Holoprojector

While he waited for the droid to successfully traverse the sand, Karr turned the little device over and over in his hands. “Do you still work?” he asked it, and then felt kind of stupid. It couldn’t answer him, even if it wanted to. It did not light up, hum, or produce any helpful images. “Arzee!” he shouted again.

The droid answered from much closer than Karr expected. “Right here, sir. Apologies, it took some effort to come this far.”

“Look what I found!”

“A holoprojector? Very good, sir!”

“It was hidden, or maybe it just got tossed into the cabinet when they crashed. It’s not working, though. Do you think you can help?”

“Sir, I will do my best to try.”

While the droid poked and prodded the silent little unit, Karr peeled off his gloves and very gently touched the edge.

Zap.

Loud noises. Tumbling, rolling through the sky.

He jerked his hand back.

“Sir?”

“It’s fine.” He tried again. This time he saw things falling and heard lasers firing. Everything was out of control—sparks were flying, metal was squealing and bending. Emergency lights were firing, and alarms were wailing.

Then he saw him. A figure trying hard to fly the ship. The pilot wore a Jedi robe, and for a moment Karr reflected on how lucky he was that the Jedi wore such attire. At least it had always helped in identifying them in his visions.

But now it was too much pain. He felt the faint coming just in time to let go of the device and sit down. He drew up his knees and let his head fall down between them while he tried to catch his breath.

“A bad one, sir?”

“Real bad. The crash…all I can see is the crash.”

Just then, a gritty grinding of tiny gears grunted from the holoprojector. Both Karr and RZ-7 jumped back, surprised.

“Sir, I think there might be some life left in the unit after all. Hold on, let me see….” He tinkered and tweaked, and a faint blue light flickered weakly to life.

“It’s working! You did it!”

“I do my best, sir.” He pried open a small panel that had been gummed shut with sand. Another light came on, which then produced a tiny hologram.

It was pale and weak and riddled with static. But it played.

From what he could tell from his vision, the Jedi in the hologram and the struggling pilot were one and the same. He looked like a man who’d taken a beating, and he rocked back and forth in an effort to hold his footing. “This is Master Sifo-Dyas, en route to the desert moon that orbits Oba Diah. I’m with…with”—an explosion rocked the ship, if that’s where he was recording the message—“Silman, flying emergency survival capsule number seven-seven-five-five-one-nine, and our long-range transmitter has been knocked out. We’re under attack by the Pykes, and I’m preparing to jettison this projector in hopes that it will be found and—” The next few seconds were garbled.

“Oh, wow, Arzee.”

“Indeed, sir!”

Sifo-Dyas came back into focus. “And the truth is, we won’t make it out of this alive.” He looked exhausted and frightened, but determined. “If that’s the case, so be it. But there are things that mustn’t be lost. This is what it’s come to—and I want…I want everyone to understand that I’ve done my best. Some may disagree with my methods, but these are desperate times and someone, somewhere should know: as you are aware, I have seen a vision of the future that I feel warrants an army. You’ve disagreed with me, but I felt I had no choice. Therefore I have ordered one: a clone army from the Kaminoans. Something must be done, and I made that decision. It may haunt me, and”—more static, garbled shouts from someone else in the shuttle—“or then again, maybe I won’t have to live with that decision very long at all.”

“Oh, wow…” Karr said again.

Sifo-Dyas faded out, then faded back in again. To whoever else was on the shuttle, presumably this Silman person, he called, “Hurry—we can’t take another hit like that!” Then, to anyone who might find the message and hear it, or to the Jedi themselves, he added, “Come find me!”

The transmission went dead.

Karr was stunned. Elated. And numb. “Arzee, that was…that’s a…”

“A Jedi Master, yes, sir.”

“Not a vision,” he was quick to specify. “Not a blurry feeling, but my first sight of an actual Jedi.” He waited a moment to take it all in.


- Force Collector, Chapter 13