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helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel’s hidden fort…
    Suddenly Motti chokes and starts to turn blue under Vader’s spell.
    VADER I find your lack of faith disturbing.
    TARKIN Enough of this! Vader, release him!
    VADER As you wish.
    TARKIN This bickering is pointless. Lord Vader will provide us with the location of the Rebel fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke. EXTERIOR TATOOINE —WASTELAND.
    The speeder stops before what remains of the huge Jawas Sandcrawler. Luke and Ben walk among the smoldering rubble and scattered bodies.
    LUKE It looks like Sandpeople did this, all right. Look, here are Gaffi sticks, Bantha tracks. It’s just…I never heard of them hitting anything this big before.
    Ben is crouching in the sand studying the tracks. BEN They didn’t. But we are meant to think they did. These tracks are side by side. Sandpeople always ride single file to hide there numbers. LUKE These are the same Jawas that sold us Artoo and Threepio. BEN And these blast points, too accurate for Sandpeople. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise.
    LUKE Why would Imperial troops want to slaughter Jawas? Luke looks back at the speeder where Artoo and Threepio are inspecting the dead Jawas, and put two and two together. LUKE If they traced the robots here, they may have learned who they sold them to. And that would lead them home!
    Luke reaches a sudden horrible realization, then races for the speeder and jumps it.
    BEN Wait, Luke! It’s too dangerous.
    Luke races off leaving Ben and the two robots alone with the burning Sandcrawler.
    EXTERIOR TATOOINE —WASTELAND.
    Luke races across the wasteland in his battered Landspeeder. EXTERIOR TATOOINE —LARS HOMESTEAD.
    The speeder roars up to the burning homestead. Luke jumps out and runs to the smoking holes that were once his home. Debris is scattered everywhere and it looks as if a great battle has taken place.
    LUKE Uncle Owen! Aunt Beru! Uncle Owen!
    Luke stumbles around in a daze looking for his aunt and uncle. Suddenly he comes upon their smoldering remains. He is stunned, and cannot speak. Hate replaces fear and a new resolve comes over him.
    EXTERIOR SPACE.
    Imperial TIE fighter races toward the Death Star. INTERIOR DEATH STAR —DETENTION CORRIDOR.
    Two stormtroopers open an electronic cell door and allow several Imperial guards to enter. Princess Leia’s face is filled with defiance, which slowly gives way to fear as a giant black torture robot enters, followed by Darth Vader. VADER And, now Your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel base.
    The torture robot gives off a steady beeping sound as it approaches Princess Leia and extends one of its mechanical arms bearing a large hypodermic needle. The door slides shut and the long cell block hallway appears peaceful. The muffled screams of the Rebel princess are barely heard. EXTERIOR TATOOINE —WASTELAND.
    There is a large bonfire of Jawa bodies blazing in front of the Sandcrawler as Ben and the robots finish burning the dead. Luke drives up in the speeder and Ben walks over to him. BEN There’s nothing you could have done, Luke, had you been there. You’d have been killed, too, and the droids would be in the hands of the Empire.
    LUKE I want to come with you to Alderaan. There’s nothing here for me now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father.
    EXTERIOR TATOOINE —WASTELAND.
    The Landspeeder with Luke, Artoo, Threepio, and Ben in it zooms across the desert. The speeder stops on a bluff overlooking the spaceport at Mos Eisley. It is a haphazard array of low, grey, concrete structures and semi-domes. A harsh gale blows across the stark canyon floor. Luke adjusts his goggles and walks to the edge of the craggy bluff where Ben is standing.
    BEN Mos Eisley Spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be