William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back (11 page)

Now hath he seen it,

And he shall ever see it

Till he sees it through.

[Exit Yoda.

O strange and somber night that falleth here—

My master Luke all out of sorts from what

He spies inside this hole. What lesson is

It Yoda hath reveal’d to him inside?

I would that I my master could protect,

But such is not the role I have to play.

And thus, since I may not protector be,

My path shall be to play the fool and watch:

I shall maintain my droidlike silence and

Bear witness as the boy becomes the man,

The learner doth become the Jedi true.

Content yourself with this, R2, and rest,

For other times than these require your best.

[Exit.

These bounty hunters, O they reek! We have

No need for their most wretched scum.

—Aye, Sir.

The rebels surely shall not ’scape us now.

We have been hail’d by the
Avenger
ship.

Now let us hear it.

—There shall be rewards

Aplenty for the one who finds the swift

Millenn’um Falcon.
Ye may use whate’er

Approaches, weapons, means, or what ye will,

But mark ye well: I want them all alive.

[
To Boba Fett:
] There shall be no disintegrations. Clear?

As you wish. [
Aside
:] The darkest Sith that e’er

did live, and I am his choice to find those he cannot.

Yet who am I? A mere bounty hunter like the others

here? Nay, far more. I am Boba Fett, the vilest,

fiercest, most deadly hunter in the galaxy. More

than that, Darth Vader knows that I shall serve

him well and faithfully in the pursuit of Solo. He

knoweth well that Boba Fett doth worship at sweet

compensation’s throne, and would happily

betray my own kin to earn the great reward

that hath been promis’d. I would kill Solo

without a thought, for what is he to me?

Disintegrations, indeed. I would disintegrate,

disembowel, dismember, destroy utterly Han Solo,

for I know him not nor care what he hath done

to earn Darth Vader’s ire and the scorn of Jabba

of the Hutt. I shall play my bounty hunter’s part,

obey the dark lord, take my prize from the Empire,

and receive a second prize on the dunes of Tatooine.

A double prize—’tis wonderful a bounty hunter to be.

[
to Darth Vader:
] My Lord, the ship hath been discoverèd!

[Exeunt Darth Vader, Boba Fett, other bounty hunters, Admiral Piett, and Imperial Controller.

O, praise the maker! We are venturing

Out of the ast’roid field, and are alive—

Miraculous! [
Aside:
] I almost am convinc’d

That Captain Solo bears a hero’s air.

Now let us hence. Chewbacca, art prepar’d

For lightspeed?

—Auugh!

—Now one, two, three, and go!

[The
Millennium Falcon
makes a sound and fails.

Egh.

—’Tis not fair. I say, it is not just!

[
aside:
] A hero, did I say? O man of folly!

Auugh, auugh!

—The transfer circuits do not work

’Tis not my fault!

—No lightspeed once again?

’Tis not my fault. In troth, ’tis not my fault!

The rear deflector shield is compromis’d,

And if we do sustain another hit

Upon the ship’s back quarter, ’tis our end.

[
aside:
] ’Tis madness, this maneuver I’ll attempt.

But desp’rate times for desp’rate measures call.

[
To Chewbacca:
] Turn thou this ship around.

—Egh?

—Turn it ’round!

I shall put all our pow’r to shields in front.

Thou wilt attack a Star Destroyer?

—Sir!

The odds of our success in a direct

Attack upon a Star Destroyer—

—Tut!

[Exeunt, flying toward the Star Destroyer.

They move into attack position—shields!

But now, where are they gone? Pray, track them straight.

The ship’s no longer shown in any scopes.

That is impossible. No ship that small

Hath any ways or means to cloak itself.

Nay, they cannot, as magic, disappear.

Good Captain Needa, our Lord Vader doth

Demand an update of our keen pursuit.

[
aside:
] O dreaded moment. This shall mean my death.

Farewell now, for my life’s gone with the ship.

[
To Communications Officer:
] Prepare a shuttle for me. I’ll accept

The full responsibility for their

Escape, and shall apologize unto

Lord Vader. Keep thy watch most vigilant.

Aye, Captain Needa.

[Exit Tracking and Communications officers.

—On thy mercy great

I throw myself and all my hopes, dear lord.

The great
Millenn’um Falcon
now is fled.

It hath evaded even our vast fleet.

Take my apology—

—The ship is lost?

And thus thy life—dead for a ducat, dead!

[Darth Vader chokes Captain Needa with the Force, killing him.

The necks of fools deserve a crushing Force.

Let this serve as thy dying lesson, Needa.

With that last breath thy recompense is done

And all apologies accepted.

—Lord,

Our scan of the surrounding area

Is now complete, but has, alas, found naught.

Lord, if the swift
Millenn’um Falcon
hath

Made good the jump to lightspeed, it may be

Beyond the far end of the galaxy.

Alert thou every Imperi’l post,

And calculate the ship’s most likely course

From its trajectory as it did flee.

Aye, Lord, I’ll warrant we shall find them soon.

[Exit Admiral Piett.

O ancestors, pray save me from these fools

Who with their instruments and scanners could

Not find a bantha in a womp rat’s hole.

But calm thyself now, Vader, be at ease.

This momentary failure may yet prove

Most beneficial, and I’ll warrant that

The time shall not go dully by us, for

It shall be us’d to finalize my plans

And think upon the moment when I shall

Both meet and then defeat the Skywalker

Who dares to call the Empire enemy.

So let these rebels go for now, my soul,

And ponder how to make their downfall whole.

[Exit.

Use the Force, Luke, yes.

Now, lift thou the stone. Feel it.

The Force within flows.

[R2-D2 begins to beep as Luke’s ship sinks.

Nay, listen thou not

To the droid and all his beeps.

Do thou concentrate!

[Everything that was lifted falls.

Nee, nee, beep, meep, beep, squeak, squeak, whistle, squeak!

Fie! We shall never extricate the ship.

So certain are you?

Always with you, my pupil,

It cannot be done.

What have we done here—

Hear’st thou nothing that I say?

Dost thou attend, Luke?

If depend upon

The Force thou shalt, anything

Possible shall be.

But Master, moving stones with the great Force

I do admit may be achiev’d. But this,

This ship—to lift its hulk, its mass, its size—

’Tis different, aye, wholly different!

Nay! No different.

Only within thy mind, Luke,

Different it is.

Thou must unlearn all

Those things that thou hast learnèd.

Dost thou understand?

In troth, I understand, and I shall try.

Nay, nay! Try thou not.

But do thou or do thou not,

For there is no “try.”

[
aside:
] I shall stretch out my mind, and shall attempt,

But this is madness—lifting e’en a ship?

The greatest Jedi still cannot achieve

That which is patently impossible.

Methinks no Force can move this ship, and thus

I certain am I never shall do this.

[Luke tries to lift the ship with the Force, but the ship sinks lower.

Beep, hoo.

—Nay, I cannot. ’Tis much too big.

Nay, size matters not.

Look thou at me, I prithee.

Judge me by my size?

And where you should not.

For my ally ’tis the Force.

A pow’rful ally.

Life doth create it.

Its energy surrounds us,

Binds us together.

Luminous beings

We are, not this crude matter.

You must feel the Force.

All around thee, here—

Between thou and me, tree, rock:

Ev’rywhere it is.

E’en between the land

And your ever-sinking ship,

The Force is there, too.