3. Friends In High Places
She was in a sea of green, surrounded by flowers, and no buildings whatsoever. She could have been on Naboo, not Coruscant. It was all so pretty! And there were lots of people there...faces she knew, people who she'd seen on the holovision and things. Perhaps that attractive actor from Yavin was here...who knew?
"Tass!"
Hey!
"Tass! Would you please wake up! Regimesh's coming!"
Tass's head shot up from the desk. A few people looked in her direction and she felt herself going red. I hate it when that happens!
"You fall asleep anywhere, y'know." Dekabyn sounded impressed. "We should hire you out for scientific research or something..."
"It's not funny! It's annoying," she growled. "Good thing you woke me up."
Regimesh walked in. The class fell into silence.
Regimesh looked around the room, and gave a smile, the Gunganish smile
that had Tass bursting into laughter a year or so ago.
"Well done. Perhaps your manners are improving."
He stood at the front of the class, and pushed a button on the wall. The lesson for today appeared on the screen. Tass had the urge to fall asleep again.
After class...and no sleep...Tass was heading
for the door when Regimesh stepped in front of her.
"Started your project work yet, Miss Vari?"
She blushed. "Erm...no. No, sir."
He stared. "Well, I suggest you get on with it, then. Try the library."
Tass nodded urgently and left.
Dekabyn eventually convinced her to go to the library.
"Honestly...you can't keep putting it off. Before you know it he'll ask you again, and you'll still have nothing to say."
Tass sat at a table, doodling on her holopad with the sensorpen. She drew Dekabyn. He looked alright, but she wasn't good at drawing arms. She'd have to work on that...
Dekabyn appraoched the table, carrying a pile of holopads in his arms. Tass looked up guiltily. "Oops. I could have done that."
"Never mind." He sat down and pulled Tass's holopad towards him. "Nice. Is that me?"
Tass blushed and pulled it back towards her. "What holopads did you get?"
"This one...it has some stories about Darth Vader," he said, pointing at it. "And the others are to do with the Rebellion and Alderaan."
"Thanks," Tass said. "Where should I start?"
Dekabyn shrugged. Tass picked up the Darth Vader one.
"Once known as Anakin Skywalker, hero of the Clone Wars..." She glanced at Dekabyn. "Well, I knew that."
"So did I. Keep reading...you have to know all this stuff, you know."
"He was taken to the Jedi at the age of nine, taken from a slave's life and his mother on Tatooine. After Qui-Gon Jinn, the man who found him, was murdered on Naboo by the Sith lord Maul (see page 360) Skywalker was assigned to Jinn's Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi agreed to this only out of respect for his Master, but soon it seemed he did come to care about the boy. However, he was powerless to stop young Skywalker from walking down the path to tyranny and murder. In their final duel (see page 425) he was forced to send the young man to what was meant to be his death..."
Tass paused. "Well, that's something I didn't know."
"You ought to know." Dekabyn intoned. "We did it last year. I think you were asleep."
"Must have been," Tass said. She flipped forward a few pages and started to read again.
"Anakin Skywalker returned to Tatooine only once. It is said he came with the woman who would become his wife, Padmé Amidala Naberrie. Here, Skywalker discovered his mother had been freed from slavery, but had been captured by Tusken Raiders. Plenty of theories have been offered as to why, but no-one can be sure of the truth. However, it is known that when Skywalker found his mother dead, after days of searching, he slaughtered all the Tuskens on Tatooine. The act of genocide marked his decent towards the darkside..."
Tass stopped. "Oh. I didn't know that, either."
"Me neither," Dekabyn said, frowning. Then he shrugged. "Well, it makes sense I suppose, but I didn't know he killed all of them."
The buzzer sounded.
"Droidology time." Dekabyn said drily. "I'll see you later."
"Bye," Tass said, and stuffed her holopads into her bag.
After school finished, Tass took an airtaxi to Faith's home. Ninth level. Higher and higher and higher...then she reached it. She stepped off the taxi and looked down. You just didn't feel dizzy if you were on Corscant, but she rarely went up this high.
Faith's house consisted of the apartment, a hydropit, and an hangar. It was gigantic. Tass was wondering where Faith was, when suddenly she ran out of the hangar.
