After an hour of speeding across the Tattooine countryside, a little moisture farm
appeared on the horizon, and Ash couldn't help but feel totally relieved to see the end of his
journey through that oven.
"Well, this is the one that's been giving me so much trouble." Accuma said a while later,
pulling to a stop next to a vaporator. "I have no idea what's wrong with it. I've run diagnostics
twice, checked the read-out levels of everything, and yes, I've even tried shutting it down and
restarting it. Nothing seems to work."
"Hmmm." Ash said stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Well, let me have a look. I'll see
what I can do."
"I'll send my protocol droid out here with my tools."
"Protocol droid, huh? Great." Ash said, and by the tone of his voice, it wasn't hard for
Accuma to pick out Ash's true feelings toward protocol droids.
"I'll send her right out." Accuma said chuckling.
"Hey" Ash called. "I can't promise anything, but I still get that drink, right?"
"Yeah, sure." Accuma said climbing into his speeder. A moment later, he was off
towards the central dome of his moisture farm.
Ash ran a diagnostic check, and wasn't surprised when he found exactly what Accuma
had said. He removed a piece of the outer shielding to check to make sure the wiring and
circuitry wasn't encrusted with sand.
He found nothing, and had to reach higher to check above him. Still nothing, he'd have
to reach even higher.
By the time a lead colored protocol droid had made its way out to the vaporator, Ash was
hanging upside down from a cross beam.
"Hello, sir." The droid's female voice said, stoically, upon arrival. "I'm XJ 17."
"How are ya." Ash said, not really caring for an answer.
"Simply horrible. I wish master Accuma would move off this forsaken planet." The
droid's stoic front totally shattered. "It was so much better living…"
"Hand me that wrench." Ash said reaching his hand down (or up, depending on your
point of view). The droid complied, and Ash removed an inner layer of shielding.
"Here, put this down right there."
"Yes sir." XJ 17 said, taking the piece of machinery and placing it deliberately on top of
the sand. Ash poked around for a minute, before removing another piece and handing it to the
droid.
It wasn't long before Ash had several pieces laying in various places in close proximity
to the vaporator. But nothing seemed to work.
"How's it coming?" Accuma asked driving up with a thermos. Ash just looked at him; a
look that explained everything. Accuma couldn't help but laugh.
"Master Accuma." The droid said in a desperate tone.
"Yes, Eksjay, you can go have your bath now." Accuma said climbing out of his speeder
and leaning on it.
"Oh, thank you, Master." XJ's tone brightened, and she walked off toward the garage
with a purpose.
"I must spend three quarters of my earnings on oil baths for that damned droid." Accuma
said watching her leave. "She's so paranoid of getting a bug stuck in a joint or something."
Ash jerked his head around as if what Accuma said struck on something.
"You said you checked the levels of everything. Does that include the coolant?" Ash
asked.
"Yeah, the reading was full."
"The reading. So, you never actually looked to see for yourself?"
"Why should I? It's all right there." Accuma said motioning to the diagnostic readout
screen.
Ash spin flipped down and landed on his feet as if he merely had stood from a chair.
"But then again, neither did I." He opened up a panel, pulled out a box and opened the top. "Ah
ha!"
"What?" Accuma asked.
"Here's your problem. You need to refill your coolant."
"What?" Accuma exclaimed. "If it's empty, why is it reading full?"
Ash reached in and dislodged a dead bug. "This was stuck between the valve, and the
sensor. According to the sensor, there was something here. That something turned out to be a
bug."
"Oh brother." Accuma said throwing his hands in the air. "And I would have paid good
credits for someone to come out here and tell me that."
"Speaking of payment." Ash commented, and held his hand out for the thermos.
Accuma tossed it too him and he uncorked and drank a good portion of it immediately.
"So, you mentioned the pod races." Accuma said while Ash drank. "Do you have a
favorite you like to bet on?"
"Not really." Ash said bringing the thermos back down with a satisfying sigh. "I usually
go with who I feel will do the best."
"Do you win much?"
"I win enough to keep me coming back." Ash said noncommittally. "I think the fact that
I'm really sensitive to the force helps me a lot."
"If you're so strong in this force, why don't you apply for the Jedi academy?"
"Believe me, that's my ultimate goal. But I can't just up and leave my family and the rest
of the company. They need me."
"Better you than me."
"What do you mean?"
"Why would you want to curse yourself to that life?" Accuma asked.
"I'm not a Jedi yet." Ash said.
