Chapter 2: Enemies and Plans
Anakin and Sarah dashed out of Watto's shop, happy to be out of there. They laughed as they slowed their pace to a walk, and they started chatting with each other. "Can you believe it?" Sarah asked. "A whole group of outlanders! I've never seen that many in Watto's at one time!"
Anakin laughed at her excited expression, shaking his head slowly. "I wonder what that man was so mad about, though," he said thoughtfully, and Sarah's face fell as she remembered his ferocity. Then she shrugged and started skipping.
"Maybe Watto tried to cut him a bad deal," she suggested. It certainly wasn't out of the question. Watto was as greedy as the other merchants and slavers, but the problem was he had things of high quality that no one else had. Anakin walked next to a skipping Sarah but neither said a word to each other; they were lost in their own thoughts, contemplating the strangers.
Suddenly they heard a crash from a nearby cafe, and they looked up to see a gangly Dug grabbing a familiar-looking Gungan by the throat. "Is this yours?" growled the Dug in Huttese.
"Who, meesa?" gagged the poor Gungan as the Dug continued to strangle him. Anakin and Sarah looked at each other; it was the same Gungan who had come into Watto's. They also recognized the Dug. It was Sebulba, a competitor Anakin had raced against in many Podraces. A flash of anger surged through him; Sebulba won every race, but only because he cheated. Sarah saw the change in his face and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down, Ani," she said, her face stern. "It won't help that poor Gungan any if you get Sebulba really mad."
Anakin finally calmed down, and he glanced at Sarah. "We've gotta help that creature," he said, looking meaningfully at the Gungan. Sarah nodded and the two walked confidentally up to Sebulba.
"Chess ko, Sebulba," Anakin said in Huttese. "He's a big-time outlander. I'd hate to see you get squashed before our next race."
The Dug looked up at him with hate-filled eyes. "The next time we race, wermo, it'll be the end of you!" he promised angrily. "If you weren't a slave, I'd squash you right now!"
Sarah's hands clenched into fists, but Anakin remained calm. "Yeah, it'd be a pity if you had to pay for me," he called as Sebulba stalked away. Then the two looked up and saw the group from the shop coming closer. "Hi!" Anakin greeted in Basic, and Sarah's features visibly relaxed.
"Hello there," greeted the man. His angry countenance from earlier was gone, and Sarah smiled up at him.
"Your buddy here was about to be turned into orange goo," she informed him cheerfully, and Anakin shook his head and smiled ruefully at her.
"He picked a fight with a Dug," he explained to the mystified crowd, "an especially dangerous Dug named Sebulba."
"Meesa hate crunchen! Dat's da last ting meesa want!" the Gungan insisted.
"Nevertheless, these two are right," the man said sternly. "You were heading for trouble." He then turned to the pair and smiled. "Thanks, my young friends."
He turned to leave, followed by Padme, the R2 unit, Anakin and Sarah. "But - but - meesa doin nutten!" the Gungan muttered as he caught up with them.
Anakin and Sarah were now more excited than they had been when they'd left Watto's. They got to spend more time with these mysterious strangers. They finally convinced the group to come with them to a nearby fruit stand. Once there, Sarah paid for three pallies and turned to give them to the man. "Here, you'll like these pallies," she said, trying to get his attention.
He noticed her and took the fruit from her. "Thank you," he said, and he lifted up his poncho to put them in a small compartment on his belt. As he did so, Sarah's eyes widened when she saw what else was there. A lightsaber. A real lightsaber, the kind used by Jedi. She turned to Anakin, and judging by his eyes he had seen it, too.
"Ooh, my bones are aching!" said Jira, the elderly owner of the fruit stand, and someone the two knew well. "Storm's coming up, you two. Better get home quick."
"Do you have shelter?" asked Anakin as they began to walk from the stand.
"We'll head back to our ship," the man said.
"Is it far?"
"It's on the outskirts," Padme replied. Sarah's mouth fell open in shock.
