The Trash Compactor

Following his daring rescue of the beautiful Princess Leia, young Luke Skywalker found himself ambushed by swarms of Stormtroopers. The two quickly regrouped with Han Solo and Chewbacca and looked around for alternatives. Between the blaster fire, they could hear the footsteps of a second wave of troopers heading their way. Han kept firing at them, hitting just as often as he missed. Luke looked to Leia dumbly, to which she rolled her eyes. “This is some rescue,” she said. Before Luke even had a chance to defend himself from her words, the Princess took the blaster rifle out of his hands and shot a large circle into the wall.

“Into the garbage chute, flyboys!”

And just like that, Leia jumped into the makeshift tunnel. Skywalker looked to Han, unsure of whether he should follow her. The older man nodded and motioned for him to take the plunge. With a heavy gulp, Luke closed his eyes and slid down the shaft. Despite a few bumps, it wasn’t as terrible as he thought it would be. Somehow Leia picked the perfect shot. After a few seconds, he collapsed into a thick coat of dirty water, that nearly went all the way up to his waist. He looked to Leia and smiled - she merely pursed her lips and looked around for an exit.

“The door is locked.”

Han Solo and Chewbacca soon followed, falling down mere inches away from where Luke stood. “A trash compactor,” Han laughed sarcastically, sloshing around his feet in the water, as he turned to face his furry partner. “What an incredible smell you’ve discovered. Well, what are we doing standing around here? Let’s blow this door down.”

As Solo fired the trigger on his blaster rifle, the bolt shot to the door - and bounced to the wall on the right, then bounced to the wall to the left, then to the ceiling, and then to the floor where it met the murky water and faded out. Leia stormed over to him and threw the rifle out of his hands. “It’s magnetically sealed! Put that thing away or you’re gonna get us all killed,” Leia hissed, turning away from him and bringing her attention back to the door as she looked around for a way to open it.

Luke suddenly gasped.

“Something just moved past my leg,” he exclaimed, kicking his right foot and quickly moving back. His three friends looked around but didn’t seem to see whatever it was that slithered by him. Out of the corner of his eye, Luke saw a tentacle slide by a hunk of garbage to their right. “There, did you see that?”

“Kid, I haven’t seen a thing. Your mind is playing tricks on you.”