Galaxy Of Fear_ Planet Plague Part 2

Tash searched the control console for the appropriate switch and found that it had been shut down. She realized what had happened. "Zak must have accidentally turned it off when he pa.s.sed out up here." She flipped the switch. "I hope this helps."

Tash expected that it would only take a few seconds for the telesponder to begin transmitting and for someone aboard the enormous Imperial wars.h.i.+p to receive the code. But she did not expect the Destroyer to stop firing and suddenly veer off.

The Imperial voice broadcast over their loudspeaker once again, and this time it was filled with concern. "Apologies. A mistaken transmission. You are clear to proceed."

Without another word, the Star Destroyer sliced its way along the s.p.a.ce lane.

"What was that all about?" Tash asked.

Hoole gave the slightest shrug. "No harm was done. Let's make haste for the Gobindi system."

No harm done! Tash thought. They could have destroyed us, and they hardly gave it a thought. The Imperials don't do anything but hurt people.

As the Shroud's sublight engines propelled them through the star system, Tash and Uncle Hoole saw three more Star Destroyers, all bristling with weapons and cutting across the orbital paths of the Gobindi system's twelve planets.

"Four Star Destroyers," Uncle Hoole murmured to himself. "Almost a fleet. Something important must be happening in the area to attract so many s.h.i.+ps."

But now that the Shroud was broadcasting its telesponder code, none of the Imperial war s.h.i.+ps challenged them again.

Finally the Shroud plunged toward Gobindi, the fifth planet of the system, a ma.s.sive green globe half covered in thick cloud layers. From orbit, Gobindi looked like a huge jungle.

As they approached, Tash felt the planet's gravity grab hold and draw them in quickly. Hoole handled their s.h.i.+p expertly, guiding it toward a growing spot of white in the thick carpet of green vegetation.

"That is Mah Dala, the capital city of Gobindi," Hoole said. "I sent a message ahead to Dr. Kavafi, my colleague at the Imperial Biological Welfare Division. He is expecting us."

The Shroud swooped down over Mah Dala. The city seemed to be made up of many-leveled pyramids with flat tops. Elaborate bridges connected the buildings in beautifully intricate designs.

"The Gobindi are amazing architects," Tash observed.

"Were," Hoole responded. "The Gobindi themselves vanished years ago. No one knows what happened to them. The only city they left behind was Mah Dala. I've always wanted to visit the ruins here but never found the time."

"Who lives here now?" she asked.

Hoole banked the Shroud, headed toward a landing bay, and answered, "The Empire opened the planet up to colonization a few years ago, and many different species moved into Mah Dala. This area of s.p.a.ce gets a lot of traffic, and the hypers.p.a.ce lanes are quite close. It's something of a cosmopolitan place now, I believe. And, of course, the Imperials are here."

"Of course," Tash muttered.

The Shroud settled onto a landing platform that sat atop one of the flat pyramids. The minute the s.h.i.+p rested on its landing gear, Tash unbuckled her crash webbing and hurried back to the main lounge. Deevee was holding Zak in his mechanical arms. Her brother was wrapped in a blanket, still sweating and mumbling to himself. He looked half-awake.

"Zak?" Tash said softly. "How do you feel?"

In misery he looked up at his sister. "My head's on fire, Tash."

Hoole activated the hatchway. The door flew open, and Tash found herself looking into the concerned face of a human male about fifty years old. He had brown hair, lightly salted with gray, and warm blue eyes. He wore a brown Imperial uniform with the letters "IBWD" st.i.tched over the left breast, and he was holding a medical datapad in one hand. Behind him stood two technicians pus.h.i.+ng a hover-gurney.

The man looked past Tash and smiled. "Dr. Hoole. It's good to see you again."

Hoole reached forward and shook the man's hand quickly. "Dr.

Kavafi. I know you are busy. Thank you for seeing to this personally."

"Think nothing of it. Let's see the patient to the Infirmary, shall we?"

He nodded to the two technicians, who quickly took Zak from Deevee's arms and laid him gently on the hover-gurney. Kavafi quickly examined Zak, then grabbed a comlink from his belt and spoke into it.

