Star Wars - Episode I Adventures 009 - Rescue in the Core Read online

  Except for the Gungans themselves, the pure Gungan language is almost impossible to understand. Fortunately, most Gungans speak a pidgin dialect of Galactic Basic, but some phrasing may still bewilder the inexperienced outlander. If you are confused by any Gungan words and sentences in this story, try reading them out loud.

  Before the planet Naboo’s battle against the Trade Federation, Jar Jar Binks was not very popular with his fellow Gungans. The Gungans were proud of their heritage as noble warriors, and they viewed the ever-clumsy Jar Jar as an embarrassment.

  Jar Jar’s bungling behavior made him infamous throughout the underwater city of Otoh Gunga. Whenever an accident occurred there, everyone immediately assumed Jar Jar was responsible — and they were usually right.

  Boss Nass, ruler of Otoh Gunga, was well aware of Jar Jar’s bad reputation when he read a petition — signed by over three hundred citizens — to remove Jar Jar to a small, private habitat bubble at the city’s outskirts. After Boss Nass tore up the petition, his Rep Council advised him to send Jar Jar to a military post on Naboo’s surface. Boss Nass quickly vetoed the Reps’ proposal, too.

  Boss Nass had little sympathy for Jar Jar, but he knew that sending him away was not a good solution. Jar Jar would only find his way back to Otoh Gunga. So Boss Nass decided to give him something that no one else had ever dared to offer the accident-prone Gungan.

  A job.

  “Dis job stinksowiff,” Jar Jar Binks muttered to himself. He was working the night shift at the Otoh Gunga Zoological Research Facility, pushing a dudu-scooper across the cold stone floor of the blackhorned hrumph cage. All fifteen rare hrumphs had left to roam the terraformed savanna outside the cage, but the beasts’ pungent odor hung heavy in the enclosed chamber.

  “If mesa no getten lungfulla fresh air, mesa ganna die,” Jar Jar whined. Hoping to bring fresh air into the cage, he pushed back the broad doors of the cage’s janitorial-access hatch. Much to his dismay, the open hatch did little to diminish the cage’s foul stench. Jar Jar went back to work.

  Like the rest of Otoh Gunga, the zoological research facility lay in the deep waters of Lake Paonga on the planet Naboo. The city was home to the Gungans, an amphibious species characterized by partially retractable eyestalks, four-fingered hands, and haillu, two long earlobes used for displays of aggression, friendship, and fear. Naboo was also home to a human civilization who shared a name with the planet itself. The Gungans occasionally traded goods with the Naboo, but any meeting required a long journey. The most direct route between Otoh Gunga and the Naboo capital city, Theed, was through a series of underwater passages known as the core. Since the core was also home to menacing sea creatures, the route was not often used.

  Besides the physical distance between their cities, the Gungans and Naboo were separated by great cultural differences. The Naboo embraced peace, while the Gungans were warriors. The Gungans were also reluctant to use standard technology, and preferred to work with their planet’s natural resources.

  To build Otoh Gunga, the Gungans had employed secret techniques to “grow” their structures and vehicles. The architecture was distinguished by bubbleshaped buildings that were anchored to massive stone pillars on the lake’s floor, and linked by underwater bridges and transport tubes. Hydrostatic membrane fields kept water out of the spacious dwelling bubbles, and special portal zones allowed the Gungans to enter and exit without airlocks. Each bubble was reinforced by organically ornate utanode assembly braces, and contained atmospheric purifiers that radiated a soft, golden haze. From just below the water’s surface, the sprawling city resembled a sunken treasure of gigantic, glowing jewels.

  The Otoh Gunga Zoological Research Facility was a great expanse of linked habitat bubbles that held thousands of exotic creatures from all over Naboo. Air-filled bubbles with terraformed environments housed wild animals from the planet’s surface, while rare sea life thrived in an elaborate chain of enclosed aquariums. Every specimen in the facility had one thing in common: they were all endangered.

  Jar Jar tried to clean the chamber floor quickly. The blackhorned hrumphs were due back from their savanna within five minutes, and he was scheduled to clean eight more cages before munchen. Although Jar Jar had a healthy appetite, he wasn’t really looking forward to going to the facility cafeteria. It was always too quiet during the night shift — everyone else had gone home. Granted, the day shift wasn’t much better. No one ever wanted to sit near him anyway.

