by the lock door-including two smali tanks of oxygen with breathing masks.
Lando grabbed one, twisted the valve to stari the oxygen flowing, and threw
it into the lock. Most-or maybe all-of the oxygen would go to waste, of
course. But it didn't matter. Even at full flow, a bottle that size would
last ten or fifteen minutes before it went empty. But maybe just enough oxy
would blow around to do some good. Or maybe if they were all blinded by the
fumes, someone would still hear the hissing noise, and someone would find
the mask, and put it to his or her face. The door swung to, Jenica pulled
the lever to open the Hollowtown-side door, and that was that. She turned
around and slumped down on the floor with her back to the wall. Lando
grabbed the other oxy tank and sat down on the floor facing her. He opened
the flow valve and handed her the tank. Jenica put the breather mask to her
face and breathed in deeply--and was subdued by another wave of wracking
coughs. She tried it again, with better success. "Yuck," she said. "I didn't
mean to breathe any of that stuff, but something must have gotten in." She
handed the tank to Lando. He put the mask to his face and breathed in
deeply. The cool, elean oxygen felt wonderfully pure and sweet. "Is there
anything else we can do to help them in?" he asked. She shook her head. "Not
really. There's a viewport in the airlock here. The safeties won't let me
open both doors at once, but 1 might be able to set things to pop open the
hatch on this side before the chamber re pressurises. That might get 'em in
here a little faster. Thai's about all." It had taken all of ninety seconds
to get them in here. Ama/ing how much longer than that it felt. But if there
was company coming, they had best get ready. Lando took another deep breath
off the oxy tank and handed it back to Jenica. "Come on," he said. "Let's
get the lock set so you can pop the inner door early." "Yeah. We'd better. I
have a nasty feeling your triends might have it a little rougher than we
did." Jenica stood up and rubbed herface. Her hand eame away even dirtier
than it had been. "Burning stars, but I must be a mess." "You did look
belter before," Lando said with a smile. "Your face has about a centimeter
of dust on it." "Oh, a little soap and water will fix that," she said. "But
I don't even want to think what this has done to mv hair." Luke Skywalker
watched Artoo intently, waiting for the three minutes lo be up. Me forced
himself to calmness, to clarity, .ledi were nol impatient. Except sometimes.
This situation was gelling out of" hand. The temperature in the car had
jumped dramatically when the outside air had come in. All of them were
sweating profusely. And all of them-even ihe greal Jedi Master himself-were
having trouble brealhing. Kalenda coughed again and swore under her
brealh-what little breath she had. "How much longer?" she asked. Either the
smoke or the cloth over her mouth made her voice seem a bil murky, a bit
throaty. "About anolher thirty seconds. I think," Luke said. "Let's get
ready. Both of you out before me so I can keep an eye on you," he said.
Gaeriel seemed about to protest, but Luke cul her off. "It's no time to be
modest," he said. "My Jedi powers give me an edge you two won't have. If
they didn't, I've wasted my time with all that training for all these years.
Artoo, Threepio, you come after me. You watch me. Watch all of us. We might
need your help- but maybe we can move faster than you two can. If we get
there first, we're going to have to leave you on this side of the lock-but
we'll cycle the lock again as soon as we're through. All right?" Artoo
whistled and beeped and swung his head back and forth. "I quite agree with
Artoo," Threepio said. "We might be immune to the poisonous atmosphere. hut
the corrosive airborne chemicals and the rising temperatures could easily do
us harm. Please do not delay in getting us." "I won't," Luke said. "I
promise." Threepio nodded happily. "I am glad to hear it,"' he said.
Apparently the word of a Jedi Master was good enough even for a protocol
droid. "Kalenda-Gaeriel-are you ready'.1" "No, not really," said Gacricl,
coughing just a bit. "But I doubt I ever will be ready for (his sort of
said, and hit the button. A new blast of burning-hot air struck at them as
the door opened. The winds were blowing more and more fiercely as the
Glowpoint dumped more and more energy into the system. Gaeriel stepped out
into the storm and was nearly blown off her feet before Kalenda could grab
at her. Luke stepped out into it and was nearly bowled over himself. The
heat was incredible, and the noxious gases seemed to eat into his skin, his
eyes. For a Jedi there is no pain, Luke lold himself. There is awareness.
There is calm. The three humans stepped around the side of the turbovator
car-and discovered they had been in the lee of the wind. The full force of
the corrosive gale blasted straight into their faces, utterly blinding them,
forcing them to jam their eyes shut. The wind carried finegrained sand, and
that slammed into them as well. Luke got one fleeting moment of good
visibility before ihe roaring wall of dust and cinders enveloped them, one
moment when he saw where the airlock hatch was-and saw that it was swinging
open for them. That one moment would have to be enough It would be worse
than useless to open his eyes in this storm. Not only would he he unable lo
see-his eyes would be destroyed. He would have to do it by dead
reckoning-and drag the others with him. He reached out with the Force and
found Kalenda and Gaeriel hand-in-hand, just a meter or two ahead of him.
