The Further Adventures: Droid World

Droid World

 

Author: Jymn Magon

Illustrator: Dick Foes

Medium: Picture book

Publication Date: January 1983

Timeline Placement: 3 ABY

 

The Rebels have captured a damaged Imperial Warbot, a giant combat droid equipped with multiple blaster cannons and, even more frightening, huge grasping robot claws. Luke Skywalker and an Alliance technician attempt to obtain the Warbot's technical readouts by having R2-D2 jack into it and download the data, but this only causes the droid's innards to start shooting out sparks and melting. The technician tells Luke that the only person who can retrieve the data from the droid now is a man called Kligson who lives on Droid World, a giant space station of his own design.

Luke and the droids travel to Droid World, where Kligson fires warning shots at their vessel and demands that they leave. Kligson reveals that he is a cyborg and wants no contact with non-mechanical humans. Luke appeals to the man's ego by telling him he's the only one who can repair their Warbot, so Kligson agrees to allow Artoo, Threepio, and the Warbot onto Droid World on the condition that he be allowed to keep whatever he repairs.

Aboard the space station, Kligson dismisses the Warbot as cheap Imperial junk not worth fixing and orders his second-in-command, Z-X3, to dispose of it. He also tells Artoo and Threepio that they are now free and don't have to return to their life of servitude. But Threepio protests that they love Master Luke.

 

Meanwhile, Artoo is suspicious of Z-X3, so he follows the Imperial experimental droid trooper and learns that he is still loyal to the Empire and planning his own droid mutiny. Artoo and Threepio reveal this treachery to Kligson, who leaps into action and is immediately blown away by Z-X3. The mutinous droids chase Artoo and Threepio around Droid World for a while, with a droid tank cornering them at the edge of a melting pit before plunging to its own doom while the good droids are hoisted out of danger by electromagnets.

Kligson reveals that he's still alive, having sent a robotic double to die in his place. He has long suspected Z-X3's treachery and has been building a droid army of his own to fight against Z-X3's army of droid mutineers. In fact the battle is raging now! When it's all over, Kligson ponders the loss, sending Artoo and Threepio on their way with the schematics they wanted. 

Luke congratulates the droids on accomplishing their mission, but he can't help feeling bad for Kligson, who loved droids but had to kill them. And soon the Empire will come to finish what Z-X3 started. But just then, the engines of Droid World blaze to life, carrying the giant space station into deep space. Safe at last, maybe Kligson will finally be able to find peace after all.

This is a picture-book adaptation of Marvel Comics' Star Wars #47: Droid World. The story here isn't quite as in-depth as the comic's, but the illustrations are much better, and the picture book comes with an audio version of the story on record or cassette, so really it's a toss-up on which version to get. Well at this point it's probably a lot easier to come by the comic. But this is way cooler!