The path of darkness, the path of power

[Manuk Gagak]

“You may think I am evil. I am not. I am efficient.”
―Darth Maul

It was a very small small room. The window was polarised to block out light, but it could just have easily been a two-way mirror, although Manuk never sensed anyone on the other side. The planet’s name was unknown to Manuk, and it was of no consequence, according to the droid that looked after her. The droid also served as the her teacher, cook and cleaner. And, she reflected, her jailer. Not that she was imprisoned as such, but she’d agreed to the training regime on the basis that the droid – and the droid alone – would determine when it had completed.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Her time was not all spent learning about the Force, as much as she wished it was. There was an expectation she would teach that to herself. Yet she struggled. In times of great anger or fear, she could access it, but never at will.

Which may be why her lessons presently were about many, many subjects that she felt were pointless but must have had some roots in usefulness – she simply hadn’t grasped the what yet.

Yesterday was spent with the droid showing her holograms that illustrated different planets' terrain and their location in the galaxy. The droid had shown her holograms of so many worlds. Manuk had to memorise their names and correctly indicate their locations or the droid would subject her to a painful shock. To which she was not allowed to retaliate – as this was another of the rules.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Manuk was alone. Not for the first time in her life. It was similar to her upbringing, when she had only a protocol droid for company.

Manuk surveyed her room. Its only remarkable features were a single door against the wall opposite the window and a cold-water tap that was operated by a palm sensor, positioned over a small drainage hole in one corner. The door was made of thick metal, the same material as the walls, floor, and ceiling. The bottom of the door had a narrow horizontal slot, through which the droid would sometimes shove a small tray of food.

Manuk could not see through the slot, because it remained sealed when not in use, by a sliding sheet of metal. Above the door was a convex blister that housed an audio speaker and also a photoreceptor, which allowed the droid to watch Manuk at all times. There weren’t any controls to open the door from inside Manuk’s room, at least none that Manuk had ever been able to find.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

A chime sounded from the speaker, alerting Manuk to begin her exercises. Even though the room was not very large it served as a training area too. And she knew better than to ignore the chime, so jumped up and immediately began running in place.

At first, Manuk kept her arms tucked by her sides. Then she started pumping her arms up and down to match the steady rhythm of her leg muscles. She wanted to close her eyes and pretend that she was somewhere else, perhaps a larger room, but she was not allowed to close her eyes while exercising. So, she forced her eyelids to stay open and pumped her legs faster.

The chime sounded again. Manuk stopped running, fell back against the floor, and began doing a series of sit-ups and leg lifts. After several minutes, the chime sounded and Manuk rolled over to do her next set of exercises, alternating between one-and two-handed push-ups. Several more minutes passed before the chime sounded again, signalling the exercise session’s end. Manuk collapsed, sweating, against the cold floor.

Someone’s coming.

Manuk pushed herself up and stared hard at the door. Although she could not hear approaching footsteps, she knew the door would open in a moment, and someone would be in the chamber outside. Like her access to the Force, she didn’t know how she knew this.

She just knew.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Manuk could imagine only two possible visitors. One was the droid that looked after him. The other was her Master. She frowned rephrased her thoughts…her mentor. But she had not seen her since she’d arrived.

The door made a hissing sound as it slid up and vanished into a slot in the ceiling. Standing outside the doorway was the droid. Made of shiny black metal, the droid had a bulbous head with five red mechanical eyes and a mesh-grille vocabulator for speaking, and a cylindrical torso that held four long, jointed pincers for arms. The torso rested on a swivel-hinged abdomen that had six spiderlike legs.

Manuk never knew what to expect from the droid. Sometimes it brought food or medicine or sprayed Manuk with antiseptic cleansers or escorted her to a larger adjoining chamber where it would chase her or let her run in circles. Other times, it would talk to her and teach her things.

But usually, the droid brought pain.

