Episode 3
A few hours passed before Visper's eyes fluttered open. She found herself staring up at a ceiling instead of the sky she expected. Her body was stinging with pain. She slowly remembered the scurriers. Sitting up slowly slowly on the edge of the cot she had been placed on, she wondered where she was. It was a small hut made of red clay. The ceiling was low enough that she would have to stoop over if she stood. Piles of junk and machine parts lay scattered around her. A large pail of water and a spoon sat next to the bed. Without thinking she grabbed the spoon and slurped water from the pale. It tasted wonderful: so clear and crisp, not to mention slightly cold.
It dawned on her that she was not at the camp. She didn't know if it had been merely hours or days. She looked out a small window and saw that the suns were low in the sky; it was nearly quitting time.
"Where am I?" she wondered out loud. She found her satchel at the end of the cot, but her data pad wasn't inside. Panicked, she began looking all around the hut. She tossed ship parts and droid pieces with abandon, knowing that if she lost that data pad she would be beaten within an inch of her life. On a small table in the back corner, she found the pad. It looked like it had been broken to pieces at first glance. She realized it had been expertly taken apart. Lying next to it was a silver circle, about the size of a small plate. Her shock collar.
Her hand instantly shot up to her neck. She felt nothing but her own skin and the still fresh bite marks of the scurriers. Fear solidified in her stomach. Removal of a slave collar was beyond beating, beyond shocking. It was a terminal offense. The punishment for removing the collar was public torture and feeding to the Sarlaac. She had only seen the punishment once when she was a young girl. The last poor old man that removed his collar had his fingers blown off by the explosive charge inside. They tied him to a post in the middle of camp and lashed him with a long glowing gold whip for what seemed like hours. They untied him and beat him until he cried out for them to kill him. Then they tied his lekku to a speeder and dragged him to the Sarlaac. Rhaad showed a special video feed to the slaves of the man being devoured.
She picked up the collar and tried to put it back on, but the clasp seemed to be broken. It was spring-loaded and would hang around her neck loosely, but it would not be enough to hide the fact that it was open in the back. Her eyes filled with tears and she fell to her knees. She didn't want to die. She thought of her cave paintings and all the beautiful stories she had heard of the outside world.
Something rustled outside the small door of the hut. She spun around, looking for anything with which to defend herself. She picked up a rusty measure of pipe and held it in front of her. The door opened and a small creature stepped inside. It was wearing an orange cloak and a belt. Items in various states of disrepair hung from all around its waist. One of them was a blaster.
"Stay back!" Visper shouted at the small person, "I'm warning you!"
The little humanoid held up his hands and looked at her. She couldn't see his face in the shadow of the cloak, but she could see red shining eyes looking at her.
"Eyeta! Eyeta!" He said in some strange language Visper had never heard before. The little man seemed scared, but not threatening in the least. He slowly reached down and unhooked his blaster from its pouch. Visper raised the pipe in response, but the man dropped the blaster on the floor and kicked it over to her.
"Eyeta!" he repeated. He then patted his chest. "Jib-Jub! Eyeta!".
Visper lowered the pipe. She was confused and scared, not wanting to figure out what the little man was saying. She sat back down and pulled her knees to her chest.
"Please, just tell me where I am? I need to get home and try to explain this mess to Rhaad," Visper said, pointing the the data pad and holding up her shock collar with a thumb.
"Jib-Jub tando," the little man said. He walked slowly towards her with his hands up. He inched his way between her and the table. He began working on the parts of the data pad. His clawed fingers were swift and careful. He pieced the data pad back together in a matter of a few moments. He powered it on and handed it to her.
"Jib-Jub tando!" he said. Visper cautiously took the data pad from him. It was clean and worked perfectly, even a bit faster than before. The creature rung its hands, almost as if he were waiting for her approval.
"Thats...amazing," she said tentatively. He let out a strange laugh and wiggled his arms above his head. She couldn't help but smile.
"Can you fix this, too?" she asked pointing at her neck. He nodded and sifted through a box of tools next to the table. He walked behind her and fiddled with the latch. After a few moments she felt it lock into place. He walked back in front of her holding a small piece of metal with wires sticking out of it. He pointed to the small piece he had and back to her neck.
"Boom!" he said to her. "No boom!" he said and tossed the small piece aside into a pile of junk. She realized that he had taken the explosive detonator out of the collar. She held up a piece of glass from one of the nearby piles. In the reflection, she inspected the collar. The small red indicator flashed as normal. It looked like it had not been tampered with in any way.
Visper looked at the creature for a moment. She lunged forward hand hugged him tightly. He seemed surprised at this, but slowly returned the hug.
"Thank you!" Visper cried, tears once again streaming down her face. The man patted her on the back reassuringly and stepped back.
"What's your name, little guy?" she asked. Only Nala and Shelod had ever been this kind to her. She felt a strange draw to him, as if they were meant to be friends. The little man bowed a short, curt bow.
"Jib-Jub," he said.
