Star Wars.

Galaxy of Fear.

The Nightmare Machine.

by John Whitman.

PROLOGUE.

The scientist stormed into his laboratory, overturning tables and smashing vials of smoking liquid to the floor as he pa.s.sed. His servants-both droids and living creatures-scattered to avoid his anger. The scientist reached the center of his giant fortress and sat down before five computer screens.

"Give me a progress report on Project Starscream," the scientist commanded.

One by one, the five screens came to life.

Three of them showed nothing but static.

Project Starscream was a top-secret program that the scientist had developed for the Emperor. There were six steps. Three of them had already taken place. The fourth and fifth were ready to go. The sixth and final stage was set to take place in the scientist's citadel itself.

The scientist had worked hard to keep his plans secret. Only a few people in the entire galaxy had known of Project Starscream's existence.

No one suspected that the scientist was hatching a plot to bring the entire universe to its knees.

Until now.

Of the five experiments, three had already been ruined. The scientist glared at the blank screens.

D'vouran, the living planet. The zombies of Necropolis. And just a few days before, the plague virus on Gobindi. One by one, three of his experiments had been destroyed. Not by Rebel commandos, but by the most unlikely of enemies: two kids and a droid, led by a meddling anthropologist.

The scientist whispered his enemy's name like a curse. "Hoole."

Somehow Hoole and the brats he watched over had learned of Project Starscream. Although they didn't know everything yet, they knew enough to be dangerous. But they would not live long enough to learn the final secret. The scientist planned to make them pay for interfering with his experiments.

He looked up at the fourth view screen and smiled. Stage Four was ready for testing. And he knew just who to test it on....

CHAPTER 1.

"Don't make any sudden moves!" Zak hissed. Beside him, his sister, Tash, obeyed, and the two Arrandas froze.

Before them, a remote sentry droid hovered. It didn't look dangerous-it was only a tiny metal ball covered with small silver studs.

But Zak, who tried to keep up with the latest technology, knew that it was a Balmorran HK-130 sentry droid. Each of those little silver studs could fire a stun beam strong enough to put a bantha to sleep.

It was early morning, and Zak and Tash were inside the headquarters of the Galactic Research Academy on the planet Koaan. Their uncle, Hoole, an anthropologist, kept an office at the Academy, although he rarely visited there. He spent most of his time traveling across the galaxy, studying alien cultures as part of his research. Zak and Tash had gone with him on several of these field trips. Lately, however, those trips had turned deadly. After their last adventure on the planet Gobindi-where Tash had nearly been killed by a deadly virus-Hoole had taken them directly to the Galactic Research Academy.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Tash whispered as the sentry droid continued to study them.

"Relax," Zak whispered.

"How can I relax with that thing scanning me?" his sister grumbled.

"What if it fires at us?"

Zak held hack a sigh of irritation. For someone who read all day, Tash didn't know much about technology.

"This is a trouble-seeker droid," he explained, trying to stay as calm as possible. "The Academy custodians probably let them loose overnight to watch for maintenance trouble or vandals. This one's just trying to decide if we're a threat or not. Once it makes up its mind, it will let us go."

"Or shoot us," Tash whispered. "Who's to say it's not going to-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the hovering ball of firepower turned and zipped away. Zak grinned. "See, technology can be your friend if you let it."

"Let's just get on with this," Tash replied.

Soon after they had arrived at the Research Academy, Uncle Hoole had vanished without a word, leaving Zak and Tash with a thousand unanswered questions.

They had decided to find the answers on their own.

They had located one of the Research Academy's core computer libraries. These weren't exactly maximum security zones, but Zak and Tash knew they weren't supposed to be there without supervision.

They were going to sneak a look at Uncle Hoole's computer files.

The two Arranda children had been adopted by Hoole seven months ago when their parents and everyone they knew had been killed during the destruction of the planet Alderaan. But in all those months, Hoole had told them almost nothing about himself-not even his first name.

