But in order to get
to the next stop on the tour, we have to get to a
spaceport. So let’s just hitch a ride with
these Jawa traders, and be on our way.
As we listen to the amiable, high-pitched chattering of
the Jawas, we are reminded of the urgent need for them
not to find out that we’re basically stowaways here,
or they will sell us for parts to the moisture farmers,
just like their cargo of potentially stolen droids
here. Hey, don’t give the Tour Guide any
lip. We’re Poor Fans. We cannot afford
public transportation.
Anyway, there’s no time for
bickering, because we have arrived at Mos Eisley
Spaceport, which the great Kenobi himself called
“a wretched hive of scum and villainy.”
Of course, he had just been called out of retirement at
the time, so he might have been a touch on the cranky
side.
|
Our tour begins on the lovely desert planet of Tatooine,
which local travel agents describe as “charmingly
arid” and the residents describe as
“wretched.” The local economy depends on the
extraction of moisture from the planet’s atmosphere
to be used in irrigation. Our first stop will be one of
these “moisture farms,” specifically the
one that belonged to Owen Lars and was Luke
Skywalker’s stomping ground before he left home and
made something of himself. Due to Tatooine’s intense
heat, the living quarters have to be dug deep into the
ground or the occupants would never be able to get any
shade. As the Tour leans over the sandy edge of what
basically amounts to a large, gaping pit in the
ground, it is easy to imagine why Luke was so eager to
get the heck out of here and get to saving the galaxy,
already.