Once, the droid had delivered a bright yellow snake that wasted no time in attacking Manuk, sinking its venomous fangs deep into her arm. Manuk screamed and then threw her body down on top of the snake’s to crush it. As ravenous as she was enraged, Manuk had not been able to resist taking several large bites of the dead snake, which had been more than her stomach could handle. After that incident, the droid had returned with medicine, bandages...and a stomach pump.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Now, standing before Manuk in the doorway, the droid slowly extended one pincer away from its body and swivelled the tip in a broad circular movement. Manuk kept her eyes focused on the rotating pincer as she felt her muscles tense, bracing herself to leap away from it. She didn’t notice the small panel that opened below one of the droid’s eyes. The opened panel exposed a socket that housed a telescopic arm tipped with a hypodermic needle. The arm lashed out, jabbed the needle into Manuk’s right shoulder, and then rapidly retracted into the droid’s head. The droid had taken just a fraction of a second to make the injection – so little time that Manuk barely comprehended that the needle had pierced her skin.

Manuk blinked as she reached up and rubbed her shoulder. She realised that the droid had done something to her and had rotated its pincer only to distract her. And then she felt a strange, warm sensation spreading throughout her body. She frowned at the droid, and then her eyelids drooped and her legs buckled. The droid’s arms extended, catching the young woman before she could hit the floor.

The spider-legged droid carried the unconscious girl and carried her out of the little room without any difficulty. She was not at all heavy, despite her being in her late teens. Her emaciated – yet lean – physique only made her lighter.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

When Manuk awoke, she was lying on a metal bench in a large high-ceilinged chamber that she had never visited before. Three tall, narrow windows were set into one wall, illuminating the floor in front of Manuk but leaving most of the chamber in darkness.

Manuk did not remember falling asleep or leaving her room. She suspected she was about to be disciplined. She wondered if she hadn’t done all her exercises correctly or if she had made some other mistake. Not that it mattered. Sometimes she was disciplined without any explanation at all. She had been learning discipline since she’s arrived. Not to banish free thought, but to observe commands when necessary. To understand that if she wanted to be part of the Sith, she had a part to play in a grand scheme of things and could not simply use the Force to her own ends. Not that she was really able to use the Force as yet.

Manuk slowly pushed herself up from the bench. She felt cool air against her back and suspected there was a vent or a doorway behind her. Looking around the chamber, she noticed five red lights glowing in the darkness of one nearby corner. He recognised the lights as the eyes of the spider-legged droid.

Manuk rubbed her right shoulder. Then she remembered that the droid had struck her in the shoulder earlier and suspected that the droid had made her fall asleep. She wondered what the droid might do next. Would it kill her? Was it allowed to?

The droid lurched out of the corner. Manuk hit the floor with her bare feet and began running as fast as her malnourished legs could carry her away from the droid. Staying out of the light that stretched from the windows across the floor, she darted toward an inner wall, heading for the source of the draft she’d felt against her back. Her vision adjusted to the darkness and she found a quadrangular doorway. She did not hesitate to run through it, even though she had no idea of what awaited her in the next chamber.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Darkness. A chamber without windows. Then she glimpsed a dim sliver of light ahead. Ignoring the droid’s clattering footsteps behind her, she ran toward the light, which emanated from somewhere beyond a curved wall. she knew she couldn’t outrun the droid, but she didn’t dare stop.

Manuk ran around the curved wall and entered a long, narrow corridor. Illuminated by small rectangular lamps embedded in the walls, the corridor was so long that she couldn’t see the other end. Manuk kept running. She heard the droid’s footsteps pause at the corridor’s entrance. She hoped the droid was too large to follow her into the corridor.

Risking a backward glance, she saw the droid had already tilted its body sideways so four of its legs tapped against the wall while the remaining two continued to scramble up the floor, propelling its metal body after Manuk. She gasped as she turned her gaze forward, never breaking her stride.

She heard the droid’s footsteps grow louder and knew it was gaining on her. She somehow sensed the droid was about to snare her with a pincer. Desperate and determined to evade the droid, Manuk jumped to the side, planting one foot against the wall to her right, then sprang to the opposite wall, keeping her feet moving so that she travelled two steps across the vertical surface in a diagonal descent to the floor. Manuk heard the pincer slam into the floor behind her, and she jumped up to make two more quick strides along the right wall before she flung herself back to the floor, still running forward. As she ran, she heard a loud and satisfying crash from behind, and she knew that the droid had tripped over its own legs in its failed effort to keep up with her.

Suspecting that the droid would not only recover but also be very angry with her, Manuk ran faster. Her heart was pounding as she saw that the corridor terminated at another quadrangular doorway. she exited the corridor fast.

