Galaxy of Fear_ The Nightmare Machine Part 3

He went to investigate.

The only entrance to the building was a tall archway, which was being polished by a maintenance droid. Zak read another sign. This one was placed over the archway: FACE THE ULTIMATE FEAR... IF YOU DARE. Zak could not resist a challenge. He started to enter the dome.

"Pardon me, young gentle," said the boxy maintenance droid. "This attraction is still under construction. It is not ready for visitors."

"Okay," Zak said, still curious. He wanted to see just what The Nightmare Machine could possibly be. "You missed a spot right over there." He pointed to a portion of the wall five meters distant.

"Thank you," replied the droid, turning to investigate.

While its back was turned, Zak entered The Nightmare Machine.

He stepped into a small hallway lit only by dim maintenance glowpanels. They were just bright enough for Zak to see a few tools, such as hydrospanners and sonic hammers, strewn on the ground among extra pieces of durasteel and wiring.

Zak was about to leave when he heard a noise at the far end of the hallway. Consumed with curiosity, Zak walked quietly toward the noise.

Light came from a room at the end of the hall.

A voice spoke, cold and sharp as a vibroblade. "Get them on the tables. Hurry!"

Carefully keeping himself in the shadows of the hallway, Zak peered into the room.

And found himself looking into the evil, gray face of the scientist who ran Project Starscream.

Zak was looking into the eyes of Borborygmus Gog himself.

CHAPTER 5.

It took Zak one terrifying moment to realize that Gog could not see him in the shadows. The s.h.i.+'ido scientist was standing next to a large black transport cube. Before him were two medical tables. Gog was looking to the left of the door, where four men in black uniforms dragged two young humans toward the tables.

Zak recognized the two human kids he had seen flying the hoverskis yesterday. They struggled to break free, but they were gagged and their arms were bound; they were no match for the four men who lifted them onto the tables.

Zak felt fear trickle down his spine like icy-cold water. How could Gog possibly be at Hologram Fun World? Had he followed them? If so, why hadn't he captured them already?

Zak's heart pounded. He couldn't just watch as Gog tormented two helpless kids. He had to do something.

Before he could move, Gog spoke. "Now," said the s.h.i.+'ido. "Let us see if our little experiment works."

He pressed a b.u.t.ton on the side of the large black cube and a panel slid open with a hiss.

No, the panel hadn't hissed. Something inside the transport cube had hissed. From the shadows of the container, something shuffled forward.

First, two arms appeared. The hands were long, with thin, splayed fingers. The arms themselves were terribly thin, like skin stretched tightly over dried bones. And each arm had two sets of elbows, which made them quiver and swerve in weird directions.

Next came the creature's head. Its face was vaguely human, but the head was enormous and round. Above two red eyes, the skull was crisscrossed with hundreds of wormlike veins, as though the creature's brain were about to push up through the skull. Its lips were thin and tightly shut, and the corners of its mouth stretched back almost to its tiny ears.

Zak was grossed out. He stifled a cry of fear as the creature crawled spiderlike out of its box and loomed over the two victims. It looked at Gog, who nodded at it. Then the creature opened its mouth.

Instead of a tongue, two tentacles leaped out, wriggling in the air. One tentacle struck the top of each captive's head and attached itself. The two teens stiffened in shock, then fainted.

Zak gasped. It was a tiny sound, but it was enough to turn the heads of Gog and his henchmen. The s.h.i.+'ido's dark eyes stared directly at Zak, and the scientist smiled cruelly.

Zak didn't hesitate. He turned and ran as fast as his feet would carry him. He burst out of The Nightmare Machine, past the bustling maintenance droid, and into the brightly lit air of Fun World, where Tash, Deevee, and Lando were waiting.

"Zak, we were just looking for you-" Tash said.

"We've got to get out of here!" Zak interrupted. "He's here! He's here!"

"Who's here?" Deevee asked.

Zak pulled on Tash's arm. "The scientist! Gog! The one behind Project Starscream!"

"That's impossible!" Tash said. "Why would he be here?"

Zak looked back toward The Nightmare Machine. He was surprised to see that no one had followed him, but that didn't ease his fears. "I don't know. Maybe he followed us. But he's here. And he's got some kind of... of creature with him!"

Lando was confused. "Project Starscream? Gog? What's going on?"

"We've got to get out of here!" Zak insisted.

"How?" Deevee asked calmly. "We have no stars.h.i.+p. Master Hoole will not return for several days."

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Lando insisted.

Tash, remembering her uncle's warning to tell no one, said carefully, "It looks like Zak saw someone in The Nightmare Machine that we think may be a-a criminal."

Lando considered. "Maybe I can help. I know the baron administrator of Hologram Fun World. He can help you with this criminal, and I know he'll ensure your safety."

A few minutes later, Lando brought Zak, Tash, and Deevee to the doors of the administrative building at the center of Fun World. Zak could see his own reflection in the gleaming durasteel walls as they entered the automatic doors.

Lando took them to the top floor, ten levels above ground. The entire top floor of the administrative building was taken up by a single circular office, with windows facing in all directions. Star Dragons swooped around the top of the building, and hoverjet racers hurtled pa.s.sed the windows of the baron administrator's office. From that office, they could look out over the entire Fun World.

"Not bad," Lando whistled appreciatively. "I could get used to this."

The baron administrator was a man named Danna Fajji. He was short and chubby, with jovial red cheeks and a scruffy red beard at the end of his chin.

Leaving out all references to Project Starscream, Zak told Fajji of the horror he'd seen in The Nightmare Machine-of the s.h.i.+'ido scientist and the kidnapped teens. Even Lando shuddered as Zak described the horrible, double- jointed brain creature, its tentacled mouth, and its enormous head. "It was huge, and covered in wriggling veins!"

