31.
Aw, poodoo.
Master's gonna kill me.
That was really…. Bad. Ow. This ice stuff hurts kinda where it's digging into my hands. Ow! I can't see much, but I think those bantha things went around us, I mean after the tram tipped over and we all went flying. I guess its good there's so much dust and all- I'm super freezing cold though and I can't really…uh oh.
Right there in front of me – that big ol' heap of ice isn't really ice at all. It's a bantha thing. And it's dead. I can tell, just because. There's like this hole in the universe right there, where the bantha used to be. I mean, the body is still there but its totally empty. I blitzed it with the tram when we crashed.
"Jedi! Curse him, where is he?"
That's Yonso. He doesn't sound real happy. No wonder, 'cause the tram thing is pretty busted. It's like in a million pieces and the repulsors are all fried. You can tell by the stink in the air, and I hope the grav compressors don't blow. That happened one time at home when this guy bought a faulty hover sled from Mirko – that was Wattos' big rival until a few years back – and the chassis got a major crack in it and with the temperature extremes and all the pressure was too much – and pow. It was pretty gruesome, actually and Mom wouldn't let me get anywhere near it.
I wonder if that dead bantha was a mom? What's gonna happen to her baby now, since she's dead? Will the other banthas take care of him or is he all stuck on his own?
I wish Master were here.
It's cold here, which means the repulsor prob'ly won't blow, even if it's punctured. The thing about repulsors is everybody uses them but nobody really thinks about it. A basic compressor unit has to create enough mass inversion to counterbalance the platform plus the weight load. That's like a few tons of explosives only the other way 'round. I mean, if you breach the damper shields and all you could seriously blow it up.
I could make a really hoocha big bomb out of like an old repulsor, but I'd probably need a lightsaber or something to puncture the shields. You can't do that with mostly anything. But a 'saber would do it.
"You!" Yonso's kinda yelling at me now, with his face all scrunched up and his arms flailing around all crazy like Watto having a fit. He's mad 'cause of the crash nut that was the banthas' fault, not mine. And if the stupid tram wasn't so rickety and old and all, I coulda flown us right through those guys without hitting anything. I just didn't have time to fix it up all the way, is all.
And the bantha getting killed isn't my fault either, not really. I mean it was stupid enough to run in front of the tram and all. It was like suicidal.
Some of the other guys are all mad, too, like they think I crashed on purpose. They're kinda getting mean-looking and I have a funny feeling about it, like maybe they're not realy my friends after all. Even Lorra's sorta mad.
"Shut up!" I shout at Yonso. He better be quiet.now 'cause I don't like it when people yell! Master never yells. Except when we're flying, but that's different.
He keeps shouting and making fists and then he jumps at me –
-And I throw him into the ice and stuff, really really hard. He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't have gotten me all mad. I feel kinda sick, but also kinda excited like I might throw him again. All the other guys are super real quiet, staring at me.
It's like when Master threw Garen Muln in the dojo except then they were both laughing and now nobody's laughing. All the Feorians are scared of me.
Like I'm a real Jedi.
Sorta. People aren't s'posed to be afraid of Jedi. They're backing away now, all respectful and stuff. Yonso looks really scared, too. He knows who the boss is around here.
The wind's picking up real bad and now there's so much ice dust in the air you can barely breathe. "Get inside the tram!" I order. I mean, these guys have never been in a sandstorm, but I have. And an ice storm is pretty much the same, I figure. You need shelter and the best way is to get under the busted tram and dig in.
So they do what I say and stuff and pretty soon we're all holed up here under the broken hover tram. It's okay except none of them want to be near me, not even Lorrah, so they're a lot warmer than me, all huddled up together at that end. I'm stuck here alone and I really, really wish Master Obi-Wan was here because he would know what to do. Once when we crashed before – not on purpose and it wasn't my fault that time – we got stuck and he was completely calm about it. He said a solution would present itself, which is just the same as Master Qui-Gon said on Tatooine. I guess maybe that's what all Jedi say? But also I sorta think calling for help would be okay, too. But there's no comm circuits in this thing to make a signal or anything like that, and my comlink isn't showing a clear channel. That's 'cause of the storm.
I wonder how far we are from the village and whether they'll come looking for us. I mean, Master won't let me be stuck here for too long. I hope. It's pretty cold and there's no food or anything. I guess this is more like the bad kind of distraction after all, the one that makes you lose your focus and leads to trouble.
If I close my eyes and concentrate real hard, sometimes I can feel Master even when we're far apart. That's what I'm doing right now, 'cept it's not working and I have this weird feeling in my tummy like he's not okay. What if he went into the jabuur-weki's cave and something bad happened?
I can't help thinking about that dead bantha, either. I wonder if the herd will look for it? Or will they just keep going like nothing happened? That's what happens when another slave dies. Most everyone just keeps going with their own life, 'cause you can get punished for being too distracted by something like that. Jedi don't let themselves get distracted either… but I think it's different. I mean, that poodoo Master Obi-Wan said about the asteroid isn't true. He'll come looking for me. And maybe he'll know what to do about the bantha. I mean, I feel kinda bad just leaving it there for the scavengers. On Tatooine if you leave a dead animal in the sand, it's nothing but bones in two days flat. The bugs eat most of it, and the sand cleans the rest. There's lots of rugged skeletons just laying around out in the Dine sea, and also some wrecked ships the Jawas cleaned out and stuff. But I don't want that to happen to me.
Yonso and those other guys are all grumbling and muttering and pointing their fingers now. They're mad and they're scared, too. I can tell they think I crashed their stupid hover train on purpose and maybe like it was a plan to get rid of them that the chieftain made with the Jedi. They're really whispering and talking a lot and that weird feeling inside me keeps getting worse and worse.
And Lorra's with them. He's whispering with them, too. It's like he turned against me.
I really wish I had a 'saber, like Master. I would show them. I would make them shut up and see the truth.
It's freezing out here… I hope somebody comes soon. 'Cause I have a really bad feeling about this.