"But you'll never reach the outskirts in time!" she exclaimed, and Anakin nodded.
"She's right. Sandstorms are very, very dangerous. Come on, we'll take you to our place!" Without another word, the group set off for the Skywalker home, Anakin and Sarah leading the way.
The storm grew steadily worse as they fought their way through the crowded streets. Winds carrying stinging bursts of sand pushed at them, continually trying to drive them back. At last they reached the door to the Skywalkers' hovel. Sarah hurriedly opened the door and they all made their way inside.
Shaking the sand from her clothes and hair, she called out, "Mom! Mom, we're home!"
"Mm, dissen cozy," the Gungan murmured softly as Shmi walked into the room, her eyes widening when she caught sight of the strangers.
"These are our friends, Mom," Sarah said, gesturing to the strange group.
"Hello!" greeted the Gungan happily, and Shmi smiled in spite of herself.
"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn," said the man as he stepped forward.
"I'm building a droid!" Anakin said to Padme. "Do you wanna see?" Then he and Sarah took her by the hand and left for the room they both shared.
"Your son and daughter were kind enough to offer us shelter," Qui-Gon explained to a confused Shmi, and she smiled again at the generosity of her son and her adopted daughter.
Meanwhile, Sarah and Anakin had taken Padme to their room and shown her the droid Anakin had created. "Isn't he great?" Sarah asked, still awestruck that he had been able to build this himself. "It's not finished, though."
"It's wonderful!" Padme said, and Anakin beamed.
"You really like him?" he asked. "He's a protocol droid to help Mom around the house. Watch." He leaned over and flipped on a switch, and the droid came to life, sitting up and looking around.
"Where is everyone?" it asked in a mechanical voice.
"Whoops!" said Anakin. He had forgotten the droid's eye! Embarrassed, he began to search for it, but he couldn't find it anywhere.
"Here," said Sarah, tossing him a small round piece she had found on the bed. Anakin caught it with ease and examined it before giving her a grateful smile. Then he pushed the eye back into place.
The droid looked around again, finally able to see. "Oh, hello! I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. How may I serve you?"
"He's perfect!" said Padme, examining him with a thoroughly impressed look.
"When the storm's over, I can show you my racer," Anakin suggested as the droid began to walk. "I'm building a Podracer."
C-3PO, on the other hand, was having trouble getting used to walking. "I'm not sure this floor is entirely stable," he said doubtfully as he staggered along, trying to find his footing. He finally caught sight of the little R2 unit next to him and turned. "Oh! Hello! I don't believe we've been introduced."
The R2 unit beeped and whistled a reply that obviously made sense to the protocol droid, for he replied, "R2-D2, a pleasure to meet you. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations."
R2-D2 whistled another response. "I beg your pardon. What do you mean, 'naked'?" asked a confused C-3PO. When the little droid responded, the protocol droid sounded completely mortified. "My parts are showing? Oh my goodness me!" The three humans laughed.
By the time dinner was ready a few hours later, the sandstorm was still raging outside the house. Shmi, Anakin and Sarah were all trying to explain their situation for the newcomers. "All slaves have a transmitter hidden inside their bodies," Shmi explained as she poured everyone water.
"Sarah and I have been working on a scanner to try and locate ours," said Anakin.
"Any attempt to escape -"
"And they blow you up!" Sarah finished. "BOOM!" she and Anakin cried at the same time.
"How wude!" said Jar Jar the Gungan, astonished.
Padme shook her head disbelievingly. "I can't believe there's still slavery in the galaxy. The Republic's anti-slavery laws -"
"The Republic doesn't exist out here," Shmi interrupted, sounding slightly bitter. "We must survive on our own."
At this point, Jar Jar stuck his tongue into the bowl in the middle of the table and grabbed a piece of fruit with his tongue. He swallowed it quickly and loudly. " 'Scuse me," he said as Qui-Gon gave him a stern look.