Danna Fajji only chuckled. "I a.s.sure you that everything is under control," he replied.

"But there are two kids being tortured back there!" Zak insisted.

"And there's a monster!"

Again Fajji smiled. "Please, believe me. I'll even take you back there myself."

"Come on. We might as well check it out," Lando told Zak.

"Well... okay," Zak agreed, deciding that not much could happen with Lando there. The chubby red-haired man led them all back through the eye- dazzling attractions of Fun World until they reached The Nightmare Machine.

"We shouldn't go in," Zak warned. "We should have security people here, or something."

Fajji shook his head. "It's unnecessary. Watch."

Fajji stepped boldly into the domed building. Tash followed him, with Deevee and Lando bringing up the rear.

Zak hesitated. Maybe he had been fooled by a hologram. That's what this place was all about, after all. He looked around Fun World. Sounds of laughter and chords of happy music floated toward him from all directions. He looked to his left, toward the sunny lagoon with its sparkling water. This was definitely not a place to be afraid of. Shaking his head at his own silliness, he hurried after the others.

The minute he stepped inside, Zak could tell that something was different. The door at the end of the hall was wide open now, and he could see into the room beyond. There were no examination tables, no henchmen, no black transport cube, and certainly no mad s.h.i.+'ido scientist.

The room was empty.

"You see," Danna Fajji said. "I told you everything was under control."

"I... I don't get it," Zak said. "I saw him. I saw that... that creature as clearly as I see you standing there."

"Zak, are you sure?" Tash asked.

"I thought I was sure," Zak said, stepping into the room to look around. "But how could they have packed everything up so quickly? I don't get it." He looked at Danna Fajji. "I guess you're right. There's nothing to be afraid of. "

Danna Fajji grinned. "Oh. I wouldn't say that."

As he spoke, the lights went out and Zak was plunged into complete darkness.

"Tas.h.!.+ Deevee!" he called out in fear. "Lando!" There was no answer but a sudden soft sound coming from the floor around him.

Scratch, scratch. Scratch, scratch.

"Tash?" he said faintly.

Scratch, scratch.

Zak heard the skitter of tiny feet. Thousands of tiny feet. They sc.r.a.ped along the ground all around him. Something brushed across his foot. Then again, and again.

Scratch, scratch, scratch!

Something crawled up his pant leg. Panicked, Zak tried to brush it away, and felt something soft and hairy and many-legged cling to the back of his hand. Then it started to crawl up his arm.

More of the skittering creatures were crawling up his pant legs. He felt them crawling inside his pant legs and inside his s.h.i.+rtsleeves, pus.h.i.+ng their way up his s.h.i.+rt, crawling out from under his collar and scrambling around the back of his neck. Zak wildly thrashed his arms and legs about, trying to get the horrible creatures off him.

He felt something tugging and biting at his hair. Zak opened his mouth to scream, and a dozen hairy legs scrambled past his lips.

CHAPTER 6.

Zak stumbled around the pitch-black room, crus.h.i.+ng little insect bodies beneath his feet, scratching and pulling at the creatures that covered his body.

"Get off! Get off me!" he cried, spitting the creatures out of his mouth. Using his hands, Zak blindly groped around until he found the wall, then began searching for the door. But it was impossible to concentrate-small, hairy insects were crawling through his hair and across his eyes.

Just when Zak thought he couldn't stand it anymore, a door opened in the darkness. A wide beam of light poured into the room, and through it stepped Danna Fajji, Baron Administrator of Hologram Fun World.

"End simulation," Fajji said calmly.

Quicker than lightspeed, the feeling of creepy-crawly legs vanished and the lights went on. Zak looked at the floor, expecting to see bloodstains and the squashed bodies of the creatures he had stepped on, but the floor looked like it had just been polished.

"What-what was that?" Zak gasped.

"That," Danna Fajji explained, "was a hologram of one of your fears."

Zak shuddered. "Tash, Lando, did you feel them, too? Little crawling things. They were everywhere."

Tash shook her head. She looked a little pale. "No-no crawling things. Heights. I was on this tiny ledge, hanging over a bottomless pit.

I was just about to fall when the lights came on!"

Lando stroked his mustache thoughtfully. Whatever he had seen, he kept it to himself.

"What is this place?" Zak asked.

"Let us step outside and I'll tell you," Danna Fajji replied. As soon as all five of them were outside the building, Fajji proudly announced, "This is The Nightmare Machine. It's the latest addition to Hologram Fun World."

"What does it do?" Tash asked. "I mean, besides scare people."

Fajji laughed. "Nothing! That's what it does. It's The Nightmare Machine. Once you enter this room, The Nightmare Machine scans your mind for your greatest fears. Then it shows them to you."

"That doesn't sound like fun to me," Lando said. "Who would pay to be scared?"

"Actually, Master Calrissian," Deevee answered, "being scared is a popular form of entertainment in many cultures. Humans actually pay to take heart-stopping roller-coaster rides, watch frightening holoprograms, and even read horror stories. It's quite beyond my capacity."

"Exactly," Danna Fajji agreed. "People like to be scared. And this machine takes fright to new heights. It reaches into your brain, pulls out your worst fears, and re-creates them in a hologram."

"Then... what I saw earlier... with the scientist and The Nightmare Machine creature..." Zak began.

".. was just The Nightmare Machine doing its job," Danna Fajji said. "Obviously the image of this scientist represents something scary in your mind, and The Nightmare Machine just made it real."

"It makes sense," Tash whispered to her brother. "That is what was on our minds."

Zak shook his head. "But what I saw earlier was so real. I mean, these little hairy legs in the dark were bad"-he s.h.i.+vered, remembering- "but it wasn't as realistic as the scientist and the monster and those two kids."