William Shakespeare's The Phantom Menace Read Online Free Page B

board transport .
    PANAKA
    Anon, we fly!
    OBI-WAN
    â€”Ye pilots all, make haste!
    [The pilots run to various vessels. Ric Olié boards the queen’s transport with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan .
    RIC
    It is my duty and mine honor to
    Protect and serve the queen whom I adore!
    [The ship flies off. Exeunt .
    Enter O BI -W AN K ENOBI and J AR J AR B INKS aside in ship, with ASTROMECH DROIDS including R2-D2.
    OBI-WAN
    Pray, stay thou here and mischief do thou none.
    [Exit Obi-Wan .
    JAR JAR
    Heigh-ho, my lads. Are ye misunderstood
    As Jar Jar Binks and his dear Gungans? Eh?
    Know ye of human prejudice and scorn?
    Methinks ye must, as all nonhumans do.
    [Exit Jar Jar .
    Enter Q UI -G ON J INN , O BI -W AN K ENOBI , C APTAIN P ANAKA , and R IC O LIÉ in cockpit .
    RIC
    The blockade doth appear, to work us woe.
    They shoot at us, and we are sorely hit!
    The generator of the shield is down.
    Mayhap this doth betoken our defeat!
    [Astromech droids move outside the ship to repair the shield generator .
    R2-D2
    Beep, meep, beep, squeak, beep, whistle, meep, meep, hoo!
    [ Aside: ] It is my time to serve and prove my worth!
    I would the brave Republic serve with pride,
    For I do long for some advent’rous life,
    With galaxies to see and quests to take,
    And even more: I long to be inspir’d
    And join a noble cause to which I may
    Contribute all my strength and skill and wit.
    Now to it, R2, serve thy very best!
    [Several astromech droids are destroyed by fire from the blockade .
    OBI-WAN
    Alas, these droids do fall like winter snow,
    Each flake snuff’d out by flaming sword of fire.
    We soon shall have no more, and then we’re lost.
    PANAKA
    Without the generator we are dead—
    The shots shall find their mark and end our lives.
    RIC
    The shields are gone. ’Tis done, my comrades. Done!
    R2-D2
    Beep, meep, beep, hoo!
    RIC
    â€”But O, what sign is this?
    The power hath return’d, and with it, too,
    Our prospect of survival. O, hurrah!
    The droid hath done the deed; he bypass’d the
    Main power drive. Deflector shields are up
    To maximum effect, and we are sav’d.
    [R2-D2 returns inside the ship .
    One thing remains, however, worthy friends:
    There ship hath not not sufficient power to
    Deliver us to Coruscant. It is
    The hyperdrive, it leaketh out, like blood
    From some deep wound within its metal core.
    QUI-GON
    We must make landing to repair, refuel.
    No ship is shipshape sans a solid structure.
    OBI-WAN
    [ consulting star charts: ] Look, Master, here is found a planet near.
    I have not heard its name: ’tis Tatooine.
    â€™Tis small and poor, and far from ev’rything;
    The Federation hath no presence there.
    PANAKA
    What confidence have you in this remark?
    QUI-GON
    The planet is controllèd by the Hutts.
    PANAKA
    The Hutts, indeed. Such lowly gangsters of
    Base reputation, fill’d with avarice:
    Their minds on money, money on their minds.
    Such lowly, wormlike villainy as theirs
    No royalty should e’er bear witness to,
    Or forcèd be to find the strength t’endure.
    O nay, ye Jedis, find another course:
    Pray, let us not take her to Tatooine!
    QUI-GON
    E’en if they did discover her, ’twould be
    No diff’rent than if our lame ship were bound
    For any place the Federation holds.
    Except, my friend: the Hutts expect her not,
    Nor are they searching for the noble queen.
    We do, then, have a strong advantage here—
    Thus let us land, with hopefulness sincere.
    [Exeunt .



SCENE 1.
    Aboard the Trade Federation battleship .
    Enter N UTE G UNRAY , R UNE H AAKO , and, in beam , D ARTH S IDIOUS .
    SIDIOUS
    My patience runneth out, so tell me true:
    Hath Amidala sign’d the treaty yet?
    NUTE
    My lord, with trepidation I report:
    The queen hath disappear’d. There was one ship
    From small Naboo escap’d our stout blockade.
    SIDIOUS
    That treaty shall be sign’d! I will it so.
    NUTE
    But ’tis impossible to find the ship.
    It lies beyond our range