Part Nineteen: Secrets Revealed
Helga looked down at the suprised face of her own father, and asked angrily pulling him up by his jacket, "W-what the heck happened to you? Why are you hiding on this stupid planet?!"
Big Bob looked up into his angry daughter's face and asked, "Helga, what are you doing here?"
"Me?! What am I doing here?! What about you! I wasen't the one who ran off and abandoned their family!" Helga said, anger creeping into her voice, along with a small degree of bitterness.
"Helga," her father said, a hurt sound coming to his own voice as he meet her scowling gaze. "Y-you don't understand...I couldn't..." It was then that he looked over at Arnold and noticed his lightsaber hanging from his belt. His eyes widened. "You're a Jedi! Aren't you?" He asked Arnold.
"Yes sir, well, sort-of, actually, I..." But that was as far as Arnold managed to get before Big Bob shook off his daughter's grasp and got to his feet quickly.
"We've got to get out of here!" He told Arnold desperately. "Patty the Hutt will send more droids! You have to get my daughter out of here! She's in grave danger!"
"Hey don't ignore me, Bob!" Helga shouted at her dad. "You can't just...I mean, why are you here? How could you abandon me and mom like you did?" Even Arnold could feel the amount of bitterness in her voice from where he stood.
Big Bob however looked at his daughter with the utmost hurt on his face. Tears formed in his eyes. "Helga, honey..."He tried to reach out to embrace his daughter, but she backed up out of his reach, anger blazing from her large blue eyes.
"Helga, you...you don't understand! I didn't abandon you! I couldn't face you or your mother after what happened...after what I've done." He said that last part in a whisper. Then looked away and began to sob slightly.
Now, Helga's anger and bitterness was dampened slightly by the look of regret and sorrow on her father's face, as well as the amount of fear she sensed in him through The Force. She was also confused by his statement. What he'd done? What was he talking about?
Arnold spoke up just then. "Listen, we can't just stand out here, more droids may be on the way."
Big Bob looked over at him and said, "My shack is only a little ways from here. Let's go there, I have alot to tell you both."
He turned to where a dirty-looking landspeeder was parked. It had been hit with several lazer blasts where the droids had ambushed him, but it was still functioning. He flew ahead, followed by Arnold and Helga on the speederbike.
Little did they know, but watching them through a pair of visual binoculars, Harold Fett, the bounty hunter watched as they flew away and followed closely and unobserved.
Big Bob led them to a small one person cabin hidden in the rocky canyon walls. The inside of the cabin was quite dirty and apparently Big Bob was unused to visitors. Helga frowned at the surroundings and scowled at her father. Arnold could still sense her anger at her dad, and could, in a small way understand it. If her father had been alive all this time, why didn't he contact Helga, her mother and Olga to let them know? There were several space ports on Tatooine he could have used to send a message.
Unless...
Arnold looked directly at Big Bob and asked softly, "Sir, what are you hiding from?"
Helga's dad looked at him and flinched. He was definately afraid of something...or someone.
"Okay, Bob!" Helga turned on her father, scowling at him. "Now spill it! What have you been doing here? Why didn't you let me know you were still alive? What about mom and Olga?"
At that last part, Big Bob visibly flinched and sat down on an old chair. He looked at Helga, sorrow filling his eyes, full of regret, pain, and shame. When he spoke, he sounded older than he actually looked. "Helga, there is something I need to tell you. I only hope you can forgive me when you hear this." He looked at his scowling daughter and his eyes fileld with tears. "I know that saying this can never change the things I've done, or excuse abandoning my family, but...I'm so ashamed..." Finally, he simply broke down and slumped over, crying.
Arnold looked at him with pity. Helga, who'se anger was ebbing slightly at the grief she saw on her father's face and the regret she heard in his voice, actually went over to his side and hugged him slightly. Big Bob hugged her tightly, crying on her shoulder.
Then Arnold heard Helga whisper, "Please dad, what is it? Tell me what you think you've done?"
Feeling uncomfortable, Arnold spoke up. "Listen, if you two need some time alone, I can wait outside..."
Big Bob looked up at him then, a determined look on his face. "Master Jedi, what I have to say is important and, in effect, concerns the entire galaxy. I have been hiding for long enough."
Arnold was too stunned by what the man said to correct what he said about him being a Jedi master. From the look Helga shared with him, he could tell she was likewise at a loss.
Finally, Arnold asked Big Bob, "What brought you here, sir?"
Big Bob sighed and looked at the far wall as he began.
"Twenty-three years ago, my wife and me were told by doctors that we might not be able to ahve children on our own. We could have adopted, but it would not have felt right for us. I was the leading scientist in my field on the work of genetic cloning for organs to replace old or destroyed parts." Big Bob looked at the floor. "So, I violated the laws of the Republic and created a child from my wife's and my genetic structures..."