"Why would you want to be one at all?" Accuma asked bothered with the topic of
conversation.
"To help people."
"You don't need to be a blasted Jedi to help people." Accuma retorted.
"You don't like the Jedi, do you?" Ash said.
"They're not high on my 'to befriend' list."
"Does that mean I'm not welcome here?" Ash asked, taking another drink.
"You're not a Jedi, you said so yourself."
"I'm going to get to the Jedi academy if it's the last thing I do."
"Come on, now. Don't tarnish the rapport you have going with me." Accuma said.
"Well, if it helps, I'm a closet compulsive gambler."
Accuma chuckled looking over at the setting suns. "It's getting late, do you have a place
to stay?"
"I usually stay on my ship."
"It would figure." Accuma said, frowning at the thought of another trip into town and
back just to get Ash to his ship. "I have a guest room. Why don't you stay here, and tomorrow
I'll take you to the pod races."
"You're only saying that because you're going to pay attention to my bets." Ash said
smirking.
"Hey, I'm a struggling moisture farmer. I need the money worse than some want-to- be
Jedi who's plotting to run off on his family."
"Yeah, I'd say you were struggling." Ash said looking around at the sparse farm. "All
right. I just have to replace the few pieces I removed from this thing. Then I'll be set. But don't
turn it on until you refill the coolant, and found the leak where all your coolant drained from in
the first place."
"O.K. I'll do that tomorrow."
"Before or after the race?"
"Hey, if I'm going to make some money tomorrow, why not have a day off?"
"Uh huh." Ash said wryly. "And so you're going to follow my lead, and what do I get
for it?"
"I have an old glowlamp of some sort. It doesn't seem to work, but you can have it."
"Oh, gee thanks. I win you hundreds of credits, and all I get for it is a broken glowlamp."
"I haven't won anything yet." Accuma said with a wry smile. Ash turned around and
began replacing the pieces.
"What's for supper?" Ash asked listening to his own stomach rumble.
"You want everything, don't you?" Accuma said while taking mental inventory of his
kitchen. Ash didn't reply, he just smirked as he ratcheted a bolt down. "Well, I guess we could
have Bantha strips marinated in wine and imported Corellian potatoes."
"That's quite an expensive supper."
"Well, it's something I've been saving for a rainy day."
"Been saving it long?" Ash asked chuckling. Accuma laughed along with him, and they
head back to Accuma's house for supper.
The supper was good, passable actually. But for two young bachelors, it was just fine.
The Bantha strips were just how Ash liked them, cooked, and the Corellian vegetables were
better than he ever had here on Tattooine.
After supper, Accuma showed Ash the guestroom; it was decorated just as sparsely as the
rest of the farm. Just a simple bed, and a set of shelves for clothing or what ever the occupant
wanted to leave there.
"How long have you been farming here?" Ash asked noting the decorations, or lack there
of.
"Two years." Accuma answered. "I know, I need to do some decorating, but first I need
to earn some extra money. Then I can worry about décor."
"Well, after tomorrow, you just may want to change professions." Ash said with a false
grin. Accuma shook his head.
"If you're suggesting ice mining, forget it. I'd rather roast than freeze."
"Well, you can always put more clothing on." Ash countered. "It's hard to add to your
wardrobe to beat the heat. Besides, there are already too many people mining ice, if you joined
me, you would cut my percentage of the profits."
"Yeah, but if you place a few good bets, you wouldn't have to worry about that."
Accuma rebutted.
"I'm not betting so I can retire early." Ash found himself coming to his own defense yet
again. "In fact, if my plan does work, I'll probably be working harder, and longer, and die a very
old and very poor man.
"Uh huh." Accuma said unconvinced, heading to his own bedroom. "Well, I'll see you
tomorrow."
"Good night." Ash said sitting on the bed. "I don't suppose you have an air cooling
system?"
"Good night, Ash." Accuma called back walking into his bedroom. He sat in his favorite
chair and picked up a book he'd been trying to find the time to read.
"That would be the first thing I'd invest in." Ash said, more to himself than actually
trying to make his voice heard.
"Go sleep in your ice." Accuma said to himself as he looked at his book. It wasn't long,
however, until Accuma couldn't seem to concentrate, and realize he had just read the same line
three times. So he lowered the book, and looked up through the skylight in his room at the few
stars he could see from his vantagepoint.
"What the hell am I doing here?" He asked himself. He sat there for a few minutes
longer before deciding to go to sleep; he wasn't getting any reading done anyway.