Looking at the varied topography of Tatooine, it was easy to believe that thousands of years ago it had been a planet teeming with water and a diversity of animal life. Fast moving rivers carved many deep canyons, and large, dried up sea beds are evident all over the planet. In the desert sands near the Lars Homestead are the Dune Sea-an extinct inland lake that is now a vast, dry, inhospitable wasteland-the Jundland Wastes, and Beggar's Canyon.
Beggar's Canyon was a geographical marvel. The ridges and overhangs that layered the sides of the 300-meter deep canyon were deep enough in places to park a landspeeder. These canyon walls provided a mecca for the few species of wildlife that survived and were eeking out an existence on the desert planet.
Womp rats were the commonly abundant species, and Luke and his friends had developed a contest of shooting womp rats while racing at top speeds through the narrow canyon. The one who killed the most womp rats and finished in the fastest time was the winner. For the last few months, no one had been able to beat Luke, and the game had lost some of its appeal for many of the young people in the area of Mos Eisely and Anchorhead. After countless challenges and countless defeats some of the crowd had stopped coming altogether. Only Biggs still offered a challenge. And though Biggs had not beaten Luke in a long time, he always gave Luke a good race.
Every few days during school breaks, Luke would rise early and upon completion of his chores he would take his modified landspeeder out to Beggar's Canyon where he would met his friends for hours of racing and escape from his mundane life on the moisture farm.
The morning after Luke and Owen's argument over Luke's credits, he rose early as usual, and finding the door leading aboveground unlocked, he proceeded to complete his usual chores. Today was a racing day, and Luke knew he would be setting another record. He always had his best times when he was racing off his anger and frustration towards his uncle.
A few hours later, his chores complete, Luke informed his Aunt Beru he was leaving. He gave the usual excuse that he was going to the Darklighter residence in Anchorhead to see Biggs. Luke knew his aunt and uncle would never approve of his racing the landspeeder, so he simply did not tell them about it. He also didn't tell them of his frequenting the Jundland Wastes and Beggar's Canyon. He wasn't sure why, but his aunt, and especially his uncle, were very adamant about him never traveling near the Jundland Wastes. He had found out from his friend Tank that something bad had happened long ago with the Sand People and his family, but either people wouldn't, or couldn't, give him any more information. Luke knew better than to ask his aunt and uncle what had happened, if they hadn't told him by now, he knew they would never tell him.
Luke let all his worries go as he sped across the edges of the Dune Sea, heading towards Beggar's Canyon. He hoped there was a big crowd today, as he felt confident he would break his previous time running the canyon.
As Luke pressed the limits of his landspeeder (which he had modified to reach higher speeds of 300-400 kilometers an hour)-he noticed the disheveled domed dwelling of the old hermit Ben Kenobi. Luke accelerated his speeder as he drew up on it. There were no visible signs of life, but as Luke passed the shack he felt a great presence. Like there was a concentration of life. Luke stared at the building but saw no movement or sign that anyone was there. Luke faced forward again and as the small abode faded behind him the strong feelings of life faded as well.
Uncle Owen had warned Luke over and over since he was a young boy to keep away from Ben Kenobi. Luke had obeyed (though not necessarily on purpose) his uncle on this count. The few times they had spotted the old man in Anchorhead he hadn't acted like the crazy wizard his uncle liked to call him. Luke was intrigued by him but apart from seeing him in Anchorhead he'd never had the opportunity to speak with Ben Kenobi. It was like he was invisible, or like he didn't exist anywhere but in town; like he wouldn't be found unless he wanted to be.
Luke's thoughts on Ben Kenobi took him the remaining distance to Beggar's Canyon where he noticed a larger crowd than usual gathered. He smiled, his thoughts of Ben Kenobi disappearing in a flash. As he approached a few faces turned to him, and as the crowd parted so Luke could park his landspeeder next to the other vehicles, his own smile faltered a bit.