Both Arnold and Helga's eyes widdened in horror at that.
"B-but sir!" Arnold said, "The ban on human cloning was set up by the science ministry, because of the many defects in the process, most of which eventually led to earlier subjects going insane!"
Bob sighed, "I know, I was one of those who wrote that conculsion. But I broke one of the laws and defied my own judgement, because both I and my wife were terribly lonely. Do you know what it is like to not have anyone else to love? To teach? To have follow in your footsteps? We were desperate, so I cloned a daughter..."
Helga looked at him shocked. "Olga? She's a clone?!"
Big Bob nodded. "She was part of my own personal experement in genetic colning, as well as several enhancements, including quicker mental capacity and reflexes."
"What you're saying is she was made to be smarter than the average human, right?" Helga asked. Her father nodded. Helga scowled and said nodding to herself, "I should have known! Nobody could be that perfect!"
Big Bob looked at Helga, more tears filling his eyes. "Later on, Helga, you were born to us. You are our natural daughter. I guess the doctors had been wrong about me and your mom. You are our maricle child, but we were so pleased with our cloned, enhanced daughter, I guess we just sort-of put you in the background..."
Helga's anger came back then in full force. "Sort-of?! Heck, you totally forgot about me! You treated me like I was a stranger! I...I..." Tears came to her eyes. "...I thought you didn't love me! I thought I was the reason you ran away!"
Big Bob looked at his daughter with shame on his face. "I know that now. I wish I'd seen it then too, but...I've had over three years to think about it. I know I was not a good father, I don't know if you can, but I hope that someday, you'll find it in your heart to forgive me, Helga."
Helga turned away to look out the window at the desert scape, bright tears still in her eyes.
Arnold looked over at her, wanting to go over to comfort her. He could sense the conflict in her feelings. She wanted to stay angry at him because she was used to being angry for the last few years and it was comfortable. Yet, deep down, she was also happy he was alive and wanted to forgive him desperately. To have a father in her life again. He looked over at Big Bob, who he sensed knew those things deep down, but, like Arnold, knew it was best to give her time and space to figure that out for herself.
He turned to Big Bob, something bothering him about why he was hiding. "Sir, why are you hiding? There's nothing to be ashamed of in that? You only wanted what was best for you and your wife. The courts wouldn't have been too harsh on you anyways. Besides, Chancellor Olga is one of the finest people, and probably the greatest leader the Republic ever..."
Arnold's voice trailed off as he felt a cold feeling of dread come from Big Bob as he'd heard his cloned daughter mentioned. Big Bob suddenly looked alot older than his years.
He continued, looking at Arnold, that fear reflected in his brown eyes. "I made a mistake! A terrible mistake! I should never have tampered with her genetic structure! Never have been so vain! If I hadn't..." He trailed off and took a deep breath.
Helga looked over at her father, sensing the terrible fear in the man as Arnold had and asked softly, "What is it, dad? What's wrong?"
Big Bob looked down and said, in a haunted voice, "Four years ago, while she was still a Senator like you, Helga, I discovered something about Olga. Something that shocked me. She...she had special powers...to move things, and to react quicker than even the genetic enhancements could possibly have allowed." He looked at Arnold and said, "I think you, of all people, would know what I speak of Jedi."
Arnold felt a cold chill run down his back at the implications that Big Bob made. Helga felt her sick and stunned as well. Arnold finally voiced, in almost a whisper, the thought both of them shared.
"Chancellor Olga...she has the powers of The Force?"
Bob smiled bitterly, "Imagine my shock. I discovered that my side of the family had the midiclorins needed to master the powers of the Force. I had them in my own genetic structure, however they are long dormant and useless. But Olga, with her genetic enhancements, caused her body to produce them, very much active. She was strong with the Force. She mastered it in minutes! Minutes! I was never more proud of her then, I tell you. I imagined it, my daughter with those powers, using them to serve and help her fellow beings..."
Arnold spoke up, "B-but that's impossible! There's no way! The Jedi would have sensed..." Again his voice trailed as a previous memory returned. Both him and Helga in the chancellor's office, him searching the Force and feeling...cold. Realization suddenly hit him like a slap in the face. He'd sensed the Force, it had been hidden, but it had been there!
Yet, somehow...it had been different. But why would that be?
Big Bob continued, shaking his head, looking very shaken from what was a very bad memory. "No...she had her powers and learned to control them, but...but they made her too arrogant. Her personality became twisted with ambition, love of power, greed...her enhancements and her personality less stable and finally she..." At this point Big Bob was shaking in horror. He looked up at Arnold and Helga and said gravely, "She turned to the Dark Side of The Force."
To Be Continued...
Okay, tell me? Who was honestly surprised by that turn of events? More coming soon! Till then, pretend your Han Solo in Carbonite, and don't go anywhere! LOL! -Your Pal, DarthRoden (aka. Carl)
Helga looked down at the suprised face of her own father, and asked angrily pulling him up by his jacket, "W-what the heck happened to you? Why are you hiding on this stupid planet?!"
