Mornoc

by Dave

A Republic scout team crash-lands on a primitive world and encounters the galaxy’s most horrific creation. They were sent to the planet to investigate a primitive civilization and find that the locals worship this monstrosity.

I figure the chances for someone having Force sensitivity without any hereditary links to another Force sensitive person is about one in a billion. That's the random force of nature at work. I also figure that the chances for a non-human gaining Force potential by chance is probably closer to one in a trillion. The chances of a non-sentient being gaining Force potential is probably one in infinity. But there is that small chance. With the infinite number of species in the universe that one animal would probably be something like a small insect, that only has a life span of a few weeks. But what if it wasn't an insect. What if it was something bigger . . .

Mornoc

by David Pontier

dpontier@hotmail.com

The spore flew through the vacuum of space like a comet. The frozen mass of organic material streaking through the vastness of space as though on a mission, as though something was guiding it. Its origin was unknown, but its destination was soon to be discovered.

A near-by star's gravity well caught the speeding spore and pulled it into a curve. The normal vector of its acceleration increased exponentially, as its tangential velocity approached that of ten times the speed of sound. It broke free of the sun's grasp when it achieved all too much speed. The tiny particles of space debris common in most systems bombarded the oval spore, slowly changing its shape. The smooth oval began to acquire a more conical appearance.

It continued the slow transformation as it sped toward the fourth planet in the sun's system. The sun had altered the spore's course, and now it was going to become a permanent resident of this system. The planet was intensely green and covered in a small haze. As the spore entered the upper atmosphere, the friction both heated the spore and slowed it down. Its shape changed drastically now. It thawed quickly, and the now flexible organic material formed a rigid cone. The inside of the cone contained several hair-thin tentacles. The upper-edge of the cone began to grow a small skirt of thin flesh that flapped about like a comet's tail.

The last bit of the spore thawed, and it gained consciousness. The Force flowed through it. In its two minute free fall inside the planet's atmosphere, the spore matured vastly. A normal spore of its species usually doubles in size on its trip to the surface. This spore grew by a factor of ten. The rich oxygen that the young jungle world provided helped a little. The incredible moisture helped a lot. The Force was the major factor.

If this young planet had any sentient life on this particular continent, they would have been struck with awe at the sight of the falling cone. It glowed brightly as it fell through the atmosphere. The cone appeared to form itself from the mass. The large flap that hung around the wide part of the cone cupped and filled with air, slowing down the projectile. The skirt also acted as a filter, straining the moisture, oxygen, and other nutrients out of the thick air. The tentacles inside began to thicken and to twirl violently, opposing the pull of gravity. The tips of the whip like tentacles began to exceed the speed of sound, and the cone made a screeching sound as it fell. The cone was covered by thousands of small hairs that searched for attachment, and finding none, they simply fluttered in the wind.

The brain of the spore was still in a comatose state, but was growing quickly and was already creating a memory of the descent, though it was unaware of it. Fifty percent of the spore's species didn't survive the planet fall. The Force knew this and guided the cone by the use of its crude parachute to a small clearing near a brook.

When the spore past the level of the treetops, the cone was six meters tall and four meters wide. The hard bones in the tip of the cone collided with the soft ground and the cone imbedded itself up to its skirt. The skirt laid flat around the edge of the hole. Tiny white knobs were visible scattered around on the skirt. The hairs on the cone latched onto the ground and began at once to build a root system, channeling nutrients into the cone. Inside, a small mouth and stomach cavity were formed.

The brain awoke upon impact. It took no time at all for it to become familiar with its surroundings. Its species were not sentient, but this new life was as close to the definition as possible. It thrashed its tentacles around its mouth, flexing its jaws tentatively. Its stomach cavity was empty and it needed to be filled. Instinctively, it used the small white knobs to sense the ground for vibrations.

Several four-legged, cloven animals were curious about the thing that fell from the sky. They wandered away from the brook where they had been drinking. The new life felt their approach and tested one of its tentacle's length. The closest animal stumbled and fell, tripped by an unseen vine. That "vine" wrapped around one of the hind legs of the animal and started to drag it away. The animal bleated in fear, and the rest of the animals scattered. The new life dragged the animal over its white knobs, some of which had gained points. The animal bled profusely, and the red life liquid ran down the inside of the cone and filled the area around the protruding mouth. It wished that it had a tongue so that it could lap up the fluid. That wish alone proved to show how advanced its brain had so quickly become.

Three more tentacles grabbed onto the other three legs of the animal, and with one great heave, it quartered the beast. It fed each piece to itself one at a time. Each piece was sent through a short esophagus to the simple one chambered stomach. One piece was covered in digestive fluids, and the acids began to eat away at it instantly. The other three pieces were stuck onto the wall of the stomach, where tiny hairs latched onto them, saving them for later. The stomach will have to be bigger, it thought. I plan to eat a lot more.

One thousand years later.

Serin did his final check on the ship's vital systems and leaned back in his chair letting out a long sigh. He heard someone coming through the door behind him and turned to see his wife entering the small cockpit. She kissed him briefly on the neck and sat down in the copilot's seat.

"Did you get everything secured back there, Juwel?" Serin asked. "This might be a rough landing."

She nodded. "Strapped down and ready," she replied. "How much longer till we drop out of hyperspace?"

Serin pointed to a digital display on the console that had just dropped under four minutes. He looked at his wife with pride and a little curiosity. Juwel had been waiting for this trip all her life. She had spent the last fifteen years working her way up the ranks in the Republic's biology department and had finally been granted her first major assignment. She had totally authority on this trip, and Serin knew she could handle it. But now she looked a little hesitant. Maybe the magnitude of this assignment was finally getting to her. They were enroute to the jungle world Raipin 4. It had been thought previously to be too wild and untamed to make living there comfortable or manageable. But a recent probe had discovered that one of the smaller continents had not only tamed down in the form of less predators, but actually contained a human colony of sorts. The probe wasn't able to gather too much information, but the colony appeared to be in the very early stages of technology with no electricity.

It was Juwel's job to evaluate this planet and to make first contact with the civilization there. There were infinitely many planets that the Republic monitored, and this last scan by the probe had occurred over a thousand years after the previous one. They had no real way of knowing how long the colony had been there or where it had come from.

Juwel had picked her own team. Serin knew he was there mostly for support, but he was also skilled in survival. He had grown up on the jungle planet of Gresweq and had trained in the special forces division of the Republic. He could set up a great base camp and was trained as a minor medic. The third and fourth members of their team were in a different ship caring the rest of their supplies.

"Will you hurry up! We're about to drop out of hyperspace."

"Sorry, sir. My main function is not that of a cargo ship droid. I will try to expand my programming if you wish."

Fodger sighed. "No, I'm sorry," he admitted. "I guess it's just been a long trip."

C4M-LE walked into the cockpit, having just finished strapping down the last of the speeder bikes. "Yes it has been a long trip." The droid's voice was back to her normal high melodic sound after accepting Fodger's apology. "Stress expressed through frustration is a normal side affect to long term stay in a cramped area. Would you like for me to explain to you the accepted calming techniques?"

"No thank-you, Emily." Fodger remembered the days when she had simply gone off on verbal exhibitions with out asking permission first. He hoped that soon the protocol droid would learn to not even ask.

Fodger watched the last few seconds of the hyperspace journey tick away on the control panel and dropped the small scout ship out of hyperspace. The planet before him contained the most vivid green and the most intense blue he had ever seen. Blocking some of his view was the other ship in the expedition. Fodger reached toward the com, but a voice crackled over the speaker, beating him to it. "What do you think of her?" Serin asked.

"She's beautiful. Tell me that we get to set down on that small peninsula near the equator."

"Sorry, Fodger," Juwel said. "Our destination is on the other side of Raipin 4."

Fodger frowned. The other side of the jungle globe was dark right now. He didn't look forward to landing on an unknown primitive planet at night. He swallowed his disappointment and swung his ship into an orbital swing right behind the husband and wife team. Fodger had been good friends with Serin for almost ten years and had jumped at the opportunity to join the expedition. The team needed a good mechanic like him, and he knew he was more than qualified. On a technologically barren planet, if something broke, you needed someone who knows what he's doing, or you'd likely get stranded. Fodger had participated in many other similar expeditions, but never to somewhere as remote as Raipin 4.

The trip around the planet was a quick one, and soon they were looking at the dark half of the planet. "It looks like thick cloud cover," Juwel said as she played with the sensors. Both ships had locked on their communications so they would be able to converse freely.

"A storm?" Fodger asked.

"It's hard to tell," she answered. "The atmosphere is a little thick, and something appears to be jumbling our sensors a bit."

"I hate storms, sir," Emily said.

Fodger motioned her to be quiet. "Do you want to wait until daylight?"

Juwel was tired of the long jump in hyperspace and desperately wanted to get this expedition down to the planet. It would be another six hours before sunlight came. She looked over at her husband, but he only shrugged. "It's your call," he said. She knew he would say this, but it gave her the little bit of confidence she needed to make her decision.

"We'll go down now," she said. "If there is a storm, or complications we can come back up."

"Roger that," Fodger echoed. He didn't like going down in the dark, much less in the thick clouds, but he respected Juwel's decision.

The two ships sank slowly in their orbital patterns and began to enter the atmosphere. To avoid over taxing their shields against the heat of entry, they cut down perpendicularly to get through the atmosphere quickly. The moon was bright and the top of the clouds were illuminated. The towering spires of dust and crystallized water vapor were intimidating in size, but their white fluffiness took a lot of the edge from their bite.

"It looks like harmless cloud cover to me," Serin put in.

Juwel was the biologist, and she shook her head slowly. "It isn't always the same on top as it is on the bottom. Let's just be cautious." With that, both ships plunged into the white foam.

The visibility was zero and both pilots were on edge as they plowed through the clouds. The white mist continued for several long seconds. "It looks like all we're going to see is just some thick-" Serin was cut off as his ship took a stomach wrenching drop. "What the-"

"What happened?" Fodger's worried voice came over the intercom.

"Jet stream?" Serin asked as he turned to his wife.

Juwel shook her head as her hands flew over the sensor panel. "There's an enormous low pressure system moving through this area. We have to-" she was cut off as the ship was tugged violently down, flipping over like a coin.

Both ships were caught in the whirl wind, and their pilots tried desperately to get the wayward vehicles under control. The cloud cover had turned dark almost instantly, and the moon was blotted out of the sky. The intense darkness was shattered frequently by immense lightening bolts that danced in between the clouds.

Fodger managed to get his ship under control first. "I'm going to try to get out of here," he shouted into the com, but was greeted only with static through the speakers. The electronic interference of the weather system began to concentrate itself around the second small scout ship and manifested itself in the blink of an eye. Fodger was blinded by the flash and required a few seconds to clear is mind. All of the electronic systems had shorted out. The thrusters still worked, but with out guidance or sensor controls, leaving a planet's atmosphere was next to impossible. Fodger looked over at Emily, but she had turned herself off a long time ago. His ship dropped like a stone.

Serin saw the close lightening flash in the vicinity of Fodger's ship and, moments later, the ship fall out of the sky. "Fodger's been hit!" he yelled. Serin had finally managed to get his ship back under control and was preparing for their escape from the hostile storm, but his eyes were transfixed on his friend's ship.

"We have to follow him," Juwel said, relieving Serin of the tough decision. Serin sent the ship into a steep dive that brought them out of the storm clouds and spread the shadowy landscape out before them. There was a driving rain that made Serin wonder if they hadn't just plunged into an ocean. The wind was much worse below the clouds, and Serin found that without adequate visibility, his sensors couldn't be trusted. In between flashes of lightening, he was able to make out a relatively clear coast line.

"I'm going to try and skim the water and land on the coast," Serin reported. "In this wind, I don't trust the vertical stabilizers for a standard landing." He looked at his wife. "In other words, hang on."

Before Serin started his angular descent, he took the time to find Fodger's ship. The errant craft was headed past the coast into what looked like a large valley. Serin quickly judged the distance and direction between the expected crash sight of Fodger's ship and his own expected landing site.

Fodger was frantically trying to bring his systems back on line. He was flying blindly between lightening flashes. He prayed that the light giving flashes would be more frequent, yet at the same time, hoped that the deadly bolts would disappear all together. The trees below him rose at terrifying speeds. He applied the thrusters, but without the electronic stabilizers, the ship began to enter a corkscrew. Fodger quickly disengaged the thrusters and tried to pull the nose of the ship out of the dive. He cursed the designers of the craft for not giving the wings on the bulky ship more atmospheric lift.

To Fodger the landing seemed to take minutes, but it was actually over in a few seconds. The bottom of the ship tore into the tall trees, bending them backwards as they tried to resist the descent of the heavy craft. The thin trees snapped quickly, but had slowed the ship enough so that on touchdown the ship did not explode. The ship's nose sank into the soft, wet ground, catching and up-rooting trees as it plowed clumsily through the forest. The ship snagged itself on a particularly large root and flipped itself over. It landed unceremoniously on the far side of a river. The ship stuck fast to the soft mud of the river bank and quivered only slightly as the river ran furiously a few meters below it.

The waves were churning with foamy anticipation, waiting to toss around anything that came within its grasp. Serin leveled his ship parallel to the water and braced himself for impact. They hit the water hard, rebounding the ship high in the air. The next few impacts were less fierce, and soon the ship was gliding smoothly through the water. "See I told you it would work," Serin said, some how managing to remove all of the nervous tension from his voice.

"I never doubted you, dear."

"Soon we'll be on the bea-" the ship struck an unseen sand bar. Both passengers, who had relaxed, jerked forward violently in their seats smacking their heads against the cockpit. Like a coin, the ship spun in the air, flipping back down to the water. It plowed through the water like an uncoordinated swimmer with his legs cut off. The beach greeted them with a sandy thud.

