3 The Nubian

* Tatooine, Darth Maul. *

And the great power of those damned Jedi flew to the Huttian planet! Terrible heat, terrible inhabitants. A planet of crooks and thieves- complete chaos! However, it's even harder to find them here--after I landed, the droids flew off to look for someone who looked like Qui-Gon. But there were no results. I was already desperate to find them and sat in the local diner. The locals didn't even look at me, though on other Republic planets they look at me like a ghost because of the facial tattoos. That's probably the only good thing about the whole planet. While I waited for the report from the droids, I examined the bulletin board. Yes, there seems to be a pretty good thief here, since the ruler of the planet, or part of it, Jabba the Hutt offers fifty thousand for his capture. It is decided, I will look for the thief as well! Money is never superfluous, and if you gain the trust of the local chief you can easily ask him about the Jedi. A sign was pasted on top of the other announcements that the third Bounta Eve Classic was about to start, and the bookies would be happy to take bets.

A bounty is such a bounty-an event worth going to, if only because the Jedi will probably be there. After the glass was finally empty, I paid the bartender and headed out. The race was supposed to start soon, which is why everyone was running around!

I managed to buy tickets in the parterre, close to the racers. It wasn't like the Jedi beggars-I started looking at the stands as I arrived, especially the back row-the Jedi order wasn't exactly beggars, but preached contempt for personal values, so if the target bought a ticket, it was the cheapest one.

Something's not right here... after some rider won, all the bleachers groaned like everyone and everything had lost. Yes, it happens. The strongest wins! Even if you don't know it. That's what the Sith will prove to the Jedi-the strongest wins, not the most famous. After the victory, the boy in slave rags climbed out of the kara, and two women ran up to him... wearing Nabuan clothes. This is it! But the Jedi was not with them. It was worth waiting to see where they went.

There was no Jedi, but everyone came out of the garage already, led by this Qui-Gon. Once they were out, I carefully, trying not to create a disturbance in the force, began to sneak up behind them, instinctively treading carefully and on tiptoe. Yes, habit is an unbreakable thing. But no one ever turned around, but everyone was walking steadily out of town. If I attacked them now, they'd get worried for sure. Or the queen would be gone, and I would have to look for her again, unless they went to Coruscant, in which case the Master would kill me. When I reached the edge of the city and looked at the back of those who had already gone far away, I found my speeder and got on it, following the Jedi. Fight!

* Near the nubian *

The yacht, already repaired and ready to leave, stood under the hot stars of Tatooine. The chrome plating kept the hull unheated, so the air conditioning inside was easily kept at an acceptable temperature for the Nubians. The crew, accustomed to the cool, tried not to go out into the Tatooine heat, even if the only fresh air was there-the air conditioning was still more familiar than the dust and sand.

Qui-Gon, Shmi and Anakin Skywalker, the Gungan and the droids, and Padme Amidala Nabire were already approaching the yacht. They were about a dozen steps away when the speeder's repulsors hissed behind them. Anakin sighed heavily and prepared for the fight, but the Jedi was ahead of them all - his sword instantly jumped into his hand and Qui-Gon dashed lightning across the speeder, shouting into Anakin's comlink at the same time:

- Anakin, take everyone away, Obi-Wan, open the hatch!

Anakin didn't hesitate to execute the order - he grabbed Padmé and his mother under his elbow and with a weak thrust under the heel gave them acceleration in the direction of the already opened hatch of the flying nubian. Anakin Skywalker nudged the ladies toward the hatch, then lifted the Gungan with his strength and threw him overhead. He had already jumped in at the end, so there was an immediate pile-up in the cargo hold of the royal yacht - Padme and Shmi were attaching Obi-Wan, and the big-eared gungan was mumbling something from above, clumsily trying to get down. When everyone unhooked, they caught a picture of Anakin lifting Qui-Gon by force and simply by hand, clutching at the edge of the ramp. The sands of the planet were already out there, far away, the yacht picking up speed. When Qui-Gon finally climbed into the yacht, Obi-Wan rushed to the console and closed the ship's hatch. Everyone looked battered, but they were alive and unharmed, which couldn't have been happier.

After a few seconds of silence, the arrivals looked at Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, adjusting their clothes at the same time. The Jedi took the floor.

- Obi-Wan... meet Anakin and Shmi Skywalker. Anakin, this is my apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi," Qui-Gon said. The boat shook slightly at that moment as the nubian passed through the planet's atmosphere, entering low orbit. After the shaking stopped, Padawan held out his hand to Anakin.

- You can just call me Ben," Ben shook the child's palm. Skywalker returned the mutual courtesy:

- Anakin. Just Anakin.