They were headed in the wrong direction. They must have been turned around
by the wind already. Luke lunged forward into the wind and, using the Force
to guide him, grabbed Kalenda by the hand and yanked hard in the proper
direction. Kalenda came willingly enough, and Luke could feel Gaeriel in the
Force, feel her hesitate a moment and then follow along as well. Luke became
aware of a burning sense in his chest. Air. He needed air. And if he fell
the urgent need to breathe, the others must be in an agony to do so. Closer.
Closer. In his mind's eye, he could see the hatch. He knew, with all the
power and precision of his Jedi senses, exactly where it was. But thai did
not get him there any faster, did not give him the power to move
effortlessly against this deadly wind. There. They were there. He still did
not dare open his eyes, but he knew they were at the entrance to the lock.
He pulled Kalenda forward, pushed her in ahead of him, and shoved Gacricl in
as well before stepping in himself-and running smack into something metal,
something hard and angular and tall. He suddenly realized it was Threepio.
"It would seem Artoo and I got here before you after all. Master Luke!"
Threepio shouted over the howl of the sandstorm. A droid could speak in this
mess without wasting air or getting sand iii his mouth. Luke couldn't, and
he settled for a nod instead. Luke nodded and moved farther forward into the
lock, out of the stinging wind. He wi
ped the worst of the dust from his eyes
and risked opening them, just in time to see the lock swinging shut. There
was a sudden Marc of orange from behind him. He turned around. Gaeriel and
Kalenda were standing, eyes still shut, in about the midpoint of the lock
chamber, holding to each other, coughing miserably. And Gaerici's long
flowing w;hite dress was on fire- and Gaeriel did not know it yet. Luke
lunged for her and threw his body on the blossoming flames, trying to
smother them. His tlight suit was insulated and fireproof. He felt a brief
bloom of heat on his chest, and that was all. The fire died. He stood back
up and helped Gaeriel to her feet. A red-hot hit of debris, blown from
someplace where things were hotter still, must have gotten itself lodged in
the fabric of Gaeriel's dress. Rul how could it burn, with no available
oxygen? Luke heard a hissing noise from behind him and looked around. An
oxygen mask. Lando and Kalenda had thrown an oxygen mask into the lock
chamber- and Gaeriel had been standing right on top of it. Her dress must
have trapped the oxygen. A million-to-one shot, but one that had almost
killed Gaeriel. All of that flashed through his mind even as he was grabbing
for the mask. He tore the cloth strip off her mouth and put the oxy mask
over her mouth and nose. Still half blinded, and probably still unaware of
why Luke had knocked her over, she jerked away from the mask at first, until
she realized what it was. Then she grabbed for it greedily, opened her
mouth, and took in a deep, urgent breath. She started coughing almost
instantly. Luke handed the mask to Kalenda, who took two deep breaths
herself before handing it back to Luke. Luke pulled down his dust cloth,
exhaled the last breath he had breathed in back in the turbovator car, and
sucked in as much air as the mask had to give. He realized that he had been
seeing spots before his eyes, there toward the end. Even Jedi Masters have
to breathe, he told himself. He was just handing the mask on to Gaeriel when
the inner door swung violently open, and the air in the lock blasted out
into the chamber beyond in a lasi choking, blinding-but now harmless-cloud
of dust. They had made it. " "I was on fire?" Gaeriel asked, looking down at
the remains of her dress. Jeniea had led them all to a small infirmary near
the Shell One side of the airlock. Everyone had cuts and bruises and scrapes
and minor burns that needed attention of one sort or another. They all
needed baths and clean clothes as well, but those could wait just a bit. ''I
was on fire and I didn't know about it?" "A claim not many can make," Luke
said, laughing. "I apologize for knocking you over- "And / apologize for
throwing that oxy mask m there," said Lando. "Don't either of you
apologi/e." Gaeriel said, a bit tartly. She went over to the sink and
started scrubbing her hands. "The mask probably saved all our lives in
there. I was near passing out, and if I had fainted and breathed in much
more of that stuff than I did by accident-well, at best I'd have been in
here widi something a lol worse than a sore throat. And I'd much rather have
a bruised dignity than third-degree burns." "I think we were all pretty
lucky in there," Kalenda said in more serious tones as she sprayed some
quick-heal salve on Jenica's burned hand. "The way the temperatures were
rising, I don't think we'd have gotten out another live minutes later."
