Read Online William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher - Free Book Online

the far end of the galaxy.
    VADER
    Alert thou every Imperi’l post,
    And calculate the ship’s most likely course
    From its trajectory as it did flee.
    PIETT
    Aye, Lord, I’ll warrant we shall find them soon.
    [Exit Admiral Piett.
    VADER
    O ancestors, pray save me from these fools
    Who with their instruments and scanners could
    Not find a bantha in a womp rat’s hole.
    But calm thyself now, Vader, be at ease.
    This momentary failure may yet prove
    Most beneficial, and I’ll warrant that
    The time shall not go dully by us, for
    It shall be us’d to finalize my plans
    And think upon the moment when I shall
    Both meet and then defeat the Skywalker
    Who dares to call the Empire enemy.
    So let these rebels go for now, my soul,
    And ponder how to make their downfall whole.
    [Exit.

SCENE 7.
    The Dagobah system.
    Enter
Y ODA , R2-D2, and L UKE S KYWALKER ,
who practices lifting things with the Force.
    YODA
    Use the Force, Luke, yes.
    Now, lift thou the stone. Feel it.
    The Force within flows.
    [R2-D2 begins to beep as Luke’s ship sinks.
    Nay, listen thou not
    To the droid and all his beeps.
    Do thou concentrate!
    [Everything that was lifted falls.
    R2-D2
    Nee, nee, beep, meep, beep, squeak, squeak, whistle, squeak!
    LUKE
    Fie! We shall never extricate the ship.
    YODA
    So certain are you?
    Always with you, my pupil,
    It cannot be done.
    What have we done here—
    Hear’st thou nothing that I say?
    Dost thou attend, Luke?
    If depend upon
    The Force thou shalt, anything
    Possible shall be.
    LUKE
    But Master, moving stones with the great Force
    I do admit may be achiev’d. But this,
    This ship—to lift its hulk, its mass, its size—
    ’Tis different, aye, wholly different!
    YODA
    Nay! No different.
    Only within thy mind, Luke,
    Different it is.
    Thou must unlearn all
    Those things that thou hast learnèd.
    Dost thou understand?
    LUKE
    In troth, I understand, and I shall try.
    YODA
    Nay, nay! Try thou not.
    But do thou or do thou not,
    For there is no “try.”
    LUKE
    [
aside:
] I shall stretch out my mind, and shall attempt,
    But this is madness—lifting e’en a ship?
    The greatest Jedi still cannot achieve
    That which is patently impossible.
    Methinks no Force can move this ship, and thus
    I certain am I never shall do this.
    [Luke tries to lift the ship with the Force, but the ship sinks lower.
    R2-D2
    Beep, hoo.
    LUKE
    —Nay, I cannot. ’Tis much too big.
    YODA
    Nay, size matters not.
    Look thou at me, I prithee.
    Judge me by my size?
    And where you should not.
    For my ally ’tis the Force.
    A pow’rful ally.
    Life doth create it.
    Its energy surrounds us,
    Binds us together.
    Luminous beings
    We are, not this crude matter.
    You must feel the Force.
    All around thee, here—
    Between thou and me, tree, rock:
    Ev’rywhere it is.
    E’en between the land
    And your ever-sinking ship,
    The Force is there, too.
    LUKE
    I know now thou dost ask th’impossible.
    [Luke sits aside, as Yoda lifts his hands.
    YODA
    [
aside:
] Be mindful, young one,
    And watch what inner strength great
    May come from small size.
    [Yoda moves the ship out of the swamp using the Force.
    LUKE
    The ship! It cometh out—thou hast done it!
    I ne’er imagin’d it was possible.
    With eyes I see, but mind does not believe.
    YODA
    Thus is your error.
    Against the Force you do rail;
    That is why you fail.
    [Exeunt.



SCENE 1.
    Aboard the
Millennium Falcon,
moored to a Star Destroyer.
    Enter
C HORUS .
    CHORUS
    With such deep wit Han hath the Empire trick’d
    That now the Falcon hides within its fleet!
    With skill he doth the Empire’s moves predict,
    And bravely plans to make his move discreet.
    [Exit.
    Enter
H AN S OLO , P RINCESS L EIA , C HEWBACCA ,
and
C-3PO.
    C-3PO
    I tell thee, Captain Solo, thou hast gone
    Beyond all measure with this reckless move.
    Thou hast put all aboard in danger grave,
    And yet thou seem’st to have but little care.
    CHEWBAC.
    Auugh!
    C-3PO
    —Nay, I’ll not be silent! Wherefore am
    I never listen’d