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    Army of Terror

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      Then they all saw it. On the planet's surface, something glowed with

      sudden brightness. It was tiny, but clearly visible even hundreds of

      kilometers above the surface.

      A sensor alarm bleeped. "Energy readings just went off the scale," Zak

      yelped.

      "Something's attacking us!" Tash cried.

      "Taking evasive action," Hoole responded, banking the Shroud hard to the

      right.

      Too late.

      An enormous energy beam streaked toward them, slamming into the ship with

      the light of a dozen suns. The Shroud spun to the right, and continued to spin

      even after the bright light vanished. Tash felt her stomach leap into her

      throat. They were falling. The ship lurched into a nosedive, and Tash was

      slammed against a wall. Through the spinning viewport, she could see the

      planet spiraling upward toward them.

      "What's happening?" she yelled.

      "No power," Hoole said. He was straining forward in the pilot's seat,

      trying to regain control of the ship. "We're out of control. We're going to

      crash!"

      CHAPTER 3

      We're going to die. That same thought gripped both Tash's and Zak's minds

      at the same time.

      Neither one of them could speak. Their mouths and throats had gone dry,

      and all they could do was watch the surface of the planet grow closer by the

      second.

      Zak knew there were procedures to regain ship control. There were steps

      to follow. But he was too terrified to remember them. Then he heard a calm

      voice speak over the sound of the atmosphere rushing past the ship's hull.

      "Restarting repulsor engines," Hoole said aloud. "No response. Main

      circuits are off-line."

      The planet's surface was very near now, but Hoole's voice was utterly

      calm. "Switching to backup circuit board." Zak heard something click. But it

      was too late. The planet rushed up to crush them. "Circuits are on-line.

      Restarting repulsor engines again."

      A low groan rumbled through the ship. "Brace yourselves!" Hoole warned.

      "Engaging thrusters."

      The ship's forward repulsors fired up, breaking against the overwhelming

      pull of gravity. Tash and Zak were thrown forward, slamming into the Shroud's

      main console.

      "By the Maker!" Deevee cried as he toppled over the copilot's chair. "I

      just put myself back together!"

      The ship continued to fall, but it also began to slow down as Hoole

      gained more control.

      "We're going to make it!" Tash cried.

      "Not quite," Hoole said grimly. "Hold on."

      Try as he would, he couldn't pull the ship out of its dive. All he could

      do was adjust the angle of their fall so they wouldn't slam right into the

      ground. The Shroud hit the surface of Kiva like a rock thrown across the

      surface of a lake-skipping once, twice, three times-then plowing over a rocky

      field as parts of the hull were torn off the ship's frame. The ship scraped

      across jagged mounds of stone that gouged long cuts into the tough metal.

      Inside, the four passengers were thrown around. The room was filled with

      flying debris as equipment, datachips, holodisks, and everything else not tied

      down suddenly leaped into the air. Tash felt a datachip bounce off her

      forehead with the force of a small rocket. A moment later she blinked as a

      trickle of blood dripped into her left eye.

      Finally, the ship came to rest.

      Before Tash and Zak could climb to their feet, Hoole was standing over

      them. "No broken bones, no serious wounds," he said to each of them, then

      pressed a piece of cloth against Tash's cut. "Can you stand?"

      They both nodded and the Shi'ido helped them up, then quickly turned to

      Deevee. "Are you functioning?"

      Servos whined as the droid climbed to his feet. "It seems to defy the

      laws of physics," Deevee said, "but I'm still operational."

      "Good," Hoole said, as though they hadn't just had a very close brush

      with death. "Please go check the engines for damage."

      With that, Hoole began to check the cockpit equipment. Tash held the

      cloth against her forehead and watched her uncle. She had to admire his calm.

      Her hands were still shaking from the crash, but Hoole was steady as a rock,

      running checks on all the systems.

      "Oh, this is not prime," she heard Zak mutter.

      Zak was looking at the floor just outside the cockpit. There was a gaping

      hole in the metal floorboards. It was so wide and deep that they could see

      straight through to the gray rock of the planet's surface. "I think this ship

      just found its permanent home," Zak said. "It sure isn't going to fly anywhere

      soon."

      "I am afraid Zak is right," Hoole confirmed. "There are at least four

      major holes in the hull too big to repair. The crash took out almost every

      system, including the navicomputer. Even if the engines worked, we could not

      fly. This ship is dead."

      They were marooned.

      A short while later, Zak, Tash, Deevee, and Hoole stood outside what was

      left of the Shroud. Each of them carried a small supply of food and water

      salvaged from the ship's galley, and Hoole pulled an emergency crash kit out

      of the wreckage. It contained two small tents and a cooking unit.