"What's it like in there now, Artoo?" Luke asked as Lando sprayed antiseptic
solution into the sand burns on his faee. "Ow! That stuff stings." "Hold
still," Lando said, dabbing ointment onto the worst of the burns. "Almost
done." Artoo. who had plugged himself into a dataport in the infirmary wall,
squeaked and whistled and buzzed and beeped in an agitated fashion. "Dear
me," said Threepio. "Things are rapidly getting worse in there." "What did
that Anoo thing say, for those of us who don't speak bird-whistle?" Jenica
asked. "Temperatures where we were ten minutes ago are up over the boiling
point of water and headed higher," said Threepio. "The surviving detectors
show hot spots closer to the Glowpoint well over five hundred degrees-and
there are probably temperatures much higher than that, except the detectors
are not there anymore to tell us." "Not good," said Lando. "Not good at
all." Jenica Sonsen nodded her head. "And it's also no terrorist attack,"
she said. "Even twice didn't make a great deal of sense-but three times?" "I
think you're very wrong there," Lando said. "Very wrong indeed. Bui I'm
afraid your people here weren't the intended victims, I think you were more
like innocent bystanders who got in the way." Jeniea turned and looked
sharply at Lando as she flexed the hand with the burn salve on it. "Captain
Calrissian-Lando-you said a few things earlier that made it sound like you
had an idea what this was all about. Maybe now would be the right time to
explain yourself." Lando let out a deep sigh. "1 think maybe you're right,"
he said. "But no one's going to like it much. E might even be wrong-but on
the other hand, it's all staring us in the face." "What is?" Luke asked.
"Centerpoint," Lando said. "Centerpoint is right in the middle of it all.
Think about it. There are three big, impressive, inexplicable technologies
at the middle of this crisis. The first, and the easiest to explain, is the
system-wide jamming. Impressive, bui all you really need for that is a whole
lot of power. And where does the jamming come from?" "Centerpoint," Jenica
said. "Without Fed-Dub even knowing about it-and we ran the place." "Or at
least you thought you did," Lando said. "Second up is the interdiction
field. Nothing incredible about it, beyond ils Size. But if you had a
powerful enough gravitic generator, you could do it. Where does it come
from?" "Centerpoint," Jenica said again. "And from what you were asking
about earlier, you thought it had something to do with the way we're right
at the balance point of gravilic potential." "Right. I have no idea how. but
it seems to me that Centerpoint taps into the gravitic output of the Double
Worlds. Now it seems someone has found a way to convert that power into an
interdiction field." "And the third unexplained technology?" Luke asked.
Lando looked straight at him. "The novamaker, of course. The starbusler. We
all wondered how it was done. We all wondered where the starbuster was. I'm
just about positive we're silling in it right now. I think the Glowpoint
flare means it's jusl about to go off again."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Meeting in Progress It was a lovely morning. The star Corell was rising in
the east. The lovely rolling hills and clean blue sky of Selonia were laid
out before them. The Hunchuzuc Den had put them up in a splendid hilltop
villa, clearly purpose-built for the use of visiting human dignitaries. They
had been comfortable and well cared for from the moment Mara Jade had set
the Jade's Fire down. "I am tired of waiting. Dracmus," Han said. "Patience,
Honored Solo. Waiting is not yet tired of you." "Whatever that means/' Han
growled. "Have you ever given a straight answer in your life?" "What,
exaetly. a
re you meaning by straight answer?" Han Solo turned to his wife,
who was sitting placidly al the breakfast table. "You see what I've had to
put up with?" he asked. Dracmus had come to pay her morning call, as she did
every day. And as he did every day, Han found himself wondering what the
point of the visit was. "Riddles. Incoherent riddles. Thai's all I ever got.
It's all we ever get." "Take it easy, Han," Leia said. "Palienee is the
hardest part of diplomacy." "But mine has reached its limits," Han said.
"I'm afraid i agree with Han," Mara said. "Things are moving too fasl
everywhere else for me to put up with waiting here any longer." "I'm still
not even sure why we arc here," I Ian said. "Right from the moment you
yanked me oul of that cell, I haven't known for sure if i was your partner
or your prisoner. Arc we prisoners? Hostages, maybe? Or are we here to
negotiate something? And if so, what?" "I'm afraid il is not that simple,"
Draemus said. "To my people, these things--partner, prisoner, hostage.
negotiator-are not so separate from each other as they are with your folk.
To my people, one might lie only one of these or all of them at once, or
some of them ehangingly over time." "So which is it?" Han asked, a very
clear warning note in his voice. A note Draemus plainly missed. "It is not
yet determined. You must understand that to my people consensus is being
all. Ambiguity has much use for us. if the issue is uncertain, then the
meeting can go on. for disagreement is more difficult if no one understands
the problem lully." "So is agreement," Han said. "There are people with guns
and ships out there who are shooting al our people. There is not much
ambiguity out there." "Please! Please!" Dracmus said. "Understanding your
impatience, but what you ask is nut our way. hoi my people- "Traditions make
lor an awfully handy set of excuses," Mara said. "Every time I have ever
dealt with a Sclonian who didn't want to do something, she's explained to me
how tradition made it impossible, or the ways of her people caused it to be
difficult to decide, or whatever excuse seemed handy. And my people always
had to be respectful of your ways, and accept the structure of your culture.
No more. This isn't some trade deal for luxury goods where you can leave us