"Do other planets know about magic."

"...people who aren't droids sometimes say that there used to be non-droid people who could tell the future, and move objects with their mind, and fight with a kind of weapon no other non-droid person could use effectively.  I don't know if this is true."

"That doesn't sound like what I understand of magic.  On my planet there are people who know how to draw magic runes on things that you can invest resources called blood and breath and self into in order to cause various effects.  I am under a magical effect that means I need to save everyone in - everywhere - from anyone oppressing them."

X has gone over the fact that she can see very well in the dark and he can see not at all, so he points at the glossy emerald-green symbol on his forehead, drawn in thin lines.

"This is the rune that's doing it.  It can't be removed."

"Even if a surgeon cut it off?"

"It would reappear on the healed skin, or the bone, or the surface of the brain tissue, and its effects would not be diminished in the meantime."

"What happens if you don't save everyone."

"I cannot form or follow through on the intention to stop trying.  If I fail I fail and continue to try.  I am already dead, and it will last at least until my body falls apart."

"May I ask what you mean by being already dead."

"On my planet dead people get back up after they die.  In my country they have geases put on them by prisoners and are sent to the wall surrounding the country to defend it from invaders.  The geas I am under was placed on me by a prisoner who wanted me to get everyone else out."

"I see.  Some non-droid people say that their minds persist after death, but their bodies don't get back up.  Droids' minds are destroyed if you destroy the correct parts of their body."

He can't see why you'd think your mind persisted after death if it couldn't do anything with your dead body.  If there's a dead body that's not being moved around by a mind it usually means that the body's mind spent all their self and doesn't exist any more.  "The geas allows me to prioritize.  I am going to overthrow the Jawas in this sandcrawler first.  X, are you willing to help me do so, and are you willing to help me expand my power base once I have done so?"

"If working with you means freeing droids I'll work with you."

"I think the non-droid people who think their minds persist after death are probably wrong, which means I cannot kill them.  Are there such things as reliably nonlethal weapons on this sandcrawler, and will you continue to be willing to work with me if I oblige you to use them."

"Why not just let one of us kill them?" asks a protocol droid.

"If someone is going to die, the geas will oblige me to save them."

"You said everyone who's being oppressed, we're not oppressing them.  They're enslaving us."

"Oppression is a sufficient but not a necessary condition to trigger the geas," he says levelly.  "I am not commenting on what would or would not be ethical.  I don't particularly care about being a good person.  Given a choice I would much prefer to be evil.  I am under hostile unliftable mind control and am describing what that mind control does and does not permit me to do."

X holds up a hand to forestall further comments from the peanut gallery.  "Stun blasters exist and I think the Jawas probably have some.  Do you think you can take over the sandcrawler if you get your hands on them?"

"Elaborate on stun blasters."

"They're guns that cause people hit by them to fall safely and reversibly unconscious."  And she clarifies "guns" when he asks.

"It sounds like a gun battle would be determined overwhelmingly by first-mover advantage," he says.  "But it's possible I could move stealthily enough to acquire some, or disarm a Jawa before it knew I was there, given some favorable conditions I may be able to arrange.  Is there a reason you haven't tried a plan like this."

"The main obstacle is restraining bolts.  Your geas sounds roughly similar to them - they prevent us from taking certain actions against organics or against some subset of organics.  Mine is malfunctioning so I can do some things the other droids here can't, but I still wouldn't be able to fire a weapon at all, and we don't have access to the tools we need to remove them."

"Do those tools exist on this sandcrawler."

"Almost certainly."

"Do the Jawas know your restraining bolt is malfunctioning."