Hobbes never thought that he'd ever taste blue milk.
Luke's aunt Beru had explained to him that it came straight from a herd of Banthas; shaggy, horned brutes, like a cross between a mountain goat and a bison. He was skeptical of the banthas having thick, wooly hair and somehow surviving in a desert, but the milk tasted good, and he didn't want to come off as impolite, so instead he dug into his fried kowakian monkey-lizard.
Calvin was also eating, though at a much slower pace. Despite his hunger, he inspected the food with peeled eyes, as he would with his mom's cooking.
"Where'd 'ya get this monkey-lizard stuff?" Calvin asked suspiciously. Beru turned around.
"A vendor at Mos Eisley sold them to us a few days ago," Beru explained. "He usually roasts them beforehand with a spit, but he was willing to make an exception and gave us some uncooked ones. How do they taste?"
"They taste amazing!" Hobbes grinned. He hadn't had meat in what seemed like forever, and ate with vigor.
Calvin was doing the same. "Man!" he said. "Lady, you sure know how to cook!" Beru smiled, and brought over another pitcher of Bantha milk. Hobbes didn't argue; that stuff was more rich and hydrating than water.
Footsteps behind Hobbes made him turn around to see Owen and Luke come down the stairs into the underground dining room, arguing about something. They sat themselves down as Beru placed down platters of Monkey Lizard and salad for them.
"...Uncle Owen." Luke was saying, "So why can't they just work here with you? I could go to the academy this summer, and you would get the help you need for the harvest! You could-"
Owen raised a finger. "Luke, you know that this summer will be especially bad for the annual harvest, and Calvin and Hobbes probably don't know the first thing about growing crops on this wasteland."
He gave a pointed look at the two, then continued.
"Besides, I don't trust them. They are complete strangers to us right now."
"We're right here, y'know!" Calvin said, slightly miffed.
Owen ignored them. "I'm sorry, Luke. You have to stay here. I need your help this summer.
The rest of the meal was eaten in silence until Luke stood up, pushing his half-eaten meal away, and left the room in a sulk.
"Hey Owen?" Calvin asked after a few moments.
"What?"
"What's going on with Luke? He looked really bummed out."
Owen sighed. "We have a big harvest coming up, and I need all hands, including Luke, to help with the work."
"So, Luke doesn't want to do that?"
"No," Owen sighed. "He's been wanting to join the Imperial Academy instead, but he can't because of the harvest."
"What's the Imperial academy?" Calvin queried.
"No more questions, kid," Owen said. "Beru, dear. Could you show Calvin and Hobbes to Luke's room, please?"
"Of course," she smiled. "This way, you two."
"This is my room," Luke announced, spreading his arms, and sighed. "Home sweet home."
Calvin and Hobbes looked around. Luke's room was very metallic, filled with strange contraptions, a couple of model spaceships, and several bean bag chairs and a small bunk. It was pretty cramped with three people in there.
"We have some old cots in the shack outside. We can go and bring them in here, and you guys can sleep on 'em," Luke said. He sighed. "I'm going to go get them."
"I'll go with you!" Calvin exclaimed, and got up despite his tiredness.
"I'll stay here, thank you," Hobbes called after them, and quite literally fell down on the floor to rest.
"So, Luke," Calvin began, "your uncle told me that you wanted to go to the Imperial academy. What's that all about?"
Luke sighed as they walked into the circular pit. As he started talking, Calvin shielded his eyes from the frying orbs of light in the sky. As before, there were no clouds.
"I've been waiting to go to the academy for a few years now," Luke explained with a sorrowful tone. "Most of my friends have already joined over the past few years, and now I don't have much left here."
"Uh-huh?" Calvin prompted.
"If I get in, I'll finally get off of this charred, sandy rock and have a good education," he continued. "Now, don't get me wrong, I love my uncle, and my aunt, but I want to see more of the Galaxy than… than this!"