- Oh, nice to meet you, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, with a touch of sarcasm, and then smiled and turned his gaze to his teacher.

- We're done here, so let's go to Coruscant," the Jedi turned his attention to Jar-Jar, who, just from lack of attention to his person, was beginning to pester the droids with his talkativeness. Erdwah was understandably able to avoid the Gungan's attention, but the Sitripio, who spoke a Gungan dialect, was already trying to make sense of the bothersome Gungan. Qui-Gon smiled, thinking that the restless Jar-ja now had an interlocutor, and went to the bridge. By the way, his presence was not required there, and after visiting the bridge, the Jedi went with the head of the queen's guards to report to the fake Amidala. The real one, meanwhile, decided that she had to accommodate guests and gave the only available quarters to Shmi and Anakin. Anakin thanked the "maid" heartily and accompanied her to arrange for the droids. His, at least Tripio's, he had to check on.

* Hyperspace. Anakin Skywalker.

It was... cold. After Tatooine, which was in a veritable stellar scorcher of the two stars of Tatoo-1 and Tatoo-2, a planet of endless sands and rocks, where even at night it was nothing more than chilly, it was very cold on the yacht. Apparently, I was getting used to Tatooine.

The Nubian was a saloon yacht-one large hall for the queen and several cabins for the servants. Inside, it was the same as the outside - a triumph of high-tech. It wasn't much different from what I had seen in the movie, except that the yacht was small, a couple of compartments - cargo and technical for droids, a corridor between them and the other compartments, and, actually, the queen's apartment itself. That was all, except for the bridge, which looked like the bridge of the "Normandy" from the notorious game, or the greatly enlarged cockpit of a passenger airplane. I was there with Qui-Gon, who introduced me to the crew, the head of security, a negro named Panaka, who looked me over kindly and shook my hand. I also met the pilot, an older man with curly hair. And, at the end of the tour, I was introduced to the four maids of the queen in orange and yellow clothes, which reminded me of the color of the sky at sunset. The maids looked like Padmé, by the way, so I couldn't recognize their faces. They giggled to the side, casting brief glances at me. Not the kind I was used to on earth, of course, but not the kind the Tatooine slaves were used to, so I waved at them not unashamedly, eliciting a new wave of giggles. Looking at this spectacle, Captain Panaka only smirked and led me off the bridge. The maids, apparently sent by the "queen," also left the control station and went to the yacht's main quarters.

After I had arranged the droids, I sat down in a lotus pose in the technical compartment next to my iron friends and meditated. I looked inside myself, into the force. Nothing strange or dangerous - the force in me was as calm as the water in a high mountain lake, in this state it was the most amenable to influence, but if I opened my eyes, this smoothness would ripple, which is, in general, what happens in the normal state. As I used my powers to look first at myself and then at the droid closest to me, and to make some adjustments to its defects, the idea of working with my sword crept into my head, for I had it with me- I carried the workpiece behind me. I took it out, put it on my lap, and again, as I had done hundreds and thousands of times before, I gazed inside. Inside were parts so precisely polished that it was a pleasure to look at them. They looked like a car engine after being rebuilt by a good mechanic. Qui-Gon, on the other hand, said I was inexperienced. It's understandable - without a teacher, it's strange that I could create a sword at all, even if it took almost half a year of Tatooine.

Speaking of time, on Tatooine a year lasted three hundred and two days, and there were twenty-three hours in a day. So the most accurate comparison is that twelve years on Tatooine is ten years on Coruscant, whose parameters are considered standard. That is, I was a little wrong with the time, and if you take into account the difference between the standard coruscant time and the time on earth, then the difference again turns out not in favor of earth, so I am not ten years old now, but eight and a bit, judging by the amount of time lived in the earth chronology. But I'm not much of a child, not only with some piece of adult consciousness, but also having gone through the hard school of life as a slave on the dirtiest and most criminal planet in the whole galaxy.

(Perhaps the Force decided that the "standard" scenario wasn't the best and gave it to Lucas, and me accordingly here... like this. And to Lucas, that I, as a hitchhiker, would have an idea of what goes where and what leads to what. After all, no one can still explain why conventional screened space opera has become almost a cult on earth. At least, that has become my main theory).

I was not a child at all. I was a child, but I was not a child at all, not unless I pretended to be, but both minds were quite evolved, and who was more evolved was an open question. Anakin was no mama's boy, and he was a cunning, grasping boy. The second consciousness, however, was also not prone to bad thoughts, and was not devoid of faith in goodness and justice, even if for the sake of justice it is necessary to carry the light of goodness with a lightsaber.

