Chapter 2
Driving up the beach, white sands course between the tree line and dark green sea. The mist from the crashing waves and ocean breeze strike my face like tiny, sharp, stinging beads. The sand, soft and fine unlike that of Naboo, blows away beneath the speeder, faintly slowing me down as it absorbs some of the engine's thrust.
The speeder's meters read five kilometers. Near ahead, the beach appears to end at a cove. A large natural rock formation cuts off the shoreline. Its rocky jetty juts out to sea, a bit too far and jagged for my speeder. I slow to a stop. Still unsure if the flora is jungle or forest and generally unfamiliar with the entire terrain, I remain seated on the speeder, listening to the surrounding alien world. Small waves gently rolling. Water rippling over the ribbed sand as it recedes back to sea. Birds squawking. The hum of the speeder – I turn it off. It is distracting. Wind tries to blow through the trees, but is hushed. It is dense. Only the outermost leaves rustle. I hear no footsteps or shuffling or pounding. At once, I am reminded of that creature that shadowed through old Hammil's huts one night. Scanning all around, I can see nothing but sand, tree, and sea. The tree line is mostly even, but up ahead beyond the jutting rocks the height of the jungle canopy rises quite significantly. I park the speeder on a flat rock near where the sand turns to soil, and sidle off it. The stone feels dry and solid. The soil feels firm and the white sand is freckled with it. The ocean tide does not seem to rise up this high.
"This jungle looks impenetrable." It is wet and tangled with vines. I feel for my blaster, but that will do me no good now. Patting my belt line, I realize what I need. "Thanks, old man." He is not around to hear it, but I still express genuine gratitude for him. His vibroblade is fastened on the side of the speeder. I unhinge it from the clasps that are securing it and pull it off. Its weight balances on my palm. The hilt rolls down my fingers and rolls back to my palm as I make a fist. With a pulsating grip, the blade bounces and waves in the air, securely.
"Let's see." This jungle is too thick. It will be like hacking through bantha hide from here. I do not recall seeing any opening in it anywhere along the beach on my way up. This is hopeless. What was that old man thinking? Well, he did not say it was easy, but he thought I could do it. And it has never been done before? He said five kilometers up the beach. This is that. How does he know? He does not. Wait, what if he is in with those scamming engineers trying to steal my ship? No. No way. He does not even know where my ship landed. I feel like I trust him. We got along. He knows the area. This is his home. Ok, so he gave me a clue. I am on my own. Now, how good is this vibroblade he gave me? The blade is sharp and jagged.
This tree line is like the jungle's fortress walls. I grab a loose vine with my left hand and with one light slash, hack it clean off. The length of vine left held in my hand is strong, healthy, green and about an inch in diameter. It feels useful. The inclination to not waste it gives me an idea of its utility. The vibroblade has a ring hanging off the bottom of its hilt that the vine fits snuggly through. Holding both ends of this fresh cut rope, the vibroblade slides down mid-length and hangs suspended in the air. I wrap the vine around my stomach. "Oh, this would make a good belt." I bring it back in front of me and pause. It fits slung around my torso like an ammunition belt too, but I do not like how and where the blade hangs. It will get in my way like this. The blade is heavy. If I hook to it my pants, it sags down. I cut off another vine of equal length. This one is barely thinner. I drive the tip of the blade into the sand to lean it against my leg. I tie the thicker vine high around my waist, above my hips. Then, knot one end of the thinner vine onto the belt vine, sling it over my shoulder, around my neck and knot that other end to the belt, too, serving as a counterweight to the blade. Clipping the hilt back onto the belt, it feels securely balanced on my side. It is good that the hilt's clip is retractable. This button releases it, so I do not have to tie and untie the vine to use it. Blaster holstered on my right, vibroblade on my left – that feels fine. At least I got something out of this jungle. You cannot even see past a few feet into it, it is so thick. I will get stuck if I force my way through. It will tire me out way too much to try to clear a path, and that still would not be effective.
Taking a deep breath, I resolve to try for the rocks. Let's just see how far we can go around them. They look fairly flat for the most part. As far as the eye can see, it looks manageable. But about fifty feet ahead, there is a bend. At least go that far.
