159474808X by Ian Doescher Read Free Book Online

hence awhile until ye are sent for.
Say, can you play the sad and dreadful tale
“The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise”?
    PLAYER 2
My lord, aye.
    PALPATINE
—Sirrah, here’s a little speech,
Some dozen or sixteen lines to include.
Can ye perform this small addition?
    PLAYER 3
—Aye.
    PALPATINE
Then let us go, till we’ve an audience,
The curtain shall arise on our fair play!
[Exeunt Palpatine and players.
    Enter A NAKIN S KYWALKER .
    ANAKIN
Will ev’ryone, e’en mine own Padmé true,
Seek to employ my close relationship
With Palpatine to their own private gain?
The Jedi Council plans to turn me spy,
A traitor to my friend, the chancellor,
For that they trust him not—or mayhap fear
That he shall rival their own power grand.
My Padmé doth mistrust his noble aims,
Suspicious of his motivations e’er.
Am I the key with which they would unlock
The secrets of the gallant chancellor?
Nay, nay, I shall not be so us’d until
My reason and my judgment do inform
Me of some treachery in him, not till
I see it for myself shall I indulge
These strange, misguided fabrications. Fie!
To use a Jedi with such skill as I,
To play with me as one would play a pipe.
It shall not be, not e’en for Master Yoda,
Nor my friend Obi-Wan, not even for
My Padmé; I shall play the part of judge
Myself. But soft, here comes the chancellor.
    Enter C HANCELLOR P ALPATINE .
    PALPATINE
My boy, the very lad with whom I’d speak.
Hast thou some time that I may drop a word
Or two within thine ear? Hast thou, I say,
Time in thy busy life for an old man?
    ANAKIN
I wait upon your leisure, sir: speak on.
    PALPATINE
News advantageous I have lately learn’d:
Our clone intelligence hath found the vile
And wicked Gen’ral Grievous. He doth lurk
And cower in the system Utapau.
    ANAKIN
[ aside: ] Some tidings, finally, to bring me joy!
[ To Palpatine: ] This glad report doth echo in mine ears
An ’twere the sweetest sound that e’er I heard.
We can the monster capture, end the war.
    PALPATINE
The Jedi Council’s wisdom might I doubt
Were thou not chosen to perform this deed:
To go to Grievous and destroy the beast.
Forsooth, ’tis clear thou art the finest choice.
[Palpatine reclines in a chair.
Thou wilt, I hope, come stay with me awhile,
Enjoy this grand performance I have plann’d?
Pray, sit: the players shall begin anon.
    ANAKIN
Your invitation I most gladly take,
Some rest for mind and soul shall do me well.
[Anakin sits in the seat next to Palpatine.
    PALPATINE
O, Anakin, thou knowest I cannot
Reply upon the Jedi Council, nay.
If they have not included thee within
Their plot to overthrow me, soon they will.
    ANAKIN
I am not certain I do comprehend.
    PALPATINE
Thy senses must have told thee what I have,
Of late, deduc’d: the Jedi Council would
Assume o’er the Republic full control.
They shall betray me.
    ANAKIN
—Truly, Chancellor?
    PALPATINE
Pray, search thy feelings, Anakin. Thou knowest
It is true.
    ANAKIN
—I do know they trust you not.
    PALPATINE
Nor do they trust the Senate, the Republic,
Nay, neither do they trust democracy.
    ANAKIN
I shall admit, I have been wary of
The Council for some time.
    PALPATINE
—And wherefore, pray?
Is’t possible they ask’d of thee some task,
Some strange employment, which did suit thee not?
Perchance some thing to make thee turn untrue?
Was it that thou shouldst spy on me—was’t that?
    ANAKIN
[ aside: ] Alas, how can he know?—yet plainly doth.
[ To Palpatine: ] I know not what I should say in reply.
    PALPATINE
Remember, long ago, the teachings prime:
Those who gain pow’r are most afeard to lose.
’Tis true, I fear, e’en of our Jedi friends.
    ANAKIN
The Jedi use their power but for good.
    PALPATINE
Yet what is good? A certain point of view.
’Tis what good is, my lad, and nothing more.
The Sith and Jedi both are similar
In every respect, which doth include
A hearty taste for power’s dividends.
    ANAKIN
I have been taught the Sith rely upon
Mere passion to obtain what strength they