Fodger groaned as he tried to untangle himself from the protective crash netting that had pinned him to his chair during the crash. The ship's artificial gravity wasn't working, and Fodger could easily tell that the ship was lying upside down on a terrible slope. The wind, rain, and river all combined to produce a steady rushing sound all around the ship.

Fodger finally released himself from the netting and crashed unceremoniously to the ceiling of the disorientated craft. He stood, rubbing his elbow, and looked around for Emily. The silver protocol droid had fallen out of the copilot's seat during the crash, and was now amidst the collection of broken speeders and building materials. He rushed over to her and switched her back on.

"Oh, my," she said suddenly as a soft glow returned to her blue eyes, "we survived." Emily paused as she surveyed the mess she was lying in. "Or did we?"

Fodger helped the droid remove herself from the heap. "What will we do now?"

Fodger thought for a while. "Can you sense Serin or Juwel anywhere near?"

The light in Emily's eyes flickered slightly. "There is way too much interference with the storm and the heavy life surrounding us."

Fodger went back to the cockpit and peered through the cracked glass at the tress surrounding the ship. The rain was coming down in sheets, and he could barely see into the dark night, but he could tell that they were in a very dense section of foliage.

[What is it?]

"It's hard to tell through this rain. We'll have to wait until morning," Fodger said.

"Excuse me, sir?" Emily responded.

"I said it is too dark and rainy to see it."

"See what?"

"What's out there," Fodger asked a little confused.

[It is made of metal.]

"I don't think so," Fodger replied staring back into the night. "I'm pretty sure that those are trees."

"I agree, sir. We appear to be in some type of jungle."

Fodger spun away from the window. "But you just said that it was metal."

Emily allowed her metal facial features to portray confusion.

[It is hollow.]

Fodger was looking directly at Emily when the voice came this time. "That wasn't you, was it?"

"You are acting quite strange, sir. Perhaps this situation is having an adverse effect on you. I recommend that you -"

"You didn't just say that 'it is hollow?'"

"No, I did not."

"And you didn't previously say 'it is metal,' or 'what is it,' did you?"

[Is there food inside? Let us check.]

Fodger paid attention this time. The voice seemed to come from everywhere around him. "Did you hear that?"

"I think you need to lie down for a while."

"Tell me if you just heard someone say "is there food inside,'" Fodger demanded.

"I have heard nothing except for the wind, rain, and yourself."

[Maybe the food will come out.]

"Someone is outside." Fodger ran over to the equipment locker. The contents of the locker were all jumbled, and it took Fodger a while to dig out the medium blaster and flashlight he was looking for. "Stay here," he said needlessly to Emily. He wouldn't have been able to drag the droid out in this weather with a herd of banthas.

The hatch-way to the outside was on the top of the upside-down ship, and the rain poured in as Fodger fought to get the heavy door open. He was immediately soaked to the bone. He scrambled out onto the underside of the ship, and hurried to close the hatch. He flipped his flashlight on as the light from the inside of the ship vanished with the clang of the hatch. He peered hard into the inky blackness that the flashlight tried desperately to penetrate. Fodger tried to remember how tall the ship had been, to figure out how far below the ground would now be. The vicious roar of water coming from his right reminded him that the river was going to limit his choices for descent. He was just about to jump blindly, when a flash of lightning bested his flashlight for brightness. He was about five meters off the ground, but if he slid down the side of the ship a ways, he would only have a free fall of about two meters.

Fodger lay cautiously on his belly and slowly moved himself, feet first, over the edge of his ship. When his legs lost contact with the side of the ship, he threw his trust into his previous fraction-of-a-second observation and dropped. He landed on the soft, muddy ground and rolled to absorb the shock.

As Fodger lay on the ground he examined the ship. It was indeed lying upside-down. The nose of the craft had flipped around and was pointing away from the river, while the rear of the ship was nestled right next to the bank of the flowing water.

Fodger got to his feet slowly, feeling the ground with his hand. He was confused. Now that he was closer to his surroundings, his flashlight showed him that it wasn't totally useless by illuminating a three meter radius. He was indeed in a thick jungle. There were trees and brush of all sizes surrounding him. Yet . . . He reached down to the ground again. It was covered by a very thick carpet of grass, or maybe it was a strange kind of moss, but that was all he felt. He slowly moved around in a crouch. There was not one leaf; not one twig or branch. The jungle floor was immaculate.

Fodger walked over to the nearest tree. He couldn't make out the shape of the tree clearly, but he could tell even from his primitive biology background, that this was one strong tree. The trunk wasn't too thick, but simply leaning against the tree told him that it was very firmly rooted and only a crashing spaceship would bring it down. He also felt something else. There was a kind of warmth emanating from the tree. It wasn't so much that it was radiating actual heat, but there was this very real sense of an inner energy.

[The food has come out.]

Fodger spun around. It was a foolish thing to do. The voice seemed to come just as much from in front of him as it had from behind him. He noticed something about it this time that he hadn't in the ship. It wasn't really an audible sound. Normal sound traveled into the ear, through the ear drum, and into the brain. This voice seemed to bypass all the physical aspects of the vibration.

[Is the food responsible for the pain we feel? We think so.]

Fodger didn't bother to spin about this time, but used this longer utterance to try and pin point its location. It seemed to come from the trees about him. It sounded crazy, but it felt like the forest was talking to him. ". . . the pain we feel . . ." Fodger looked over at the wreckage of his ship. He could see the fallen and slightly scorched trees that he had destroyed. There must have been some small fires, but the rain had not aloud them to persist.

How does a forest have the ability to talk? Fodger began to rethink his idea. Why did whatever it was keep talking about "the food?" Was he the food? Or was he over hearing some telepathic pack of animals hunting? Fodger didn't like the situation at all, but his previous fears of there actually being someone out here, had somewhat diminished. No one could stay out in this rain for long.

Fodger looked again at the trees around him, wondering how they managed to hold onto their leaves during a storm like this. He turned to head back into the ship and tripped over a tree root. The flashlight fell out of his hand and landed a meter in front of him. "Clumsy oaf," he though. He got up to his hands and knees and moved forward to get his light. His right leg was stuck. He couldn't remember any kind of above ground root formation that could entrap his foot. Oh well . . . He reached back to get his foot loose, when he was suddenly jerked to his back. The wind was momentarily knocked out of him, but when he became reoriented, he found he was being pulled over the wet ground by his foot.

Fodger tried to look up to see what was dragging him, but the night was opaque. The grip on his leg wouldn't loosen and he could feel his speed increase as he bounced off trees and was dragged through brush. His arms flailed as he tried to secure himself to each tree he passed, but the bark was to wet, and his fingers slid right off. He tried to examine the grip on his right leg, but it was so secure that it could have been anything. It definitely wasn't a mouth. He was sure he would be able to feel the teeth if it were. He tried to sit up slowly to see if he could get his hands down there to help. When he was almost erect, a low branch knocked him down.

Fodger knew he had to stop himself before he reached his unknown destination. One thought of a way to stop himself came to mind, but he was more than hesitant to try it. With glum reluctance he slowly spread his legs. He felt a thin trunk strike his left foot and quickly slide up the inside of his leg. He tried to brace himself, but the sudden jolting impact sent searing pain through his whole body and, he blacked out.

Fodger came to after what could have been only a few seconds. The grip was gone from his right leg, but it had dislocated his hip before it had let go. There was an immense pain in his mid-section, and he knew that his pelvis or back or both had been broken by the impact. Every time he tried to move a new wave of pain swept through his body. He lay there feeling incredibly helpless when he heard something slither along the ground next to his head. He remembered his blaster. His arms were fine, and by moving slowly he was able to remove the blaster from its holster where it had miraculously stayed throughout his ride. He held the blaster in his right hand and his left was free to fend off the unknown creature. He felt something approach his side. Some kind of eel like thing was slowly crawling over his stomach. He grabbed the thing in his right hand, placed the muzzle of the blaster right below his grip and fired. The tentacle reared up in pain and slapped the blaster out of his hand before it recoiled.

Fodger laid there feeling more helpless than before. He didn't know if he had killed what ever it was, but he didn't think it would matter. It had felt like a tentacle of some kind, and he knew that very few animals had only one tentacle. Plus he remembered hearing the voice saying "we." He didn't have to wait long. The thing, or one of its buddies came back. It assumed a new grip around his waist. Fodger fought against the thing, but it was like iron, and he could only try to keep his arms from getting pined.

What ever it was, it was more careful this time as it dragged him through the foliage. He was moving slower and found that the thing was avoiding the trees, giving Fodger nothing to which he could anchor himself. Fodger was grateful for that. The pain in his leg and hip had calmed to a dull roar, but he knew that with each new collision, it would hurt that much more.

Fodger began to notice that not only where they passing by less trees, but the underbrush was also reducing in its density. He began to wonder if he was approaching a clearing. He was answered as he was hoisted high into the air. He could feel no trees or branches as he flew through the wind and rain. As he left the cover of trees, the slight glow of the night clouds showed him that he was suspended about ten meters in the air. Suspended over what? Lightning traced a lazy finger across the sky, giving him a two second view of the most horrific and last thing he would ever see. It was a pit. A pit from hell. No, it was hell itself. It was fifty meters across, and about half as deep. He saw rows upon rows of stalagmite teeth covering the inside of the pit. Smaller tentacles than the one that was holding him aloft were swarming around like vipers in a nest. In the center of the mass of terror was the maw. Like a giant double jointed clam it flexed its jaws with vengeance. Fodger starred down into the blackness of that mouth knowing his fate. A huge tongue in the cavity was rolling over itself with eager anticipation. An anticipation that couldn't wait for the planet's eight point five meters per second squared rate of acceleration, and as the grip on Fodger's waist was released, the maw rose up like a shuttle, snapping Fodger out of the air. Fodger remembered little else.

The morning came slowly. Orange and yellow spread carefully as if testing out unfriendly waters. It wasn't a slow rotation as much as the sun was being cautious. It had good right to be. Last night it had been prematurely shut out by spontaneous storm clouds. It didn't want to rise on the only planet in its system that had life just to be ignored again. It knew that storms happened all over the planet, but it was this valley that it was now rising on that caused it fear. That storm last night was no accident. It was Mornoc.

The sun light streamed into the space craft as it lay marooned on the beach. It cast sparkling reflections into the interior as it shown through the rain drops on the windows. The occupants stirred.

Serin rubbed his head, nursing the lump and examining it to see if any blood had been shed. A massive headache, he thought but that was all it was. He loosened the crash netting around him and leaned over to his wife. The sun light was creeping up her neck, and he watched as it lit up her face, causing her eyes to flicker. Juwel turned her head slowly and saw her husband's reassuring smile.

They clasped each other's hand between them. "We made it, hon," Serin said with a smile.

"It's not quite the same as I dreamt it would be. I always pictured a slightly smoother landing."

They worked on getting out of the cockpit and went into the back of the scout ship. They looked at the mess that their supplies had made of the back of the ship. They were carrying all of the simple supplies. Clothes, food containers, camp equipment, some surveying equipment, and a few odds and ends were scattered over the cargo hold. "I told you to strap all this stuff down, dear," Serin said as he leaned over to give her a kiss to show he was just kidding. "I said it could be a rough landing."

"Don't start with me," she retorted. She tried to keep the frustration out of her voice, but it was tough. This was her big chance, her first scouting mission to an unknown inhabited planet and things were not going well.

Serin saw her face straining to hold back a scream. "Don't worry. We weren't really carrying anything that was breakable. A few of the food containers looked to have opened, but everything we brought is non-perishable and can likely be salvaged."

Serin walked back into the cockpit and tried to bring a few systems on line. "It doesn't look like anything was seriously hurt up here either." He activated the pilons, and the ship rose slowly up from the muddy coastline. After it reached a height of about one and a half meters, it began it sink back down into the soft sand. Serin ignored this and tried to get the engines to start. The sip rocked slightly as the main reactor tried to get going. "It's probably full of sand and saltwater, I think I can fix it."

"What about Fodger and Emily?" Juwel asked as she reentered the cockpit.

"I don't know. Let's see if we can raise them on the radio." Serin messed with a few knobs until a static blast came over the speakers. They had had their radio up extra loud to hear each other last night. Serin turned the volume down. "Raipin 4 team 2, this is team 1. Do you copy. I repeat, Fodger, Emily, are you out there. Please reply." Serin waited a few moment and repeated the call. After a minute with no response, he flipped another switch bringing the radar on line. One solid light blinked on the screen. "Well it looks like they are in one piece at least."

"Where is that?"

Serin looked at a few numbers in the readout. "It looks to be about two kilometers that way. Somewhere over that steep rise," he said as he pointed northwest out the side window. In the distance a steep hill was plainly visible. "Let's go for a little walk."

The two of them went back into the cargo hold and began rummaging through the assorted piles of equipment. Juwel found a multi-sensor that didn't look to badly damaged, and she strapped it to her hip. She kept looking through the junk, trying to fill a small backpack. While Juwel wasn't looking, Serin went over to a weapons locker and removed a blaster. He secured it in a shoulder holster hidden under his vest. He went back over to his wife, and together they found some canteens and a small package of rations. Serin went back into the cockpit and pulled a lever opening the outside door. Sounds of water came through the open door, and the smell of salt spray wafted into the ship.

The ship was only half on the beach, and the couple splashed into the ankle deep water as they left the ship. As they walked to the beach, Juwel saw Serin strapping something he had picked up in the cockpit to his waist. She recognized it immediately. "What do you need that for?"

Serin finished clipping the medium length cylinder to his belt and looked incredulously at his wife. They had had this argument before. He didn't want to think that she was going to rehash it again. "You are not a Jedi," she said, and Serin realized that he was going to have to defend himself again, "so why do you insist on carrying a lightsaber everywhere you go?"

"I don't carry it everywhere, only where it might be useful."

