"Mom, what happens to droids when they die?"
Leia blinked down into thebright brown eyes of her young son. Shehad been reading a current report on a possible pocket of Imperialists on aplanet in the Outer Rim. She had just started brainstorming where to look forthe funding and man-power to explore said pocket when her young son camebounding in.
She had been spending a rarebit of vacation time with her little son, Ben, when she received the commmessage demanding her immediate attention, so she called upon Threepio to watchthe boy for what she hoped would be a short while. Ben naturally threw a smallfit, and threw a glass ornament against the wall with the Force. Leia tried toexplain that she worked so things could be better for him when he was older,but Ben grumped in response.
If only Han hadn’t left foranother supply run with Chewie.
Now that her boy had run intothe room she checked the time on her datapad to see an hour and a half hadpassed. She hadn’t meant to be working that long. This was supposed to be theirtime together, and she had promised to keep the work to a bare minimum. Plusshe could work after Ben went to bed.
“What did you say again,Darling?” she asked as she set down the datapad.
Ben huffed impatiently andcrossed his little arms.
“What happens to droids whenthey die?”
Leia gave him a confused lookand reached for her son, to draw him up onto her lap.
“What brought this questionon?”
“Threepio was telling mestories.”
“And his stories made you questionthat?”
“Ben, where is Threepio?” Hiseyes widened as if he’d been caught. “Ben…what did you do to him?”
“Nothing! I gots excited and-“
“NOTHING!! He said stuffabout the Rogue One crew and there was K-2SO, and then I thought about all theastros who get shot down with their ships, and all the droids on the DeathStars, and well…you and Unca Luke said we become one with the Force when wedie, so it made me wonder ‘bout what happens to droids.” He said all of thisvery quickly so his mother wouldn’t interrupt him. “I know I’m not ‘posed torun from Threepio, but I just…I gots excited.”
Leia smiled at her boy, andsnuggled him close. (She was rather relieved that Ben hadn’t done any damage totheir protocol droid.)
“Well, Ben, it all depends onwhat happened to the droid. If their power sources fail, if minor enough damageis done, a droid can be easily repaired. Even if the damage is more extensiverepair is possible. Take Threepio himself, he was blown apart on Bespin in theCloud City. Uncle Chewie was able to fix him. If certain parts are too damagedto be repaired, you can always reuse other parts to make new droids or repairothers. The ones that receive too much damage, the ones blown out of the skywith their ships, the ones on the death stars. They’re gone. Maybe somedayparts might be salvaged from when they’re floating in space. But I like tothink they’ve had good lives, served their masters as well as they could, andmaybe their personalities will wake up in another droid someday.”
A clattering in the hallannounced Threepio’s approach.
“Princess Leia…er, SenatorLeia, I’m terribly sorry, but Master Ben has…” He ran into the room as fast ashis legs would carry him. His words of worry died as he saw that Leia was holdingthe young boy he had lost. “I see Master Ben has found you.”
“Yes, Threepio,” Leialaughed. “Ben came to find me, but he knows he’s not supposed to run from you andis going to apologize as soon as we finish our little talk. Aren’t you, Benny?”
“Yes, Mama,” Ben replied,hiding his face on her shoulder.
“And maybe after that, we cango and get some ice cream?”