Star Wars - Episode I Adventures 012 - The Bongo Rally Page 5

  In many ways, Boss Nass’s mansion reflected the Gungan who lived in it. It sat within an immense habitat bubble near Otoh Gunga’s main plaza. Boss Nass himself had decorated it with many treasures from ancient battles.

  Wearing her dress uniform, Fassa walked through the mansion, heading for the kitchen. The room had an ornately tiled floor and was outfitted with everything a Gungan cook could ever want. One long wall was transparent, providing a spectacular view of the city. When Fassa entered, she found Jar Jar down on his knees, peeking curiously inside a large gasser.

  “Jar Jar?” Fassa said with some alarm.

  Surprised by Fassa’s voice, Jar Jar raised his head too fast and smacked against the gasser’s ceiling. He fell back onto the tiled floor and Fassa ran to his side.

  “Jar Jar!” Fassa exclaimed. “What you doen wit yousa head ina gasser?”

  “My was just reheaten some food,” Jar Jar answered. He pointed at a large bowl of nyorks inside the gasser and said, “See?”

  Fassa helped Jar Jar to his feet, then asked, “Why yousa leaven da observation bubble back at da arena?”

  Jar Jar gestured with his arms at the kitchen and said, “Mesa gotta job, remimber? Mesa gonna show Boss Nass dat mesa responsible worker.” He shut the gasser’s circular door, sealing in the bowl of nyorks.

  Fassa bit her lip. “So, how yousa get from Lake Umberbool to hair?”

  “Da same way my go dare,” Jar Jar replied evasively.

  In truth, Jar Jar had fled from the observation bubble as soon as he saw Boss Nass approaching the spectator box. Jar Jar had been terrified that Boss Nass would see him at the arena and think he hadn’t shown up for his job at the mansion. Jar Jar had retraced his footsteps back to the injured Spleed Nukkels. After he’d taped up her ankle, he helped her back to the sub pen, where they recovered the green bongo. From there, it was an easy trip back to Otoh Gunga.

  “Yousa angry wit mesa, Jar Jar?” Fassa asked.

  “No bein silly,” Jar Jar said as he fidgeted with the gasser’s controls, trying not to look at Fassa. “What yousa caren about what mesa tinken no how? Yousa da Boss’s niece. Mesa just una waiter.”

  Fassa tried to touch Jar Jar’s hand, but he pulled away. She frowned and said, “Mesa sorry mesa questioned whether yousa was tellen da truth at da arena.”

  Jar Jar looked at her blankly. “Mesa got to get back to work,” he said.

  Fassa turned with a sigh and left the kitchen. After she was gone, Jar Jar looked down at the gasser and gave the circular door a swift kick. If only my no on probation, he thought to himself. Den mabee Fassa liken my.

  Jar Jar saw that the gasser’s timer was about to sound, so he reached down to open the door. Unfortunately, the door was stuck. Jar Jar pulled as hard as he could on the door’s handle. With the sharp snap, the handle broke off in his hand.

  Jar Jar rummaged through a kitchen drawer and found a long metal spatula. He inserted the spatula between the gasser’s door and the door’s frame, but when he pushed down on the spatula to pry the door open, it broke off inside the gasser.

  “Nutsen!” Jar Jar said.

  Jar Jar exited the kitchen and entered the banquet room, where dinner guests were waiting to be seated. Jar Jar sighted the cook, Brass Kirs, carving a large nuna at Boss Nass’s table.

  “Ex-squeezee-me, Brass Kirs,” Jar Jar said, “boot my have un lettal bitty problem inda kitch —”

  Jar Jar’s words were cut off by a massive explosion in the kitchen area. The explosion was immediately followed by a blast of water that geysered from the kitchen door and into the banquet room.

  “Da bubble field musta blown!” somebody shouted as water quickly flooded the banquet room, sending guests scurrying to the tops of the tables. Although all of Boss Nass’s guests were amphibians, many of them were dressed in formal attire that would not hold up well underwater.

  Brass Kirs glared at Jar Jar and asked, “What you do?”

  “Nutten!” Jar Jar protested. “Just da gasser door got stucky.”

  Brass Kirs rolled his eyes. “Yousa no kicken inda door, did yous?”

  Jar Jar gulped. “Kick inda door?”

  “Yeah!” answered Brass Kirs. “Any fool know dat gassers go boom if sumbotty kicken inda door.”

  “Oh,” Jar Jar replied, then nodded in agreement. “Oh, sure, any fool.”