"If you need a weapon, why don't you carry a blaster or something more useful than a glow in the dark sword?" Serin really wondered why she was going through this. If someone had tape recorded their conversation three weeks ago when she had caught him packing the thing, they would now be able to play it back and find that not only were the words the same, but the inflection and timing were right on.

Serin knew what his wife's problem was. He felt like running with her blaster comment to say that he was in fact carrying one, but he knew that she really didn't want him to be carrying any weapons at all on a peaceful scouting mission. "I don't think of it as a weapon, dear, but a tool."

Serin recognized the frown on his wife's as the same one he had received three weeks ago. "You can't honestly tell me that you don't think of the lightsaber as a weapon. I've seen you dueling with it against droids, but I've never seen you use it to fix the refresher when it's clogged."

Serin smiled. That refresher comment was new to the argument. "It is standard RSF issue. I'm expected to carry it with me."

"You are no longer part of the Republic Special Forces. If you remember, you left when you married me."

"Once an RSF, always an RSF." This is always where Juwel would shrug her shoulders and give up, but if she could be original, Serin decided he could add a little something to the discussion. "Look, hon, after the Great Sacrifice, the Republic realized that there was going to be no more Jedi. They didn't want the tradition to just die like that. The Jedi had protected the Republic from the Ultimate Darkness, eventually giving their lives to put an end to the threat. The Republic didn't want that sacrifice to go unnoticed. They went to Yavin IV and got the instructions for the construction of a lightsaber. All of the RSF agents were trained in its use, and we all carry one. We can't block laser fire with them, but we do carry on the Jedi's memory every time we use them. Besides, we are probably going to have to walk through thick foliage. These work a little better than your standard machete at clearing the way." Serin saw that he had ended the discussion, for now, and finished tightening his belt. He attached a wrist band to his right wrist, and they were ready to go.

Fodger's ship was west of their position, and as they walked along the beach in that direction, Juwel started to fiddle with her multi-sensor. The beach itself was made up of about ten meters of bleached sand that turned abruptly into dense jungle. Juwel was sweeping her instrument toward the jungle and Serin hoped she was making sure no animals were suddenly going to jump them from out of the trees. "There doesn't seem to be much wildlife activity in there," she said. "A few birds, but that's all."

"How about the colony that the probe detected?"

Juwel shook her head as she turned up the power on the device. "There is too much interference."

"What kind of interference?" Serin asked as he walked over to his wife to look over her shoulder.

"Well, this device is supposed to be able to pick up individual life energy from amidst whatever background they are in, but this jungle is too strong of a life background to be able to pick out any individual life."

"How did you detect the birds?"

"Well, actually not all of the jungle is giving me that kind of interference. With the hope of picking up Fodger, I've mainly been scanning the area up ahead. This multi-sensor is trying to tell me that the area up ahead is one big life source. That isn't possible-"

"In your experience."

"Huh . . ." Juwel turned to her husband.

"It's not possible in your experience. Don't rule something out just because you've never seen it before."

"Okay," she said, "in my experience I have never seen any one life take up a square kilometer."

As they neared the valley where Serin had seen Fodger's ship go down the night before, the ground started to become more rocky. The jungle on their right began to get thinner as the rocky ground afforded less valuable soil in which the trees could nestle their roots. Serin saw that they were going to have a bit of trouble getting into the valley. What had looked like a hill from a distance, Serin could now see was actually more like a cliff. It had a near vertical ascent that was covered by loose rock and shale. It tapered off as it neared the coast line and extended into the water some fifteen meters before disappearing under the waves. The rocky cliff rose about a dozen meters into the air at its highest point, effectively keeping the valley's secrets secret.

"How deep is the water?" Serin asked.

Juwel pointed her device into the waves which had suddenly become slightly turbulent with a soft breeze that was coming in off the sea. "Out by the end of the rocks it has an absolute depth of about three and a half meters, but there are so many rocks, that the water height varies a lot." She looked up from her display. "I wouldn't go out there. Those rocks probably aren't very stable. You could get your ankle caught between two of them and drown quite easily. Besides," she added as she tried to get her wind blown hair behind her ears, "the wind is picking up and the undercurrent is unpredictable with all the underwater rocks. It would be more than dangerous."

They were now within five meters of the cliff side and the beach was almost solid rock. Serin scrambled to the top of a particularly tall boulder and tried to see over the rock wall in front of him. "Can you tell what's on the other side?" he asked.

"The sea water right in front of the outcropping appears to be mostly fresh water, so I would guess that there is some type of river delta in there. It is likely that even if we could get past this barrier, the delta would be impassable."

Serin nodded. "I guess we'll just have to go around. If I remember correctly from last night, I think that there was some kind of plateau at the far end of the valley. I might be wrong though. After all I could only see it between flashes of lightning."

The couple took one last look at the rocky obstacle in their way and turned north into the jungle. By walking a little ways away from the cliff, but not too far into the jungle, they found that the jungle wasn't too dense and the ground wasn't too rocky. Because of this, Serin's lightsaber stayed at his side. They occasionally tried to get Fodger or Emily on the portable radio that Juwel had brought along in her bag, but all they encountered was static. "Could that valley be producing the interference?" Juwel asked. "I remember when we were going to land last night, I tried to scan the clouds, but I found that I was being interfered with, and now with our radios and sensors we are getting interference."

"I don't know," Serin admitted. "I guess we are going to have to just wait and see what is in that valley. It's probably just some new kind of plant that we have never seen before that emits some kind of pollen that makes it hard for electric waves to travel through the air."

This comment brought a quick hop to Juwel's step, as Serin had intended. They were on a new planet that had a unique gravity, a unique air composition, a unique salt to water ratio in the ocean, a unique vitamin distribution in the soil. Anything was possible. This was her dream. Sure the landing hadn't gone smoothly, but it would be okay. They would meet up with Fodger and Emily in a few hours, and then they could set up a base camp. From there they would seek out the colony that was supposed to exist on this relatively small continent. If Fodger could get their ship running again they would be able to find that colony fairly easily. The idea of making first contact sent a shiver up her spine. Emily was here for, among other things, translation, and with her help they should be able communicate. Then there was all the soil samples and water samples she would take. She had to catalog the different plants, and seek out any new vegetation that was previously unknown. There might be a food crop here that was impervious to disease, and could then help to end hunger on disease ridden planets. The possibilities were endless.

The two explorers began to walk uphill. Not only was the ground rising, but the cliff above them was declining. Both of their paces began to quicken with the realization that their short trek would soon be over. The wind had died down since they had left the coast line. Serin found it odd that the wind had picked up when they tried to get through the water and then died down when they left. Strange coincidence is all, he thought. As the rustling leaves from the wind died down, they began to hear water noises. It wasn't just the pleasant sound of a bubbling creek either.

"A waterfall!" Juwel said with excitement. The two of them scrambled up the last few meters of the slope and came out of the trees to find themselves standing next to a medium sized river that disappeared over the edge of a reasonably high drop off. They both slowly crept to the edge of the water fall and looked over the edge. The falls were as wide as the river, about nine meters, and fell about the same distance. The water collected itself into a small lake on a wide plateau and then drained itself via a smaller and faster flowing river into the valley.

"I guess we know how the humans got here," Serin said. Juwel pulled her gaze away from the mesmerizing spray of the waterfall and followed Serin's gaze to the far side of the valley. There lay an enormous metal shell.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It looks like a very old crashed transport. It looks like every possibly useful thing has been taken out of it leaving only a rotting shell." The two of them began examining the rest of the plateau. It was about 800 meters wide, although the space in-between the crashed transport and small lake left only a little more than half of that original space. There was also a rock out cropping somewhere near the middle of the open space, but a little closer to the falls. When Juwel peered through the microbinoculars that she had brought she could see definite signs of civilization. From this distance she could see what appeared to be writing on the rock out cropping. There also seemed to be stairs cut into the rock leading down to the stone plateau and then more steps leading from the plateau to the valley floor.

"It looks like we have company," Serin said. Juwel swung the microbinoculars back to the top stairs and saw a single man walking down onto the plateau. "What does he look like?"

Juwel peered at the unknown visitor, zooming in several degrees. He was tall, or he was thin, or both. He had that eerie quality about him, that made him look like a non-human. It was odd that Juwel could still sense these things. She had grown up most of her life on a all human world, only after she decided to join the Republic's biology department did she run into people unlike herself. But then they had always been very different. Most of the "aliens" she knew had fur all over their body, or an extra arm, or two extra legs, or their skin was blue, or maybe their eyes were on stalks and had two mouths. Very rarely did she run into a subtle difference. This person was subtle. It was like maybe his eyes didn't seem to focus properly, or his ears were a bit to angular. Maybe it was the way he had his lips pursed. Could he be hiding extraordinary teeth in that mouth. What ever it was, Juwel was certain he wasn't from any world she knew of. He was carrying a torch and some small type of tool.

"What's he doing?" Serin insisted, but Juwel shushed him.

The man below walked over to the out cropping and used the small tool to etch something in the stone. It was on the side farthest away from her, so Juwel could not make out what or even how much he had written. When he was finished he made his way across the plateau toward the lower group of stairs. He walked slowly and purposefully. It was hard to tell, being this was the first time she had seen any of his species before, but it looked like he was nervous.

He made is way down the steps purposefully and slowly. At the bottom of the steps there was a medium sized rock with two lamp stands on either side. The man lit the lamps with his torch and placed the portable fire in a small holder at the base of the rock. Juwel watched as the vines that had clung to the lamp now shrank away from the heat of the fire. The man took a knee and now waited.

"It looks like some kind of religious ceremony," Juwel finally said. The man below lifted his head and stared into the jungle in front of him. There was a small path that led away from this altar, but Juwel could see no one on the path that he might be talking to. Juwel turned to her husband to offer him a look, but he had his eyes closed and appeared to be concentrating. "Wha-"

"Shh!" he stopped her. "Can you hear it?"

"Hear what?" she asked in the same reverent whisper that he had used.

"The voice."

"You can't hear him, he's ov-"

Serin cut her off with a hand gesture. "Listen . . ." he started, "to the trees."

This sounded absolutely ridiculous. Juwel looked at the calm face of her husband. He was dead serious. All she could hear was the pounding of the waterfall. She tried to shut out the sound. She closed her eyes and listen closely she tried to focus her ears past the waterfall. Slowly the water noise fell into the background.

[bring ---- -- us -- else -- will -- ---]

She opened her eyes with a snap. Her sudden movement startled Serin, and he looked at her. Juwel's breaths were coming quick. "I heard it," she squeaked as she tried to keep her voice down. "What's it saying? Who's saying it?"

Serin took the binoculars from her and looked at the man below. He was getting up from his crouch. He carefully put out both lamps and hurried up the steps, glancing back briefly to see the vines reassert their grip on the tops of the lamp stands. "We gotta go," Serin said as he handed back the binoculars.

"Where?"

"We have to follow him," Serin answered. "Can you track him or is there still too much interference?"

Juwel put the specs into her bag and traded them for her multi-sensor. After a few seconds, she acquired a satisfying blip moving away from them. "I got him." They slowly followed him as best they could with the river in between them. For now the unknown colonist was staying parallel to the river, and Serin was hoping that the colony was on or near the river so they wouldn't lose him. "Okay, now you get to explain what went on back there. What did I hear?"

"Stop me when this starts to sound strange, but I think you were listening to the forest. It loo-'

"Wait," Juwel grabbed his arm, "stop."

Serin stopped and looked at her. "Did he stop?"

"No, you started to sound strange."

Serin gave a sigh an continued picking his way along the river bed, noticing that the cover was becoming less and less. "What do we know so far?"

"Very little."

"Okay, you got me. But what does it all point to?"

"Okay, you got me," Juwel echoed.

"You said that the sensor was telling you that that valley was just one big life source, correct?" Serin didn't wait for his wife's response but she nodded to his back as she followed him. "We also just saw a guy hold a conversation with no one present except for some trees. What about the vine? In religious traditions you light a torch to let your deity know that you are ready to communicate with him or it or whatever. He lit the torch and the vine immediately responded."

"Are you saying that he was talking to the vine?"

"No, what I'm saying is that maybe the forest in that valley is some how sentient, and that by lighting the torch it burns the vine and lets the forest know that some one is there."

Juwel grabbed his arm again, stopping him. "Look," Serin said looking at his wife, "I know it sounds really strange, but-"

"No," Juwel cut him off, "he stopped, and there are more of them."

Serin looked at the screen. There were now three blips very close to each other. "What do we have here?"

"I would guess it's a city gate," Juwel offered.

"Guards at a city gate?" Serin asked her; she nodded. "What are they guarding against?"

"Us." Serin thought about this for a while, but Juwel interrupted him. "You were going to say something before I cut you off. Something about how crazy of an idea you had just come up with based on the meagerest of observations."

"Well that isn't exactly what I was going to say."

"What evidence can you point to that can support this idea then?"

"I over heard their conversation down there by the lamp stands."

C4M-LE was getting very impatient. She had waited exactly eight hours, five minutes, and thirty-seven seconds, and Fodger had still not returned. She had very much disliked it when he had left her all alone last night, but liked it even less when he had not returned. She had tried the communicators in the ship, but all she got was static. She had even started to try to repair some of the more damaged speeder bikes, but she didn't have the right tools, and she didn't know where to find them.

Emily was not as incapable as most of her protocol predecessors, but she enjoyed pretending to be. A protocol droid was used in formal situations for service in social groupings. She had been programmed with the ability to communicate in a wide variety of styles in an uncountable number of languages. Being owned by the science wing of the Republic had forced her to expand her program a bit though. Emily was often present at many parties and meetings where, although they were all speaking a language that she knew backwards and forwards, she had a terribly hard time communicating. The mode of the conversation, the way one sentence followed the other, puzzled her deeply. She once approached a senior science officer and explained her problem to him. He simply laughed and said that she was having problems with the logical steps they were taking. Logic is something Emily didn't understand at all. How can one assume that just because an apple fell on someone's head, that there must be gravity, and that then there must be black holes, and then there must be a way to have safe interstellar travel with out having to go faster than the speed of light, and thus avoid all the suffering that comes from time dilation? So Emily had reprogrammed herself with very extensive logic circuits. This made her more of a success, but most people had merely taken her steps of logic to be a poorly programmed sense of humor.

