Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back Page #15

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YODA:

Use the Force. Yes...

Yoda taps Luke's leg. Quickly, Luke lifts one hand from the ground.

His body wavers, but he maintains his balance. Artoo, standing nearby,

is whistling and beeping frantically.

YODA:

Now... the stone. Feel it.

Luke concentrates on trying to lift the top rock. It rises a few feet,

shaking under the strain. But, distracted by Artoo's frantic beeping,

Luke loses his balance and finally collapses. Yoda jumps clear.

YODA:

Concentrate!

Annoyed at the disturbance, Luke looks over at Artoo, who is rocking

urgently back and forth in front of him.

Artoo waddles closer to Luke, chirping wildly, then scoots over the

edge of the swamp. Catching on, Luke rushes to the water's edge. The

X-wing fighter has sunk, and only the tip of its nose shows above the

lake's surface.

LUKE:

Oh, no. We'll never get it out

now.

Yoda stamps his foot in irritation.

YODA:

So certain are you. Always with

you it cannot be done. Hear you

nothing that I say?

Luke looks uncertainly out at the ship.

LUKE:

Master, moving stones around is

one thing. This is totally

different.

YODA:

No! No different! Only different

in your mind. You must unlearn

what you have learned.

LUKE:

(focusing, quietly)

All right, I'll give it a try.

YODA:

No! Try not. Do. Or do not.

There is no try.

Luke closes his eyes and concentrates on thinking the ship out.

Slowly, the X-wing's nose begins to rise above the water. It hovers

for a moment and then slides back, disappearing once again.

LUKE:

(panting heavily)

I can't. It's too big.

YODA:

Size matters not. Look at me.

Judge me by my size, do you?

Hm? Mmmm.

Luke shakes his head.

YODA:

And well you should not. For my

ally in the Force. And a powerful

ally it is. Life creates it, makes

it grow. Its energy surrounds us

and binds us. Luminous beings

are we...

(Yoda pinches

Luke's shoulder)

... not this crude matter.

(a sweeping gesture)

You must feel the Force around you.

(gesturing)

Here, between you... me... the

tree... the rock... everywhere!

Yes, even between this land and

that ship!

LUKE:

(discouraged)

You want the impossible.

Quietly Yoda turns toward the X-wing fighter. With his eyes closed and

his head bowed, he raises his arm and points at the ship.

Soon, the fighter rises above the water and moves forward as Artoo

beeps in terror and scoots away.

The entire X-wing moves majestically, surely, toward the shore. Yoda

stands on a tree root and guides the fighter carefully down toward the

beach.

Luke stares in astonishment as the fighter settles down onto the shore.

He walks toward Yoda.

LUKE:

I don't... I don't believe it.

YODA:

That is why you fail.

Luke shakes his head, bewildered.

EXT. SPACE - IMPERIAL FLEET

The fleet around Vader's Star Destroyer now includes Needa's Star

Destroyer, the Avenger.

INT. VADER'S STAR DESTROYER - BRIDGE

VADER:

Apology accepted, Captain Needa.

Clutching desperately at his throat, Captain Needa slumps down, then

falls over on his back, at the feet of Darth Vader. Two stormtroopers

pick up the lifeless body and carry it quickly away as Admiral Piett

and two of his captains hurry up to the Dark Lord.

PIETT:

Lord Vader, our ships have

completed their scan of the area

and found nothing. If the

Millennium Falcon went into light-

speed, it'll be on the other side

of the galaxy by now.

VADER:

Alert all commands. Calculate

every possible destination along

their last know trajectory.

PIETT:

Yes, my lord. We'll find them.

VADER:

Don't fail me again, Admiral.

Vader exits as the admiral turns to an aide, a little more uneasy than

when he arrived.

PIETT:

Alert all commands. Deploy the fleet.

EXT. SPACE - IMPERIAL FLEET

Vader's ship moves away, flanked by its fleet of smaller ships. the

Avenger glides off into space in the opposite direction. No one on

that ship or on Vader's is aware that, clinging to the side of the

Avenger, is the pirateship, the Millennium Falcon.

INT. MILLENNIUM FALCON - COCKPIT

THREEPIO:

Captain Solo, this time you have

gone too far.

(Chewie growls)

No, I will not be quiet, Chewbacca.

Why doesn't anyone listen to me?

HAN:

(to Chewie)

The fleet is beginning to break

up. Go back and stand by the

manual release for the landing claw.

Chewie barks, struggles from his seat, and climbs out of the cabin.

THREEPIO:

I really don't see how that is

going to help. Surrender is a

perfectly acceptable alternative

in extreme circumstances. The

Empire may be gracious enough...

Leia reaches over and shuts off Threepio, mid-sentence.

HAN:

Thank you.

LEIA:

What did you have in mind for

your next move?

HAN:

Well, if they follow standard

Imperial procedure, they'll dump

their garbage before they go to

light-speed, then we just float

away.

LEIA:

With the rest of the garbage.

Then what?

HAN:

Then we've got to find a safe

port somewhere around here. Got

any ideas?

LEIA:

No. Where are we?

HAN:

The Anoat system.

LEIA:

Anoat system. There's not much

there.

HAN:

No. Well, wait. This is

interesting. Lando.

He points to a computer mapscreen on the control panel. Leia slips out

of her chair and moves next to the handsome pilot. Small light points

representing several systems flash by on the computer screen.

LEIA:

Lando system?

HAN:

Lando's not a system, he's a man.

Lando Calrissian. He's a card

player, gambler, scoundrel. You'd

like him.

LEIA:

Thanks.

HAN:

Bespin. It's pretty far, but I

think we can make it.

LEIA:

(reading from the

computer)

A mining colony?

HAN:

Yeah, a Tibanna gas mine. Lando

conned somebody out of it. We

go back a long way, Lando and me.

LEIA:

Can you trust him?

HAN:

No. But he has no love for the

Empire, I can tell you that.

Chewie barks over the intercom. Han quickly changes his readouts and

stretches to look out the cockpit window.

HAN:

(into intercom)

Here we go, Chewie. Stand by.

Detach!

Han leans back in his chair and gives Leia an invisible smile. She

thinks for a moment, shakes her head; a grin creeps across her face and

she gives him a quick kiss.

LEIA:

You do have your moments. Not

many, but you have them.

EXT. SPACE - IMPERIAL STAR DESTROYER

As the Avenger Star Destroyer moves slowly into space, the hatch on its

underbelly opens, sending a trail of junk behind it. Hidden among the

refuse, the Falcon tumbles away. In the next moment, the Avenger roars

off into hyperspace. The Falcon's engines are ignited, and it races

off into the distance. Amidst the slowly drifting junk, Boba Fett's

ship appears and moves after the Falcon.

EXT. DAGOBAH - BOG - CLEARING - DAY

In the clearing behind Yoda's house, Luke again stands upside-down, but

his face shows less strain and more concentration than before. Yoda

sits on the ground below the young warrior. On the other side of the

clearing, two equipment cases slowly rise into the air. Nearby Artoo

watches, humming to himself, when suddenly he, too, rises into the air.

His little legs kick desperately and his head turns frantically,

looking for help.

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