  Jar Jar splashed through the rising water, trying to make his way back to the kitchen so he could at least try and seal the kitchen. But the incoming water was too strong, and Jar Jar was swept across the banquet room toward a steep flight of stairs. He tumbled down the stairs, and found himself looking at Boss Nass’s heyblibber inside the sub pen bubble.

  Water cascaded down the stairs, and Jar Jar stepped into the sub pen. Standing on the deck, he looked up through the sub pen bubble’s transparent ceiling and saw that Boss Nass’s mansion — now almost entirely flooded with water — was starting to roll off its axis. From his position, Jar Jar could clearly see that if the upper habitat bubble rolled far enough, it would smash down and crush the sub pen bubble.

  Boss Nass’s heyblibber would be pulverized.

  Thinking only of saving the heyblibber. Jar Jar sprang for the luxury sub and scrambled into the cockpit. The heyblibber’s controls appeared similar to those of a bongo, but Jar Jar took a deep breath as he tried to figure out how to start the thing. If he could back the heyblibber out of the sub pen and into the waters of Lake Paonga, the heyblibber would be fine.

  The water level was beginning to rise inside the sub pen, lifting the heyblibber well above the deck. Jar Jar pressed a switch and the heyblibber’s engine rumbled to life. Jar Jar grinned. Then he lowered a navigational lever.

  The heyblibber shot forward so fast that Jar Jar fell over, and the sub smashed into the stairway that led up to the mansion. Jar Jar looked out of the heyblibber’s viewport and saw the sub pen’s utanode braces buckling under the pressure from the mansion bubble. At that moment, Jar Jar knew there was only one thing left to do.

  He jumped out of the heyblibber and swam for his life.

  It was official. Jar Jar Binks was banished from the underwater city of Otoh Gunga. For life.

  Jar Jar stood on a swampy bank and watched Captain Tarpals wade back through the water to the waiting bongo. Jar Jar felt a pain in his stomach as he realized he might never see a bongo again. Or Tarpals, or Fassa, or Otoh Gunga. Even the prospect of never seeing Boss Nass again made him feel sad, although he knew it was probably a good idea to stay away from Boss Nass for a long, long time.

  The banishment could have been worse. Boss Nass could have insisted that Jar Jar be brought to the swamp by a dozen of armed soldiers. Instead, his escort had just been Tarpals.

  He watched Tarpals climb into the bongo, and wasn’t surprised when Tarpals didn’t wave goodbye. He kept his eyes on the vessel until it sank below the water’s surface. The bongo left a small trail of bubbles, and he couldn’t help but watch them, too, until each one of them had surfaced and the water was completely still.

  Jar Jar sighed.

  Blinking his eyes, he surveyed his surroundings. The swamp was at the edge of a dense forest, and the sun rode low on the horizon. Although he’d had many excursions to the swamps of Naboo, he’d spent most of his years underwater. He’d never become familiar with the orbits of Naboo’s moon or the planet’s rotation around the sun, as these were things he couldn’t see from the transport tubes of Otoh Gunga. Now, as he looked up at the sky, Jar Jar realized he wasn’t certain whether it was dawn or twilight. He would have to wait for the sun to set. Or rise.

  A long, lonely howl echoed from the forest, and Jar Jar felt a chill against the back of his neck. He wondered how long it would take him to find a safe place to sleep.

  He was also getting hungry.

  Jar Jar looked back to the water, hoping to see a bongo surface, and then hear Tarpals tell him that the banishment was all just a misunderstanding. He knew he was kidding himself, but he hoped ju
st the same.

  The area was suddenly filled by a bright flash of light, and Jar Jar thought there might be something wrong with his eyes. Seconds later, a loud explosion boomed in the air, and Jar Jar collapsed to the ground with his hands over his head. For an instant, he wondered if any of Captain Swagg’s droids were still at large. He peered through his fingers and looked up into the sky to see a large, dark cloud looming over the forest.

  The flash had been lightning. The boom had been thunder. Jar Jar wondered when it would start to rain.

  The sky grew darker, and Jar Jar realized that night was indeed falling over Naboo. High overhead, a pinpoint of light became visible through the clouds. It was a star. Jar Jar gazed at the star for a full minute, then closed his eyes and made a wish. More than anything, he hoped that he would be allowed to go home again. Someday.

  Soon.

  NEXT ADVENTURE:

  DANGER ON NABOO

  11.6.18.15.14.5-1