It was at extreme situations like the one Emily found herself in now, that she tried to put that logic to work. There were two paths to follow. One was that Fodger was dead, and the cause of that death, although unknown, had not yet plagued her, and so she was much better off staying where she was. However, if Fodger wasn't dead, then he had likely met up with the others and for some reason they had not come back for her yet. She then took each thought one step further. If something outside had killed Fodger, then it would soon start to wonder where he had come from and maybe start looking for more things to kill. Of course maybe if Fodger had found the others, the reason that they couldn't get to her was because there was something, maybe the afore mentioned thing, keeping them from it.

She kept at this for the next few minutes. Being able to compute extremely fast she arrived finally at these two out comes: The ground was still probably very wet outside, and It was now almost noon. Neither of these two ideas seemed to give her too much trouble, and so she decided to have a look outside to see if she was right.

She walked over to the outside hatch, which was on the ceiling. She pried it open easily and stuck her head outside. She saw Fodger's flashlight laying on the ground. Fodger hadn't come back yet! She slammed the hatch closed and hid inside, sulking.

Juwel and Serin had been watching the small colony for most of the day. The people seemed to be very ordinary. They were growing crops, raising livestock, going to school, and basically just living normal lives. Still, there was something very odd about the whole thing. Serin had relayed what he had heard to Juwel. The "forest" had told the man that there were visitors on the planet and they were to be brought to him/it at once. Well Serin and Juwel recognized the visitors to be themselves, but were fairly uncertain where to take it from there. They desperately wanted to make contact with these people, but they could over-hear their conversations, and it was clear that they did not speak Basic, or anything like it. They also knew that if they simply walked into town, they would have a lot of explaining to do.

Serin was contemplating trying to sneak down to the lamp stands to try to talk with what ever was out there, but Juwel would hear nothing of it. It wasn't their place to interfere with these people's religion. Besides, if they were to simple walk into town, the people were instructed to bring them down anyway. It seemed like a simple choice, except neither of them were so sure that they wanted to meet this forest god.

Serin was sure, though that they would be able to resist arrest. The people did not seemed very advanced, and probably had only primitive weapons. They wouldn't be able to stand up under blaster fire, but then he didn't really want to mow down the first new colony that the Republic had found in a hundred years. He didn't think that it would go over too well with his wife.

They didn't have to wait too much longer though, because their decision was soon made for them.

"Ouch," Juwel exclaimed suddenly.

"What is it?" Serin asked as he looked away from watching someone plow his field with a bent piece of bulk head.

Juwel lowered her microbinoculars. "Something just bit me in-" she reached her hand to the back of her neck and froze. Serin looked and saw the quill of a dart sticking out of her neck.

He spun around and received three darts right in the chest. He tried to draw his blaster but the poison was spreading quickly and his arms turned to wood. "Dear, I can't move my neck," Juwel said. She still hadn't turned around.

"We have visitors," Serin said as he fell on his back. Juwel moved her eyes to look down at him and saw the darts. She had felt her own dart and knew what must be happening. Two more darts zipped into Juwel's back but she couldn't feel them.

The three settlers advanced slowly, making sure that their prey was immobile before over committing themselves. Neither spouse talked as they were unnecessarily tied and gagged. Two settlers carried Serin while the third labored with Juwel. They noticed that word spread through this little town quickly. The streets were deserted as their captures carried them over the bridge that spanned the river into the center of town.

Serin could feel eyes peeing at him through half closed curtains. He didn't like this at all. Maybe it was the only way to get into the town, but now they were in no position to bargain. They had taken his blaster and lightsaber, though he was sure that they had no idea what they were. They had also taken Juwel's bag.

The trip through town was brief. It was a small town. They entered a building, and Serin and Juwel were placed in chairs. Their gags were removed, but they remained bound, for what reason, Serin could not figure out. He still couldn't move any major muscle in his body well. He even felt like he was blinking uncoordinatedly. He didn't want to think about what it would sound like if he tried to talk. He and Juwel looked around the room as best as their necks would allow them. In the room with them was their three captures, a young man dressed up as someone important, and a much older man. As best Juwel could guess, the first four men were probably from the present generation of settlers, while the older man was probably from at least two generations previous.

As soon as everyone was settled they started arguing amongst themselves. Serin and Juwel were obviously the object of the argument, but what they were saying, was totally up for grabs. Suddenly one of the young men turned on Serin and began screaming in his face. Serin tried to pull back, but was only slightly successful. "I cuuan . ." he started to say, but his tongue wouldn't cooperate. Serin took a deep breath and tried again. His accuser paused realizing that Serin was trying to speak. "I cauunn't unurstan yooo," he managed. He felt rather proud he had managed to sound as clear as he did, but stopped to think, that clear or not, they wouldn't understand anything he said.

As if to laugh at Serin's logic, the old man, who had stayed out of the previous argument, walked up to the couple. "He wants to know what you have done to upset Mornoc."

Serin and Juwel each tried to do a double take, but couldn't move their heads very well and almost fell off their chairs instead. "You speak basic!" Serin found he could speak better if he wasn't thinking about it. Maybe the poison was wearing off.

"These fellows should speak it also but they are too absorbed with Mornoc."

The younger man who had been in the building before they had got there, was obviously someone important, and at the name of Mornoc he went off in a tirade at the older man. The elder exchanged unpleasantries with the youngster in the other language before Juwel interrupted. "Excuse me, but what is going on?"

The older man turned back to them. "I'm sorry about all this. My name is Abren. I'm one of the only original members of this colony. It might be easier if you hear the whole story."

The younger man started to go off again, but Abren silenced him. "His name is Tornic, he is the elected leader of this town. He is very upset about this whole situation."

"What situation?" Juwel persisted.

"Let me start from the beginning. I have been here for about three hundred years. Not so long of a life for my people, but it seems like an eternity. When I was very young, a group of us were involved in a massive relocation. I can't remember why, it hardly seems important now. What is important is that our ship crash landed on this forsaken place. That is when we met Mornoc." Tornic looked at Abren again when he heard the name, wondering what slander the old man was bringing down now. Abren ignored him. "We lost a lot of people in the crash and a lot more in the next day exploring. We don't know what happened to them, but if you asked me I think 'you know who' is responsible."

"What is . . ." Serin glanced at Tornic, "it."

"We don't know. He is the forest, or an animal in the forest, or a spirit, or something. No one has seen him and lived to tell about it. The second night with most of the men gone, the women and children were huddled up in this area scared of some monster that was killing anyone who ventured too far away. That is when Mornoc first spoke to us. He speaks in the mind. He doesn't speak in any language, so anybody can understand."

"How do you know Basic?" Juwel asked.

"My people were migrating to a new land when our spaceship crashed. We had felt it necessary to become bilingual, so we learned the universal language. We have tried to teach our children, to learn Basic, but they have no intention of ever leaving, so they don't see the point. I think Mornoc told them not to learn Basic. These people's inability to communicate with any visitors makes them rely on Mornoc more."

"If Mornoc is so evil, why did your people ever listen to him?" Serin question him.

"We were scared. Mornoc told us that we could live in this area and he would take care of us. We were skeptical, but he gave us warm weather, and promised rain when we needed it. The only stipulation was that we were to feed him with livestock. A few people were scared, or curious, or both and went into the forest to see what this Mornoc was. Whether they found out or not we don't know. They never came back."

"So you have spent your whole life living here in the shadow of Mornoc?" Juwel asked, fascinated by this whole thing.

"I have lived here in hope that some of my people would find us and rescue us. Do you have a ship? Will it fly me away from here?"

"We have a ship, yes, but it can not hold everyone," Serin responded.

"It does not need to," Abren said. "There are about five of us who would like to leave. The rest serve Mornoc."

Tornic was getting rather impatient throughout the whole conversation and was now discussing with his three other companions. "What is he so concerned about?" Serin asked.

"Mornoc has decreed that you and the woman shall be given to him."

"But why?" Juwel pleaded. "We have done nothing wrong."

"No, you haven't. But if you were alowed to leave, you would bring more people back with you, and with them would come technology and cities and spaceships, and where would that leave Mornoc? Whatever he is, he likes to eat. He has some kind of hold on all of the younger generations. There are about four hundred people here. Mornoc has them in some kind of trance. Anything he wants they bring him. You should see them run around getting nutrients to pour into the river for him. Let me tell you, I have been tempted to just walk into that forest and find out what he is. I know that I'll probably not make it back alive, no one has, but I could at least die knowing what it was that has been tormenting us for so long."

Juwel turned to Serin. The potion was definitely starting to wear off and little movements were coming easier now. "What about Fodger?"

Serin turned to Abren. "We had two ships. One crashed in that valley. We had two friends on that ship. We haven't seen them. Do you think that . . ."

Abren shook his head slowly. "I don't know what's out there. If they stay in their ship, maybe they'll be fine. I really can't tell you."

Tornic had decided that he had waited long enough. He walked over to Abren and had a few short words with him. The other three were standing Juwel and Serin up. Serin stretched his legs and flexed his arms. Feeling came back quickly to his limbs and he was sure that he could perform well. He was still tied, but he had ways around that. He looked over at Abren to be sure. The old man shrugged. "I'm sorry friend. I wish there was something I could do, but I don't have any authority anymore."

"So this is it, huh?" Serin asked. "They are going to feed us to Mornoc."

Abren nodded. Juwel's face was one of complete shock. "Don't worry dear, it's not over yet." Serin could feel that they hadn't removed his wrist band. He looked over at Juwel's bag in the corner and saw that it was open. He also saw that his lightsaber was sitting on top. Now, the RSF agents weren't Jedi, but they had designed a few tricks to make you think other wise. Serin motioned with his wrist band toward the bag on the floor. His lightsaber leaped out of the bag and flew into his hand. As soon as the handle touched the wrist band, the weapon activated. Tornic and his three friends yelled in surprise and jumped back.

With a flick of his wrist, Serin cut away his bindings and did like wise with Juwel's. Serin turned towards his would be captors. Just in case they didn't know what a lightsaber was, he sliced the chair next to him in two.

"Bravo," Abren said. "Are you a Jedi?"

Serin turned to regard the old man with new respect. "You have heard of the Jedi?"

"My mother used to tell me stories about the Jedi and how they fought against evil and how she wished that some would come and kill Mornoc. So are you a Jedi?"

Serin shook his head. "I'm sorry, but the Jedi are gone."

Tornic was worried. That was obvious. He had not expected this visitor to be so powerful. How would he please Mornoc now? Juwel saw this too. "What now?" she asked her husband. "Can we just walk away? If Fodger and Emily are lost, then our mission is over. We might as well go home."

Serin had a look on his face that Juwel knew all to well. "I don't think so. Fodger was a friend of mine. I believe we will stay and see who this Mornoc fellow is." He turned to Abren. "Tell Tonic that I want to meet this Mornoc."

Emily was tired of this game she was playing with herself. "Just go outside!" she finally told herself out loud. "What ever will happen, will happen. There is just as much chance that it will be good as it will be bad."

She had told herself this five minutes ago and was now standing over Fodger's flashlight. She picked it up. No signs of scratches or damage. The ground around her was soft and spongy. The rain from last night had not yet dried, and in this shade, she wondered if it ever would.

Emily needed a direction in which to walk. She walked around to the other side of the crashed scout ship. The river was flowing south. She remembered that they were near an ocean. The river probably flowed into the ocean. She hated water. She decided to go north.

Through the trees she could see the sun going down in the western sky. It was almost one full day since they had landed, and they had accomplished nothing apart from crashing, and becoming separated. Emily thought she heard voices from the edge of the trees ahead of her. She quickened her pace. So far she hadn't been bothered at all. Again her logic failed to put together the facts that Fodger had been edible, but she was not. This is what Fodger must have done, she thought.

Emily stepped out of the trees and was immediately assailed by a hundred people.

Tornic led Serin and Juwel down to the plateau, keeping a good distance between them. Serin and Juwel both agreed that this was the man they had watched talk to Mornoc previously that morning. They were followed immediately by Abren, and more distantly by a very large percentage of the male population of the town. Through Abren's immediate translations, they understood everything that Tornic was saying. Before they had started the trek to the plateau, he had told them that they might be able to defy him, but they would not be able to confront Mornoc and live.

Right now he was leading chants, singing the praises of Mornoc. Abren wasn't boring them with the details of this praise anthem other than to tell them what it was. Juwel noticed that the wind was starting to pick up again and dark clouds were moving in from the ocean. "Does it rain here every night?" Juwel asked.

"It rains when Mornoc wants it to," Abren answered. "As much as I dislike him, I have to recognize that he does have incredible powers."

The steps down to the plateau were steep and Serin helped Juwel down. The plateau itself was about two meters above the forest floor. Tornic ushered Juwel and Serin down to the lamp stand and altar. Abren had told them it was an altar, because that is were they placed the livestock that they sacrificed to Mornoc. Abren was with them on the altar. Tornic took his torch to light the lamps, but a mighty gust of wind blew it out. Tornic was petrified. He had no idea what the penalty for failing to light the lamp stands was. Mornoc beat him to it. Serin watched in amazement as a pin prick appeared in the western sky. A small amount of clouds parted allowing a stream of the setting sunlight to shine a spotlight on the altar. Tornic stopped fiddling with the flint and fell to his knees.

Serin heard a collective awe of amazement from the people behind him, and he turned to see them kneeling in rank.

[Have you brought them to me?]

"Oh great Mornoc," Abren translated, "we have brought them, but they resist you. They wished to speak with you."