Big Bob looked up into his angry daughter's face and asked, "Helga, what are you doing here?"
"Me?! What am I doing here?! What about you! I wasen't the one who ran off and abandoned their family!" Helga said, anger creeping into her voice, along with a small degree of bitterness.
"Helga," her father said, a hurt sound coming to his own voice as he meet her scowling gaze. "Y-you don't understand...I couldn't..." It was then that he looked over at Arnold and noticed his lightsaber hanging from his belt. His eyes widened. "You're a Jedi! Aren't you?" He asked Arnold.
"Yes sir, well, sort-of, actually, I..." But that was as far as Arnold managed to get before Big Bob shook off his daughter's grasp and got to his feet quickly.
"We've got to get out of here!" He told Arnold desperately. "Patty the Hutt will send more droids! You have to get my daughter out of here! She's in grave danger!"
"Hey don't ignore me, Bob!" Helga shouted at her dad. "You can't just...I mean, why are you here? How could you abandon me and mom like you did?" Even Arnold could feel the amount of bitterness in her voice from where he stood.
Big Bob however looked at his daughter with the utmost hurt on his face. Tears formed in his eyes. "Helga, honey..."He tried to reach out to embrace his daughter, but she backed up out of his reach, anger blazing from her large blue eyes.
"Helga, you...you don't understand! I didn't abandon you! I couldn't face you or your mother after what happened...after what I've done." He said that last part in a whisper. Then looked away and began to sob slightly.
Now, Helga's anger and bitterness was dampened slightly by the look of regret and sorrow on her father's face, as well as the amount of fear she sensed in him through The Force. She was also confused by his statement. What he'd done? What was he talking about?
Arnold spoke up just then. "Listen, we can't just stand out here, more droids may be on the way."
Big Bob looked over at him and said, "My shack is only a little ways from here. Let's go there, I have alot to tell you both."
He turned to where a dirty-looking landspeeder was parked. It had been hit with several lazer blasts where the droids had ambushed him, but it was still functioning. He flew ahead, followed by Arnold and Helga on the speederbike.
Little did they know, but watching them through a pair of visual binoculars, Harold Fett, the bounty hunter watched as they flew away and followed closely and unobserved.
Big Bob led them to a small one person cabin hidden in the rocky canyon walls. The inside of the cabin was quite dirty and apparently Big Bob was unused to visitors. Helga frowned at the surroundings and scowled at her father. Arnold could still sense her anger at her dad, and could, in a small way understand it. If her father had been alive all this time, why didn't he contact Helga, her mother and Olga to let them know? There were several space ports on Tatooine he could have used to send a message.
Unless...
Arnold looked directly at Big Bob and asked softly, "Sir, what are you hiding from?"
Helga's dad looked at him and flinched. He was definately afraid of something...or someone.
"Okay, Bob!" Helga turned on her father, scowling at him. "Now spill it! What have you been doing here? Why didn't you let me know you were still alive? What about mom and Olga?"
At that last part, Big Bob visibly flinched and sat down on an old chair. He looked at Helga, sorrow filling his eyes, full of regret, pain, and shame. When he spoke, he sounded older than he actually looked. "Helga, there is something I need to tell you. I only hope you can forgive me when you hear this." He looked at his scowling daughter and his eyes fileld with tears. "I know that saying this can never change the things I've done, or excuse abandoning my family, but...I'm so ashamed..." Finally, he simply broke down and slumped over, crying.
Arnold looked at him with pity. Helga, who'se anger was ebbing slightly at the grief she saw on her father's face and the regret she heard in his voice, actually went over to his side and hugged him slightly. Big Bob hugged her tightly, crying on her shoulder.
Then Arnold heard Helga whisper, "Please dad, what is it? Tell me what you think you've done?"
Feeling uncomfortable, Arnold spoke up. "Listen, if you two need some time alone, I can wait outside..."
Big Bob looked up at him then, a determined look on his face. "Master Jedi, what I have to say is important and, in effect, concerns the entire galaxy. I have been hiding for long enough."
Arnold was too stunned by what the man said to correct what he said about him being a Jedi master. From the look Helga shared with him, he could tell she was likewise at a loss.
Finally, Arnold asked Big Bob, "What brought you here, sir?"
Big Bob sighed and looked at the far wall as he began.
"Twenty-three years ago, my wife and me were told by doctors that we might not be able to ahve children on our own. We could have adopted, but it would not have felt right for us. I was the leading scientist in my field on the work of genetic cloning for organs to replace old or destroyed parts." Big Bob looked at the floor. "So, I violated the laws of the Republic and created a child from my wife's and my genetic structures..."
