Star Wars_ Children of the Jedi - Barbara Hambly [100]
>It was like riding a cy’een<
The diagnostic screen flashed a thick, long-necked fish-lizard, huge and matchlessly beautiful and shining with wild power, and Luke felt in the darkness, just for an instant, the touch of salt wind and leashed strength and heard the songs the creatures sang running free in their herds.
>Huge and fast and scary, shining like bronze in the sunlight … but I could do it. Barely<
“Yes,” said Luke, remembering the power of the Force flowing into him as he’d battled Exar Kun for the final time, and that first moment when the lightsaber he’d called to his hand on Hoth tore itself free from the snowbank and flew into his grip. “Yes.”
He told her about Cray and Nichos, and why they’d gone to Ithor to seek the help of the Healers there; about Drub McKumb’s attack, and Han and Leia’s mission to Belsavis. “It hasn’t been that long,” said Luke, sitting back and keying the foo-twitter’s makeshift remote. Nothing happened. Resignedly, he undid the fasteners, angled the mirror again, and tried the second of several possible hookups to the A-size power cell. He’d stripped out all the armaments and gripper arms, and most of its memory cores, knowing he’d have to fling it up a long tunnel by effort of his mind alone. “They’re still going to be there. Even if they weren’t, there’s a whole city on the site now, nearly thirty thousand people.”
>It’s hard to imagine<
The words appeared on the monitor, close beside his eyes.
>Plett’s House was just a little place, though the crypts went back into the cliff, and all ways up under the glacier. But the part that was outside was just a big stone house, set in the most beautiful garden I’ve ever seen. I grew up without gardens—you don’t have them, on the sea<
“Nor in the desert.”
>I remember it was quiet, like few places I’d been or seen. Maybe night on the ark, after everyone was inside, and the stars come clear down to the edge of the world. But sweeter, because even when it’s sleeping, you never can trust the sea<
“Master Luke?”
Luke sat up, aware that his back ached and his hands were trembling with fatigue. Threepio came in, yellow eyes twin moons in the almost-dark of the single glowrod’s light. The smell of coffee floated around him like an exquisite sunset cloud.
“I do hope you’ll find this acceptable.” The golden droid set down the plast cafeteria tray and began removing dish covers. The nearest working mess room of which Callista had been aware had been the Deck 7 Officers’ Lounge, and Threepio had volunteered to make the trek while Luke dismantled the tracker the Jawas had traded to him.
“Selection was rather limited, and those items for which you expressed preference were not to be found. I chose alternates with the same proportion of protein to carbohydrate, and more or less the same texture.”
“No—uh—this is great.” Ordinarily Luke wouldn’t have touched gukked egg, but he’d been so long without food that anything sounded good. “Thank you, Threepio. Did you have any trouble?”
“Very little, sir. I did encounter a group of Jawas, but the Talz chased them away. The Talz think very highly of your efforts to feed and care for the tripods, sir.”
“Are they down here, too?” The gukked eggs were absolutely horrible but Luke ate both of them and was a little surprised at how much better he felt.
“Oh, yes, sir. Both Talz and tripods. The Talz wish me to convey their goodwill to you and ask if they can be of service.”
Luke wondered momentarily if a Talz would be any more reliable at selecting edible food for human consumption than a droid, then dismissed the thought. By the time he needed another meal