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Cady looks up at the hull underside again.
<span class="mu-i">
Could we lure it back?
</span>
(The scene changes to Anthony Daniels in costume as C-3PO as he reacts in fright to a mynock stuck to the outer surface of a spaceship window.)
<span class="mu-i">
Mynocks first appeared in the movie The Empire Strikes Back, where they were depicted as a nuisance species that would be "chewing on the power cables" of the protagonists' spaceship. Does that mean this mynock is hungry because it just hatched and it needs to find some kind of energy source?
</span>
Cady looks up at Quadi. "Is there a power source we could use as bait?"
"A power source?" Quadi digs through the crate of droid parts and holds up a heavy squat cylinder. "We could try this power cell." He sifts through the crate and pulls out a short length of wire. "This should do."
"Princess Cady!" Deline waves at the edge of an upturned rocket. "We can use this as a blind!"
Cady and Deline watch as Quadi attaches the wire and lays it out along the ground beneath the spaceship hull. When he finishes, they all crouch down behind the rocket and watch the underside of the hull.
The mynock pokes one eyestalk out of the crack and looks down at the wire
Deline points and whispers. "There it is!"
The eyeball swivels from side to side and then looks down at the wire again.
Quadi grins and whispers. "It's going for the bait!"
The eyestalk retracts back into the crack in the hull underside. Cady glances sideways at Deline and Quadi as they both intently stare up at the crack.
<span class="mu-i">
I don't think it's coming back out!
</span>
"Um..." Cady looks at the power cell. "Maybe we need a stronger power source?"
"Stronger, huh?" Quadi scratches his enormous chin and looks out over the expanse of spaceships. "Most of the ships in the scrap fields are dead."
Deline's eyes widen. "What about that power droid?"
Quadi glances over his shoulder at Deline. "Gonky?"
<span class="mu-i">
Isn't that droid's affection rating for me super low?
</span>
Quadi stands up and walks back toward the crates of droid parts. "For now, we have to sort these parts." He grabs the edges of one crate and turns back toward where Jax, Lyra, Oberon, Triss, and Ren are gathered.
Deline picks up the second crate and giggles at Cady. "Race you!"
<span class="mu-i">
That seems excessively dangerous!
</span>
Cady grabs the edges of the third crate and tries to lift it. When she looks over her shoulder Deline is already halfway across the field.
<span class="mu-i">
Does everyone here have superstrength but me?!
</span>
When Cady finally drags the crate toward the others, Quadi has already begun sorting the droid parts into piles. "Hey, your majesty, would you mind getting an empty crate? There should be one around the corner from the door to Ren's place."
<span class="mu-i">
More unskilled labor!
</span>
Cady leans over the edge of the crate panting and then looks up and sees Gonky waddling through the doorway and then it slides closed behind the droid.
