RZ-7

But lucky for Karr, detention was the last thing on anyone’s mind. The headmaster inclined his four-horned head and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’ll survive. I always do.”

“We should still contact your parents,” he said. “You need a doctor.”

“Sure,” said Karr, even though he knew that doctors would be no help. “Actually, we have a medical droid on hand for whenever this happens. These seizures. They’ve been happening off and on for years. I can just call Arzee. He’ll come check me out.”

The headmaster agreed and helped him to his feet. “I do remember reading something about that, in your file. Go ahead and call your droid. Okay, everyone. Let’s give him some air.”

Karr activated his comlink. “Arzee-Seven? I had another seizure.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, sir,” said the droid. “I’m on my way.”

When everything was settled, the headmaster instructed everyone who hadn’t fainted dramatically to get back to class.

[...]

The family speeder appeared in the distance, and soon Karr could see the familiar figure of RZ-7 in the driver’s seat. Medical droids didn’t usually drive, but it wasn’t so weird that anyone said anything about it as the speeder pulled up to the school—where an assortment of other vehicles was already parked. The area was dotted with all sorts of landspeeders, large and small. The only thing they had in common was that they were all kind of beat-up. Most of them were either secondhand vehicles or they belonged to teenagers who were still getting the hang of driving.

“Hey, Karr! I heard you died today,” someone said. It was a Togruta hanging over the side of his speeder. “Too bad I heard wrong….” He laughed as he zipped away.

Maize turned around and shouted, “E chu ta an do padda-mames!” at the retreating vehicle.

“Did you just say—”

“Something about his mother, yes. My father had some business dealings with the Hutts. It’s a wonderful language for swearing.”
He nodded, impressed. “Thanks, I guess. That was…great. No one ever stands up for me, especially not at school. I hope you don’t regret it later.”

“I never regret anything.”

The idling landspeeder sputtered a bit, suggesting it needed a new coil driver but also drawing Karr’s attention to a potentially awkward problem. “Oh, no,” he said with embarrassment. “Arzee brought the two-seater.”

With surprise, she asked, “How many speeders do you have?”

He cringed. “Um…just the one. But it only has two seats, so…”

Maize laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll sit on your lap.”

He blushed all the way down to his toes. “I’m really sorry there isn’t more room, but…I mean, you’re the one who offered to see me home.” As Karr crawled into the passenger seat, he gestured to the droid. “Anyway, Maize, this is Arzee.”

The metallic blue driver gave her a nod of acknowledgment. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, madam.”

“Same here.” Maize climbed in and sat on top of Karr’s thighs, wrapping her arms around his neck.

If RZ-7 had any eyebrows, he would’ve raised them. “We’d better get you home, sir. You’re turning all red.”

“Just drive,” Karr grumbled.

Maize ignored his blushing and his awkward grip on her waist. “So!” she said brightly to RZ-7. “You’re a medical droid? And they make you drive, too?”

Karr answered for him. “Yes. I mean, no. Between you and me, he’s not really a medical droid. I built him, and I don’t know anything about medicine—so neither does he.”

The droid revved the engine, and the speeder lurched along. “He doesn’t know much about driving, either!”

It was hard to talk in an open-air vehicle that was zipping through the desert, but that was all right. Karr didn’t know what to say, anyway—but whenever they slowed to make a turn or wait for a train, Maize peppered him with questions.

“What do you mean you built him?” she shouted over the speeder’s hum and the rumbling of the train.

“I made him from parts I found, here and there. He’s working with the circuitry of a protocol droid, the hard drive of an astromech, and the casing of a medical unit. But what he’s really good at is getting me out of tricky situations.”

“You’re just lucky the headmaster didn’t ask him for his evaluation.”

Karr laughed. “Arzee can’t evaluate anything bigger than a splinter in my finger. I built him to be my friend, not my nurse.”

“Well aren’t you handy.”

The train was slow to get out of the way, so Maize had time for one more question. “I never asked you how you got your crazy ideas about the Jedi.”

“My crazy ideas?” he sputtered. “Their story is—”

“Their story is a mess! Nobody agrees about who they were or what they could do, and there’s no proof they ever existed at all! The stories are lies, and that’s all there is to it.”

RZ-7 revved the engine and ducked the speeder around the last train car.

“My grandmother told me about the Jedi, and she would never lie.”

“Then she’s crazy and wrong, that’s all. I’ll tell her myself, when I meet her.”

The road opened and the wind picked up, so Karr had to yell to be heard. “You can’t! She’s dead!”


- Force Collector, Chapter 3