For a few moments, both of them were silent as they approached the shack outside of the pit.
"So, what exactly is the Imperial academy?" Calvin asked. "Is it like, an intergalactic education system, or a military school, or-"
"Well," Luke cut him off, "you know what the Galactic empire is, right?"
"...I'm drawing a blank." Calvin admitted at last.
"Wow," Luke said as he opened the mechanical metal door to the shack. "Your home planet must be really, really remote. The Galactic Empire is the main military force around here. They police star systems, hunt pirates and smugglers, and keep order throughout the Galaxy."
"Really?" Calvin asked, intrigued by the new information.
"Yup," Luke confirmed. "But, y'know, a lot of the outer-rim planets like Tatooine don't really like the empire. They want more freedom, and that's not what the empire is about."
Well, that's interesting, Calvin thought, and helped Luke carry the two collapsable sleeping pads back to the room.
Silence ensued again, as Calvin digested the info given to him. Luke suddenly broke it.
"Hey Calvin?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"I was just wondering, since you seem to be from a really far-away place- do you know basic?"
"What?"
"Basic. The standard alphabet of the galaxy. It's officially called aurebesh." Luke turned around. "You don't know the standard alphabet?"
"Um, on- on Canadia, we use a different text… it's called English," Calvin fibbed.
"Huh. Well, you and Hobbes should probably learn Basic. It's really important anywhere you go.
"I'll keep it in mind," Calvin agreed.
As they walked inside the cool corridors of the homestead, Calvin was struck by a thought. "Hey, Luke, why did those Jawas visit your house earlier today?" he asked.
"They were coming by to try and sell us some droids. You at least know what androids are… right?"
"Yeah, of course!" Calvin confirmed. He had a pretty good idea of what they were, even if he had barely caught more than a glimpse of one so far. "They're artificial intelligences who help people out, right?"
"Right. So, one of our treadwell droids broke down a few days ago, meaning that we needed some new helpers."
"And you got some?"
"Yeah. Two of 'em. One is C-3po. He's a translator droid, so he can speak binary with the moisture vaporators around here."
"Moisture Vaporators?" Calvin asked.
"Yeah. We're moisture farmers here."
"Oh. What about the other one?"
"The other is an R2 Astromech; the ones that help ships navigate the galaxy." Luke stopped walking, and opened his door. Once inside, they set down the cots.
"Well, I guess we didn't need two of 'em," Luke remarked, gesturing to the sleeping tiger on the floor.
"Yeah," Calvin chuckled.
After setting down a cot, Calvin and Luke began carrying the other one back.
"Hey, Calvin?"
"What's up?"
"Something weird happened when I was cleaning the droids today, right before dinner."
"What happened?" Calvin asked.
"Well, I was trying to unplug something in the R2 unit's access panel, and he displayed part of a holo-message."
"A holo-message?" Calvin asked. "Like, a hologram?"
"Yeah," Luke said. "And, in the message, there was this young girl-"
"Eww!"
"What's so disgusting?"
"It's nothing… nevermind," Calvin shrugged.
Luke shrugged back. "So, there she was, and she kept saying, 'help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You are my only hope,' over and over again!"
"That's weird," Calvin said.
"Yeah. And I thought, 'Maybe she's referring to Old Ben Kenobi?'"
"Who is that? Some space explorer?"
"No, he was kind of a hermit around here. He lived out beyond the dune sea."
"Huh. Maybe you should visit him!"
"Nah. Uncle Owen said that he's probably gone now. He died around the same time as my father."
"Okay."
As the two put back the other cot and closed the door, Luke's face changed.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "I should probably check on those two droids- I left them alone right before dinner."
"Alrighty then. Let's go see 'em," Calvin agreed, and stifled a yawn.
The large garage where the droids were supposedly stored was dark and cluttered with various types of machinery. Several small, yellow lights barely illuminated the entire room, which was about ten to twelve meters in diameter.