Always remember... a punishment is a lesson, young Manuk. Learn it well.

This was something the droid repeated often – and invariably before dishing out some form of castigation. For the damage the droid effectively inflicted upon itself, she knew she would pay a price.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

“Begin!” the droid said.

Manuk ran fast across the training room floor, heading straight for the wall. Several months after her arrival in this new training room, she was familiar with the routine. she launched off the floor with her left foot, hit the wall with her right, and ran several steps up the wall before she kicked away, flipping her body backward through the air. she landed on her feet, then sprinted back toward the wall and repeated the exercise again. And again.

And again.

And again.

The six-legged droid watched each move, making sure Manuk performed the exercise exactly as instructed. The droid had told Manuk that the exercise was designed to build strength, agility, and muscle memory. The droid had also stressed that if Manuk’s timing was off and she flipped away from the wall incorrectly, she could wind up with a broken neck.

Manuk continued the exercise until the droid told her to stop. As she landed on her feet, she felt her heart hammering within her chest. She wanted desperately to rest on the floor, but resting was not allowed until the droid said so.

“Your timing has improved,” the droid said. Rapidly extending one of its pincer arms, it swiped Manuk with an electrode, giving the young woman a shock.

Manuk bared her teeth and snarled at the droid. Although she knew that the droid was simply carrying out orders, apparently teaching Manuk to be prepared to deal with pain at any moment, she still resented getting shocks when she had not done anything wrong. The droid stared back at Manuk through emotionless photoreceptors. Manuk could anticipate many things, but she never knew when droid was about to shock her. The droid was too fast.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

However, Manuk had learned much during her time with the droid in the training room. The room had special exercise equipment and weapons, as well as computer consoles that had been programmed to educate and challenge Manuk’s mind and mechanical abilities. she could now identify hundreds of star systems, assemble complicated three-dimensional puzzles, and pinpoint the vulnerabilities of nearly every significant predatory creature in the galaxy. And in addition to running up walls, she could walk on her hands, swiftly climb a rope, trot across a taut wire, and leap headfirst through an energy ring and come up standing.

“Go to console three,” the droid commanded.

Manuk went to the third computer console and seated herself before the computer’s holoprojector. As she inserted both hands into the console’s grip sockets, she wondered what the test would be about this time.

The holoprojector displayed a sequence of three different star systems and rotated each display so Manuk could see the holographic stars and their respective orbiting planets from various angles. Then the computer cut off the projector, leaving Manuk staring at empty air. The computer said, “Identify the second, first, and third systems, in that order.”

Manuk answered quickly. she hoped the computer would next ask her to name the trade route that linked all three systems, because she knew that answer too.

But the computer projected a new system. “This system includes three gas giants. Name the planets that have more than one moon.”

Manuk responded but her slight delay in naming the last one earned her a sharp sting in the palm of her left hand. Manuk was still wincing in pain when the computer’s audio speaker erupted with a recorded beast’s roar.

“Identify the species,” the computer droned.

The questions continued for several minutes. Manuk made only three more mistakes. When the computer was done, she removed her aching hands from the console socket and massaged her knuckles. As she rose from her seat, the six-legged droid said, “Go to the ring.”

 

[Manuk Gagak]

The droid followed Manuk to the ring, a circular platform that was elevated thirty centimetres above the training room floor. Manuk hopped onto the platform while the droid ambled over to a nearby rack of weapons and selected a slender staff made of wood. Gripping the staff with a single pincer, the droid climbed onto the platform and faced Manuk. “I will attempt to strike you. You will attempt to dodge the strike. Each successful strike or dodge counts as one point. Knocking an opponent off the platform counts as three points. The exercise ends when one of us has scored five points. Understood?”

“Yes.” The word was barely out of Manuk’s mouth when the staff connected with the side of her left leg. She grunted in pain and anger.

“You forgot to jump,” the droid said in a mocking tone. “My point.”

The droid swung again, ther time angling for Manuk’s right leg. Manuk jumped. The droid let the staff’s tip bounce off the platform and brought it up sharply to strike the bottom of Manuk’s right foot. Manuk tumbled across the platform and came up standing, her eyes burning with fury at the droid.

