Chapter 17 trust in the Force
Ten entered the kitchen, in a frantic state. She was saying something, but it wasn’t quite intelligible due to her present fear. Jordeen put down what she was doing to attend to her.
“Shhh, slow down. Breathe,” Jordeen coached.
“Where’s Corissa? There’s a ship coming,” Ten sad.
“You want to go meet it?” Jordeen asked.
“No! I mean, no. My impulse is to run. There’s something bad coming,” Ten said.
“Okay,” Jordeen said. She used her wristbsnd to page Corissa.
“I’ll be right there,” Corissa said.
Ten turned around to find Pink there.
“Call the other Droids, we got to leave,” she said. Freya arrived.
“Is there a problem?” she asked.
Jordeen shrugged.
“Hopefully nothing,” she said.
“But be on alert.”
Corissa came in, running.
“What’s up?” she asked, kneeling to be at eye level with Ten. Ten seemed clamer than when she had first come to the kitchen. She shrugged.
“Nothing. I guess it was a false alarm,” she said.
“What’s for lunch?”
♫♪►
Preston sat up in bed so suddenly that he startled Daphne into waking. She touched his back.
“You okay,” she asked?
“Get dressed,” he said, going for his trousers.
“Really? I want to sleep in,” Daphne said, returning her head to the pillow. Preston pulled the pillow out from under head.
“Now,” he said.
“Grumpy,” Daphne said, sitting up and stretching.
“Sure you don’t want to play a little before we check out?”
Preston finished securing his belt and was hurrying into his shirt.
“Please, hurry,” he insisted.
“What is it?” Daphne asked, finally succumbing to just how serious he was.
He didn’t answer from being obsessively focused on dressing. He sat down on the bed and started securing his boots. She slipped into her skirt, then found her bra, slightly amused at how far her articles of clothing were separated from each other. She slipped into her blouse, then her robe, and went for her boots. Preston went for his pack and slipped it over his head, letting it hang under his left arm. He fished out the first Lightsaber he had ever constructed and went to hand it to Daphne who was working on tightening her boots. Using the Force, he reached into the mechanism and instructed the lightsaber’s programming to accept the next user as a primary user.
“What’s wrong?” Daphne asked, picking up the lightsaber.
His answer came in the form of removing his own Lightsaber from his belt. Daphne shook some of the stress out of her arms, preparing for battle. They stood, anxiously awaiting something that didn’t come. Daphne began to relax.
“Are you sure it wasn’t a dream?” Daphne asked.
Preston made a signal for quiet. He inched closer to the door and opened it. Nothing. The hallway light flickered, buzzed, popped, and came back on, but it was evidence of nothing more than time to change the light. He forced himself to breathe, taking one step out into the hall, Daphne on his heels. The explosion from inside the room knocked them both off their feet, propelling them into the hallway.
Preston recovered first, bouncing up and heading directly back into the room. A hole had been blasted from the exterior to the inside, large enough to allow a human size robot to enter. It was similar to one he had seen before, only, instead of feet, the legs were thicker, due to antigravity lifts. Flaps cycled through open and closed positions as it came forwards. Its right arm extended to fire taser projectiles. Preston blinked, slowing his perception of time, allowing the Force to fill him. He blocked the taser easily. Even though time was processing much slower, his Lightsaber extended to full so fast he couldn’t discern the extension. Even the familiar report of sonic boom, a quirk of his construction and crystal, seemed muffled to his ears, like distant thunder. The blade was off and then it was on, cutting the taser tethers that had been shot towards him. The Droid brought up its other arm, this time firing a stun. The stun bolt met his Lightsaber and was reflected back faster than his brain could process the event, but he understood what had occurred even without playback. He didn’t have time to review, he was already defending against the next attack, flowing with the Force, knowing once it was over he might have a chance to review and reconstruct a memory.
Daphne scrambled to her feet, drawing the Force to her to try and understand the nature of the attack. That was when she saw the second droid rising from the emergency stairwell. It, too, was supported by antigravity. Its eyes penetrated the dimly lit hallways like a spectre. Had they been red, she would have thought it a demon, but the eyes were lit with a yellowish orange, spooky in its own way. Her thumb depressed the button on the lightsaber. At first nothing happened, and her shoulders slumped, and she nearly looked at the business in, but the lightsaber beeped twice, accepting her thumbprint and then depressed in. The pink blade of her Lightsaber extended to full in time to block the blaster bolts firing from the Droid’s arm. It was shooting to kill. She let go of her will and allowed the Force to animate her defense. The bolts being fired came in a steady bead and she sent them back, hitting first its left arm and then walking it across its chest to its right arm. The Droid kept coming. Using the Force, she attempted to disable it. The Droid staggered, but did not fall. It extended a sword from its left arm and charged her, leaning its head forwards as if it intended to ram her. She hit it again with a Force disable. As it staggered, she severed the head from the unit. The head went rolling behind her. Still, the Droid didn’t fall. It charged forward. She severed its sword arm and as it powered past her. Reaching back she cut its legs off below the knee. It fell to the floor. It’s back opened, and another weapon extended. The head was at her feet, looking up at her. She kicked the head away from her like a ball, slid to her knees and put the Lightsaber through the Droid’s chest. The blade was in and out fast. The head, rebounding off the door at the far end of the hall, rolled back. She cut it in two.