"Medichamber six, this is Dr. Kavafi. I'm bringing in a patient with a high fever. From the looks of things, I would say it is a low-grade virus. Have the diagnostic droid standing by."

Quickly the technicians grabbed hold of the hover-gurney and pushed it toward a waiting medishuttle. Tash, Hoole, and Deevee followed Dr.

Kavafi.

"Is he going to be all right?" Tash asked Dr. Kavafi. The doctor smiled. "Don't worry, young lady," he said. "Everything is going to be just fine."

Tash suddenly remembered ForceFlow. Had he ever replied to her message? If he did have information regarding Project Starscream, they might use it to help the doctors cure Zak.

"I, uh, forgot something," she told Hoole, then quickly turned back toward the s.h.i.+p.

"Hurry," Hoole ordered. "We need to get Zak to the hospital right away."

Tash leaped back into the s.h.i.+p and headed straight for her cabin.

Inside, she powered up her computer terminal.

There was a message waiting for her. It had arrived just before their encounter with the Star Destroyer.

Tash's blood ran cold when she read the words on her computer screen.

SEARCHER, THIS IS FORCEFLOW. HAVE INFORMATION REGARDING PROJECT.

STARSCREAM. WHATEVER YOU DO, STAY AWAY FROM GOBINDI. STAY AWAY FROM.

GOBINDI!.

CHAPTER 4.

Tash stared at the words on the screen, hoping that somehow they would change. But they didn't.

STAY AWAY FROM GOBINDI!.

Why?

What did Project Starscream have to do with Gobindi? Tash needed to communicate with ForceFlow again, and quickly.

"Tas.h.!.+" Uncle Hoole called from outside the s.h.i.+p. "Hurry!"

Hesitantly Tash powered down her computer. The message faded away.

STAY AWAY FROM GOBINDI!.

Whatever ForceFlow's message meant, it had come too late.

Moments later the medishuttle zoomed smoothly across the level tops of Mah Dala's pyramidlike stone buildings.

Tash sat at her brother's side, pressing a cool, damp cloth to his forehead. Hoole and Deevee stayed to one side, quietly talking.

Tash spared a glance away from her brother. Over Hoole's shoulder, she looked out the shuttle's viewport. Structures made of enormous stone tables, each one slightly smaller than the one beneath it, climbed into the sky. The sides of the buildings looked like ma.s.sive steps, and she imagined giants using the buildings as stairways to s.p.a.ce.

The bridges connecting the pyramids looked like tiny threads that held the stone giants together. Tash guessed that the highest of the bridges were suspended three hundred meters above the ground.

"Magnificent, aren't they?" Dr. Kavafi said with a smile. "They are called ziggurats. The Gobindi were obviously powerful builders."

"Impressive," Hoole said. "Kavafi, once we are sure Zak is recovering, I would like to make arrangements to study these ruins."

Tash felt anger p.r.i.c.k her insides. Was Hoole planning to do anthropological research while he was here? Didn't he care about Zak?

"Indeed," Deevee added, eager to join any conversation about ancient civilizations. "I have done only preliminary work on Gobindi, but I understand that the natives built these towers so that they could escape the thick jungles below. Dr. Kavafi, is it true they only lived in the highest levels of the ziggurats?"

Tash wished they would all be quiet. She had no interest in lost civilizations or architecture. All she wanted was for Zak to get better.

Beside her, Kavafi shrugged at the droid's question. "Anthropology is Hoole's area, not mine. But that seems to be the case. However some of the ziggurats have no inner chambers at all. They are just artificial mountains. The tops of others contain many rooms and hallways, but below those levels they are mostly solid rock. There is nowhere to live down near the bottom. Apparently the jungle is too thick, and the wildlife is not always harmless."

"The Gobindi must have been quite highly advanced scientifically, to build-"

"I'm sorry," Kavafi said, still monitoring Zak's vital signs.

"Perhaps we should wait until Zak here can join the conversation."

The droid stopped talking. Tash looked at Kavafi out of the corner of her eye. That comment almost made her like him, even if he was an Imperial.