  Jar Jar let out a sigh. Even Captain Tarpals refused to associate with him anymore.

  Trying to forget about his current situation, Jar Jar thought about the upcoming Festival of Warriors, the annual competition that united Gungans from all over Naboo. With its parades and parties, the festival was Jar Jar’s favorite event of the year. Unfortunately, the highly anticipated festival was going to be held in the new arena at the bottom of Lake Umberbool. Jar Jar hadn’t been working at the facility long enough to earn a vacation, and his schedule wouldn’t permit him to make the journey to the distant lake. The lonesome Gungan was wondering if Boss Nass might temporarily reassign him to work at the Festival Arena, when his thoughts were interrupted by a loud, bestial snort. Startled, Jar Jar whirled to face the tunnel that led to the savanna.

  A single blackhorned hrumph looked back at Jar Jar. The Gungan knew he wasn’t in any danger — hrumphs are herbivores — but he was flustered.

  “Hey, what yousa tink yousa doen back hair?” Jar Jar scolded the hrumph. “Yous not due back fer anutter fiven minutes. Goen! Get outta hair!”

  The hrumph craned its thick neck to train its small eyes on something behind Jar Jar, then snorted again. Jar Jar turned, following the hrumph’s gaze to see the cage’s janitorial-access hatch.

  The hatch was wide open, just as Jar Jar had left it.

  A scuffing sound prompted Jar Jar to look back at the hrumph. The beast had extended one of its legs and was dragging its foot back and forth across the floor. Jar Jar wasn’t certain, but he suspected the hrumph was preparing to charge for the open hatch. He tightened his grip on the handle of dudu-scooper. The hrumph let out another loud snort.

  Jar Jar laughed nervously. “Why mesa skeered? My smarter den da hrumph,” he said to himself. Then he pointed at the hrumph and commanded, “Stay where yousa is! No moven!” Jar Jar went to shut the access hatch, but he tripped over the dudu-scooper and crashed to the cage floor. “Oop-sie!”

  The hrumph moved fast, bounding over Jar Jar and through the open hatch. Jar Jar scrambled to his feet but was too late. The hrumph was already in the janitorial-access tube.

  “Oie boie,” Jar Jar muttered, then ran after the fugitive hrumph. Jar Jar was so determined to capture the animal he forgot that other hrumphs would soon be returning to their cage.

  He also forgot to shut the access hatch behind him.

  Running as fast as he could, Jar Jar pursued the blackhorned hrumph through the access tube. His long ears flopped behind his head.

  For a large creature, the hrumph was surprisingly fast. Jar Jar was fairly certain he could catch up with the hrumph, but he didn’t know how he might stop the heavy beast.

  “Quit runnen away!” Jar Jar shouted after the hrumph, which only made the animal run faster. Jar Jar watched the hrumph break through the doors that led to the cafeteria. By the time Jar Jar entered the room, the hrumph had knocked over several tables, smashed through another set of doors, and entered the next tube.

  Jar Jar sped after the hrumph, then panicked when it rounded a corner and ran into an adjoining tube. Jar Jar loved food, so he was very familiar with the layout around the cafe
teria. He knew the adjoining tube ended with a portal zone with direct access to the lake. If he didn’t stop the hrumph before it reached the portal, the animal might break through the bubble enclosing the facility.

  And if the hrumph were to leave the bubble, it would drown.

  Jar Jar ran faster. As he neared the passage intersection, he heard a loud crash from around the corner. Had the hrumph just burst through the portal? Jar Jar rounded the corner too fast and lost his balance, sending him sprawling into the adjoining passage tube, where he slammed against the wall. Stunned, Jar Jar looked to the end of the passage, where the hrumph lay silent on the floor.

  A security light glowed red, indicating the bubble door was locked. Only then did Jar Jar remember the doors were sealed when the facility was closed. Jar Jar got up and examined the fallen beast. The hrumph had run headfirst into the transparent energy field and bounced back into the passage tube. Jar Jar was afraid the poor animal had broken its neck.

  Fortunately, hrumphs were sturdy, solid creatures. A loud snort came from the hrumph’s nostrils, and it slowly rose to its feet. It looked at Jar Jar and shook its blackhorned head.