Both Arnold and Helga's eyes widdened in horror at that.
"B-but sir!" Arnold said, "The ban on human cloning was set up by the science ministry, because of the many defects in the process, most of which eventually led to earlier subjects going insane!"
Bob sighed, "I know, I was one of those who wrote that conculsion. But I broke one of the laws and defied my own judgement, because both I and my wife were terribly lonely. Do you know what it is like to not have anyone else to love? To teach? To have follow in your footsteps? We were desperate, so I cloned a daughter..."
Helga looked at him shocked. "Olga? She's a clone?!"
Big Bob nodded. "She was part of my own personal experement in genetic colning, as well as several enhancements, including quicker mental capacity and reflexes."
"What you're saying is she was made to be smarter than the average human, right?" Helga asked. Her father nodded. Helga scowled and said nodding to herself, "I should have known! Nobody could be that perfect!"
Big Bob looked at Helga, more tears filling his eyes. "Later on, Helga, you were born to us. You are our natural daughter. I guess the doctors had been wrong about me and your mom. You are our maricle child, but we were so pleased with our cloned, enhanced daughter, I guess we just sort-of put you in the background..."
Helga's anger came back then in full force. "Sort-of?! Heck, you totally forgot about me! You treated me like I was a stranger! I...I..." Tears came to her eyes. "...I thought you didn't love me! I thought I was the reason you ran away!"
Big Bob looked at his daughter with shame on his face. "I know that now. I wish I'd seen it then too, but...I've had over three years to think about it. I know I was not a good father, I don't know if you can, but I hope that someday, you'll find it in your heart to forgive me, Helga."
Helga turned away to look out the window at the desert scape, bright tears still in her eyes.
Arnold looked over at her, wanting to go over to comfort her. He could sense the conflict in her feelings. She wanted to stay angry at him because she was used to being angry for the last few years and it was comfortable. Yet, deep down, she was also happy he was alive and wanted to forgive him desperately. To have a father in her life again. He looked over at Big Bob, who he sensed knew those things deep down, but, like Arnold, knew it was best to give her time and space to figure that out for herself.
He turned to Big Bob, something bothering him about why he was hiding. "Sir, why are you hiding? There's nothing to be ashamed of in that? You only wanted what was best for you and your wife. The courts wouldn't have been too harsh on you anyways. Besides, Chancellor Olga is one of the finest people, and probably the greatest leader the Republic ever..."
Arnold's voice trailed off as he felt a cold feeling of dread come from Big Bob as he'd heard his cloned daughter mentioned. Big Bob suddenly looked alot older than his years.
He continued, looking at Arnold, that fear reflected in his brown eyes. "I made a mistake! A terrible mistake! I should never have tampered with her genetic structure! Never have been so vain! If I hadn't..." He trailed off and took a deep breath.
Helga looked over at her father, sensing the terrible fear in the man as Arnold had and asked softly, "What is it, dad? What's wrong?"
Big Bob looked down and said, in a haunted voice, "Four years ago, while she was still a Senator like you, Helga, I discovered something about Olga. Something that shocked me. She...she had special powers...to move things, and to react quicker than even the genetic enhancements could possibly have allowed." He looked at Arnold and said, "I think you, of all people, would know what I speak of Jedi."
Arnold felt a cold chill run down his back at the implications that Big Bob made. Helga felt her sick and stunned as well. Arnold finally voiced, in almost a whisper, the thought both of them shared.
"Chancellor Olga...she has the powers of The Force?"
Bob smiled bitterly, "Imagine my shock. I discovered that my side of the family had the midiclorins needed to master the powers of the Force. I had them in my own genetic structure, however they are long dormant and useless. But Olga, with her genetic enhancements, caused her body to produce them, very much active. She was strong with the Force. She mastered it in minutes! Minutes! I was never more proud of her then, I tell you. I imagined it, my daughter with those powers, using them to serve and help her fellow beings..."
Arnold spoke up, "B-but that's impossible! There's no way! The Jedi would have sensed..." Again his voice trailed as a previous memory returned. Both him and Helga in the chancellor's office, him searching the Force and feeling...cold. Realization suddenly hit him like a slap in the face. He'd sensed the Force, it had been hidden, but it had been there!
Yet, somehow...it had been different. But why would that be?
Big Bob continued, shaking his head, looking very shaken from what was a very bad memory. "No...she had her powers and learned to control them, but...but they made her too arrogant. Her personality became twisted with ambition, love of power, greed...her enhancements and her personality less stable and finally she..." At this point Big Bob was shaking in horror. He looked up at Arnold and Helga and said gravely, "She turned to the Dark Side of The Force."
To Be Continued...
Okay, tell me? Who was honestly surprised by that turn of events? More coming soon! Till then, pretend your Han Solo in Carbonite, and don't go anywhere! LOL! -Your Pal, DarthRoden (aka. Carl)