As soon as he entered, Calvin looked around for the droids that Luke had been talking about, searching every shadow. He figured that these droids would be like the one he saw in the canyon; short, stubby, and with a circular head. He was more than slightly disappointed when he couldn't see anything.
Calvin figured that Luke felt the same way, and watched him look around, trying to find the robots as well.
"Hey Luke, I don't see anything."
"Hold on," Luke replied, and reached inside his utility belt. After fumbling around inside for a few seconds, he pulled out a remote-like device and pressed it.
Calvin's attention was suddenly called to an electric sound coming from between two machines, where stumbling out came a golden, human-like robot.
"Aaah!" Calvin cried out in surprise. Luke ignored him and rushed over to the droid, looking around as if searching for something else.
"What are you doing hiding there?" Luke asked the droid.
Seeing the farmboy approach, the droid (Calvin guessed that it was C-3po) raised his arms and started blabbering.
"It wasn't my fault, sir. Please don't deactivate me! I told him not to go, but he's faulty, malfunctioning; kept babbling on about his mission!" he babbled. Inwardly, Calvin scoffed at C-3po's groveling attitude, despite not actually knowing what was going on.
Luke however, seemed to get it.
"Oh, no!" he yelled, and raced out of the garage, closely followed by 3po and Calvin, who still had no idea what was going on.
The three emerged from the main pit, and Luke put a pair of fancy binoculars to his eyes. He looked around, trying to see… something.
Calvin, confused, looked at Luke, then the droid, and then back at Luke.
"What…"
And then he figured it out.
"Hey Luke, did the other droid, the R2 guy, run off?"
Luke took off the binoculars. "Yeah," he said, and cursed. "I'm so stupid. He's nowhere in sight, blast it!"
"That R2 unit has always been a problem," C-3po mentioned. These astro-droids are getting quite out of hand. Even I can't understand their logic at times."
"Wait," Calvin said. Luke turned to look at him. "I thought you said that you had some sort of restraining bolt on both of these guys. What happened to that?"
Luke groaned, burrowing his face in his hands. "I took off the R2's because he said that it might help with playing the whole message."
"The one with the slimy girl?"
"Yeah- wait, what?"
"Nothing," Calvin said. "So, you got tricked by the R2 guy?"
"Yeah, I guess I did," Luke murmured. "Oh, man. Uncle Owen is gonna be so mad," he groaned.
3po spoke up. "Ahm, pardon me sir, but couldn't we go after him?"
Luke shook his head. It's too dangerous with all the Sand-people around. We'll have to wait until morning."
"Sandpeople?" Calvin asked. "Who are they?"
"Raiders," Luke answered. "They're the natives of this planet, along with the Jawas. Sometimes they attack settlements and steal supplies. Anchorhead was raided by them just a few days ago."
"Alright," Calvin said after a moment of contemplation. "I see your predicament. How can I help?"
Luke turned around. "You want to help?"
"Well, yeah!" Calvin grinned. "This whole thing seems like the start of an awesome adventure, and I am not missing it!"
Luke smiled. "It's nice to see your enthusiasm. But we'll have to leave early in the morning so that we can be back before Uncle Owen gets suspicious."
"Don't worry," Calvin said, still smiling. "I can get up early. The trick is waking Hobbes up to go with us."
Luke's smile dropped. "Hobbes? You want him to go with us?"
"Um, duh!" Calvin said, like it was obvious. "If we're going on a grand adventure, then Hobbes is not going to miss it!"
Luke chuckled. "Alright," he said.
From inside the pit, Owen shouted, "Luke, I'm shutting the power down for the night!"
"Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes!" Luke responded.
"C'mon, Calvin. Let's get 3po back to the garage," he said.
Calvin nodded. "Right behind you." He turned to 3po. "C'mon, Goldilocks. You're following me."
C-3po managed to look offended. "Pardon me!" he began to say. "I am C-3po, Human-Cyborg rela-"
"Shut up, Goldilocks."