There, standing with a huge grin on his face, was Biggs Darklighter. And next to him was a brand new Incom skyhopper, the latest model. Luke recognized it immediately. He had seen it in Anchorhead just last week when he had accompanied his uncle to get parts for the broken down condenser.
"Luke!" Biggs exclaimed as Luke slowly climbed out of his own antiquated landspeeder. Luke plastered a fake smile on his face.
"Biggs," he responded. "Nice skyhopper. Must have cost your father a good amount of credits."
Luke tried not to sound bitter or condescending. After all it wasn't Biggs' fault he was born into a wealthy family. Biggs seemed to understand Luke's meaning anyway, and smiled almost embarrassingly. But the expression was fleeting and soon he was looking upon everyone else in the crowd with an air of importance.
"Who wants to race me?" He shouted, turning to the gathered crowd of teenagers from the surrounding moisture farms, his arms out wide from his sides.
Luke, suddenly not feeling so lucky, looked around at the gathered kids. He recognized most of them, Fixer, Camie, Deak, Windy, even Tank was here today. He saw Kinn, Doc and Dennis too. There were a few faces he wasn't used to seeing also present, but no one was answering Biggs' challenge.
Luke, knowing he had no chance and would be recording his first loss, shook his head and stepped forward.
"I'll go," he answered confidently.
Biggs faced Luke again. He seemed to eye him as if suspicious of his offer. But then he grinned and nodded. "Let's go!"
Moment's later Luke sat in his year's old landspeeder regretting open his big mouth. He turned to face his friend, and was met with a wink and a smile. "Don't worry Luke, I'll take it easy on you. I know your speeder can only reach about half the speed I'm capable of in this baby. I'll hold back so it doesn't look like too bad of a beating!"
Luke smiled sarcastically to his friend. As he faced the entrance of the canyon he felt a dread settle in the pit of his stomach. "Here goes nothing," he said under his breath as Camie, the rail-thin, raven haired daughter of the owner of the questionable Headway Tavern in Mos Eisley, raised her arm to signal the start.
Ahead of Luke were the dark recesses of the entrance to Beggar's Canyon. Luke, forgetting his impending failure, focused on at least giving Biggs a good race.
As Camie dropped her arm, the race was on. Luke hit the accelerator and for a moment he was ahead of Biggs and his brand new, tri-winged skyhopper. But as quickly as Luke had accelerated off the start line Biggs was even with him then passing him by. Luke kept his eyes straight ahead. He couldn't stand to see the smug look of triumph on Biggs' face. Luke set his jaw and focused on the course ahead.
As Luke cleared his thoughts of losing the race to Biggs, his view of the course became clear. Though he raced through Beggar's Canyon often, the canyon walls were made of loose, crumbling rock that changed the contours of the canyon. These chunks of crumbling rock, sometimes the size of a landspeeder, would fall and create awesome obstacles to navigate, giving the course a feeling of being new.
Luke's clarity and razor-sharp reflexes gave him an advantage, and though his speeder was much slower he had the foresight to know that around the first curve in the canyon a large boulder had fallen and was lodged between the two walls of the canyon. Luke, who was a few speeder lengths behind Biggs, decreased his repulsor strength and sank closer to the ground. Luke sped around the corner, catching sight of Biggs suddenly slowing and making jerking movement to speed over the top of the obstruction. Luke was already in position, and only had to lower his head a bit as he sped clean under the fallen rock. He saw Biggs hazard a glance backwards, and Luke realized he had shortened his friends lead to just half a speeder length. Luke grinned and hit his accelerator to the maximum again.
Luke tried again to clear his thoughts and focus on the task at hand. Once again he felt the clarity of seeing the course laid out ahead of him. He sensed before he saw, three womp rats scurrying across the canyon floor, and before Biggs could set his targeting system, Luke had let three shots loose, scoring direct hits on each womp rat with the modified gunning system he'd built onto the landspeeder. Luke's confidence rose even more and for a fleeting moment he thought that maybe he could win.