The sword was disassembled and I began to work with the wires - the metal inside had to be cleaned at the molecular level, so that the loss of energy from the resistance of the conductor was minimal. Actually, it was already done, so all I had to do was run around a bit for defects inside the conductor.

- Anakin? - The voice of the intruder threw my concentration off, and his power created interference, so I had to stop what I was doing and open my eyes. The light made me shudder to see who was coming in-it was Ben Kenobi. By the way, the lighting here reminded me of the subway-the big white glowing panels on the ceiling. Warped in a way that gave it a definitive high-tech look.

- Ben? - I asked, recognizing Kenobi's voice.

Ben walked through, squinting at the droids and asked:

- What are you doing?

- Just meditating, trying to figure out the sword... - I stretched out, having said the obvious.

- A sword? May I see it? - Kenobi asked excitedly, stepping closer.

- Yes, please," I held out my billet to him. Ben accepted it, and, repeating my pseudolotos pose, sat across from me.

After a minute of studying my creation, the padawan said:

- Very good. I could do that, but it would take time...

- It took me six months to make it," I admitted. Ben exclaimed in surprise in response:

- "Six months? Well, you're a stubborn fellow. Padawans take a month or six weeks to make a sword, and they complain they're sick of dealing with it.

- I don't sit around with a sword 24 hours a day. I was bought out of slavery by Qui-Gon, and my master was a junkman. It was not bad for a slave - I spent all day in his workshop, so I was used to making things. By the way, I built this droid myself! From old droids! - I pointed to Threepio, who was standing off to the side in "sleep" mode.

- Wow," Ben was surprised as he looked at the droid. Not every technician can build such a complicated thing as a droid...

- Yes, I was lucky. And I tweaked a few things, too, so I managed to give it some decent specs," I admitted.

- Yeah, you're good. Anything else you can do?

- Besides working with metal, moving things around," I lowered my head, saddened by my uselessness.

- Not every youngling in the temple can do that! - Ben encouraged me, while at the same time taking out from somewhere behind my back a couple of boxes with the words. - Here, sharpen this, because you missed dinner while you were sitting here.

I took one box in my hands. Yes, familiar from good old "RZD" - drypacks.

- Thanks, Ben," I smiled, and pounced on the food. Kenobi was not lagging behind and opened his portion and began to eat too. Five minutes later we opened drinks in those familiar aluminum cans, and while we were drinking, I asked the Jedi:

- Hey, where can I get a crystal for my sword? I couldn't buy it, and I couldn't find it on Tatooine.

- Hehehe... - Ben chuckled, and after swallowing the rest of his drink, he answered me, wrinkling the can in his hand. Yeah, it's not so easy to buy it on Tatooine, but if you want, I can give you my own...

- You have one? - I wondered. Strange that he had any extra crystals.

- Yes, I'm in the process of making my own sword. I still have the sword my teacher gave me, but I'm working on my own sword, so I have about five crystals.

- Why so many? - I wondered again, remembering that the number of crystals varies from one to three.

- Well, usually there are less, about two or three, but I wanted to experiment with different combinations, so I took five of them, since they were free. For a blade for your height one crystal is enough, so I can share it, especially since one of them doesn't match well with the others...

- So why did you take it? - I asked, though it was understandable, free of charge. Obi-Wan, like me, turned the jar into a small metal ball by means of force, as well as for such a simple action a trance is not necessary and explained to me:

- You see, Anakin, every crystal is unique, and to pick it up is a pain in the ass. And to make a normal and effective combination...

- You don't have to say anything more. Then let's go," I smiled, getting to my feet. My legs felt a little stiff, but not as much as before - I must be getting used to meditating in the pseudolotos position.

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon lived in one of the servants' quarters, as indicated by the two tucked-in bunks. The cabin itself was a replica of the one Mom had been given - ascetic, discreet, straightforward in a Spartan way - clean walls, neat beds. Ben reached into the drawer of the small nightstand and pulled out a black box. He opened it. There were several colored crystals in the box, and Ben, looking at my curious face, handed me one of them, a dark purple one. I took the crystal from his hands and immediately raised my sword.

- Wait, Anakin, you're not going to mount it right away, are you?

- Why not? I've had the sword assembled for a month now, and all I've been waiting for is the crystal. It's all done now, so we can add the last element.

- Well, as you wish," I raised the sword to eye level after his words and opened the "airtight zone" inside. The crystal could not be lifted by force - it easily absorbed the surrounding currents, and after saturation began to create vibrations in the force, which prevented holding it, so I had to use my hands, with my hands. And then by force, too, to clean it of fingerprints. After the crystal was inserted in the special grips, I sealed the sword back up and went out to the droid compartment. Ben followed me, speaking as I went:

- It is believed that the crystal is the most important part of the sword and a Jedi puts his soul into the sword along with the crystal...