  “Hey ho ho,” Jar Jar laughed. “Lucky yousa, numbskull! Reached a dead end, yousa did. Now my ganna bringen yousa back to yousa cage before mesa getten in trouble.” Jar Jar had to admit, if such an accident had to happen, it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Since the zoological research facility was closed, no one would know he had accidentally let one of the animals loose.

  The Gungan carefully reached out to grab the hrumph by its lowest rack of horns. But just as his hands touched the hrumph, an emergency alarm began wailing: WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!

  “Oh no!” Jar Jar cried. “Whaten gooie on?!”

  While the alarm blared, something in the water outside the portal zone caught Jar Jar’s attention — it was a broad-bellied hohokum, an amphibious creature that was normally found in the swamps of Naboo.

  But this was not an ordinary hohokum. It was twice the average size, had unusually long tusks, and appeared to possess an aged wisdom in its sleepy eyes. Despite his limited experience at the facility, Jar Jar recognized the animal as the Great Hohokum, a specimen that was over four centuries old. The Great Hohokum happened to be one of the most important creatures in the facility, second only to the…

  “Dwarf opee sea killers!” Jar Jar gasped as he spotted Vink and Nink, the zoo’s famous pair of heavily plated monsters swimming past the portal. The dwarf opee sea killers were less than half the size of their full-size counterparts, their genetic makeup preventing them from growing any larger.

  They appeared to be enjoying their freedom. They were followed by an albino dianoga, three broadtailed fanbacks, and a school of jumbo daggerts. All were rare aquatic life-forms. Jar Jar blinked in disbelief, then asked aloud, “How come all dese rarity aquabeasts are outta dare bubbles?”

  Jar Jar pressed his face against the transparent portal so he could look toward the aquarium bubbles. But instead of seeing bubbles, he saw only empty utanode assembly braces suspended in the water. Those braces should have been holding the aquarium bubbles.

  Jar Jar shrugged his shoulders. As far as he was concerned, his job was to clean up after the animals. For all he knew, someone had moved the aquarium bubbles, or maybe the facility’s director had deliberately released the creatures. Jar Jar figured it was somebody else’s problem, and that the security guards would handle everything if there was any real trouble. Besides, Jar Jar already had his work cut out for him. He still had to get the hrumph back to its cage, and the sooner the better.

  It took less than ten minutes for Huff Zinga, Director of the Otoh Gunga Zoological Research Facility, to identify the culprit responsible for the aquarium disaster. It was a simple matter of deductive reasoning: fourteen of the fifteen blackhorned hrumphs had been found loose in the zoo; two of the hrumphs had stampeded into the control room, smashed into the main bubble computer, and opened the aquarium bubbles. The fifteenth hrumph was found on the hrumph savanna, lazily chewing on some tentacle ferns. Near the grazing hrumph was a sleeping Gungan.

  Jar Jar Binks.

  Jar Jar had been exhausted after returning the single hrumph to its cage. When a pair of guards roused him from his slumber, he responded, “How wude!”

  Rather than turn Jar Jar over to the authorities, the furious Huff Zinga chose to lock him in the hrumph cage for the rest of the day. Then the researchers and caretakers worked round the clock to recover the escaped specimens and replace the lost bubbles. The dwarf opee sea killers and Great Hohokum were still missing, but when the broadtailed fanbacks and jumbo daggerts were found unharmed, Huff Zinga considered celebrating by feeding Jar Jar to the saber-toothed granks. The facility’s director finally decided that death by granks would be too good a fate for the irresponsible janitor, so he had the Gungan Security Force deliver Jar Jar to Boss Nass instead.

  Wearing binders, Jar Jar was led by four electropole-wielding Gungan guards to the bubble that contained the High Tower Board Room, where the Rep Council was in session. The heavyset Boss Nass was perched on his elevated seat in the center of a raised balcony.

  Boss Nass was surrounded by four Gungan officials known as Reps. One of the Reps was Rep Teers, who was responsible for the power supply that sustained the bubbles in Otoh Gunga. Although the facility’s bubbles had been restored, Rep Teers was embarrassed that they had been so easily ruined in the first place. The sight of Jar Jar Binks filled him with annoyance. Keeping his voice calm, Rep Teers rose, turned to Boss Nass, and said, “Pardon me, Boss, but mesa schedule-ed to speed by bongo to meet wit da bubble engineers at da new arena bubbles in Lake Umberbool.” He’d let Boss Nass deal with Jar Jar.

