Fame and Fortune

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Seventeen days after Han Solo's 'death'

It turned out the only thing covered up in the cart was food, and when the old man waved his hand toward the meal Han realized he was famished. When was the last time he'd eaten, anyway?

Between mouthfuls of food he asked, "Tell me my name."

"It was Han Solo."

"Was?" Han blinked, straining to recall his past. Although it was still fuzzy, his memory started to come back, especially now that he'd heard his name. The Wookiee... whose name he now remembered.. Chewbacca... the Princess, his ship, his friends.

"Now, don't get all upset," Dr. Nik chastised. "Almost three weeks ago I saved your life, so you should be grateful."

"Grateful?" Han repeated, hovering over the nervous doctor in his best threatening manner. "You obviously did some weird surgery on me, and I'm supposed to be grateful?"

"I've done no such thing," Dr. Nik said indignantly.

"Then explain!"

"Well, I used to work for Palpatine..."

"Great. A crazy Imp."

"Don't interrupt. It's rude." Dr. Nik cleared his throat. "Like I was saying... I worked for Palpatine. Well, actually, my mentor, Doctor Stanfrincer worked for the Emperor. I was just his second-in-command, which turned out to be fortunate for me, actually, since poor Stanfrincer couldn't seem to please Palpatine. But, then, that turned out to be good for you, too. So I suppose, in the great scheme of things, everything works out for the best."

"You're starting to annoy me," Han warned the doctor.

"Well, then, let me start at the beginning. You recall the Ssi-ruuk that invaded Bakura, right?"

"Yeah, I remember." Han suddenly remembered Leia's face much more clearly. Bakura was the place they'd first made love. The Ssi-ruuk, on the other hand, were beings he'd prefer to forget.

"The Empire had problems with them long before the Rebels won the war, although Palpatine covered it up. Especially when he found out about their little abilities to transfer human essences into machines. He really liked that technology."

"I'll bet," Han remarked. "That would be right up his perverted alley."

"And, when you combine that with ... well," Dr. Nik said, smiling. "The Emperor thought he'd hit the lottery, as far as living forever goes."

Han blinked, suddenly comprehending. "He wanted to transfer himself into a clone."

"Not a clone, son. Palpatine was way too proud to want a clone's body." He frowned, considering his words. "Well, he did originally try the cloning technique, but for some reason, clones using Palpatine's cells proved to be rather unstable, both physically and mentally. So then he decided he wanted the perfect unique body, built cell by cell, from the ground floor up, so to speak. Poor Doctor Stanfrincer thought he'd gotten it perfect, too. A good-looking guy, tall but not too tall, you know, someone all the ladies would swoon over. And with none of the problems inherent with cloning, either. The body grew in a tank for nine months, just like a regular baby. When it was removed from the tank it kept aging exactly as a body should age, but it seemed to have no self-awareness. The boy could only learn basic things, like speaking simple words, how to eat, how to dress. It was like teaching a droid that had no personality in its programming. Stanfrincer gave this human he created life, but he could not give it a soul, which is exactly what Palpatine needed – a body with no inner spirit to fight him when he took it over. However, the Emperor wanted to wait until the body had aged to at least nineteen standard years before he took it over since he didn't want to appear too young to be a ruler of the galaxy."