Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Backstory Part 1



Esoom Mendo was like any other Ithorian working on a Herd ship, tending to the needs of the plants here and on the planet below. Unlike other Ithorians he also had a passion for droids and all they could do to help in his peoples daily activities. One day he asked one of his elders if he could try to modifiy an astromech droid from being a ships mechanic and navigator to being an asistant to him in his care of plants. The elder thought about Esoom's reqwest wondering why he wanted a personal droid for himself when there were plenty to help him when ever he needed it. The elder finally said yes knowing full well how well Esoom has done his job in the past. "Go to the droid storage area and pick out one that is not being used." The elder said slowly and carefully, "I know you like droids Esoom but if I find that you want a droid to be as a friend and not get your responsibilities done I will have to take it away."Esoom was so happy, he jumped up in the air and almost started to hug the elder but stopped himself at the last second. The Elder added, "get your work done first Esoom, then on your own time you can go." Then the elder went on his way to tend to other more important buissness.
Esoom's excitement was building as the day went on, as he was tending to patches of flowers he wondered what model of astromech he might use, he has always liked the reliable R2 units and was hoping one might be there. As soon as his work was done he carefully put away his tools and said goodbye to his fellow workers. He casually walked out the door and down one of the many hallways of the herd ship, he rounded the corner and slowly increased his pace towards the storage area when he saw no one was looking. When he came to the room he opened the door and stepped inside, he looked around the dimly lit room and saw plants from Ithor and many other planets that thrived in low light conditions, the sound of running water could be heard behind the plants. In one corner of the room he saw three astromechs spring to life and start chirping different things to him and one another. One was an R5 with a purple paneled head and a greenpaneled body, another was an R3 that was all white except for his clear dome, and the third was an R2 with orange and white color scheme. Esoom approached the droids and introduced himself, most other species would probably just grab the nearest one and go but he wanted to make sure the droid he picked would be interested in his offerbecause he did not believe in memories wipes. He explained what he wanted to do but the astromechs just laughed. With Esoom's love of droids he has learned to understand droid speak, then the R5 beeped out harshly, "we are not built to be gardeners! Go away unless you have a ship for us to fix!" Esoom was very disappointed and started to head for the door. All of the sudden he heard the water stop and then the slow whimpering cry of an R2 unit. Esoom spun around and peered threw the plants and saw the faint glow of red then blue, he walked around the plants to a narrow area between the plants and the wall and saw another R2 unit with a wall hose in one of his grippers."What are you doing back here?" Esoom said questionably. In a very sad voice the R2 unit said "watering this plant, its moistuer content needs to be at 65%."Esoom smiled as only an Ithorian can, "That's right! It should be at 65%, but what are you so sad about?"
"You did not ask me if I would be interested in your project" the little R2 said turning around and slowly putting the hose back in its holding area.
"I did not know you were back here. Come out of there an into the hallway with me if you are interested."The little R2 chirped out happily and raced out into the hallway ahead of Esoom almost tripping him in the process. The astro droid spun around in the hallway to face the Ithorian, retracted his middle leg and began rocking back and forth happily. Esoom took a minute to look the droid over, it was white with brown panels thatwere close to his own skin color, he had a little ware and a littlerust on his skirt area and the bottom of his feet but otherwise he looked like new.
"Why are you and the other astromechs not tending to ships?" Esoom asked.
"The other three did not get along well with the Ithorians; they were constantly talking back and causing trouble. No one wanted to use them so they put them in here till their minds could be wiped." The droid slowly chirped out, " I on the other hand was stored here to have my mind wiped for a different reason..."
"What would that be? It is ok to tell me" Esoom said as he gently placed a hand on the R2's dome.
"I am an astromech who is afraid of flying. I never did like it, being strapped into a ship with my dome sticking out into the deep vastness of space." The droid bent slowly over to stare at the floor and continued, "I don't like to fix mechanical stuff anymore, I am good at it but after years of fixing the same stuff over and over I just would like a change. While I was in that store room I started to study the plants in there, all the years on this herd ship and I have never made it out of the maintenance bay to see a plant. I used the dataport there to learn everything about the plants in the room. That is why I knew about the plants moisture content."
The Ithorian grinned down at the little droid and gently patted it on the head, " You are a very special astromech indeed, and it is by extreme luck or by the Force that we have met. I think you are thedroid I am looking for. Come follow me to one of the botanical domes, I have something to show you."


The two of them walked quietly threw the ship, after a while they came to a clear set of doors and walked on threw. They entered a huge clear dome that was so big you could not see the other side. The little R2 unit was amazed, he turned his dome all around looking here and there trying to take it all in at once. Other Ithorians looked on, puzzled and worried at why an astro droid would be in here in the first place when there were other droids that are designed to work here.
"These trees before you are the most sacred trees on Ithor, " Esoom said as he bowed to the forest in front of him; "they are called Bafforr Trees."
Esoom went on to explain to the droid about the trees, the Ithorian belief in the deity of Mother Jungle, and all about the Law of Life. Some of what the brown skinned being told the droid did not make logical since but the morality and the goodness of the ideas made the droid happy. The two of them walked threw many other parts of the ship: the other Botanical domes that have many other environments and plants from other worlds, then the Upper observation deck was next where they looked out at the outer rim of the herd ship to see the Jungle Ecology After that they went to the lower observation deck and looked down on the planet Ithor. The little droid was a little uneasy as he looked down at the planet slowly moving under them. Then as they were heading back towards Esoom's living area the Ithorian explained more about his project and why he wanted to modify an astromech to do what other droids were already designed for, to be able to respond to many different types of threats that would bring harm to the plants in a small, compact, and fast design .He explained how just 23 full rotations of the planet ago one of his fellow co-workers accidentally tipped over some chemicals and started a fire. How the emergency fire suppression system did not go on and how none of the dome fire response droids would make it there in time let alone fit threw the door, the lab and the plants were a total loss. He continued on about how that was when he came up with the idea that if a small droid was around that could put out the fire or plug into the main computer and force the fire suppression to work the damage would have been at a minimum. When they finally exited a lift and got to Esoom's room he told the droid that he could stay here for the night and would let him think on his idea for the night then get back to him in the morning, He patted the droid softly on the dome one more time then walked off into another room. The little white and brown R2 unit rolled over to the only window in the sparsely furnished room and retracted his middle leg, he could not see threw the high ledged window so he swiveled his feet to stand on the very tips of them. From here he realized how far up he was in this tower on the outer edge of the main city and how big this herd ship really was that was stretched below him. He also realized how big of a responsibility Esoom was offering him and how lucky he was that Esoom found him and was giving him the opportunity to do something he would love to do.

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