[There is no talk, only doing. Can you not over-power them?]

"One of them is a Jedi." Serin turned to Abren when he translated this. "So I lied to them," he confessed.

[A Jedi!] Everyone present reeled as the voice in their mind yelled. [There is no Force presence here but my own.]

Only Serin and Juwel knew enough about the Force to understand the thrust behind this. Mornoc was a Force user. That not only explained a few things, it explained almost everything.

Since the arrival of Serin and Juwel, Abren had become more bold than usual. "If you are so great Mornoc, why don't you show yourself!"

Three things happened at once.

Emily walked out of the woods. The people of Raipen 4 had never seen a droid before, and her arrival coming right after Abren insisted that Mornoc reveal himself, came as quite a shock to the people.

"Mornoc! Mornoc! Mornoc!" The people fell prostrate. A few brave souls even leaped off the plateau and ran over to Emily pleading their unwavering devotion and thanks.

Emily was shocked. She recognized the language of the people immediately, but was a little surprised as to what they were saying. She responded as best she could, but was not used to being treated as a deity. Emily searched the crowd around her looking for some relief. She saw Serin running toward her. "Oh Master Serin, so good to see you. Would you please tell me what's going on? Why do these people insist on calling me 'Oh Powerful Sarlacc?'"

Serin stopped short. "Is that what they're saying? Does Mornoc mean sarlacc?"

Emily nodded. "It is an ancient Fregwin dialect, but the translation seems to be there. The Fregwin culture thrived on stories of horror and the unknown. The sarlacc was a popular figure in these stories."

"Mornoc is a sarlacc. A Force strong sarlacc."

About now the second even reached it's climax.

"If you are so great Mornoc, why don't you show yourself!" Emily was right now walking out of the woods, but Abren was distracted.

[Do you want to know what I am?] Mornoc asked on a private mental channel.

"I want you to leave these people alone," Abren responded. "You rule by fear. That is not how a true ruler would govern his people."

[You want to see me, don't you?]

Abren could tell by the tone of Mornoc's voice that he did not in fact want to see Mornoc.

[Close your eyes.] Abren resisted. [Close you eyes!] Abren fought against the urge, but Mornoc was too powerful. He closed his eyes. He saw what Mornoc looked like. He opened his eyes. He screamed.

Serin turned away from Emily and stared back at the altar. Abren was falling to his knees and shaking. Serin ran up to him. "What is it?"

"I . . .I . . . I saw it," he managed. "He is awful. I-" Abren fainted.

"Juwel," Serin said, "help me with Abren." No response. "Juwel?"

It was now that Serin noticed the third thing.

Emily walked out of the woods. Juwel was still in total shock from the spot light that Mornoc had orchestrated. Now he was a Force user, and here was Emily. She felt her knees go weak, but she caught herself on the lamp stand. The vine moved slowly under her touch.

[You will come to me.]

Juwel tried to shake her head of all these thoughts and feelings.

[You love your husband.]

"I love my husband," Juwel responded, not exactly knowing why.

[Mornoc is powerful.]

"Mornoc is powerful." Juwel stood up a little straighter.

[You will go to Mornoc.]

"I will go to Mornoc." Juwel walked slowly down the steps of the altar to the valley floor. "I will go to Mornoc." Her eyes were staring straight ahead and her pace quickened. "I will go to Mornoc!"

"Juwel, help me with Abren. Juwel?" Serin flipped his head around and saw his wife walking trance-like into the trees. "Juwel!" Serin leaped over the fallen Abren and raced after his wife.

By now, Mornoc had been able to tell his people that Emily was not a representation of his greatness, and they should worry about the two visitors. Tornic made a flying tackle at Serin's feet. Serin went down hard. He reached for his lightsaber, but four more men were on him. "Get off me! I have to save my wife!"

Though they couldn't understand him, they could guess what Serin was screaming about. "She belongs to Mornoc now," Tornic responded stoically. If nothing else, tonight had solidified Tornic's belief in his god.

Serin watched as the last image of his wife disappeared from view. He could still hear her mumbling as she went. Then she screamed. "Serin!" Serin managed to throw two of the men off him, but three more came in to help. "Serin, help me! It's got me!"

"Juwel!" but Serin could scream no more as he was rendered unconscious by a blow to the head.

Juwel was being dragged through the brush by a grotesque tentacle. She tried to sit up, but a low tree branch knocked her back down. Not having the same strength Fodger had, she blacked out.

Serin woke several hours later laying on a cot. He rolled over slowly, nursing the new bruise on his head. "One lump or two," he mumbled, but sat up suddenly as his situation dawned on him. He was in a metal room. It was most likely taken from the crashed transport. There were no windows, and one door which had no visible latch.

Serin ran over to the door and started to pound and scream. He got a very solid pounding from the other side of the door as a response. "The prisoner will be kept in silence until Mornoc wants him," he was yelled at by some guard who obviously new Basic. The guard was also obviously just repeating orders he had received.

Serin turned away from the door and saw for the first time that Emily was sitting deactivated in the corner. He walked over to the protocol droid and flipped her back on. Her eyes lit up and she took in her surroundings with a head turn. "I see we are still being held captive. Are you feeling well?"

"No I'm not feeling well! They have my weapons, I'm stuck in this cell, and my best friend and wife are in the belly of a sarlacc, but thanks for asking."

Emily shied away from the bottle of rage that stood before her. "I'm sorry sir-"

"No," Serin interrupted her, "I'm letting this all get to me."

"With all respect sir, I think that it should get to you."

"Yea, but I should keep a clear head about it. There's no way that we'll be able to get out of here if I don't have a level head about things. Have you examined this cell at all?"

"It is as impenetrable as it looks. The door opens inward, but the hinges are not visible. There is no lock to pick, and no window to crawl through. I believe that we will stay here until someone wants us."

Serin thought about this for a while and then sat down on his bunk. "What can you tell me about sarlaccs?"

"Just about everything there is to know. Where they come from, no one knows. There are too few of them around the galaxy to study. It is thought that they reproduce, as most plants do, without a mate. What they are, plant or animal, is still up for grabs. They definitely exhibit characteristics of both. Back to the reproduction. It is thought that a full grown sarlacc will spit a spore out of its mouth that will travel in space until it finds a home on another planet. People have found dead spores on planets, without knowing exactly what they are. After a little research into these dead spores, it was decided that they were baby sarlaccs that did not survive planet fall. With this little information, the previous theory on their reproductive was formed.

"They have a life span that as far as anyone knows, has no limit. They have been known to exist anywhere from arctic regions, to desert regions. But like most plants or animals, they will thrive in a wet, warm environment."

"Much like Raipin 4," Serin put in.

"Frankly sir, I can not think of a better place."

"What about its intelligence?"

"As far as anyone knows, they are not sentient. They are merely creatures of instinct, however there have been reports from an unknown and unconfirmed source, that the minds of the people the sarlacc feeds on are collected into a kind of second consciousness. However this source said that this had happened because the sarlacc had eaten a Jedi, and the Jedi's spirit stayed alive, thus keeping the collective memories of everyone else alive with her. I don't know if the collective consciousness is then possible without the help of a Jedi, but the only report that has been gathered includes one, so it is hard to come to any certain conclusion."

"How was this data gathered?"

"Someone once escaped from a sarlacc."

Serin perked up. "Who was this?"

"The source has managed to remain anonymous. But he did impart some knowledge on the inner workings of a sarlacc. There are many different inner cavities in the digestive system of a sarlacc where it stores its victims. The cavities are tunnel like in nature. There are numerous small tentacles that attach the victims to the walls of these hallways, while digestive fluids flow along the floor. As the Sarlacc needs more food, it will slowly amputate its victim and feed the limb into the fluid on the floor of the cavity. It is not known how the sarlacc can keep its victims alive, during this digestive process, but it is said that it can.

"As far as its external features, the sarlacc looks like a deep pit filled with teeth. The teeth apparently serve little purpose other than vibration sensors. Maybe they are there for the same reason that a rancor has ugly, wrinkled, putrid skin, as apposed to a soft pink epidermis. Mother nature likes to let people know that this is bad right from the start. You can't make a mistake when you look at a sarlacc and think 'My, this might be a good pit to build an amphitheater in.' There is no guessing involved. Along with the teeth, there is a giant mouth that does the eating, or actually, the swallowing. There are also several tentacles. Some sarlaccs only have one tentacle, but others have been known to have as many as ten. Also most tentacles can only reach a little further than the edge of the pit, but one sarlacc, after it was killed, had a tentacle that measured almost fifty feet past the edge of the pit. You have to take these statistics with an open mind, however. The number of tentacles and the length and strength of them, are directly proportional to the type of climate the sarlacc is in. So our friend mister Mornoc, is likely to top all of these statistics."

Serin paused in thought, but was interrupted by a commotion outside the door. There was a few words spoken that he couldn't understand, a familiar noise, and then the sound of the guard hitting the floor. Serin waited, thinking he knew what had happened. Moments later their cell door opened revealing a smiling Abren holding Serin's blaster. "Let's go," the old man said. "We don't have much time."

"Very nice," Serin said and grabbed the gun away from the old man, returning it to his shoulder holster. "Do you have my lightsaber too?" Abren handed it over.

They sneaked through the town which was in a restless sleep. It was around midnight, and Serin was glad for the cover of darkness. "Where are we going?" Abren asked.

"Back to my ship," Serin replied.

"Are we leaving?" Abren asked hopefully. Serin threw him a vicious look. "I didn't think so."

Juwel's awakening was a little more traumatic. Before her eyes were fully opened a fetid odor crept into her nostrils. Her head snapped up and her eyes were wide. She found herself staring at a semi decomposed skeleton. She was somehow tied to a wall in a narrow passage way. Her new friend was staring at her from across this tunnel. The skeleton had a few scraps of clothing draped over its bleached bones. The scraps did a poor job of hiding a few very decomposed organs hanging desperately to the rib cage.

She screamed.

When she opened her mouth an unseen strand strapped itself across her face. It tightened in between her open jaws and secured itself quickly. Her scream was cut off by the gag. She tried to bite it off, but as her teeth started to sink into the ghastly thing, it began to excrete a vile liquid that caused her to gag violently. When her convulsions were over, she tried to calm herself. She tried to identify all of her limbs. Her head was strapped to the wall behind her so she could not look down or around. She could feel her hands through the wiggling of her fingers, and likewise her feet through her toes. Her back was also flat against the wall. She tried to identify this wall she was pinned to. She felt cautiously with her fingers. It was a very soft, wet membrane. It felt very organic.

She started to scream again, but was cut off, by another strand coming across her throat. Her breath started to come in desperate gasps. Calm, she thought, remain calm. She closed her eyes and slowly her breathing decelerated. She opened them to find herself staring at the skeleton again.

[Sorry. That is a nasty thing to wake up to.]

The few strands that had been holding the skeleton to the wall, released the bone structure, and the whole thing slipped down off the wall. Juwel's eyes instinctively followed the thing into the liquid at the bottom of the chamber. She watched in horror as the digestive fluids began to eat away at the bones, releasing a sickening hissing sound and an awful smell. She watched as the wall across from her began to "sweat" the foul liquid, letting it run down the wall, cleaning the place where the skeleton had been and refilling the pool on the floor. Juwel began to feel the liquid dripping down her wall. She could feel it destroy her hair, as it worked its way toward the bottom. She tried to arch her back away from the acid wall, and could feel her shirt stick to the membrane. The smell of scorched fabric filled the air, and she started to hyperventilate again. The burning sensation in her legs brought her to her senses, and she bit down hard into her gag against the pain. This new ferocity brought more liquid from the root in her mouth, but she drank it down eagerly, hoping it would put an end to this all. It only made her vomit.

After she had undergone the last of her violent body retching, and her stomach was empty, she hung limp and defeated against the wall.

[Oh, we're sorry about that. Guess we flushed the wrong wall.]

The sarcasm bit into her being worse than the acid had. The nerves on her legs and back were screaming at her, but her mind was now being tortured by this thing that held her captive.

[It must hurt pretty bad. We don't really know, but that's what people tell us - in between their screams. Does it hurt?]

Juwel screamed inwardly at her inability to shut off the voice in her head. Her body shook with rage, but she was careful not to bite down again. The taste of bile was still fresh in her mouth.

[You don't need to answer right away. We'll give you some time to think about it. How does fifty years sound?]

Hope! Come on girl, you need to think of hope! Serin is still out there. He will come for you.

[There is no hope foolish woman. No hope for you.]

"Stay out of my head!" she tried to scream out loud.

[You want to talk vocally, eh. We can do that.]

Juwel patiently got her breathing under control. Just breathe, she told herself. Just keep yourself alive until Serin comes. As she calmed herself, she began to hear splashes coming from her left. The strands around her head loosened slightly, allowing her to venture a look in that direction. She saw that the tunnel made a right hand turn about five meters away, and she could here someone coming down the hall. An eerie light source cast a shadow on the wall as the figure got closer. It looked to be a human form from the shadow, but Juwel didn't take this to be good or bad news, just news. The new-comer turned the corner. In the dim light from five meters it was unmistakable. It was Fodger, or what was left of him.

Juwel recoiled from the monstrosity that ambled down the passage way. He was wearing what was left of his flight jacket which had no sleeves and enormous holes eaten into it. His pants ended a little above his knees, and his skin ended right below them. She watched as the acid swirled around his skeleton legs, hissing every time it splashed up to skin and muscle. His face had a grin that was more hideous than all of it. The smile was so familiar, yet so distant. She had seen Fodger laugh many times, but now the grin had something else behind it. The pupiless eyes seemed to bore through her soul, seeking out what could torment her most.