The rocks are dark grey; black when wet. They are smooth like giant stone pebbles. Dug into the ground as if they grew from it, they are fixed and strong, steady against the waves. Making way around the speeder and over the first few evenly laid boulders, I check to make sure the vibroblade is secure and proceed with caution. The waves crash up to here. Spray hits my lower legs. Should I roll my pants up? I hate wet clothes. No, I would rather not scrape my legs if I slip. The rocks are getting slick. Creeping along a few rocks, leaping onto another, crawling to the next big one, I climb up the last rock boulder that stands promontory at the bend I aimed for. The view opens up and I see another bay which appears to harbor an inlet stream.
There must be a river or lagoon on that side. Clearly, the entrance to the jungle interior exists over there. It is not too far, maybe a kilometer, or a little more than half a mile, to that next beach. At least four hundred feet of rock outcrop straight ahead until the next bend. I made it this far easy enough. I could try this. A look out to sea shows the ocean horizon. The sky is clear. I cannot see the sun, but it is still early morning. No storm looks to be brewing. There could be some danger with those waves crashing about midway past this rock ledge. After a few wave sets pass, I conclude it is nothing too dangerous. Off I set, down this boulder, sliding gradually lower onto the rocks below. From here on they are mostly even, but the height of the rock I just came from is a bit discomforting. If I have to get back, there is a wet, slippery climb waiting for me.
Glad not to be going back, I focus on the path ahead. Easy enough, I hip hop along the rocks. A good amount of progress is made, about fifty feet. That is pretty good. No problem. These rocks are a bit more rocky. Just some turbulence. I jump around softly, making sure not to slip, and climb onto one big rock that is just about four feet higher than the others.
"Whoa," that is a big drop all of a sudden. Down beneath, there is about a sixty foot tide wide pool. The rocks down there redden with specks of yellow. The tide pool space seems alive and breathing. Small pools of water swirl in its shallow recesses that tiny creatures critter around. And at the other end, it looks like a ten foot high rock pile to climb back up. Is there any way around this? To the left, there is just a tall, flat rock wall. The tide pool is too vast to use this wall as a boost to run and jump across. To the right is the ocean. I do not want to swim if I do not have to. Plus if I dive in, there may be a deep current or some sharp rocks I can not see right now. That could really hurt me, even kill me if I get dragged out to sea or smash my skull. Hmm. waves come in every few seconds. If I try to run across, I would surely get hit by them. They are small waves, but they might knock me out at my knees, and it will be too wet to run fast. If the tide rises, maybe I can just swim across. No, the sea might suck me out. I will have to walk across quickly, and soon. Ok, these waves are coming in in sets of three. No, that was a set of four. Looks calm now. "Ooh," I fight the impulse to go. For about ten seconds, the tide pool looks clear after three sets of three waves, and one set of four. Ok, this is manageable. Now how can you climb up on the other side? Where would it be possible?
Scanning the opposing ledge, I do not see any short rocks to step onto first. It looks like four big boulders, each approximately ten feet high. There is no discerning any variation between them, nothing to use as a boost. Jumping, maybe I could touch their tops, but that will not help me none. Blasted tide pool, what am I supposed to do? Frustrating. Don't get flustered. Ah, without thinking twice, I blast a laser shot from my hip. Before I can holster my blaster again, I hear a sharp clang echo out from the middle of the tide pool. The blast did not ricochet off the rocks. Where did it go…
Before a haunting bellow rings out, a low rumble vibrates at some depth beneath the rocks. The ground shakes into a single quake. I lose my footing but quickly regain it as I squat for bracing with my hands out in front me to balance. Silence and calm hush the area for a moment. I do not move a muscle. A small wave washes over the tide pool. Before it recedes, a spray of mist jets out of the center of the ground. This is no tide pool.
Sarlacc! Great beast of muscle and teeth! Twenty feet high into the air, its worm like body writhes, and at the peak of its rise, it whirls and roars. Slime from its fangs fall from the sky. It slams across the rock face and slaps down on the sea. All is frozen, in fear of this beast of eternity! Including me. It wrings its body, bursting belches of toxic air and spittle over the entire area and onto the sea. A faint gas makes me lightheaded. It sinks back into its hole for less than a moment before it bellows back and springs out forth.