“That must have hurt,” the droid said. “The next strike will hurt more.” The droid made a quick jab toward Manuk, but the girl threw her body to the side and rolled, careful not to go over the edge of the platform.

“Your point,” the droid said as it tossed the staff into the air. Manuk ignored the airborne staff and kept her eyes on the droid. The droid caught the staff with a different pincer, then leaped forward. Manuk dived under the droid, and as she somersaulted across the platform, she heard the staff whoosh past her head.

“Your point again,” the droid said. “We are tied.” The droid tossed the staff back and forth between three pincers, then seized it with a single pincer and rotated its arm so the staff spun like a propeller. The droid increased the speed of the rotation, transforming the staff into a barely visible blur.

Expecting the droid to advance toward her, Manuk braced herself to jump away. She was not prepared when the droid threw the spinning staff directly at her, and she felt the slap of hard wood against the side of her face. The staff fell away from Manuk and landed between her and the droid.

“I hope you are learning from this,” the droid said. “The score is now three to two.” The droid stepped forward and reached for the staff.

Manuk sighed in a mixture of exasperation and a sense of how unfair the exercise was. If only she could beat the droid with its own stick.

The droid’s pincer was still descending for the staff when the weapon leaped from the platform and flew toward Manuk. Manuk caught the staff with both hands as she glared at the droid.

The droid backed up. Manuk held the staff out in front of her. She didn’t know exactly why the staff had sailed into her grip – but she had a good idea how. Or was it the other way around? Never before had she simply thought something and the Force did her bidding – not as precisely as this. Despite this, she wasn’t sure what to do next. The droid had not mentioned if Manuk would gain points if she struck the droid.

“You’ve never done that before,” the droid said, sounding surprised. The droid’s photoreceptors blinked and turned yellow as it transmitted a silent signal.

She wondered whether the droid might be trying to trick her by pretending to have ended the bout, and whether it might be preparing to attack again. The droid’s photoreceptors flickered back to red, but it did not budge from its position on the opposite side of the ring.

Finally, it spoke. “We must leave. A ship will arrive presently to collect you. Welcome to your first initiation into the Sith Eternal.”

 

[Manuk Gagak]

“Welcome to…,” the droid waved a pincer, “whatever planet this is. Its name is irrelevant.”

A barely yellow sun hung over the grey terrain. Manuk gazed across a wide area of mostly flat land and noticed some strangely angular rock formations in the distance. The ground was covered by sporadic clumps of stones and boulders. Manuk saw no sign of movement.

“Take a good look,” the droid said. “We are standing upon what was once the bottom of an ocean. If it ever had a name, that name was lost to time many eons ago. Here, the only historic records are the geographic evidence.”

The droid twisted its body as if to look toward the horizon. “It’s hard to believe that this planet was once home to billions of lifeforms. While life on other worlds evolved and reached for the stars, the inhabitants here were never so inspired. They stayed here. They died here. And what is their legacy? Nothing but fossils. To live without leaving a mark is a terrible thing. To die forgotten is even worse.” The droid turned its red photoreceptors on Manuk. “It is...irresponsible.”

Manuk simply stood very still and remained silent.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

The area they were in was bordered by a broad field covered by small stones. The tops of a few large boulders loomed over the stones. The droid and Manuk were at the edge of the bedrock. Surveying the stones, the droid asked, “What do you see?”

“I see rocks.”

The droid remained silent for a few moments. Then it raised a pincer and indicated the centre of the field of stones and said, “Go stand over there.”

Manuk stepped across the stones until she reached the designated spot. Then she stopped.

“Turn around.”

Manuk turned to face the droid. “I suspect that every creature that ever lived here did not think much about rocks either. I was expected that you would be smarter. Therefore, I’ll ask you again. What do you see, spread out on the ground all around you?”

Manuk’s eyes darted back and forth. She saw only rocks. Some were pebbles, others large stones, and there were the tops of a few boulders. As ever, she did not want to incur the wrath of the droid, but she did not know any other answer than the one she had already given. Returning her gaze to the droid, she said hesitantly, “I see rocks. Thousands of rocks.”

Something hard slammed into Manuk’s left shoulder blade. She ducked as she spun to confront her attacker, and as she moved, she saw the object that had struck her. It was a stone, which fell on the rocks near her feet.

