'Fourteen and a half. And I'm the pilot. You're the mechanic.'
'My point exact — '
'Got it!' A face stained with grease appeared in a pair of grimy welding goggles. Deland sprang to his feet in one motion. 'Let's fire her up.'
'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' Anakin said.
Doby and Deland peered at him from behind their goggles.
'And we should listen to you because?' Deland asked.
Anakin took a step closer. 'Because if your engine is overheating during gear changes, the problem could be in the current filter. Have you used an impulse detector?' The words flowed easily, like a native language he had not spoken in years but would never forget.
'Not that it's your business, but yes,' Doby said. 'It didn't show anything wrong.'
'Then it's definitely the current filter,' Anakin said. 'It's clogged.
' 'Slap it shut, you son of a durkii,' Deland warned his brother. 'This guy could be working for another Podracer. He's just trying to spook us.'
Doby leaned toward his brother and said in a whisper, 'Haven't you noticed? He's a Jedi.'
'He's a fraud and a fake,' Deland hissed. 'Sebulba probably hired him.
' Anakin felt a rush of heat that made his face flame. Back on Tatooine, Sebulba the Dug had tried to cheat his way to victory in the Boonta Eve race and nearly killed Anakin in the process. They had always sparred, though Sebulba had never taken him seriously enough to worry about him.
Until the race on Boonta Eve, when he'd beaten him in an extremely close race. 'Sebulba is still racing?'
'Everybody knows that,' Deland said. 'Now I know you're lying. Doby, fire up that engine!'
'You're going to blow out the intake valves on the turbines,' Anakin warned.
In answer, Deland reached over and flipped on the engine. Anakin had already stepped out of the way. Aloud explosion blew Deland back onto the ground. Doby was almost blasted by a roar of fire from the left turbine.
Anakin reached over and shut off the engine.
'I'll be a Kowakian monkey-lizard!' Doby cried. 'You were right!'
Deland picked himself up and dusted off his leggings. 'Lucky guess.'
'Are you two related to Ratts Tyerell?' Anakin asked curiously. 'I think I recognize this Podracer.'
Doby nodded proudly. 'He was our father. He died in the great Boonta Eve Classic six years ago. Did you know him?'
'I raced against him in that race,' Anakin said. 'He was one of the fastest. Incredibly quick reflexes.' 'Not quick enough,' Doby said sorrowfully.
'Lying again,' Deland said to Anakin. 'No human can be a Podracer.'
'One was,' Doby said. 'A human child. A slave. He won his freedom, and after the race he disappeared. His name was — '
'Anakin Skywalker,' Anakin supplied. 'Pleased to meet you.'
'Now you're a Jedi?' Doby asked in disbelief. 'And you were a slave?'
'It's a strange galaxy,' Anakin said with a grin.
'Totally true,' Doby agreed.
'Don't want to interrupt this getting-to-know-you gush, but we have a job to do,' Deland said gruffly.
'I'll help you if you want,' Anakin said spontaneously. He'd love to get his hands on a Podracer engine again, but he knew Obi-Wan would certainly disapprove.
'What's in it for you?' Deland asked suspiciously.
'Who cares?' Doby asked. 'He beat Sebulba, Deland! Now we have to.' He turned to Anakin. 'After our father died, we had no money, so our uncle sold our sister into slavery. Djulla's master is now Sebulba. We have to get her out of his clutches! We bet our Podracer that we'd win. Sebulba bet Djulla's freedom. This time, though, he's not racing. His son Hekula is.'
'I'm sorry that your sister is a slave,' Anakin said. 'Do you know Shmi, my mother? She's a slave, too. Or she was, when I saw her last.'
Doby shook his head. 'Mos Espa is full of beings. We don't know them all.'
Anakin blinked as tears filled his eyes, surprising him. For a moment, Shmi had seemed so close. But she was as far away as she always was. He turned away quickly, his gaze roaming around the makeshift hangar. He didn't see Sebulba. But he did see something familiar — his old Podracer.
Could it be?
'Whose Podracer is that?' he asked, pointing it out.
'Hekula's,' Deland said, giving it a glance.
Yes, it was definitely Anakin's old Podracer, a customized Radon- Ulzer. It had been painted and retooled, but he would recognize it anywhere. He knew Qui-Gon had sold the Podracer, but not to whom. Sebulba must have bought it. Anakin burned at the thought of Sebulba owning the Podracer he had built and maintained so
