He looked relaxed, but Tash could still feel the dark-side
energy pulsing around him like a shield.
"I will give you a ship to take you off this planet."
Spore scoffed. "I will have that anyway, soon enough. Before long all the
herd ships will be part of me, and I will use them to spread across the
galaxy."
"Tedious work. Slow work," Jerec said. "Imagine how much faster it would
be if you had your own Star Destroyer."
Spore seemed intrigued. He listened as Jerec explained. "My Star
Destroyer, the Vengeance, is orbiting overhead. Its crew obeys my orders, but
only because I serve the Emperor. I want them to obey me, not the Emperor. Do
you understand?"
Spore nodded.
"Enslave them. Guarantee that they will do whatever I ask. Do that, and I
will give you whole worlds to conquer. But we must leave immediately."
There was a pause. All of Spore's bodies-Hodge, Zak, Hoole, and the four
Ithorians-stood absolutely still while the monster was deep in thought.
Then all the voices said at once, "Agreed."
Fandomar's friends chose that moment for their distraction. A shadowy
figure flitted through the edge of the clearing. Then another, and another.
Spore started toward them.
"Leave them!" Jerec ordered, following after. "Get aboard the shuttle.
There's no time."
"No!" Spore shouted. "They're mine! They will join me."
"Remember-the ship! The entire crew! They are yours!" Jerec said.
Spore hesitated for a split second, then divided himself in two. The four
captured Ithorians ran into the forest. Hodge, Zak, and Hoole went onto
Jerec's shuttle. Spore could control them all, from anywhere.
None of them had noticed, during the distraction, two figures scrambling
aboard the empty shuttle.
Tash and Fandomar had barely crammed themselves into a small storage bay
in the back of the shuttle before the ship lifted off.
Only after the shuttle had left the planet did Tash have time to consider
what in the galaxy she was doing. She had just sneaked on board an Imperial
shuttle that carried a master of the dark side of the Force and an evil
parasite called Spore.
CHAPTER 18
For several tense minutes, neither Tash nor Fandomar spoke. Tash listened
with her ears-and with her mind. She guessed that Jerec was still
concentrating on shielding himself from Spore. That, plus the attention
required to fly his own ship, should keep the dark-sider from sensing their
presence.
As for anyone hearing them, they were back near the thruster ports. The
sound of the ship's engines would mask their conversation.
"What now?" Fandomar whispered.
"I have a plan," Tash said, which was half true. "I think we can stop the
Star Destroyer and save Zak and Hoole. But it means relying on something I'm
not sure I can do. And I need your help."
Fandomar stated firmly, "I cannot break the Law of Life."
Tash tried to smile. "You'll just have to bend it a little."
The shuttle glided quickly toward the massive Star Destroyer orbiting
Ithor and slid smoothly into the docking bay. Tash and Fandomar weren't sure
what happened next. They could hear very little. But from the few sounds that
trickled into their hiding spot, they could guess. Spore had branched out and
was infecting everyone in the docking bay. In a matter of minutes, he had
spread from a handful of victims to hundreds.
With painfully slow, quiet movements, Tash slipped out of the storage bin
and tiptoed toward the front of the shuttle. She crawled on her stomach until
she reached the hatch, and peeked outside.
The docking bay of the Star Destroyer was huge. It should have been
filled with noise.
This one was quiet as a tomb.
Tash guessed that all the infected crewmen were now moving around the
ship, infecting even more Imperials.
Only two figures were left standing alone on the main deck. When she saw
them, Tash almost cried tears of joy. It was Zak and Hoole.
Tash had hoped they would be left behind. She remembered that Spore had
captured Zak, and nearly captured her, by sending someone familiar to lure
them in. She had guessed that Spore would use the same strategy on the crew of
the Star Destroyer. Since Hoole and Zak were outsiders, they would only raise
suspicion, so Spore had left them behind.
Now all Tash had to do was save them.
Tash walked up to her uncle and brother as calmly as if they were aboard
their own ship. They were standing as still as statues, with their backs to
the shuttle. Summoning up all the courage she could manage, she said, "Hi,
guys."