      Zak had also insisted on bringing along as many of the ship's datachips

      as possible. The Shroud's computer banks had been full of interesting

      information.

      "It was a good ship," Zak sighed. "It got us through a lot of scrapes."

      "Funny," Tash added. "This ship started out as part of Gog's plan. Now

      it's as if we've brought it home to him." Zak nodded unhappily at the memory

      of how they found the ship. The Shroud had belonged to one of Gog's henchman,

      another evil scientist named Evazan.

      Hoole said, "Come. It's not a long walk, but we should start at once."

      "Where are we going?" Zak asked.

      "Just follow me," Hoole said.

      The direction Hoole chose seemed no better or worse than any other. In

      fact, every direction looked the same. Kiva was absolutely dead, made up of

      kilometer after kilometer of dark gray rock under a roof of dark gray sky.

      Even the sun looked gray. The light was dim, but strong enough for huge,

      jagged pillars of rock to cast long shadows on the dry ground.

      Zak stood next to one rock that was taller than he was. "These things

      look like giant teeth."

      "Or frozen people," Tash added. "They're all over the place. Like

      millions of people, turned into rock."

      "Be silent," Hoole warned sharply. Tash and Zak looked at each other and

      shrugged.

      There was no sound, other than a sad wind that moaned through the rocks.

      Zak looked around. Something bothered him. But what was it? Then it hit him.

      "No life," he muttered. He crouched down and stared at the ground,

      looking for the tiniest sign of growing things, a weed, or even a thorn.

      "There's nothing here. Not even a blade of grass."

      "You're right, Zak," his sister replied. "This place makes Tatooine seem

      like a garden paradise."

      "Well I hope there's something here," Zak said. "If we don't get help, or

      a ship, we're going to end up just like this place. Lifeless."

      Tash pointed at Hoole, striding ahead
    of them. The Shi'ido had been

      traveling along at a steady pace since they stepped off the ship. "Well, he

      seems to think there's something here. How does he even know where we're

      going?"

      Neither of them could answer that question.

      Although Hoole had ordered them to be silent, Deevee chattered happily.

      "Master Hoole, this is a rare opportunity indeed!" the droid said as they

      hiked. "Why, you must know that there has been no serious study of the planet

      Kiva. Although I did read a paper once by an anthropologist from Circarpous 4.

      ."

      Tash stopped listening. A motion caught her eye. It was small-but on a

      planet with absolutely no life, she noticed it right away. She thought she'd

      seen something step from behind one of the rocks. But when she turned to get a

      better look, all she saw was the rock's own shadow. She shrugged.

      "... and according to the articles I've read," Deevee went on, "the

      Kivans may have left behind entire cities in the aftermath of Mammon's

      disaster..."

      "I believe that is enough background, Deevee," Hoole said shortly.

      "But, Master Hoole, surely you appreciate how interesting this planet

      must be to an anthropologist! It's a dead civilization."

      "I know. I am an anthropologist," Hoole snapped. But he said nothing

      more.

      A moment later something caught Tash's eye again. But when she turned

      again to look, there was nothing but shadows. For a moment, she thought she

      could see the shadows stretching toward them. But then she realized it was

      only the setting sun, making the shadows grow longer on the ground. Still,

      something had caught her eye...

      "Uncle Hoole," she asked, "is it possible that there's still something

      alive here?"

      "No," Hoole said definitely. "Every living thing on Kiva died."

      "But I thought I saw something-"

      "A trick of the light," the Shi'ido interrupted.

      "But something fired at us," Zak said. "There's got to be someone here."

      "Not someone. Something," Hoole said as they came to the top of a small

      hill. "Look."

      On the other side of the hill, nestled in a small, barren valley, stood a

      large tower. An ion cannon was mounted atop the tower, its tip pointing up

      into the gray sky. The tower hummed with energy as it swiveled automatically

      on its base.

      They walked down into the valley. Here, the shadows were even thicker.

      "It is a computerized defense system," Hoole explained. "It's fully

      automated."

      "How did you know that?" Tash asked.

      Hoole shrugged. "The sensors picked it up just before we were hit." The

      Shi'ido looked at his niece and nephew. "So, as you can see, we are quite

      alone on this planet."

      Uncle Hoole always has an explanation for everything, thought Tash, as

      she wandered away from him and Zak. She picked her way through the maze of

      toothlike rocks toward the ion tower. It's so much darker here in the valley-

      Tash couldn't believe how fast the shadows moved here. As

      Zak's and Hoole's voices faded in the distance, Tash stood still, looking

      all around her, trying to see just how the rocks cast such weird, fast-moving

      shadows.