Manuk looked across the dull landscape. No one had been standing behind her.

Another stone smashed into Manuk’s right bicep. She grunted as she spun again, this time to look back at the droid.

Manuk knew the stones weren’t flying by themselves and if the droid was not responsible, there must be a Sith nearby, doing it.

The droid went on. “The creatures that once roamed this now dead ocean, they lacked imagination. Ultimately, that is why they all perished. They failed to see...potential.”

Potential?! Manuk suddenly sensed a small stone whizzing toward her head. She raised her hand to deflect the stone as she ducked, but the stone sailed past her fingers and clipped the side of her head.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

“Weapons!” Manuk shouted. “I see weapons!”

“Not fast enough,” the droid said as a stone smashed into Manuk’s lower back.

Manuk crouched and instinctively grabbed the nearest rock. She no sooner lifted it from the ground than she felt it burning into her hand. She yelped as she reflexively opened her fingers and let the rock fall.

“Oh, come now,” the droid said, a level of impatience in its tinny voice. “Almost any humanoid with fingers can do that.”

Two stones smacked into the backs of Manuk’s legs, knocking her off her feet. She gasped as her body fell on the hard rocks. Looking up, he saw two more stones rise from the ground. She twisted her body fast, trying to shield her head.

“Maybe your mentor was wrong about you being special,” the droid said as he watched the two stones strike Manuk. “Maybe you are unworthy of her attention.”

Several stones hurtled up from the ground around Manuk’s body. Battered and bruised, Manuk glared at the droid. It may not be controlling the stones, but it was in charge of whoever was . The stones sailed through the air, all heading straight for the droid.

The rocks stopped in midflight, then fell to the ground. “Is that the best you can do?” the droid asked, in a mocking tone.
Manuk snarled as she jumped to her feet and swiped at the air with both hands. Dozens of rocks launched up from around Manuk and raced toward the droid. The approaching rocks rebounded as if they had struck an invisible shield.

“Well done,” the droid said as the dust settled around it. “You passed the test. Your efforts with the staff were no fluke. You have, at last gained control – conscious control – of the Force.”

Manuk looked at the rocks on the ground. She hadn’t put any real effort into launching them through the air either. She had just...thought it and it happened.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

“Hold still,” said the six-legged droid as it wiped blood from Manuk’s rib cage.

Manuk squirmed on the edge of the metal table and said through clenched teeth, “You have the bone-knitter on the wrong setting.”

“No, I don’t,” said the droid as it moved the medical tool deeper into the wound on Manuk’s left side. Then it repeated, “Hold still.”

They were in the expansive training room back in the original facility. Five months had passed since she had begun training Manuk. In recent days, the droid had been teaching her how to throw blades with great accuracy, and also how to dodge and catch blades that the droid threw at her while she did her exercises. As for running up walls and flipping backward to the floor, Manuk had become so adept that she could do it with her eyes closed. However, she had been unprepared when, a few minutes earlier, she had kicked away from the wall and straight into one of the droid’s waiting pincers.

The droid set aside the bone-knitter, then sprayed an exotic salve over Manuk’s skin. “You should be relieved that I only broke two of your ribs,” the droid said.

“I didn’t realise you were allowed to break my ribs,” Manuk said as the droid began wrapping a bandage around her torso. “I thought you were standing near me to watch me exercise.”

“Well, you know what your mentor would say. To leave yourself vulnerable is an open invitation to death.”

Manuk eased herself off the table and reached for the top she’d been wearing earlier. It now had a hole in it, where the droid’s pincer had torn through the fabric, and was stained with blood. But before Manuk could pick up the shirt, the droid snatched it and added, “You may put on a clean shirt.”

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Manuk walked across the training room and stepped through a doorway to enter her quarters. Nearly twice the size of her former room, her quarters had a lighting system that he could control, a sleep mat with a coverlet, and a small trunk for storing clothes. It also had a door that she could open from inside or outside. Except when the droid locked her up, she was generally free to go to the training room at any time.

She reached into her trunk and removed a clean black shirt. Manuk pulled the shirt on and felt a stab of pain at her left side. She gnashed her teeth and took a series of quick and shallow breaths through her nose, careful not to expand his lungs so much that they’d make her ribs hurt. She wondered how long it would take for her ribs to heal.