Daphne took in a deep breath. The sounds of an ongoing battle in the room stirred her to refocus. She entered the room to find one disabled Droid, and Preston fighting another. It had already lost its legs, but was walking forwards on stumps. Preston reached out with his hand and used the Force to push it back outside. The Droid’s arm extended, catching Preston’s arm and taking him with it. Daphne ran to the hole and jumped, not looking or pre-gauging where she needed to go, merely trusting the Force to put her where she needed to be. The Droid had landed on the sidewalk. Preston was standing on top of it, Lightsaber through its chest plate. She hit the ground, rolled, and came up ready. Preston turned to her, Lightsaber coming up as if to defend himself.
“Preston,” Daphne said.
His eyes focused on her and then went up the side of the building, past the hole, past the roof, and came to rest on a vessel hovering above the building. The tell tale signs of a tractor beam coming to life was visible as the ship positioned itself to get a direct bead on its subject of interest.
“Follow me,” he told her.
He turned and bolted towards the end of the street, making sure he stayed under awnings as much as possible. Daphne followed. The ship pursued, firing laser bolts towards its prey, clearly in attempt to impede their progress as opposed to straight out kill them. The tractor beam pulled up dust and debris like a vacuum, even picking up vehicles, many of which dropped as the ship past or it failed to get a good grasp of the larger objects. Preston turned into an alley. He stopped at the other side and took inventory of the surroundings.
“Hypothetically, as a Jedi, are you opposed to me stealing a speeder?” Preston asked.
“I’ll kill you later,” Daphne jested in attempt to alleviate the seriousness of their situation.
He nodded and made a direct line towards the speeder he intended to appropriate. He was in it and had it started just as Daphne joined him. It was accelerating away as she strapped in. Still, the ship pursued. The speeder was moving much faster than the typical pedestrian traffic would allow, but as the ship chasing them was actively firing at them, people were quickly getting out of the way. A couple of good Samaritans decided to fire at the ship. The ship took them out, revealing it didn’t have to miss, translation: it was still trying to capture its prey, not kill them. Preston steered them out of the city and across a field.
“The spaceport is the other way,” Daphne yelled over the sound of the wind.
“Yeah,” Preston said, nodding behind her.
Daphne looked back. There was the ship following them and there was an even larger ship hovering over the spaceport.
“They’re going to catch us out here,” Daphne said.
“We’ll loose them at the forest,” Preston said.
“If we make it to the forest. What do they want with you?” Daphne asked.
“My kidneys,” Preston said.
“What?” Daphne asked.
Preston slammed on the air breaks, tilting the speeder upwards as it resited the change in momentum. It came to a complete stop, slipping a little to the driver side.
“What the hell?” Daphne said.
Preston didn’t answer. The answer came in the form of butterflies. A swarm of butterflies passed in front of them. Daphne looked at Preston, eyes wide.
“Oh, hell no, you didn’t just stop for insects,” Daphne said.
“Former Jedi’s all!” Preston said. He felt the decision required further explanation.
“Migrating is interesting, when not measuring the world in terms of science or economies, but in the movement of speices, the cycles of our being. Mystics and physics often fail to describe reality, but it is more often defined by the common, consensual reality that require even these...”
“The common consensus is that we’re running for our lives,” Daphne pointed out.
“I know,” Preston said.
“Isn’t it grand?”
The last of the straggling butterflies fluttered past and he gunned their Speeder forwards. Daphne looked back and frowned.
“We’re not going to make it to the forest,” Daphne said.
“I know,” Preston agreed.
“Do you trust me?”
“After the insects? Finding it difficult,” Daphne said.
“I need you to let go of that. Do you trust me,” Preston asked again.
“What?”
“If you want to live through this, you will need to do exactly what I say, without resisting,” Preston said.
“Do you trust me?”
“I slept with you!” Daphne snapped, as if that was sufficient.
“This is deeper than that. Do you trust me?!” Preston said.
“I don’t understand what you’re asking,” Daphne said.
“I need your complete trust. More specifically, I need you to let go and trust the Force like you have never trusted before…”
“I trust the Force!” Daphne said.
“You resist the Force. You resist the training because you fear what you can do if you were to really open full up to the full power available to you, to everyone. To get out of this present predictament, I need your full, unadulterated cooperation and focus,” Preston began.
The pursuing ship started firing again, this time aiming for the speeder. Pieces of metal flew off the back side.
“I trust you,” Daphne said.
“You won’t fight me?”
“I won’t fight,” Daphne said.
Preston shifted the Speeder up and over taxed the engines, sending them into a vertical climb. Daphne grabbed hold of her arm rest, not expecting that. The pursuing ship had to slow to keep from overshooting them, as it had not expected them to go straight up. It continued its pursuit.