      Suddenly, Tash screamed. Something had grabbed her by both wrists-she was

      being attacked!

      CHAPTER 4

      "Help!" Tash cried out.

      Zak, Hoole, and Deevee ran toward the sound of her voice. But once they

      found her, all they could see were shadows cast by the rocks and Tash

      struggling with something invisible.

      "Get it off me!" Tash yelled.

      "What?" Deevee asked.

      "The shad-!" she began. Then she was sucked into the darkness.

      "Tash!" Zak yelled. He started forward, but stumbled. His foot.had caught

      on something. Looking down, he saw that as he'd rushed forward, he had stepped

      into a shadow. Now his foot was stuck.

      Hoole and Deevee had charged toward Tash, too, but seeing Zak, they

      stopped. "What's wrong, Zak?" Hoole asked.

      "I don't know," Zak said. He tugged at his foot, but it wouldn't budge.

      "Something's got me." He tugged again. This time, something tugged back.

      Zak was dragged forward into the shadow. In an instant, day turned into

      night. It wasn't the pitch-blackness of late night, but more like the darkness

      of evening, just after sunset. Zak could see the ground, he could see the sky,

      he could even see Hoole and Deevee, but everything lay under a shadowy shroud.

      His uncle and Deevee were moving their arms frantically, and they seemed to be

      shouting, but Zak couldn't hear them. He called out to them, but he could tell

      that they couldn't hear him either. It was as if a dark, heavy curtain had

      dropped between them.

      Mammon!

      The word was whispered close to him, so close he felt something brush

      against his ear. Turning quickly, Zak saw only more shadows.

      Mammon!

      A second voice moaned in his other ear.

      Zak turned again, and again saw nothing but shadows around him. A little

      farther away, deeper in the strange bubble of darkness, he saw his sister

      lying huddled on the ground. Zak started toward her, but every step took

      immense effort. It was like walking through a thick goo. It felt as though

      many hands were pushing against him, keeping him from getting near Tash.

      "Tash!" he called out.

      Tash lifted her head slowly.

      "Zak...," she said weakly.

      Mammonmammonmammonmammonmammon!

      Angry voices swirled around Zak like a moaning wind, all of them

      repeating that same name over and over.

      "Stop it!" Zak shouted, plugging his ears. "Leave us alone!"

      Murderer! the voices cried.

      "What?" Zak wasn't sure he had heard right.

      Murderermurderermurderermurderermurderer!

      "Who are you? What do you want?" he called out.

      To his surprise, Tash answered him. She had managed to sit up and look at

      him through the fog. "They're angry, Zak," she mumbled. "They're so angry."

      "Who?" he asked.

      Something hard and sharp lashed out at Zak from the darkness, shredding

      the front of his tunic and just missing his skin. Something had attacked him

      from the darkness. No, not something from the darkness, he realized. The

      darkness itself had attacked him!

      "Help!" he shouted in panic. "Help!"

      A moment later Hoole charged forward. As he did, the Shi'ido changed

      shape. The flesh crawled across his bones and an instant later Hoole had

      vanished, replaced by a huge, hairy bantha, its four legs pounding the ground

      and its sharp tusks raking the air as it charged.

      The bantha crashed into the wall of darkness, storming straight at Zak.

      The bantha reared up, searching for enemies to strike.

      But all that could be seen was darkness, and all that could be heard were

      the whispering voices as they moaned more ferociously than ever.

      Mammon! Murderer! Mammon! Murderer! M-U-RD-E-R-E-R!

      The bantha paused. Its front feet came crashing down to the ground. It

      shivered violently, and a moment later Hoole returned to his normal shape. But

      he kept shaking, as though he were freezing cold.

      "Uncle Hoole?" Zak called out. "Are you all right?"
    r />   Hoole fell to his knees, still shivering. He covered his face with his

      hands. "Oh, no," Zak heard his uncle mutter. "Oh... no."

      Hoole's entrance into the ring of shadows had triggered something in the

      darkness. The shadows began to take a more solid shape. Zak could make out

      vaguely humanoid figures. He saw heads and arms the color of shadow, with

      bodies that melted into the darkness. They swarmed around Hoole and the two

      Arrandas, snarling the same words over and over.

      Mammon!

      Murderer!

      "We've got to get out of here!" Zak yelled to his sister and uncle.

      Neither of them responded.

      The creatures closed in. Through the gloom, Zak thought he saw dark claws

      reach out to grab Hoole's throat. He expected Hoole to shapeshift into

      something large and fierce that could tear the weird creatures to shreds, but

      Hoole didn't even move.

      Dark claws clutched at the Shi'ido's throat.

     

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