"Well, I see that you have stumbled in for a visit," the apparition scorned. "Oh don't worry, I'm quite dead. None of this hurts." As he said this, he bent over and swept his hand through the river of fluid. He brought his hand up, steaming. "You see, the brain isn't working, so no pain," he said in a rather playful manner as he held his hand upside-down in front of her face so she could watch the outer layer of the skin burn away and drip slowly off his finger tips. She pulled back as the drips hit the front of her shirt, burning holes.

"You see, my dear, - may I call you my dear?" Juwel started a response, but Fodger put a hand over her mouth. "Shhh, it was a rhetorical question." Juwel started to scream in pain. Fodger tried act confused, but did a poor job. He ended the charade by looking at his hand covering her mouth. It was still dripping acid. "Oh my, sorry wrong hand," he said with an absent minded chuckle. He looked at her face which was burned badly. "I feel awful, let me get that." He reached out to her shirt and ripped off the bottom half, revealing her stomach. He began to slowly tried to wipe away the burning digestive fluid from her face but merely seemed to spread it around. Juwel shook her head violently, causing Fodger to take a step back. "Tsk, tsk, I was only trying to help. Now where was I.

"Oh yes, I was going to tell you what a wonderful thing it is to be dead. You see, Mornoc killed me right away because he is Force strong, you know, and he can see the future. Well actually the sarlacc can see the future, Mornoc just interprets it. It gets a little confusing sometimes trying to figure out where the sarlacc stops and Mornoc begins. They aren't one and the same. You see, I am Mornoc now, well at least part of him. Each person who's eaten, gets collected into the consciousness, giving Mornoc new knowledge and more wisdom. We are really quite eager to get our hands on you. You see to date I am the most learned man eaten." Fodger started to laugh. "I was a nitwit, remember. All he has eaten as far as sentients go, have been the settlers. I don't mean to insult them, I mean I will be spending the rest of eternity with them, but they aren't exactly scientists. But you, you are, aren't you. You will expand our knowledge so much.

"I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'There's no way I'm ever going to join you, scum bag, so you can just rot in this Hell you call a home.' Well I know that you're thinking that for two reasons. One, if I was strapped there half-naked, - yes half-naked, your pants are being eaten away rather quickly, poor material - I would be thinking the same thing. And two, I can use the Force now, and I can read your mind." Fodger started dancing in circles, giddy over his role as Juwel's tormentor.

"You see, I can tell what you're thinking now. You're thinking, 'Don't you remember me, Fodger? We were friends.' Sure I remember you, but it's not quite that simple. You see, I'm not actually me. I'm Mornoc now. It gets a little complicated every now and then. Mornoc has eaten about one hundred fifty people. I think One forty-two is the exact number, not counting you. So about two thirds of a percent of me is screaming right now to be nice to you. But that's just one guy. The other one hundred forty-odd don't give a rip, and would rather have some fun."

"When you die, your consciousness will be captured by the sarlacc. You won't really have a choice. And unless you know some really good Jedi mind blocks, your mind will be open to us, giving us a treasure trobe of new information. You see, though, we are patient. We don't need it right this instant. In fact we don't really need it at all, we just think it would be cool to have."

Fodger leaned in close to her. Juwel tried to keep a strong composer, but this was all too much for her. "You're scared aren't you? You should be." He paused. "You look very lovely when you're terror stricken. You really do. In fact, if it wasn't for those awful looking acid burns, I'd say you were borderline gorgeous." Fodger reached his good hand out and touched her forehead. He traced a slow line along the side of her face, outlining a jawbone set in defiance. He twirled playfully on the chin, ski-sloping down onto the neck and jumping the vine that still held her throat. His finger landed solidly on her sternum. He slowly dropped a few more centimeters until his finger hit the neckline of her torn and tattered shirt. Their eyes locked. Juwel bore a hole into him, daring him another centimeter. At first Fodger was a little startled by her boldness. Then he was shocked that she had been able to startle him, considering her condition. He was fuming. He wanted to rip her shirt off right there and roll her in the acid, but prudence stopped him. A slow smile spread across his lips, hiding any anger that might have been there. "I better not. Serin would kill me. But wait, I'm already dead." Fodger roared in laughter. Juwel didn't blink. He slowly stopped his laughter. "But I must leave you with a momentum of my affection." He reached down with a finger and scooped up some fresh digestive fluid. With great care he traced a heart on her stomach, encompassing her exposed navel. She didn't flinch; not one muscle quivered.

Fodger could tell that this session was over. "Well good-bye dear," he said and kissed her on the lips. "Mmmmm," he said, licking his lips, "been throwing up, have we? Very sexy.

"I really must be going now. Serin is going to plan something really clever, I just know it, and I wouldn't want to be caught with my pants down. You see Serin is the one we really want." He turned away and started down the tunnel. "Oh, I almost forgot. I need to ask you a question." Juwel was still staring holes into the opposite wall. "It's okay, you don't need to answer verbally, just think your answer. What part of your body would you like the sarlacc to start on first?" Fodger paused a moment. "Really, where did you learn such language. I'll tell the boys upstairs to work on it." Fodger kept walking as he talked, giving his voice a distant reverberating effect. "Your 'ass' should be gone in about a day or two. It would be sooner, but you ate one too many chocolate desserts I'm afraid."

When Fodger at last was gone, Juwel relaxed. She wouldn't have been able to hold out much longer. The wall behind her began to swell, and her pants started to burn as the sarlacc took her comment literally. Juwel tried to arch herself away from the wall, but the strands around her waist tightened.

"Please hurry, Serin."

"Please hurry, Emily. Juwel has been in that thing for almost eight hours now." Serin and Abren were moving an anti-grav sled through the trees as fast as they could. Emily was traveling a ways behind. She wasn't as uncoordinated as some of her predecessors had been. In fact, compared to the droids the Republic had been using in their infancy while still fighting against the Empire, she was decathlon material, but she still wasn't as good as the real thing.

"I'm sorry sir, I will work on it."

The sun was rising slowly in the east, but it feared trouble. Nothing had come of the clouds last night, but the mass of burning gasses could tell that it would definitely be shining on the tops of clouds again today. That blasted Mornoc always seemed to have his own agenda. Just once the sun would like to have its way with the beast.

Serin and Abren maneuvered the sled up the rocky slope to the edge of the river. Two colonists were busy pouring, what looked like, vats of blood into the river. "Protein for Mornoc," Abren explained.

Good, thought Serin, perfect timing. The colonists looked up from their activity and started screaming. They both turned and ran. Serin didn't care if they got help. He wasn't going to let anything stop him. Serin and Abren moved the sled right next to the river. On the sled was a varied assortment of equipment. There was a space suit, used mainly for repair in orbit. There was a thermal, weather-proof sleeping bag that was rolled into a very tight cylinder about four times bigger than his lightsaber. He had the backup battery from his ship's computer system. But taking up the most space was a huge torpedo shaped tube.

"What is that thing?" Abren asked for the second time that morning. He had asked when they loaded it, but hadn't gotten an answer.

"This is the backup fuel tank for my ship," Serin responded as he slid away a panel on the top of the tube. He had exposed a complex key pad and now began to punch in a series of number combinations. "Each ship that the Republic builds has a self destruct mechanism. The scout ships self destruct by blowing their reserve fuel tanks into the rest of the ship and then lighting a match. Right now I'm telling the tank to manually blow its contents."

Abren saw what he meant to do. "You're going to dump the fuel in the river. Will it make that big of a difference? I mean the tube can't hold that much, can it?"

Serin stood up over the tank waiting for a confirmation beep. The tube was about one and a half meters long and a half meter wide. "The fuel is hyper-compressed. I'd say there is about four thousand liters in there." The panel started to beep furiously. "Okay, help me roll this thing into the water."

The two men moved the sled right next to the water, and Serin deactivated one side of the repulsion. The sled dipped sharply and the tank splashed into the water. "I set the timer for thirty seconds." Twenty seconds later it blew. The cap shot off the capsule like a cannon. The whole device was sitting at the bottom of the river and pointed toward the water fall. They watched as the cap flew out of the water at a right angle to the rest of the falling water and crashed violently into the tops of the trees. The main section of the tube recoiled back upstream, leaving a wake of very dark fuel. The super dense material began to expand rapidly and the water level of the river began to rise noticeably.

Serin looked a little while longer at his handy-work and then raced off to the bridge, carrying the rest of the stuff by hand.

"Good morning Raipen 4. I love the morning, don't you."

For Juwel, sleep had been nowhere to be found. It hadn't even left a forwarding address. She was beaten, and she knew it. She had been strapped to this wall for eight hours now. Only eight hours. She didn't want to even start considering an entire day, much less fifty years.

Fodger was walking down the hall singing about the sunshine. Juwel didn't care about any torture he would give her. Her body had gone numb to the pain that was eating away at her backside. Fodger turned the corner and she could see that he was holding two steaming mugs. Her pulse quickened - two mugs.

Fodger saw the look in her eyes, and she cursed herself. He would never let her have that mug now. He would only tempt her with it. Juwel didn't care what was in the mug. If it was poison, it would only bring her suffering to an end quicker, if it were good for her, well then she wouldn't mind that either. "Ah nothing like a good warm breakfast on a crisp clear morning. Wouldn't you agree? Still not talking, eh? Sarlacc got your tongue?"

He stood there looking at her hanging on the wall while he sipped hungrily from his mug. Juwel could read the side of the mug. It said "I love my sarlacc" with a heart in place of the word love. "My," he said after standing there for about thirty seconds, "it looks like you had a rough night." Juwel wanted to cry. She didn't need this. "Oh, what the heck," Fodger gave in. "I never could hold out against a pretty face." He offered her the mug.

Immediately the bindings on her right arm came loose and her gag disappeared. her arm was weak, and Fodger steadied the cup in her hand as he gave it to her. She brought the mug up to her face. It looked like some kind of rich fruit drink. She tried inhale the steamy aroma, but her old factory nerves were shot from inhaling her own acrid decay over the past eight hours. She took a long deep drink. Suddenly she began to cough and choke violently when she realized what she was drinking. She threw the mug at Fodger. As soon as she let go, her restraints returned. The mug hit Fodger in the forehead and the red liquid streamed down his face. He licked it up eagerly. "Nothing like a nice cup of warm blood to wake you up in the morning. The colonists give it to me every morning. The sarlacc has a very thin film in the river that filters out all the nutrients and th-" his voice cut off suddenly.

Juwel watched in amazement as Fodger's knees buckled, and he started to crumble. The grip on his mug went limp and she saw that it started to spill a thick black fluid instead of the rich red of the blood. Fodger's face started to twist into a hideous mask of putrescence. Juwel could even feel the wall behind her start to convulse. Fodger was on his hands and knees in the acid, panting. "Detach . . .detach." A calm swept through Fodger. Fodger got up slowly, still visibly shaken. Juwel was smiling at him. "What are you smiling at, witch!"

"It was Serin," she said calmly.

Fodger didn't respond. He looked at his now empty mug. "An eye, for an eye," he said and threw the mug at her forehead. The porcelain exploded against her head ripping open several deep gashes. Juwel kept smiling, occasionally licking up the blood that flowed down her face. Fodger shuddered at the disturbing sight and stormed off.

Serin was getting himself into the space suit when the storm hit. If he had been amazed at Mornoc's powers before, now he was in utter awe. The clouds just billowed out from nothing. They didn't sweep in from any direction, they just formed out of nothing. The sun gave a deep sigh and reluctantly disappeared from view. Just once . . .

Lightning began to lance across the sky. "I think you got him a little angry," Abren observed as he helped Serin get his leg into the suit.

"Good, now we're even." This space suit was a vast improvement over the Republic's old stock that they had just upgraded from the year previous. It was almost as close fitting as normal clothes. The helmet was also done away with. Instead there was a tight fitting hood with an optional face plate that Serin wasn't going to use. The gloves and boots fit snugly, and Serin was glad to find that he wasn't encumbered at all. Serin put his belt on over top of the suit and attached his lightsaber to his left, a blaster to his right, and the sleeping bag in the rear.

"What are you going to do with this?" Abren asked as he lofted the battery into the air.

"Emily," Serin called to the droid who was busy oiling her joints and complaining that she just wasn't designed to run, "can you help me with this?"

"What is it sir?" she asked politely.

"I want you to cover the outside of my suit with battery acid." Emily couldn't have been more shocked with a request to deliver a baby. "Please don't ask why, just do it." She obediently walked over and pried the cap off the battery. As she worked, Serin watched as lightning began to strike the ground with more and more frequency. Emily was quick. "You remember what I told you to do?" he asked the droid. She nodded.

The trio ran through the town. Lightning rained down on them from on high. Houses were destroyed, and trees were split in two, as Mornoc rained lightning down on his town. People saw the trio and began to throw rocks at them. "Leave us!" "You have angered Mornoc!"

They made their way to the steps, and the town didn't dare follow them, knowing that this confrontation wasn't something they would want to witness. Serin led the way taking four steps at a time. "Leave the town alone Mornoc! It's me you want!"

Abren followed him onto the altar, while Emily hung back, unsure. Serin drew his lightsaber and loped off the top of each lamp stand, taking a good portion of the vine with them. "I'm here, and I'm waiting for you!" Serin felt the hairs on his arms start to rise as static electricity built up. "Run!" he shouted and took two big steps off the altar and jumped. He turned to see Abren, still frozen in place, be consumed by the terrific lightning bolt that obliterated the altar. Rock showered down all around Serin, and he swallowed hard, trying to forget the old man and concentrate on what he had to do. He looked back at Emily with a pleading look in his eyes. "Please," he said.

Emily stood tall. "I'll try," replied.

With that Serin ran into the jungle. The trees around him began to crowd in, impeding his path. A few quick swipes with his lightsaber remedied the situation. "Come out, come out where ever you are." A tentacle wrapped itself around his foot and yanked him onto his back, but it let go suddenly, feeling the burn of the battery acid. Serin called his lightsaber back to him with his wristband and kept going. Vines detached themselves from near-by trees and tried to restrain him. He slashed and hacked his way through them as best he could. The large tentacle reared up in his path, wary of this new foe with fire for skin. It tried to bludgeon him, but he swatted it aside with his sword. The tentacle reared back as it sustained a severe gash.