For the next kilometer, Luke kept the pace with Biggs, but couldn't pass him. There were several more obstacles that Luke sensed before he saw, and Luke managed to blast all the womp rats before Biggs had any chance. But as the end of the canyon loomed, Luke knew he wasn't going to win.
Biggs, who hadn't given up his lead, sped the last hundred meters at full speed finishing far ahead of Luke. He was already parked and climbing out of his skyhopper when Luke finally reached the group. The rest of the crowd had sped the distance above the canyon to reach the end of the deep gorge. They were cheering and congratulating Biggs for finally beating Luke. The group was euphoric and as Luke climbed out of his own landspeeder apart from the group he avoided looking at any of them.
"Finally lost a race, eh Skywalker? Not such a hot-shot pilot now, are you?" a loud voice called from behind Luke. The chattering and laughter of the rest of the group died out as everyone looked to Luke.
Luke turned to face Fixer. Fixer was a large, stocky kid a few years older than Luke. The kid was big and burly, but wasn't too smart. .He grew up in Mos Eisley and if Uncle Owen or Aunt Beru knew Luke was hanging out with kids like Fixer they'd have a lot to say about his unlimited access to the landspeeder.
Luke controlled his flash of anger as he stared at Fixer. The older, taller boy was smirking at Luke, his arms crossed over his broad chest. Luke wanted to yell, to tell everyone staring at him that if he had flown against Biggs in his own fancy new skyhopper there's no way Bigg's would've beaten him. But he didn't. In fact he didn't say anything, he didn't trust himself. He knew Fixer was jealous of all the kids from the moisture farms. They all had access to some kind of transportation or another. Fixer, living in Mos Eisley, the son of a poor barkeep, had to beg rides off other kids to come out to Beggar's Canyon. He would pick on anyone. And for some reason he liked to nag on Luke. And now that Luke had lost his first race in months, it seemed Fixer wasn't about to let him walk away from it unscathed.
"Leave him alone, Fix," Biggs called from the group of kids who were all staring with interest.
Luke, who considered Biggs his best friend on this planet, suddenly felt hot in the face as his pride got the better of him. Not only was Biggs now flying a better vehicle, but he had to stand up for Luke too.
"I can take care of myself, Biggs," Luke said hotly, his clear blue eyes narrowed towards his friend. Biggs raised his hands in front of him as if to say, fine, you take care of it yourself.
Luke turned towards Fixer, who was standing just a few feet away. Luke narrowed his eyes more, and with the full intention of picking a fight with this bigger, stronger, more dangerous kid, started to walk slowly towards him.
Suddenly there was a loud crack, and the dirt at Luke's feet kicked up.
"Sandpeople!" one of the kids Luke didn't know exclaimed, pointing to the other side of the canyon wall.
Luke was jarred from his fit of anger, and as he turned and looked to the other side of the canyon he saw two Sandpeople standing on top of the canyon wall, holding their rifles to Luke and the others.
Suddenly Fixer wasn't very tough as he and the others scrambled to their vehicles and began to scatter to the four winds.
"Luke, follow me," Biggs called as he leaped into his skyhopper and began to cross the desert towards his home on the outer rim of Anchorhead. Luke, who could barely see Biggs dust trail as he jumped into his own speeder and accelerated after him, felt a jolt and as he looked back he saw a blast hole in the rear of his speeder. He let out a breath, too close, he thought.
Soon Beggar's Canyon and the Sandpeople were far behind him, and Luke was breathing easy again. He saw the distincitive outline of Biggs' home ahead and as he parked outside the Darklighter residence Luke saw Biggs running his hands over the surface of his skyhopper. No doubt searching for dents, dings, or blast holes.
As he heard Luke park he glanced up. "Seems to be okay," he said, smiling.
"Well, mine's not," Luke said as he climbed out and gestured towards the back end where a large hole was, surrounded by a large black blast mark. "Uncle Owen is going to feed me to the krayt dragon for this."
Biggs slapped Luke on the shoulder. "Sorry mate. That's rough."
Luke shook his head at his friend's indifference. "Yeah, you have no idea how rough."