Chapter 6: Thinking Inside the Box

Revan

:Don't move. Just be slow.:

Revan opened her eyes. All around her was white. Bastila was kneeling down, holding both of Revan's hands.

:Am I… am I dead:

:No. You're… well, I don't know where we are, but we're safe. Away from the darkness.:

Revan looked at her hands. The distinct scar she had acquired as a young child was missing. She withdrew her hands from Bastila's.

:This… this isn't my hand.:

Bastila frowned. :No: she wondered aloud. :We appear to have temporarily transcended our physical bodies.:

:I thought we weren't dead:

:I don't think we are. I think… maybe we are in one of our bodies. Minds.:

:Oh:

:I'm just not sure.:

:Oh.:

Revan looked around her. This place seemed to have no end to its vastness. It reminded her of the box that she had delivered to Vogga the Hutt once… the one she wasn't supposed to open, with the Rakatan prisoner inside who wanted to take over Revan's body…

:Bastila:

:Yes:

:We… we need to…: :Revan paused, thinking. :We need to figure out whose body this is. But then… I know how to get us out.:

---

Carth

The massive, invisible form had not responded to any of Carth's hails.

"You want us land?" asked Cyde.

Or we could fire on it, suggested Kaas.

Carth weighed his options carefully.

"Well, I'd really prefer to avoid a conflict," he reasoned, "but landing's going to be pretty hard with that thing in our way. We'll go with your plan for now, Kaas."

The Rodian nodded, satisfied.

"All right." He opened a channel for Revan. "Hey, Jedi lady, time to get to work. Fire on my signal, understood?"

Silence.

"Revan, do you read me?"

The Rodians looked at each other and up at Carth, whose lip quivered.

"Are you in trouble, gorgeous?"

Carth waited for a moment, and then made for Revan's turret.

I take it that was a yes, quipped Kaas nervously.

Carth's voice came through on the comlink.

"Change of plans," he exclaimed urgently. "Take us in for a landing. She's… she's totally unconscious."

Almost immediately, the Lumos was off. Kaas and Cyde prayed under their breaths that the phantom vessel would not follow.

Revan

Revan lie on the ground, eyes shut. She cupped her hands around her ear as she pressed it to the ground, as if she would be able to figure out whose mind they were in by listening. Then she stood.

:Bastila: she thought to the Jedi, :I just thought of something. If this were my mind, wouldn't I have known about the scar on my hand? So I would have it in my mental image of myself.:

:But this is you, not a mental image.:

:Well…: Revan struggled to think. This was spiraling downwards into the greatest depths of confusion. :But this isn't my body: she concluded. :This is just my spirit. Right? What you're seeing is only an image… your mind making me look as you perceive me.:

This was giving Revan a headache. She lay back down as Bastila thought the theory through.

:Makes sense.:

:Then maybe I can remember how to jump back-:

:But if you're wrong…:

Revan shrugged. :Let's just hope I'm not.:

Revan breathed deeply. As she propelled herself away, the world around her melted into dizzying swirls of color…