- Yeah? That's an interesting thought. Well, considering that the crystal contains mostly the power placed there by the creator of the sword, and the crystal itself is processed by the creator's power, it's not so wrong. Shall I turn it on?

- Just don't wave it around. Actually, if you accidentally touch something with your sword, it will burn instantly, it's a very dangerous weapon!

- Yes, it is. I agree. Well... - I put my hand out in front of me and watched in admiration as the purple blade grew. If you slowed it down, it would look mesmerizing - first a little flash, then the light, or rather, the beam from the emitter wrapped in an arc, entering a special entrance hole, and then the beam began to grow, taking shape. After half a second the sword took its normal "on" position - just under a meter in length, I'd even say seventy to eighty centimeters. The blade hummed beautifully from the contact of air and arch, creating a unique sound. When I moved the sword, the amount of air that hit the arch increased, and the blade made a higher sound.

- Yes... - Ben stretched out, looking at the light of the sword.

- It feels strange," I answered as I traced the glowing violet beam through the air, "like when I hold it there's no weight of the blade, but when I move it, it's like I'm waving an iron bar - though only slightly, but even from such small motions the hilt noticeably pulls in my hand, and if I wave strongly, it will pull out.

- Yes, the arch creates a strong gyroscopic effect. It was hard to get used to at first... - Ben ruffled the hair on the back of his head," but only at first. You ought to have a training sword now, but I don't have one, and I'm sorry to say I don't have a teacher.

I couldn't help but acknowledge his rightness by informing him:

- Yes you're right, a training sword in my hands is much more useful than a fighting sword, but there's no hurry, we'll fly to Coruscant, and there are enough different swords in the temple.

- Oh yes, I keep forgetting you're going to the temple. I wonder how the Master is going to introduce you to the Council..." he nodded thoughtfully to Benson. - Ben nodded thoughtfully.

- I bought you a hyperdrive... A new one. Not for free, by the way. One of the conditions was that Qui-Gon would teach me.

- But he can't. You can't take two Padawans!

- Yes, you can't. So Qui-Gon, one way or another, will train you to become a knight. So wait, Ben, for the hard training. Or better yet, don't wait and start training yourself.

- Yes?" Ben Kenobi, a sixteen-year-old Padawan, looked thoughtfully at the row of droids and answered me after a short silence:

- So, thanks to you, I could soon be a knight?

- Well, if you omit the detail that you're already learning from Qui-Gon and would become a knight anyway, then yes. I liked Qui-Gon, so I'd be glad to have him as my teacher. Also, he's a pretty experienced knight - the board wouldn't send just anyone on a responsible mission with the queen of Naboo. I hope that Qui-Gon will continue to be popular with the council and there will be interesting missions ahead of us. But before you become a knight, I'll try to get a job in a temple somewhere. They won't take me as a youngling, so I can't say anything definite right now.

Ben listened and nodded thoughtfully as I spoke. After I finished and went back to looking at my sword through the force, he said:

- Well, fine then, but... - he even got a little confused. I see.

- Are you afraid you won't be able to? That Qui-Gon won't listen? That you won't become a Jedi?

- Well...

- Don't worry about it. I'm sure you can become, if not the best, then an ordinary knight for sure. And then, in time, you'll rise to the level of a teacher. Qui-Gon was probably a knight when he knew little more than you do now.

- You're probably right," Ben said, rubbing his chin and sitting back down in a pseudolatrous pose, apparently trying to calm himself. Yeah, right, he got the "dude, you're about to become a Jedi" news. I get it, he was a little confused and scared.

I let Kenobi regain his composure, and, once again turning my sword on and off, I hung my new toy on my belt and sat down on the floor. The floors here are surprisingly clean - if on the ground cleaning is done by robotic vacuum cleaners, which can be considered the most primitive droids, then here, too, our iron friends constantly scrub the deck. There was silence for a while longer. A silence that I, tired of the silence, broke:

- Ben, how long is it to Coruscant?

- Well, about a couple of days.

- Is that so? Hmm... That's great. Then if you'll excuse me, I'm going to rest for a while," I sat down in the same pseudolatrous pose.

- You know, Anakin... my master sent me. To tell you that he can't bring you to the council right away because we're on a mission and we have to complete it first.

- Yeah? That's great.

- He has arranged with the queen's servants for you to stay with Amidala and support her. We will have to wait until the mission is completed. As you rightly said, it's too late for you to be a Junling.

- Don't worry, Ben, and you can tell your master I can wait. The purple crystal didn't go with it, but the style was still silver and white, so I would have to find something more appropriate. Kenobi looked at my face, and then he left.