"Jib-Jub, huh? Mine's Visper," she held out her hand to shake his. He took it in both of his and shook quickly up and down. She smiled and looked out the window. The suns were getting very low now. After a few moment she felt a tiny shock from the collar. She quickly pulled up her coordinates on the data pad. She could see that she was far outside the waypoints, and much too far to walk in time. She was going to be very late.
"Oh no!" she gasped. "How am I going to get home in time?"
Jib-Jub handed Visper her satchel and walked over to the door, motioning for her to follow. She stuffed the data pad into the satchel and walked over to the door stooping low to exit the hut. She saw something in the distance she had only heard about in stories; a city. Lights were coming on and ships were flying in and out from all directions. Distant music could be heard on the wind. She stumbled backwards and leaned her back on the wall of the hut. It was beautiful.
"What is that place?" she asked Jib-Jub, pointing to the city on the horizon.
"An-chu-had" he said slowly. She realized he was saying 'Anchorhead'. The city was talked about by the guards in the camp, but she never thought she would see it. She stood there for a moment taking in the spectacle as Jib-Jub walked over to a lop-sided shed. She heard an engine start, then die off, then start again. Slowly, a miniature speeder bike emerged from the shed, Jib-Jub sitting on top. He waved to Visper excitedly and patted the seat behind him. She stumbled over some rocks and machine parts and she walked towards him, unable to take her eyes off the city. As she clumsily climbed aboard, Jib-Jub turned to look at her and secured a set of goggles over his eyes. He muttered something and pointed at the handles on the seat for her to hold on to and revved the engine a few times and they sped off into the desert. The suns were low in the sky and silhouetted the city and its twinkling lights. Visper watched it grow smaller and smaller for as long as she could until it disappeared over the horizon. She promised herself she would come back there some day.
Holding on to the speeder with one hand and the data pad with the other, Visper helped navigate back to the slave camp. She pointed out directions to Jib-Jub as they flew across the sands. The suns dipped ever lower in the sky and she became worried that they wouldn't make it in time. She started to see familiar landmarks as they came closer. The tall rock, the skeleton of some long-dead beast and finally the hilly dunes that lead up to the canyon.
"We're getting close, we should stop here," she shouted over the stuttering engine. Jib-Jub nodded and pulled to a stop behind a large boulder. Visper slid off the speeder bike and gave Jib-Jub a tight hug.
"Thank you again, Jib-Jub," she said tenderly. He reached out and grabbed her data pad. He typed in a few commands and handed it back to her. He pointed at the screen.
"Jib-Jub," he said. She could see a new set of coordinates and an indicator that would send a message to his holocommunicator. He once again secured his goggles and waved. He turned the speeder bike and rode away, disappearing over the dunes.
Visper didn't have time to contemplate the new friend she had made. She sprinted the last few hundred yards to the camp. Framed by the gate door was Rhaad. He stood with his arms crossed, glancing occasionally at his data pad to check the time. She realized that she was the last one. More importantly, she realized that the suns had set. She was late.
She ran hard the last few yards into the gate. Rhaad caught her by the arm.
"Disappointing," he said ominously, "You were the last one I thought would ever be late."
"I'm sorry, master!" she clamored, "I was attacked by scurrie..." Rhaad slapped her down hard.
"I am not interested in your excuses, slave," he spat. He pulled the communicator from his belt and spoke into it.
"Gather them all in the courtyard. We had a late arrival," he said. He shoved Visper hard towards the center of the camp, telling her to move. She obeyed. When they reached the center of camp, the other guards had gathered all of the slaves together and lined them up. There were a few dozen all together. She saw Nala and Shelod, eyes wide when they saw her. They exchanged glances of relief intermingled with fear.
The slaves realized what was about to happen as they saw Visper being pushed forward by Rhaad. Some cried out in fear and others simply dropped to their knees. Most gave Visper horrible looks and sneers. They were going to blame her for their pain.
"This one was late today," Rhaad began, "Tardiness is not tolerated in my camp. The penalty is one shock for each of you," He kicked the back of Visper's legs, causing her to fall to her knees. No one asked to be first this time.
Rhaad pulled the shock actuator from his belt. He pointed it at the first slave in the line and pressed the button. The slave cried out and fell. One by one the others received their punishment for Visper's discretion. She felt each shock as if it had been delivered straight to her soul. She had promised herself long ago that this would never happen because of her, but she counted on being attacked by beasts in the desert, kidnapped by a strange little man who became her friend and having to run back to camp after being whisked across the sands by speeder bike. Shelod cried out in pain. Then Nala, then Gerrid. Her friends. Visper felt unbelievable guilt. Then anger. She looked up at Rhaad's face as he carried out the punishment. He showed no emotion. Not joy or guilt or anything that a normal person would reveal. He was a monster made of stone, destroying these people. She wanted to choke him, tear at his face, shock him with that damned actuator. She knew it was futile to try.
The punishment seemed to last all night. Finally the last in line cried out. It was Visper's turn now. Rhaad turned to her and unceremoniously pressed the button. The pain seared through her neck and radiated out to her limbs. Her lekku twitched and she moaned in agony. He kicked her in the side and shocked her again. She wasn't able to breathe to cry out again. He tucked the actuator into his belt.
"Punishment served. Go about your business," Rhaad said.