During the last few weeks, Hoole had become even more mysterious than usual. He had taken them on several unexplained adventures, often disappearing on long errands without ever telling them where he was going, and leaving them in the hands of their caretaker, the droid DV-9.

At first Zak and Tash hadn't thought much about this. After all, Hoole was an anthropologist. It was his job to travel to distant planets and study the species that lived there.

However, Hoole's recent "studies" had taken them to some strange-and very dangerous-places. Tash and Zak soon learned that they had stumbled onto a scheme called Project Starscream, run by someone powerful in the Empire.

But had Uncle Hoole, a simple anthropologist, gotten himself involved in a galaxywide Imperial plot?

That's what Zak and Tash wanted to find out.

They entered the core computer library. It was a large room, lined with video screens and shelves of datadisks. Because it was so early, they had the room to themselves, and Zak quickly dropped into a seat in front of a computer terminal.

"It's easy to access the main computer files," Tash noted. "But the Academy personnel files are under tight security. How do you plan on getting in?"

"With this," Zak said confidently. He held up a small datadisk.

"This is a decoder. Deevee had a fancier name for it-"

"A cypher," Tash finished.

"Right, hyperbrain," her brother agreed with a smirk. "Deevee designed it while trying to break down the computer files we found onboard the Shroud."

Tash nodded. On one of their recent journeys, they had acquired a starship called the Shroud and discovered that its computers contained coded information about the mysterious Project Starscream.

Zak continued. "This cypher will break through the code and let us look at Uncle Hoole's personnel files. Then we can figure out if he's involved in this Imperial plot."

Punching in a command on the control panel, Zak called up the personnel records. A second later the computer screen flashed the message ACCESS DENIED. SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED.

Zak slid his decoder disk into the computer slot and waited. The computer a.n.a.lyzed the disk and began to process the information. Zak smiled. "Just a few seconds..."

The computer screen briefly blinked off, then back on. The words reappeared. ACCESS DENIED. SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIRED.

"Hey!" Zak exclaimed. "Why didn't it work?"

"Because I disarmed it," said a voice that Zak and Tash knew well.

It was the stern voice of Uncle Hoole.

CHAPTER 2.

The two Arrandas turned to face their uncle. Zak looked up into Hoole's dark eyes and his long, grim face. Hoole looked human-only a telltale shade of gray in his skin and his extra-long, delicate hands reminded Zak that his uncle was a member of the Shi'ido species. Of course, Hoole could look like anyone or anything he pleased. Zak had seen his uncle transform into creatures as large as a Wookiee and as small as a white rock mouse. Like all members of the Shi'ido species, Hoole was a shape-shifter.

And like other Shi'ido, Hoole usually looked either serious or seriously irritated. Now Zak expected that irritation to explode into anger.

To his surprise, Hoole merely removed the datadisk from the computer and said, "I guessed that your curiosity would lead you to the computer files as soon as I had given you some free time. And I have learned over the past month how resourceful you two can be." Zak thought he spotted the hint of a twinkle in Hoole's stern eye. "But my personnel history is not your affair. And I believe that the less you know about recent events, the better off you are."

"But-" Zak began to protest.

"Please do not argue," the Shi'ido stated in a voice that allowed no debate. "There is no time. We will be leaving shortly."

With a swirl of his dark blue robe, Hoole turned and strode from the computer library, with Zak and Tash following. "But we just got here," Zak said. "Where are you taking us now?"

"On vacation," their uncle responded. "Deevee will go with you. I have business where you cannot follow."

Zak and Tash could hardly believe their ears. "A vacation!" Zak exclaimed. "How can we think about relaxing now? We don't even know what Project Starscream is all about-"

"Zak. Tash." Hoole stopped. His Shi'ido features suddenly softened with concern. He looked back and forth between his niece and nephew.

"You both must understand that this is not a game. I made a grave mistake when this all began. I should have removed you to safety the moment events turned threatening. My inexperience as a guardian has exposed you to terrible danger, danger that even I do not yet fully understand. The being who created Project Starscream is evil and unpredictable. And I am sure that he and I will meet again."