Zak and Hoole whirled around as one. "Tash," Spore said through their
mouths. "I want you to join me. Now."
"Wait!" Tash said. She was speaking with her mouth, but she was focusing
with her mind. She reached out with the Force. Once before she had used the
Force to reach into someone's mind. If she could do it again...
Hoole and Zak opened their mouths and eyes wide to release the deadly
spore tendrils. Then they closed them.
"Zak, Uncle Hoole, it's me, Tash," said Tash, still reaching out with the
Force. She tried to imagine the connection between them, a power stronger than
Spore.
Hoole blinked.
Zak cocked his head in confusion.
Tash could feel the Force flowing back and forth-from Tash to Hoole, from
Zak to Tash. They were connected. It was working!
Then Spore seemed to strengthen his hold. Tash felt herself losing them.
The Force connection wasn't broken (it could never be broken, she realized),
but she didn't know how to use it. She didn't have the skill.
Spore, meanwhile, had everything he needed to fight back. The confused
look left Zak's face. He and Hoole belonged to Spore once again.
Dark tentacles burst from their eyes. Vines flew from their mouths.
At the last second, Tash imagined the Force rising up around her like a
wall. She didn't know if it was the best thing to do. She didn't even know if
it was the right thing to do. All she knew was that she loved her brother and
her uncle, and to save them she had to defend herself.
The dark vines stopped in midair and fell to the floor in withered
strings.
Zak and Hoole froze for a moment. Tash's knees nearly gave out. Using the
Force had taken something out of her. She knew she didn't have the strength to
defend herself again.
Fortunately, she didn't have to. In the moment Hoole and Zak hesitated,
Fandomar rose up behind them. She aimed the blaster she had carried and fired
two quick blasts. Hoole and Zak crumpled to the floor.
Fandomar paused for the briefest instant. She bent down to examine her
two victims. Tash saw her relax when she confirmed that they were only
stunned. She sighed, "Bent, but not broken."
"Spacesuits and Starflies," Tash said. "And hurry. Spore will know
everything that's happened here."
As if to confirm her words, intruder alarms sounded throughout the ship.
The Starflies were easy to find-Jerec and his men had used them not long
before. A spacesuit that fit Fandomar took a little longer. Most Imperials
were humans, and there was almost no need for alien-sized uniforms. Tash
checked three lockers before she found one that came close. The Ithorian's
hammerhead was nearly crushed against the sides of the oversized helmet. Her
wide-set eyes were so jammed that she could hardly see.
"Is that comfortable enough?" Tash asked.
"I will be less comfortable as one of Spore's victims," Fandomar replied.
The alarms had been going off for over a minute. Spore's entire crew of
new slaves would be there any second.
Fandomar and Tash frantically slid Zak and Hoole into spacesuits. Tash
grabbed a length of cable she'd found in one of the lockers and tied their
hands together.
"There's cargo space behind the Starfly seats," she told Fandomar.
At the far end of the docking bay, a door slid open. A squad of
stormtroopers burst in. Their weapons were drawn, but they did not fire.
They belonged to Spore. And they wanted Tash to join them.
"Your uncle will not fit," Fandomar said.
"Make him fit!" Tash screeched. She helped the Ithorian slip the large
Shi'ido into the cargo space of Fandomar's vessel, folding his tied hands
quickly across his chest.
Tash then jumped into her own Starfly, with Zak's unconscious form
crammed in behind her. The stormtroopers were only a dozen yards away. As Tash
lifted off in the Starfly, the docking bay's enormous doors started to close.
But Spore had moved too slowly. The quick Starflies slipped easily through the
opening.
As the two tiny ships darted away from the giant Star Destroyer, Tash
heard Fandomar's voice over the intercom. "We can't outrun an Imperial Star
Destroyer in these!"
Tash replied, "No, but we can outfly it!"
She pointed her ship toward the asteroid field and hit the accelerator.
CHAPTER 19
Tash banked hard as an asteroid came out of nowhere and nearly crumpled
the front end of her Starfly.
She checked her scanner, hoping the Vengeance had fallen back.
It had gained.