“This has a ceiling…” Daphne began to argue.
“I know. Take my arm,” Preston said.
She hesitated. Preston didn’t take further time to engage her as he was completely focused on his plan of action. Daphne forced herself to take hold his arm with both hands.
Preston hit a button and dumped their fuel, lightening their load, but not enough to gain speed in their ascent. Preston hit another button that would fire emergency breaking rockets. He fired those ground-wards. The speeder lurched upwards. He phased their bodies out of sync with normal matter, allowing the ship to continue on at its accelerated rate. They passed right through the enemy ship that was still chasing the speeder. The speeder stalled and fell backwards, crashing into the pursuing ship. The crash, along with the fuel that had been dumped, lit up the day sky in a flash, followed by billowing clouds of flame and a liquid like black smoke. Debris rained in all directions.
Preston pulled Daphne towards him, embracing her. She heard him tell her to close her eyes, but she ignored him. She was watching the ground rushing up at them, wondering why he wasn’t slowing them down. If anything, she felt certain they were accelerating. Indeed, they were. Unphased by the surrounding air, they passed terminal velocity and would continue to accelerate towards the center of mass, in this case, the planet’s core. They would hit their maximum speed directly center of the planet, falling right through center on a trajectory towards the other side of the planet. As they passed center, gravity would then slow them, trying to pull them back towards center. Their rate would continue to slow until they paused and fell back towards center, but not before they exited the other side of the planet, at which point, Preston intended to phase them back in sync with normal matter. He projected that they would stall a few meters above the surface, and land perfectly safe on the far side. Of course, this was all conjecture on a particular math formula that suggested that falling through a center of mass, regardless of the size of the planet, if you were indeed discussing planets, the journey from surface to surface would take exactly 42 minutes, passing through the center of mass at the maxium speed allowed for by the acceleration curve of a falling object.
Preston slowed their heart rates and diminished their need for oxygen. The darkness of the surface shell lasted only a few moments before they were in the mantel. He considered how small humans really were, how thin the surfaces are that most people cling to, calling that perceived solidity terra firma. The mantel was blinding, as it filled all their vision in all directions, but it caused them no pain, nor did they feel heat. The light continued to brighten as they approached the core. There was the hint of movement, partly convection currents, but also the twisting of magnetic forces, which pulsed in their ears like a heart beat, and shined in their eyes like sustained ligtening. The planet seemed to have a voice of its own, the rapid pulse of a purring kitten. Preston figured that, based on the height at which they had attained before they started to fall, they would probably shoot to ten meters above the surface on the far side. He wasn’t far off. The moment they stalled above the surface, he allowed them to phase back in sync with normal matter. He and Daphne both took in deep breaths and fell into an ocean. They disappeared into the water and both resurfaced together. Daphne shook her hair out of her eyes.
“Oh my God! That was amazing! Where did you learn to do that?” Daphne said.
“To phase, or to travel through the center of a planet?” Preston asked.
“Well, yeah, both, I guess.”
“No one taught me,” Preston said.
“Someone had to have taught you. You can’t invent new powers,” Daphne said.
“I didn’t invent new powers. I merely asked the Force to permit our survival and then I got my ego out of the way and allowed it to do what it does, in this instance, it said go with it, and we went,” Preston said.
“You make it sound impossibly easy. Are you the chosen one?” Daphne asked.
“It is that easy. And don’t go there. We are all chosen and we all choose. Our survival is only a testimony that the Force is not done with us. We have something more to accomplish. The Force didn’t let us survive because we’re special or good or better. We are all equal in the Force. Anyone could have done what we’ve done. You can do this and more.”
“I just don’t believe that,” Daphne said.
“And that is why you continue to get the results you do,” Preston told her.
“I see that it can be done, I just don’t think I can duplicate it,” Daphne said.
“Don’t give up. Small steps,” Preston offered.
“So, whats the plan? Are we going to swim to shore, tread water, or do you have another great trick up your sleeve?” Daphne asked.
A Tie Defender arrived on the scene. Red whistled salutations.
“How did it know where we were?” Daphne asked.
Preston just shook his head, smiling. The lower hatch opened and the Tie Defender lowered sufficiently that she could reach up and grabbed hold of the inside of the ship. A hand took her wrist. She screamed and tried to pull free. Preston looked down at her from the ship.
“Just trying to help you up,” the doppleganger said.
“But,” Daphne said, looking to where Preston had been. He was still there. She looked back up into the ship.
“I don’t understand.”
“Come on up,” Doppleganger said.
Once she was in, the Doppleganger vanished, just so much smoke. Preston climbed up into the ship.
“Can you dry yourself with the Force, or should I dry us both?” Preston asked. Daphne embraced him, delivering a kiss firmly to his mouth.
“Red, take us home,” Preston instructed, and then returned his attention back to Daphne. Daphne paused in her affection.
“One more question.”
“Of course,” Preston agreed.
“A pink Lightsaber?”
Preston shrugged. Daphne let it go and returned to affection.