Gears whirred and hummed as Sidious Scolex tried out his new appendage. With
all of the synthetic technology available to him, Sidious had chosen a simple
metal claw to replace his hand. He could clamp it shut and spin it around, and he thought
it made him look dashing. Darth Maul didn’t dare tell him this, but he had seen rontos
that looked more dashing than his Master.
Sidious had adopted a new Sithly name, Darth Claw, to suit his new image. He
was endlessly pleased with himself and thought he was the cleverest Sith Lord in the
galaxy, which Darth Maul also chose not to comment on. The tattooed apprentice sat and
listened as Claw spilled his latest plan to him.
“With an army of droids that resemble humans and cannot be defeated at my side,
the order of the Jedi will fall to it’s knees in the face of my might!” Darth Claw laughed
his sinister laugh, while Darth Maul smirked off to the side.
“Brilliant, Master. They will be no match for us.” Maul’s cackling joined his
Master’s, and the laughter was nearly deafening.
“Shut up!” someone shouted out of a nearby apartment, which caused them only
to laugh harder.
* * *
Meanwhile, I sat cross-legged on the floor and tried to pay attention as
Brenda explained my basic functions. “All you do is say, ‘Go go gadget,’ then name the
gadget you want to use,” she explained. I nodded even though the idea seemed a little
strange to me. “So let’s say you’re challenged to a lightsaber duel. What do you say?”
“Um...go go gadget lightsaber?” I asked, thinking out loud. All of a sudden, a
lightsaber hilt popped out of my right sleeve next to my hand, and the blue blade ignited. I
jumped in surprise. “Wowser!” I cried in disbelief.
Brenda laughed and clapped her hands. “Wonderful!” she said. “Now you have to
say ‘go go gadget stop,’ before you hurt someone,” she added.
I laughed nervously, still a little unsure about this whole “Gadget” thing. “Go go
gadget stop!” I shouted, and the blade and hilt returned to my arm.
“Now,” Brenda said. “Here is your suit.” She opened a closet to reveal a drab
Jedi robe and a hat. At this, my eyes lit up.
“The Jedi Gadget suit,” I murmured, taking it from the hanger.
* * *
After I had changed into my new outfit, Queen Brenda led me into the garage.
“Here, I made you this. It’s the Gadget Speeder.” As she spoke, she gestured towards a
landspeeder that had hundreds of tiny buttons lining the control panel. My eyes bugged
out--literally. This is going to take some getting used to, I thought.
“You made me a speeder?” I asked, flattered. “The only thing anyone ever made
for me was a flight suit!” She seemed amused by my comment, but kept on explaining the
details of all the controls. I looked at her quizzically, and she slowed down a little.
“Just say, ‘Go go Gadget Speeder’,” she informed me.
Now I was REALLY confused. “Go go Gadget Speeder?” I asked. Big mistake.
ZOOOOM! The speeder took off at top speed, and I was sure that a Republic officer was
going to pull us over. I fell backwards into the storage compartment, shouting for it to
stop. That was when my speeder got lippy with me.
Yes, you heard right.
“Quit complaining and buckle up, Padawan!” the speeder shouted back at me.
“I’m driving here, so sit down and shut up!”
Padawan? Oh, now he did it. “I happen to be a Jedi Knight, the very first robotic
one!” I wasn’t really THAT proud of that fact, but I did NOT want to be called Padawan
anymore.
“Whatever you say, Padawan! Just remember who’s in charge here!” he snapped
back.