Tash and Zak looked at one another. On their last adventure, they had come face-to-face with the scientist behind Project Starscream. He was a Shi'ido, just like Hoole. "Uncle Hoole," Tash asked, "who was that scientist?"

Hoole frowned. "His name," the Shi'ido said, "is Borborygmus Gog.

He is extremely powerful and extremely dangerous. Now let's get going."

"But how do you know him?" Zak asked. "What are you going to do?"

Hoole's face was as still as a durasteel mask. "There are serious questions to be answered. I must continue my research. Now we must hurry." He started down the hall again as he continued to speak. "I am going to bring you somewhere safe, where you will blend in with a crowd of humans and other species your own age. I do not want you to tell anyone where you are going, and once you are there, I do not want you to tell anyone your business."

"Where are we going?" Zak asked as he hurried after his uncle.

Hoole did not bother to turn as he replied, "To Hologram Fun World."

Hours later, on board their ship, the Shroud, Zak and the droid DV-9 stood at one of the ship's viewports and watched the transparent dome of Hologram Fun World grow larger as they approached. Fun World was not located on a planet-it had been built inside a transparent dome, suspended in the vacuum of s.p.a.ce. Zak estimated that Fun World was about forty kilometers long, the size of a small city. As the Shroud drew closer, he made out buildings, mountains-even what looked like an ocean!

"Have you been here before, Deevee?" Zak asked.

Making use of all his humanlike qualities, the silver droid managed to look depressed. "Certainly not," he droned. "As you are well aware, I was a high-level research droid before Master Hoole adopted you and Tash.

Visiting an amus.e.m.e.nt park was not part of my programming." The droid aimed his photoreceptors at the approaching s.p.a.ce dome. "Still, Hologram Fun World is a technological wonder. They say the holographic images look, sound, feel, and even smell like the real objects they imitate."

"Prime," Zak said. "I'll get Tash."

Zak knew just where to find his sister. She could generally be found in her room, reading datastories about the now-extinct Jedi Knights. She believed in the Force and in the powers the Jedi Knights were said to have; she even dreamed of becoming a Jedi herself someday.

Until recently Zak had teased Tash about her dream, but during their travels with Hoole, Tash had gotten some strange, unexplainable feelings of dread. She seemed to sense when danger was near, just like (Zak had to admit) the legendary Jedi Knights supposedly could.

But when he reached Tash's cabin, she wasn't reading. She was sitting at her computer terminal.

"We're about to land," Zak said, flopping down on her bed.

The minute he saw the computer screen, Zak knew what Tash had been up to. She had been on the HoloNet, the galaxywide computer network. It was here that Tash had first learned about the Jedi Knights from a mysterious contact, code- named ForceFlow. Tash suspected that ForceFlow worked for the Rebels, who fought against the Empire. ForceFlow had warned her about their last trip, to the planet Gobindi. They should have paid more attention.

"I finally got through to ForceFlow," Tash said. "I asked him about Project Starscream and about Hoole."

"Did he know anything?" Zak asked.

Tash pointed to the screen. "Not much. He says that Project Starscream is a top-secret operation run by someone in the Empire. But he says it's not just military. It's scientific."

"We already knew that," Zak replied. "What about Uncle Hoole?"

"ForceFlow sent me this." Tash touched a b.u.t.ton on her computer and the information on the screen changed. Zak was looking at Hoole's personnel file- the same file they had tried to break into at the Research Academy.

Zak scanned the readout eagerly, but the gleam in his eye faded quickly. According to the files, Hoole had been born on Sh'shuun, the homeworld of the Shi'ido species. He had been an excellent student on Sh'shuun, and eventually he had left his homeworld to study at the Galactic Research Academy, where he became a professor of anthropology.

He had dedicated himself to recording the cultural habits of species across the galaxy.