Faith Mélenion always looked pretty, but she seemed to have made a special effort today. Her dark hair was done up in an elaborate style, and she was wearing a shimmering pink and silver dress. Tass realised why in half a second: two other people ran out of the hangar behind her. Mystiria and Zarrielli Rinakel. Brother and sister. They looked at her then looked at Faith, wearing 'you know this scum?' expressions.
"Yes...Tass, the Rinakels came over, too." Faith said. "You don't mind, do you?"
"No...of course not," she lied through her teeth. The Rinakels lived on the third level. Ninth-level people were about the lowest they cared to associate with. They were decended from royality, apparently, and staggeringly rich.
"D'ya know why I asked you round?" Faith asked suddenly, a wide grin on her face. Tass shook her head. "Because my parents got the Merlin fixed!" She pointed towards the hangar. "It'll fly now!"
Tass made no effort to hide her surprise. The Merlin , the Mélenion's ship, was ancient. It should have disintergrated years ago. "Honestly? It'll fly?"
"Apparently. I'm not allowed to try it."
Tass noticed that the Rinakels were whispering to each other and giggling.
"Well, that's probably a good thing..."
Mystiria Rinakel hurried over to them and put her arm around Faith.
"Hey...me and Zarrielli had an idea. What about a game of dares?" She winked. Tass groaned inwardly.
"Well, alright," Faith said, clearly not getting it. "Why not?"
"Good," Mystiria said. Her eyes glittered. "I'll think of a number. Whoever guesses closest to the number has to do the dare. You too, Zarri," she added. "Go on."
"Eleven," Faith said.
"Ninety-two," Zarrielli said.
Tass sighed. "One hundred."
"You got it right, Tass!" Mystiria yelled. Faith opened her mouth but then closed it. "Now you have to do what we tell you."
Tass sighed again. "All right. What?"
Mystiria grabbed Faith and joined her brother in a circle-huddle. Tass overheard Zarrielli say "Nah, she's too thick to fall for that." She wondered if she ought to give up and go home.
Faith suddenly broke away from the circle, and then the Rinakels, smirking, appraoched Tass.
"We want you to fly the Merlin." Zarrielli said.
Faith looked horrified: evidently they hadn't let her in on that.
"Wait," she said, but Mystiria cut her off.
"Not fly it fly it," she said. "Just lift it off the ground."
Tass shook her head. "No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want to. Besides, I might break something."
"You have to. It's a game. You're supposed to..."
Faith cleared her throat. "She doesn't want to, alright? So I'll take her place. I'll have a go at flying it."
All of them looked at her.
"You're not allowed..." Zarrielli began, but his sister cut him off.
"Yeah...go on," she said gleefully.
They went into the hangar. The Merlin sat there, looking completely and utterly unflyable. Tass shook her head. "Faith, this isn't a good idea, you know."
Faith looked at her. "Well, you want them to leave you alone, don't you? Besides, I'd quite like to have a go at flying it."
Tass didn't know what to say to that. Mystiria opened the door for her and Faith stepped into the cockpit.
"You know how everything works, right?" Mystiria called.
Faith indicated that she did.
"Whenever you're ready, then." She grinned nastily and stepped back.
Tass watched. Though the screen she saw Faith push some buttons. The engines came on. She pushed some levers and hit some more buttons, and the Merlin started to rise...
And rise...
And fall.
With a horrible loud crunching noise and a lot of smoke.
"Faith!" Tass yelled urgently. The smoke was black. She raced to the ship and flung the door open. Faith practically fell out. All four waited with baited breath, but nothing exploded.
Faith spoke first. "Something happened. Something went wrong. I don't know what I did...and my parents are going to kill me."
Before anyone could answer, Mr and Mrs Mélenion hurried in, as if Faith's words had been their cue.
"What is going on here?"
There was silence, then Mystiria prodded Tass in the back.
"Well, we dared Tass to fly the Merlin," she said sadly. "And she did. Now look what she's done."
Mrs Mélenion pursed her lips.
"Right. Go home, Tass."
Tass glanced at Faith and got no support.
"Go!" she repeated, more sharply.
Tass went.