Padme averted her gaze from Shmi, and an awkward silence fell over the table. Anakin looked around at the people sitting there. "Has anybody ever seen a Podrace?" he asked in an effort to ease the tension.
Padme shook her head while Shmi's face filled with concern and worry. "They have Podracing on Malastare," said Qui-Gon, who was picking at his food. "Very fast, very dangerous."
"I'm the only human who can do it," Anakin replied very seriously, and Sarah smiled at him.
"You must have Jedi reflexes if you race Pods," Qui-Gon replied before deftly grabbing Jar Jar's tongue as he tried to snatch another piece of fruit from the bowl. "Don't do that again," he reprimanded sternly. Jar Jar tried to say something, but it came out garbled. Qui-Gon released his tongue, and it snapped back into his mouth.
Sarah looked up from her plate to Qui-Gon, peering at him intently. "You're a Jedi, aren't you?" she asked.
A long silence fell as he considered the question, his eyes never leaving hers for a moment. "What makes you say that?" he asked after a while.
"I saw your lightsaber," she said boldly. "Only Jedi carry that kind of weapon."
He continued to hold her gaze as he smiled and leaned back in his chair. "Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him."
"I don't think so," the young girl responded confidently. "No one can kill a Jedi."
His smile turned sad. "I wish that were so."
"I had a dream I was a Jedi," Anakin added quickly. "I came back and freed all the slaves. Have you come to free us?"
"No, I'm afraid not," he said, shaking his head.
"I think you have. Why else would you be here?" Anakin insisted, and the two children looked at him intensely, as if they could see straight through him.
Qui-Gon sighed, then leaned forward conspiratorially. "I can see there's no fooling the two of you. We're on a very important mission to Coruscant, the capital of the Republic."
Sarah narrowed her eyes in confusion. "But then, how did you guys end up in the Outer Rim?"
"Our ship was damaged and we're stranded here until we can repair it," Padme answered her.
Anakin looked at all of them for a few moments. "I can help!" he said enthusiastically. "I can fix anything!"
"I believe you can," Qui-Gon replied, smiling at the young boy, "but our first task is to acquire the parts we need."
"Wit no nutten mulah to trade," added a glum-looking Jar Jar.
"These junk dealers must have a weakness of some kind," Padme said thoughtfully.
"Gambling," Shmi answered at once. "Everything revolves around betting on those awful Podraces."
Qui-Gon nodded knowingly. "Podracing. Greed can be a powerful ally."
"I've built a Podracer!" Anakin declared. "It's the fastest ever! There's a big race the day after tomorrow on Boonta's Eve. You could enter my Pod -"
"Anakin, Watto won't let you," Shmi pointed out.
"Watto doesn't have to know it's his," Sarah added, trying to help him out. She turned to Qui-Gon. "If you made him think it's yours, you could still get Ani to pilot it for you -"
"Sarah, I don't want him to race," Shmi said, her eyes bright with worry as she turned to her son. "It's awful. I die every time Watto makes you do it, Ani."
"But Mom, I love it!" he begged. "The prize money would more than pay for the cost of the parts they need."
Qui-Gon was silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Your mother is right," he said firmly, and neither Anakin nor Sarah dared to argue with him. "Is there anyone friendly to the Republic who can help us?" he asked Shmi, who was quiet for a second before shaking her head.
"No," she said, and the table fell quiet again.
Anakin and Sarah both looked at her with pleading eyes. "Mom, you said the biggest problem in this universe is that no one helps each other," Sarah reminded her, and she sighed without saying anything.
"I'm sure Qui-Gon doesn't want to put your son in danger," Padme said, breaking the tense silence. "We'll find some other way."
Shmi looked directly at her and shook her head again definitively. "No. There is no other way. I may not like it, but they can help you. They were meant to help you."
Qui-Gon said nothing. He regarded the two children before him silently as he contemplated the future....and how they would be involved in it.