"Serin!" a voice called to him from up ahead. Serin turned up the path he was standing on, The voice sounded familiar. He moved slowly. Lightning crashed down to his right, splitting a tree and sending it down on top of him. He dove out of the way and landed in a nest of vines. They swarmed around him, pinning him tightly and securely. He tried to move his lightsaber around, but his hand was pinned.

"Serin!" the voice was closer. It was Fodger. Had he survived? He saw him coming forward out of the trees. Something was terribly wrong with him. He looked like the walking dead.

Serin recognized him for what he was. "What do you want Mornoc?!"

Fodger's lips curled into a sadistic grin. "Ah, so clever are you. I didn't even get to play the part of the 'thought dead friend who gets to lure the unsuspecting hero to his death.'"

Serin noticed that the vines around him were turning brown from the acid, and he could tell that he could break through them at any moment, but he waited for Fodger to get closer. "I'm going to wait here at a safe distance, while you pick yourself up from that pile of dead vines." Serin gave in and got to his feet slowly. "Don't think that you will be able to out think me. I am one hundred forty-two times smarter than you."

Fodger enjoyed the confusion on Serin's face with regard to the oddity of this last statement. "That is how many people I, uh we, you know, Mornoc has eaten. But if we got you we got become so much stronger."

Serin started to laugh. "You think it's going to be that easy! I'll just give in now, and let you torture me for all eternity. You got a lot dumber when you died, I must say."

Fodger shook his head slowly. "You don't understand, we have the Force. We are all powerful." Fodger waited for Serin to see what he was getting at. "Since a boy you've wanted to have the Force. Look at yourself. You stand there with your lightsaber like you were the next Anakin Solo, or Luke Skywalker. You joined the RSF just to get the training to be a great swordsman. You've studied the ways of all the ancient Jedi. You know how the Force works. We don't. We have it, and surely it gives us power, but we don't really know how to use it. Come with us."

Serin drew his blaster with his right hand and fired. The bolt seared its way through Fodger's shoulder. Fodger didn't flinch. "You see, any Force adept can block laser fire. We felt that bolt coming, we reached out to it, but just don't know what to do with it." Serin fired several more times, searing holes in Fodger's chest, stomach, and arm. "You don't know how frustrating it is to be the strongest thing in the Force ever, and not be able block simple laser fire."

Serin stopped firing, seeing that it was doing no good. Fodger was already dead. "What about all this?" he said, gesturing his arms at the storm above. It had begun to rain, and Serin knew that the acid must be washing off his suit.

"This," Fodger said, mimicking Serin's gesture, "is just because we ate a geologist's apprentice a while back. You see, there wasn't too much to choose from in the original settlers. We ate all the good prospects right after the ship landed, after that all we can pick up is a few hints on farming each time we dine on human flesh. Sounds pretty callous doesn't it. Oh, we do have a good prospect now. I believe her specialty is experimental biology. She will teach us a good deal."

Serin charged in blind rage. Fodger raised a finger at him. A terrific Force wave slapped Serin back. He flew hard into a tree and had the wind momentarily knocked out of him. He looked up at Fodger. "Oh, don't think for a moment that we are totally unable to use the Force. But did you notice how crude that was. It was just a wave of energy. I actually missed you. The full brunt of that attack nailed that tree to your left. If you joined us, you would be able to hone our skill. We could do anything we wanted to."

"You mean that you would be able to more effectively rule these people," Serin said as he gathered himself up from the ground.

"Minor bonus. Actually, the sarlacc has reached maturity now. Well actually he reached maturity about five hundred years, ago, but he has been patient. He knew that you were coming. Or more specifically, he foresaw something, and we interpreted it. It has all been foreseen. You will be consumed by the sarlacc, and then we will send off three new spores into the galaxy, each with part of our consciousness embedded in it. We even have three nice worlds picked out. No one can defeat us, and with your knowledge we will be able to immediately take over any world we land on. The people will be our slaves. They will feed us, fight wars for us, even discover new worlds for us. Soon, I'm talking like five thousand years, Mornoc will be spread throughout the entire universe. Mornoc will rule."

"Sounds so neat and tidy," Serin said as he slowly walked closer. "All you need is me. I didn't think I was that important."

"You're not. There are plenty of others, you just happen to be the first person we stumbled upon."

"What if I just killed myself right here?" Serin poised the blade at his neck.

"You won't. I'll give you two reasons why not. While you might be willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of the universe, you're not willing to sacrifice Juwel," Fodger paused, letting Serin's worry for his wife resurface. "And the second reason is because I can stop you."

"Oh, really."

"Yes, really." Fodger waved his finger and another Force wave was released. The wave was aimed at Serin's hand, and unlike the incompetence that Fodger had claimed before, this bolt of energy was right on target. Serin's wristband was shattered, and his weapon went flying. Serin was sent spinning to the ground. He got up on his hands and knees quickly and leaped toward his fallen lightsaber. A tentacle grabbed him from behind and caught him in mid jump, slamming him back to the ground a full meter away from his weapon.

Serin strained against the strength of the monster, but knew it to be pointless. The acid had now all washed off him from the rain and the sarlacc wouldn't let go. He lay on his stomach and reached desperately for the lightsaber. Serin thought twice and reached for his blaster instead. Fodger was one step ahead of him, and yanked it out of the holster. He stood over Serin fiddling with the blaster. "Let's see if my acid eaten fingers can actually get this thing to change from max power to stun." Serin ignored Fodger's jabbering, closed his eyes and reached for the lightsaber. "Is that what you think of me now, Serin. Max power. I used to be your friend." He looked down at Serin and saw what he was trying to do. He laughed. "Use the Force, Serin. Let it guide your actions." Fodger kept laughing to himself as he struggled with the gun's tiny dial.

The Jedi were dead. They had been dead for many years. There were surely Force strong people in the universe. They were probably being born every second, but there was no one to train them, and no way to find them. Fodger had been right of course. Serin had always dreamed of being Force sensitive. He saw it as the greatest adventure of all. He had read all the lore, searched his back ground and lineage as far back as he could, looking for someone who had had a tie with someone who had had a link with someone who was in any way Force sensitive. Nothing. He had joined the RSF. He had learned to fight with a lightsaber, the Jedi's weapon. He had taken all the tests that could be taken for Force sensitivity and had come up with nothing. Well almost nothing. There was a smidgen, an incredibly small minuscule amount of potential there, but it was really nothing. It was probably the result of one of his very distant ancestors getting kissed on the cheek by Leia Solo at a diplomatic dinner. The RSF hadn't even told him about it. They didn't dare. They already had reports of him sitting for three hours in his room, trying to turn on his lights with the Force. They didn't want to give him any reason to stretch those sessions out into days.

Now he tried again. He didn't have three hours, he barely had three seconds. He heard Fodger finally get the blaster to stun, when it hit him. He didn't know what had caused it. Maybe it was the forest and the Force storm around him, giving him a little boost. Maybe it was the fact that his wife needed him to come through. Or maybe it was the Force saying, "Okay, buddy, you've wanted it all your life. Now here it is. Use it well."

The lightsaber leapt into Serin's hands. Fodger stood over Serin with the blaster leveled at his back, too startled to pull the trigger. Serin rolled over and sliced his former friend in two. There was a slight rushing sound as Mornoc left the now useless body, and Serin was alone.

He tried to feel for the Force that he had just used, but it was gone. Like it had never been there and would never return. He had little time to think about it, because the sarlacc was getting sick of the games that Mornoc was playing with his lunch. The tentacle started to pull. Serin sat up, took caution to avoid a low tree branch that would have ended him, and hacked off the tentacle. He stood up and jogged after the retreating thing.

The wind picked up. The rain picked up. The lightning danced across the sky. Mornoc was mad. That was okay. Serin was mad too. He ran up to the edge of the sarlacc pit, caught a big gust of wind behind him, and jumped. The great maw came up to greet him, and Serin flew into it, lightsaber leading.

Emily crept cautiously past the altar, taking special care to avoid the remains of Abren. If she could shudder, she would have. She walked slowly into the forest. Serin had given her a job. She was supposed to go to the crashed ship, start the engine and steer it into the sarlacc pit. Sounded easy when Serin had said it, but then it hadn't been raining. It also had never struck her that she had never flown anything. Of course Serin hadn't expected her to actually get the thing in the air, he was sure that it was too messed up for that, but he didn't see any reason why she couldn't start the engine, slide along the mud and in between the trees, and down into the sarlacc pit. Of course there were other things she had to do. Like clip the coolant hoses and hook the auto destruct up to the engine temperature gauge. She had no idea why, but she didn't ask question.

She heard voices up ahead on the path, but she tried not to worry about them as she picked her way through the dense forest. She made it all the way to the ship unmolested. Serin had told her that because she wasn't technically alive, she wouldn't show up in the Force, and that the sarlacc would be too busy worrying about other things to try and chase down something that wasn't even edible. Emily was mad that she hadn't worked out this logic when she had been sitting in the ship all the previous day. It seemed pretty sound and had held true thus far. She paused to think. That was probably how she had managed to make it out last night without getting attacked.

Emily stood in front of the space ship with a new problem: how to get in. Getting out had been easy: gravity. But now the hatch was on the wrong side of the ship. She looked around for a tree to climb. Right next to the ship stood fairly strong, young tree, that had a branch hanging over the ship. Emily scampered over to it and started to climb. The bark was wet, and she slipped often, but finally found herself perched a couple meters above the upturned belly of the ship. Now the easy part. She fell. A loud clang resounded as her metal body collided with the ship.

Emily walked over to the outer hatch and released the clamping lever. The inside of the ship was exactly like she'd left it. Speeders were still lying everywhere. Harnesses were hanging from the ceiling, attached to nothing. Emily moved through the clutter, making her way to the inverted cockpit. She had never flown before, but she knew how, and now she tried to familiarize herself with the controls. She located the throttle immediately. Just to the right of that, and what would normally be her left, were the hyperspace controls. These would be automatically turned off in a planetary environment. She looked at all the upside-down gauges. Engine temperature, fuel storage, battery power, weapon power, and shield level. All she was concerned with was the engine temperature. She searched the panel now for the self destruct. A little black box in the lower left, and what would normally be upper right, looked a lot like what she was looking for. She undid the latch on the box and it flipped down. Underneath was a big red switch. Now it was time to go to work.

Just like most humans are pretty fluent in first aid, Emily knew quite a bit about electronics. She pried off the facing under the control panel, which was now over the control panel and at eye level. Behind the metal facing was a swarm of wires. She reached back to the upper left and found the wire connecting the self destruct to the main battery. In between her index finger and her middle finger was a small cutting tool and she used this to snip the wire. Now the self destruct would receive no power. Of course there was an emergency backup to keep it from being that easy to disconnect. If ever the self destruct can't trace a clear path back to an energy source, it would automatically self destruct. Emily was thankful that none of the systems were on right now. She pulled the wire back to the front and right underneath the temperature gauge. She looked at the gauge again. White for normal temperature, red for hot, and violet for critical. Emily reached underneath for the violet wire. She followed it from the battery, to the gauge, to a small red light on the dash. She disconnected the wire from the light, and spliced it with the wire from the self destruct. Now instead of turning on the warning light when the engine began to go critical, it would activate the self destruct. She reached over and flipped the switch, making sure the circuit was open.

Now Emily had to get the engine started. Pull this lever down, put this lever in the start position, make sure this gauge read steady, and press this big red button. The engine sputtered. She pressed the button again, holding it in longer this time. It sputtered, coughed and started. The engine roared to life, and Emily felt a slight surge as the ship tried to move forward. Emily checked all the gauges to make sure everything was okay. All the gauges read normal, even the temperature gauge. She had forgotten to cut the coolant hoses.

Emily ran back through the clutter of the speeders and equipment. She ran through the small living quarters to the very back of the ship. She had to climb up a ladder that was normally for descending travel, and she found her self in the engine room. Hoses ran everywhere, but she had had a lot of spare time in the trip out to this planet, and she knew where the coolant hoses were. She wove her way through the tight compartments until she came to the section she wanted. With three quick swipes of the vibro blade, the job was done. The engines immediately began to run a little rougher.

Emily felt the extra vibration, and she also felt something else. The ship was slipping backwards. All this rain had made the ground very muddy and the ship was already balanced very precariously on the edge of the river bank. All of this excess vibration caused the ship to start to settle backwards. Emily ran back through the engine compartment. She climbed the ladder, cursing her metal body for not being fast enough. As she ran through the equipment compartment, she felt the ship begin to go vertical like a ship sinking in the water. She now had to walk up a very step incline. She grabbed onto the harness belts hanging from the inverted floor, and pulled herself to the cockpit, hand over hand. She could now feel definite movement backwards, and the ship was almost entirely vertical as it was a second away from plunging into the current. Emily reached the cockpit and jammed the throttle forward. The ship shot nearly straight into the air. Everything in the ship flew backwards at the sudden change in momentum. The ship did a half turn in the air, righting itself, landed, skipped forward several dozen meters, and dove nose first into an unexpecting sarlacc.

Serin found himself in a head on collision with an enormous tongue. The tongue was content with simply aiding the victims in their journey to the stomach, but now it felt compelled to squash this upstart before he caused more damage than he already had. Serin let his lightsaber lead and found himself squeezing through a horrible gash in the slimy tongue, as the beast reeled in pain.