Awoken from its slumber, it rages to and fro, ceaselessly. How dare I gain composure from fear of this fatal foe? Fleeing feels like no option. I have come this far. Confronting this grand obstacle, this must be the way to go. Stumbling back, I fall on my rear, knocked down and forced to sit on hard, wet rock. Shock settles into numb dumbness. A sarlacc pit. I was going to walk over that.
The sarlacc continues its war. As my senses return, I gain a focus through a respectful fear of this giant monster roaring and bellowing at the whole world. It cannot reach me from here. I drag myself back several feet just to be sure. But, my eyes start to close, vision is foggy, my head sways back and forth. I cannot stay here. I have got to go. Dizzily rising, clambering across the rocks – take a deep breath – and jump! Leap out to sea!
I jumped out far. For a moment, I flew. Far from the rocks, I pierced the sea at an angle with outstretched arms and glided under the surface of the water horizontally. The cold splash awakened me.
Kicking and swimming thrust me into a short cruise father yet. I must be thirty feet from the rocks by now. Go out further, deeper, a feeling urges me. There could still be foaming spittle floating on the water above me. I am so scared. Eyes sealed shut, my face is scrunched up. What if it swims out to get me? Imagination generates the anticipation of a force coming at me from beneath. I can feel the water pressure around me like a tangible manifestation of fear. From all directions, fear besieges me like the inundating sea. Suspended in terror, I curl into a ball, flinching, and buoy on my side before sinking slowly into the deep.
As I descend, my fear stops growing, but fluctuates incessantly. Fear of the sarlacc, fear of its pit, waiting for the rocks, fearing the unknown depths, I wait for nature to do its bidding upon me. As soon as I let go of my bodily fear and accept my seemingly sealed fate, a stream of bubbles tickle up the soles of my feet. An "oof" bubbles out as I get the wind knocked out of me. Straight into my gut I feel a dull, punching blow. My body pulses as my arms and legs fly forward, while back arches and bows.
Rushing currents stream past me as an aquatic gundark drives me with its long snout, forward in its direction, right past the sarlacc pit and over the dark watery depth that dwelled below. Clearing danger, across my fears, this angel of nature, some stranger of the sea, struck me to safety, and saved me from near fatality.
What new fear is this, now? Equal in magnitude, but different in imagery. Through fear, I understand the sarlacc and the sea. What once was a terrifying mystery is now clear. But now I am at the whim of this strange beast, turning me over and pushing my feet, propelling me forward at a great speed. Will it give me heed or eat me!? Is this the end or my salvation? Bursting forth, my savior launches me up out of the sea. Surrendering completely, I shoot out from the water's surface with flailing arms. Gliding in the air, my body feels heavy and I land on the sand with a thump, bouncing and rolling to safety.
Flopping like a fish, gasping for air. Fear leaves me so rapidly it feels like the pores in my skin would tear open. Finally, I start to catch my breath. My body still shocked, my mind unfreezing, I still could not open my eyes. Yet, I feel the low gradient slope of the beach and its comforting warmth. I uncurl from a ball and lay out on my stomach. The sand - the soft white sand - fills my hands as I push myself up and run stumbling away from the shore blindly. My eyes are still closed. I will not look back, nor will I look forward, still traumatized from what felt like an entire lifetime of inescapable doom and calamity.
Run. Fall. Get back up. Run. Go. Go. Go. Do not go back. Run. Keep going, my mind tells me. Keep your eyes closed. Keep running. Escape, in fear, from reality. That was so scary. I will only know fear from here on out. I am going to die, dropped into eternity - if not by beast, then by drowning. Breathe. You are saved. Look where you are now, safe and free. Stop running, slow, calm down. Breathe, again. It is ok to be scared. This is a healthy fear. Open your eyes, now.
Standing beneath the shade of the jungle canopy at the top of the slope of the high beach, I see nothing but green tree and white sand again. This looks safe. Turning around reveals the calm inlet stream I had earlier seen and aimed for. Tracing its course to the sea reveals another rocky jetty I would have had to navigate. And another thousand feet passed the awe inspiring sarlacc still wailing out of its pit as a distant spectacle, like a painted feature of the land, like the rocks and the sea. I still have the vibroblade and blasted blaster around me, thankfully.