"Ah, here we are," Kavafi said.

Dr. Kavafi pointed out the window of the shuttle. Following his gaze, Tash found herself staring at the biggest building she had ever seen. It was shaped like the other ziggurats, but it was almost twice as large as any of the buildings around it. At the very top, Imperial engineers had built a modern steelcrete tower. The tower must have been twenty stories high, but it looked like little more than a small cap sitting atop the enormous ziggurat.

"That newer structure is the Infirmary," Kavafi explained. "Below it are the ruins of the oldest and largest ziggurat on Gobindi."

The shuttle banked smoothly and landed on top of the ziggurat. Tash stood at Zak's side as the two a.s.sistants guided the hover-gurney out of the shuttle and immediately headed toward the Infirmary.

When Tash stepped out of the shuttle, she felt as though she'd walked right into a steam bath. The air was moist and hot, and so thick she could almost taste it as she breathed in. In moments she and Hoole were both sweating from the heat, but because the air was so moist, their perspiration didn't dry. Their clothing soon stuck to their skin. Even Deevee appeared uncomfortable as they hurried across the top of the ziggurat to the Infirmary.

"This humidity is extraordinary," the droid said. "I can already feel my outer covering starting to rust."

Kavafi nodded. "And this is a good day. Most days are hotter and wetter than this."

Tash ignored the heat, searching for signs of danger. But only the wide flat surface of the ziggurat stretched out before them, with the gray tower rising above. What had ForceFlow's message meant? Was he warning her about Imperials? Was there some other danger?

Suddenly Zak moaned in his sleep. "Mom." Tash bit her lip. Zak's face was still bloodless and even in sleep, he looked miserable.

"Halt!"

Tash looked up.

They were surrounded by Imperial stormtroopers.

CHAPTER 5.

There were at least two squads of stormtroopers in white armor standing at the wide doorways to the Infirmary. The blank masks of their helmets looked as terrifying and impersonal as the Empire itself.

One of the stormtroopers raised a weapon, and Tash thought he was going to open fire. But instead, the weapon merely glowed briefly as the trooper pointed it at the newcomers.

"All clear," he reported. "Energy scan reveals no weapons."

"You are clear to proceed," another trooper told them, clearing a path to the door.

"For a hospital, you seem quite well guarded," Hoole observed.

Kavafi looked almost embarra.s.sed. "Unfortunate but necessary. This star system has experienced increased pirate activity in the past few weeks. Smugglers and s.p.a.cejackers trying to steal medical supplies. We've had to expand our security."

They pa.s.sed the stormtroopers and reached the front of the gray tower. Over the doors, the letters "IBWD" had been set in black onyx.

"Welcome," Kavafi said, "to the Imperial Biological Welfare Division."

Tash followed closely as Zak was carried through the doors of the steelcrete tower. The Infirmary's ground floor was a vast lobby filled with turbolift banks and people scurrying to and fro. Most of them were human, and most of them wore Imperial uniforms, but there was a smattering of alien species. Since the Empire rarely employed anyone but humans, Tash guessed that the aliens must be patients seeking treatment at the Infirmary.

They reached a turbolift and hastily pushed Zak's hover-gurney inside. Kavafi turned to the lift's control panel and said, "Floor ten.

Override any other floor calls."

"Acknowledged," said a mechanical voice, and the turbolift rose quickly.

While most turbolifts still used a simple push-b.u.t.ton system, Tash had seen many lifts like this one before. The lift car itself was actually a cla.s.s-four service droid. It responded to simple voice commands and was programmed to shuttle occupants up and down the turbolift shaft.

The droid-powered lift took them up to the tenth floor, where Zak was moved into a medichamber with calm efficiency. For a few moments the room was a blur of motion as technicians took samples of his blood, hooked up monitors to his chest and forehead, and prepared medication.

Kavafi held up an enormous needle and examined a dark fluid within it. "What's that?" Tash asked nervously.

"Just something to help him sleep," Kavafi said. "Sometimes sleep is the best medicine of all."