The rest of the trip down was slimy and painful. He landed in something of a reception room. There were four cavities leading off in each direction. Tentacles swarmed at him from every direction. Normal victims would be unconscious because of the swallowing process. Those that managed to avoid the smashing tongue, would be covered in burning digestive acid. Those who had resilient skin or protective clothing on, would still, normally, be defenseless against the swarming tentacles. Those who managed to bring a weapon, usually found it ineffective against thriving mass. And even those who were skilled enough in combat to fend off the saralc's initial attack, were soon overcome by the pure hopelessness of the situation. It wasn't too often that a sarlacc swallowed an enraged husband, dressed in a protective space suit, who was highly trained in close quarters combat, and was wielding a lightsaber.

Serin twirled the blade about his body, recalling all of the special maneuvers and methods of keeping an over-powering enemy at bay. Any slimy tenticle that came too close found half of itself recoiling back, and the other half writhing on the floor. "Juwel!" Getting no response, he marched off in a random direction.

Under normal circumstances, the victim would be over come by the initial chamber and subdued. Each adjoining cavity had a main tentacle that would come for the new tasty morsel. The sarlacc would then send the meal down one of the tunnels via the main tentacle and would find a good spot for it. Serin encountered this main tentacle right away. He stood his ground, making sure to stay away from either wall as the shorter vines twirled away with anticipation. Seemingly undeterred by the lightsaber, the huge snake-like thing snapped at him. The attack slipped through Serin's tired defense and he flew backwards landing in a splash of muck. His face was hit by a wave of the acid, and the burning sensation awakened the fight in him. He hacked wildly at the thing as it tried to grab his legs. The tentacle recoiled slightly. It then reared up and unseen gills flared out. It hung there, a hideous sight, obviously trying to strike fear in its prey. Sorry, please try again. Serin stepped forward and swung with all his might. He lopped off the entire flared region, and sent it motionless into the river of slime at his feet.

Juwel had been working desperately at the gag in her mouth. Ever since her last meeting with Fodger, she knew that Serin would be coming for her. In the event that he would be successful, which was the only event she was considering, she would need to be able to yell for him. The process of getting through the gag was slow work. She could bite through well enough, but it took a lot of gnawing, and each new attack on the gag produced more vile liquid. She couldn't pucker her mouth to spit it out, so she just had to be patient and let it drool out. It was a very disgusting procedure, but she was determined.

"Juwel! Juwel!" She heard the shouts and tried to reply but the gag was too tight still. She was half way though, and the sarlacc, or more likely, Mornoc realized that she wasn't just idly passing the time. The gag tightened. Juwel head was pressed back tightly as her mouth was stretched wide. She waited until the gag was right between her molars, and she bit down as hard as he could. "Serin!" she tried to scream but it just came out as a high pitch gargle.

Serin wasn't too far away in the maze of stomach cavities when he heard her cry. "Juwel!" There was no reply. He thought her voice had come from one of the adjoining passage ways, and he back-tracked to the previous one. He knew he was going the right way now because on the walls hung skeletons. He shuddered as he past each permanent resident. He turned one corner very surprised to see a man hanging with most of his flesh still intact. He paused regarding this resent addition to the halls of death. The man's eyes snapped open.

"Help me," the man feebly asked.

Serin was shocked. "I . . . I can't. I need to get m-"

"Then die!" The strands that had been holding him suddenly let go and the man slid off the wall and stood before him. Serin backed away slowly. Behind him the wall reached out to him with hungry fingers. Serin turned to fight off the eager vines, and he felt a sharp stab in his side. He swung back over his head, lopping off the attacking cadaver's head. This didn't slow him at all. Serin turned completely around and faced off against his headless adversary. Two quick swipes with his lightsaber returned the hideous foe to its previous immobile state. Serin reached down to his injured side and pulled out a skeletal finger.

Splashes echoed through the small cavern. One quick look behind told Serin that he had company. The white bony figures dropped off the wall under Mornoc's control and began to chase down the unwanted visitor. Serin moved forward quickly. Ahead of him more skeletons detached themselves from the wall and stood in his way. Or, they tried to stand in his way. "Juwel, I'm coming for you!" he yelled as he swung his lightsaber like a farmer wielding a scythe in a wheat field. He cut off arms and the legs came after him. He cut off legs and the arms clung to his ankles. Vines from the walls clawed desperately at his arms. He stumbled over a rib cage and fell into the river at his feet. His face burned as two skeletons leaped on his back. Blindly, he stood up and slammed his back into the nearest wall. The stupid sarlacc grabbed eagerly at the dead bones, pinning them to the wall and relieving Serin of his burden. A large rib was stuck in his arm, but he ignored it. Acid had found its way into the hole in his side, and it not only burned his wound, but started to drip down his leg.

He ran. He met fewer and fewer skeletons as he went. He stopped, lost in the endless maze of caverns. "Serin!" That scream was only a few meters away. Down this hall. Right h-

"Looking for someone?" Serin straightened his crouched running position and looked Fodger right in the face.

"But . . . I . . ."

"But you what? You killed me? I was already dead my dear fellow. Oh, do you mean that little scratch you gave me?" Fodger opened his coat revealing a hideous gash from his waist to right below his under arm. The wound was sewn crudely with thin tentacles from the inside of the sarlacc.

Serin charged the figure slashing hard right and left. From nowhere, Fodger produced a lightsaber and blocked each attack cleanly, shoving hard on the last attack. Serin went sprawling. He landed hard on his rear, letting more of the lethal acid seep into the hole in his suit.

"Where did I get the sword from?" Fodger asked for Serin. "I'm glad you asked." He punctuated each sentence with a hard jab and a slash. "I hear it takes a Jedi master a little more than three hours to build one from scratch. It's been about thirty hours since I killed Fodger. He built one himself once. I got started right away. I think I told you about being able to see into the future. You'll have to forgive me if my style seems a bit crude. None of my meals ever took lessons."

Serin was weak. He needed to rest, but Fodger kept on. Right, left, left, jab. Serin decided to simply block the unorthodox cuts and swings and wait until Fodger made a mistake. It didn't take long. Fodger made a bad mid thrust. Serin blocked the thrust on the side, rode the block up and around, bringing his blade underneath Fodger's grip. Serin flipped his wrists up, sending his glowing weapon right towards Fodger's grip. Fodger could either let go of the weapon or loose his hand. He did both. Fodger's left hand and lightsaber went flying.

"I told you I wasn't very good." Serin didn't wait for any more tricks and swung hard at the animated dead guy. The fallen lightsaber leapt back into Fodger's good hand and he blocked the blow. "But I do learn from my mistakes." The blows were now more calculated, quicker, and above all, harder. Fodger drove Serin back relentlessly. Fodger started picking at him, cutting his suit up. He put a gash across his waist, along each leg, and vertically along the sternum.

"Serin!" The call came from very near.

"He's coming, dear," Fodger threw over his shoulder. "He'll just be a minute." He turned back to Serin. "She's just around the corner, you know. Very close indeed."

Serin didn't respond verbally but charged with reckless abandon. Fodger neatly side-stepped the rush and kicked him swiftly in the rear. Serin ran full speed into the wall. Immediately vines sprang out from the wall and pinned him there. His right hand was pinned between his chest and the wall, while his left hand was high and wide, holding the lightsaber. His face was pressed up sideways against the awful wall. He was trapped.

Fodger danced lightly behind him, swinging his weapon at Serin's immobile blade. The sparks showered down on Serin was Fodger played with him. If he could only move his right hand a little more . . . Serin's back erupted in flame, as he fired from his shoulder holster under his upraised arm. The blasts took Fodger full in the chest and he backed up hard into the opposite wall. The sarlacc wasted no time securing this new victim.

"You stupid beast," Fodger yelled, "release me." All the strands retracted, sending both men tumbling off the wall. Serin was up first and removed his forgotten gun from his shoulder holster through a slash in his suit. Fodger stood up and stared down the wrong end of the powerful blaster.

"Bye bye, bantha fodder." Serin pulled the trigger at point blank range. Fodger's head exploded into a fine gray mist. Force or no Force, Fodger slumped to his knees and measured his length, minus his head, in the muck. "Here I come, honey!"

The sarlacc didn't like having this enormous metal object wedged in its mouth, and Mornoc didn't like all of the implications of the spaceship being there either. Emily didn't like the situation at all either. She was scrambling back to the rear of the ship in search of the elusive escape capsule. The ship was imploding around her. Mornoc was not trained in the Force, and wasn't very efficient in its use. He tried to push the spaceship back, but was only managing to crush the thing in its Force grip, which was pretty impressive, but not what it wanted.

Emily found the escape capsule and had to convince the computer to allow her to enter. Droids are supposed to be the last thing off a doomed space craft, so it took a little of sweet talking to convince the stupid ship-board computer that she was indeed the only one on board. The torpedo tube shot straight out of the back of the ship, which was pointing up in the air. The pod recognized that they weren't in space, and instead of firing its thrusters, it released a parachute. Emily was quit happy until she looked at her landing area. The pod had shot straight up, and she was now floating right back down into the sarlacc pit. The pod actually banged against the same doors it had just been released from before it flipped over the edge of the ship, hit the side of the pit, and nestled itself on top of two very large teeth.

Emily popped the hatch and started to climb out of the pit, using the teeth for hand-holds. The ship behind her began to tremble. The throttle was still at full, where Emily had left it, but the bottom of the pit was unyielding. The temperature gauge dipped into the critical zone. A small digital display lit up on the control panel, declaring thirty seconds until self destruct. Two seconds later, the whole control panel collapsed as Mornoc continued to crush the ship. He had stopped trying to move the huge thing out of the pit, but merely to the side. The sarlacc had three baby spores that it could discharge, and if it didn't make it through this encounter, it wanted to at least make sure that Mornoc did.

The inside of the ship began to turn inside out. The brackets holding the auxiliary fuel tank in place were crushed and the tank fell to the front of the ship, stopping short as its wires snapped tight. The tank now hung at a right angle and totally wrong for the self destruct to work properly. When the tank blew it was supposed to go forwards and backwards, ripping through the engines and igniting the supper compressed fuel. Now it would shoot sideways when it blew, which is precisely what it did five seconds later.

Emily had just got herself over the edge when the tank exploded. She looked down as the torpedo-shaped fuel cell separated into two sections and crashed violently into opposite sides of the pit. Fuel was spilled everywhere and the pit began to fill with the highly explosive liquid.

Mornoc was finally able to shove the ship out of the way enough to get the mouth free. The top of the mouth was just above the level of the fuel. Mornoc knew that this sarlacc was dead and he threw his presence into the three small spores. The sarlacc was only able to fire off one of the little projectiles before the ship engines overheated one degree too far and blew up.

Emily was lifted off her feet and rode the shock wave high into the air. She shut herself off in mid flight. She flew out of the valley and came to rest, almost gently, in the top of a tall tree just on the other side of the rocky wall.

Serin was cutting Juwel down when the explosion hit. "What is that?" she asked weakly as Serin helped her into the sleeping bag he had brought. She was much too weak to walk, and she wasn't that heavy anymore.

"That was the end of the sarlacc." As Serin spoke, the walls around them began to sag. "The muscles holding up these walls must not be secure." Large clumps of dirt rained down on them. Serin slung his wife over his shoulder, safely inside the sleeping bag, and ran off down the corridor. He needed to go up, and he needed to go up fast.

Serin found a passageway that seemed to have a slight vertical incline and went up it. Stability was becoming a real problem, as whole walls fell in, often blocking their paths. "As long as I die with you, I-" Juwel started feebly.

"Don't talk nonsense, dear," Serin interrupted. "I didn't just go through hell to save you, only to die after the sarlacc was dead. Have a little faith." Serin reared up suddenly as the entire section in front of him collapsed, shutting off the small glow of light that had been ahead. He reigniteed his lightsaber, and noticed tree roots where the ceiling had been. He climbed the dirt pile in front of him and slashed eagerly at the roots. More dirt came raining down, but when he looked up again, he could definitely see light. A few more quick slashes and they were out in the late morning sun.

Serin laid the bundle that was Juwel down gently on the soft mossy grass and looked around. A few scattered trees were on fire. All of the trees near the sarlacc had been leveled. People were streaming into the forest to get a good look at Mornoc. Serin was worried that they would be lynched for killing their god, but he was relieved to see that most of the people were actually happy. "I guess Mornoc did have a hold on the people."

A few people saw Serin and Juwel laying there and ran over to them. "Thank-you, thank-you. You saved us." They stopped when they saw Juwel. Serin had taken her out of the protective bag now to get a better look at what the evil monster had done to her. There were only trace amounts of clothes left on her and only little more skin. No bones were visible, but it was clear that she had been on the verge of death.

"She needs medical attention," Serin told the people. "Do you have medicine?"

Two of the older generation were there and could speak Basic. "We have creams and ointments for the burns and medicine for the pain. But we have only a little."

"How about a tank of some kind?" Serin asked. The people nodded. Serin leaned over Juwel. "There is some bacta fluid on board our other ship. I'll get Emily to help me with it."

Juwel opened her eyes. "Where is she?"

Ten meters in the air, Emily was holding on for dear life. A few birds flew by to see what the explosion had been. They flew around Emily's precarious perch, flapping violently at the strange silver thing in their tree. "Get away. Get away. Someone help me!"

"I don't know," Serin responded, "but I'm sure she's fine. You're going to be fine too. Just remember that Mornoc's dead."

That wasn't entirely true. Mornoc guided the small spore as it sped through space. It needed to gain some velocity, so Mornoc aimed it at the sun. The sun was relieved to see that the morning storm below had dissipated quite suddenly. It appeared that the dreaded Mornoc had met his match. The sun was just about to relax through a normal rotation period, when it saw that Mornoc was not done with it yet. A tiny spore was shooting towards it. Going to sling shot around me, eh? Going to take advantage of my gravity, are you? I don't think so.

As Mornoc guided the spore into a tight turn around the large sun, an enormous solar flare leaped outward from the gaseous inferno. The flare licked hungrily at the spore, incinerating it at several thousands of degrees. Mornoc died childless.

The End