The Water lily Pond

reassuring was in that voice. In any case, theassociation of an unknown human was preferable to remaining isolated in thiswasteland. Waddling out into the sunlight. Artoo made his way over to whereLuke lay sprawled. The robot's barrel-like body inclined forward as he examinedthe limp form. Whistles and beeps of concern came from within. Walking over, the old man bent beside Luke and reached out to touch hisforehead, then his temple. Shortly, the unconscious youth was stirring andmumbling like a dreaming sleeper. "Don't worry," the human told Artoo, "he'll be all right." As if to confirm this opinion, Luke blinked, stared upward uncomprehendingly,and muttered, "What happened?" "Rest easy, son," the man instructed him as he sat back on his heels. "You'vehad a busy day." Again the boyish grin. "You're mighty lucky your head's stillattached to the rest of you." Luke looked around, his gaze coming to rest on the elderly face hovering abovehim. Recognition did wonders for his condition. "Ben…it's got to be!" A sudden remembrance made him look around fearfully.But there was no sign of sandpeople. Slowly he raised his body to a sitting position."Ben Kenobi…am I glad to see you!" Rising, the old man surveyed the canyon floor and rolling rimwall above. Onefoot played with the sand. "The Jundland wastes are not to be traveled lightly. It'sthe misguided traveler who tempts the Tusken's hospitality." His gaze went back tohis patient. "Tell me, young man, what brings you out this far into nowhere?" Luke indicated Artoo Detoo. "This little 'droid. For a while I thought he'dgone crazy, claiming he was searching for a former master. Now I don't think so.I've never seen such devotion in a 'droid—misguided or otherwise. There seems tobe no stopping him; he even resorted to tricking me."

The Water lily Pond

catlike from the depths of their hoods as they studied their captive.The jawas conversed in low guttural croaks and scrambled analogs of human speech.If, as anthropologists hypothesized, they had ever been human, they had long sincedegenerated past anything resembling the human race. Several more jawas appeared. Together, they succeeded in alternately hoistingand dragging the robot back down the arroyo. At the bottom of canyon—like some monstrous prehistoric beast—was asandcrawler as enormous as its owners and operators were tiny. Several dozenmeters high, the vehicle towered above the ground on multiple treads that were tallerthan a tall man. Its metal epidermis was battered and pitted from with-standinguntold sandstorms.