As she exited her quarters, she said, “When will my ribs– Oh.?”

The droid was standing directly outside the room. “What have you learned today, Manuk?”

Manuk stared at the droid. “I must be ready to attack and fight back at all times.”

“Excellent,” the droid said. “And because ‘at all times’ includes right now, you will now repeat the exercise you were doing before. Only this time, you will avoid breaking any more ribs.” The droid gestured to the nearest wall. “Begin at once.”

Manuk looked at him as if he'd said something in a foreign tongue.

“What you said is absolutely true. You must be ready to attack and fight back at all times. If your bones were broken during a fight with an actual enemy, do you think that enemy would wait for you to heal before attacking you again?”

“No.”

“I will stand near while you run up the wall and leap back to the floor. At any given moment, I might attack. And I will not hold back because you are already injured. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

The droid shuffled over to the wall and waited for Manuk to run.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Manuk went straight for the wall. She tried to ignore her broken ribs, but with each step, she felt the sharp pain intensify. But she did not cry out. She would not give the droid the satisfaction of hearing her cry.

He was angry and let the pain feed her anger, let her anger feed her strength. She ran up the wall several steps before she kicked off, keeping her left arm close to her side to prevent the droid from striking her rib cage again.

Manuk did not think the droid would attack on his first flip away from the wall. She was still in mid-air when the droid lashed out with violent force. Manuk felt her left arm snap as the droid’s swat knocked her clear across the room. Manuk crashed into the opposite wall and then everything went dark.

When she awoke, the lesson would be well and truly learned.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Manuk willed her body to remain standing. She had endured so much but was learning to draw strength from the Dark side.

“You are to be sent to a planet in the Outer Rim” the droid intoned. “It is made up of three kinds of terrain. Desert, swamp, and mountains. You will have at least three challenges on each terrain. You will face there a fleet of assassin droids, programmed with different strategies. Some will work together. Some will work alone. They are all programmed to kill.”

Manuk stared at the droid. Although Manuk remained silent, the fire in her eyes betrayed her surprise. And her excitement.

And she remembered the words she’d read as part of her studies. To become a Sith, you must be prepared to lose your own life in order to win.

“You will have to survive for a month.” The droid added. “You will have only a survival pack.”

Despite her exhaustion. Manuk felt exhilarated.

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Manuk departed in a droid-piloted cruiser and she was not informed of the ship’s destination. But while the cruiser was traveling through hyperspace, Manuk tapped at a keypad at the navigation console until she accessed and bypassed the coded coordinates that identified her destination. Sadly, the information proved of limited value.

The droid pilot emerged from the cockpit and noticed Manuk examining a scope at the navigation console. The droid said. “I don’t think your mentor will be pleased to know that you accessed restricted data from the navi-computer.”

Without looking away, Manuk replied. “If my mentor learns that you used dated encryption codes for the destination coordinates, she’ll not doubt feed you through a shredder for a full week.”

“Oh,” said the droid pilot. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to erase my memory of the past minute.”

 

[Manuk Gagak]

Only now did it occur to her that the droid pilot might actually be an assassin droid. She could only imagine how many assassin droids were already waiting for her, and it was possible that the pilot droid would deliver her straight into a massive ambush.

The cruiser dropped out of hyperspace to arrive within view of the planet. It was a small world, and scattered clouds were visible in the upper atmosphere. Even from space, Manuk could make out some wide areas of desert, small oceans, and shadowy mountain ranges, which were consistent with the training droid’s description of the varied terrain.

The cruiser descended through the planet’s atmosphere. Manuk grabbed the survival pack that her training droid had given to her and strapped it to her back. She leaned into the cockpit, looked through the window, and saw they were angling down over a body of water, heading toward a rocky beach.

The droid swivelled its mechanical eyes to face Manuk and said, “Please don’t ask me where we’re going to land. I’m not authorised to tell you.”

Ignoring the droid, Manuk examined the ship’s readouts for flight speed and altitude, then cast a final glance through the window, noting the distance to the beach, before she pulled out of the cockpit. As she mentally calculated the cruiser’s approach to the beach, she dropped to a crouch beside the main hatch, wrapped one arm tightly around her legs so his knees were clasped against her chest, and used her free hand to hit the lever for the emergency exit.