Chapter Eight—Part 1
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
In death's dream kingdom
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are
Sunlight on a broken column
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are In the wind's singing
More distant and more solemn
Than a fading star.
Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves
No nearer-
Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom
The Hollow Men (second stanza) by T.S Elliot
Luke looks around furtively but his classmates are all engrossed with their datapads and his teacher is not paying any attention to him. It is their reading period and they are all supposed to be reading at story about a boy who tamed a wild bantha. Luke has just finished reading and there is still ten minutes left until school is over and Windy's mom will take him home. Taping his datapad, he accesses the HoloNet after checking to make sure his teacher isn't watching.
He can't get on the Net at home, their farm is too far away from town, so it has taken him several months of searching whenever he has spare time in class to find what he is looking for. A screen comes up, asking him to input search parameters. He types in 'Padmé Amidala'. A long list appears on the screen and he scrolls down, looking for anything he doesn't already know. He knows his mother had been Queen of Naboo, a small planet in the Mid Rim, from 36320 After the Treaty of Coruscant to 3628 A.T.C.
She had then served as the planet's Senator until she died in 3634 A.T.C., the same year he was born. His mother was from the noble House of Naberrie which was famous for being involved in public service. Senator Padmé Amidala had been well loved and there had been a huge funeral for her. But Luke has not been able to find anything about how she had died. The records said that there had been 'medical complications' whatever that means.
His dad isn't even mentioned at all.
Just after his ninth birthday last month their teacher had shown the class a holovid about how babies are made. It had been really gross and he can't believe his dad had done that with his mom. His teacher said that's what parents do when they love each other, they get married and have babies. But he can't find any record on the HoloNet that said Padmé Amidala had been married.
His teacher starts talking and Luke hastily turns off the HoloNet, feeling frustrated that he hasn't found anything he doesn't already know. He is about to go outside with the other kids but his teacher tells him that someone has called and is picking him up today. His dad must have finished repairing the food storage unit in the big hydroponic station early.
Luke grins. The food storage unit is always breaking down but if it is fixed then they can have saber practice when they get home. He has to go and find Windy, because they aren't in the same class this year, so he can tell him that his mom doesn't need to take him home. He waits by the door outside his class watching as all the other kids leave or are picked up by people.
He is the only one left when a green skinned Rodian comes up to him.
"Are you Luke Lars?" he asks.
"Yes," he answers nervously. Luke doesn't like the way this man feels. The Force says he is dangerous.
"You're the son of Ben Lars, right?"
"Has something happened to Dad?" he reaches across their bond but is too far away to use words. To his relief he can feel a wave of questioning reassurance from his dad in reply.
"Not yet, kid," the man says and the Force screams a warning as he grabs Luke's arm.
Luke twists and jerks trying to get away, calling for his dad over the bond. The Rodian swears as he kicks him hard in the leg. He draws a blaster from his belt and Luke yells hoping a teacher or someone might hear him. The man smashes the handle of the blaster on Luke's head and he yells again, this time in pain as his eyes water. His vision swims and he sees the Rodian lifting the blaster to hit him again.
There is an explosion of agony in his head and then darkness.