  Boss Nass could tell it was best to let Rep Teers leave, so he nodded his approval. As Rep Teers exited the Board Room, Boss Nass looked down at Jar Jar and frowned. The ruler of Otoh Gunga felt foolish for thinking Jar Jar would be able to work at the zoological research facility. Boss Nass hated feeling foolish, especially in front of his soldiers and Reps.

  “Dissen no good, Binks,” Boss Nass bellowed. “Too many yesterdays, mesa let yousa offa da hook. But da charge-es against yous isa berry serius. Yousa bein accuse-ed of letten all da hrumphs loose un causen da aquarium bubbles to goen kerplooie. What yousa havena to spake for youself?”

  “Tis all my fault for leavin da hrumph cage hatch open,” Jar Jar answered. “My trow meself upon da mercy of da court. Mesa berry berry sorry.”

  “Yousa sorry?” Boss Nass scowled. “Jar Jar, yousa da most sorry-est Gungan in all-n Naboo.”

  Jar Jar wasn’t sure how he should respond. He cocked his head to the side as he thought very hard, then said, “All tings considered, it cowdabe worsen.”

  “Worsen?!” Boss Nass sputtered. With so many of Naboo’s endangered creatures still on the loose, he didn’t see how things could have been worse. “What yous meanen, cowdabe worsen?!”

  “Oh, much worsen!” Jar Jar replied. “Imagin if da hrumphs hada bust-ed up da ’puters dat control-ed da bubbles for da rarity air-breathen mammals. All-n dem air-breathers wowdabe drown-ed. Was kinda lucky only da aquarium bubbles got burst-ed. Also lucky dat nobody got ouch-ed!”

  Boss Nass could hardly believe his ears. Granted, the accident could have been much worse if the hrumphs had destroyed the computers that controlled the bubbles for air-breathing specimens, but Boss Nass considered this to be irrelevant. “Da fact remains dat dis axadent no should’ve happened,” he declared. “Tis only outta respict to yousa mutter un fatter dat my no sentence yous to bean pounded.”

  Jar Jar’s shoulders sagged, and he looked down at his binders. He always felt sad when anyone reminded him of his mother and father. But at least he wasn’t going to be pounded. He raised his eyestalks to Boss Nass and waited for the ruler’s verdict.

  “Jar Jar Binks,” Boss Nass said. “Yousa found guilty of bean a menace to Otoh Gunga. Mese putten yous on probay-shun. If yousa causen any
more axadentes in da rest of da year, yousa ganna be banish-ed from Otoh Gunga forever.”

  Jar Jar gulped. For any other Gungan, a year was a long time to avoid an accident. For Jar Jar, it was practically impossible. Still, he felt grateful to Boss Nass for giving him one last chance.

  “Tanken yousa, Boss Nass, Your Honor,” Jar Jar said with a bow. Thinking the trial was over, Jar Jar raised his manacled wrists and added, “If my ganna be stayen outta trouble, maybee now isa good time for da guards to take offa dese binders?”

  “Mesa no finish-ed wit yous, Jar Jar Binks,” Boss Nass said, and he gestured for the four guards to block Jar Jar’s path. Jar Jar hadn’t bathed since his captivity with the hrumphs, so the guards kept their distance. “Becausen of da damage you cause-ed da Otoh Gunga Zoological Research Facility,” Boss Nass continued, “mese also senten-cen yous to six-munts harsh labor.”

  “Harsh labor?!” Jar Jar echoed. He doubted he’d survive six hours of harsh labor, let alone six months. “Even mure harshen den cleanen dudu at da zoo?”

  “Far mure harshen,” Boss Nass hissed. “Maxi-harshest, yousa get. Yousa bean taken tooda Quarry.”

  The mere mention of the Quarry made Jar Jar tremble. For centuries, the underwater grotto had been nothing more than an isolated place of punishment, located near the edge of the core. There, convicts had hammered large boulders into grains of sand, then molded the sand back into large boulders, then repeated the process over again and again. It was such a horrible punishment the Gungans had created better places for prisoners. The Quarry hadn’t been used for over three generations, but it carried on as the place where Gungan parents would jokingly threaten to send any ill-mannered children.

  “But… but…” Jar Jar stammered. “My taut da Quarry was close-ed un abandon-ed.”

  “Tis true,” Boss Nass admitted. “But wesa ganna open it just for yousa.”