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“It is.” Lando frowned.

“That's what we thought, too, until the quakes started,” Tendra said. “This was about two standard years ago, at the height of the war. Actually, I remember exactly when. I got Nien Nunb's report about the first quake the same day the news broke about the destruction of Centerpoint Station. The first few quakes were very minor, but they've gotten worse over time. The scientists don't know what's causing them, so they can't make any useful predictions, but they have no reason to believe they won't continue to worsen until they wreck everything, collapsing all the mines and destroying the atmosphere plants, which would make the planet uninhabitable.”

Nien Nunb spoke again. Lando said, “Yeah, I left that out. Sorry.” He returned his attention to the Solos. “He's reminding me that the seismologists we brought in detected a system of natural caverns, really big ones, much deeper than our mineworks. Seismic scanners have detected them, and also revealed that some have collapsed betweeen readings, which may be part of the whole disaster.”

“Why are there caverns in the first place?” Leia asked.

Lando looked confused by the change of subject. “Huh?”

“Caverns are usually caused by water moving through soft rock, eroding pockets out of it, correct?”

“I guess.”

Han grinned at Lando. “Science hurts, doesn't it, pal?”

“Economics is my science.”

Leia continued, “But Kessel has never had that kind of water.”

Lando shrugged. “Maybe the energy spiders dug them. To have a place to spin their webs where light wouldn't hit them.”

Leia gave him a scornful look. “You're saying the spiders evolved on the surface with photoreactive webs then, figuring out that light destroyed their webs, dug out elaborate cavern systems to live in and waited for prey species to begin wandering down there to be eaten?” She shook her head. “The photoreactive nature of the webs is clearly a later adaptation, something that happened once they'd been down in the caverns for thousands or millions of years.”

Lando held up his hands, signifying surrender. “I don't know.”

“Lando, there are too many mysteries on Kessel. I spent my time on the trip here doing research. You have tombs on the surface no qualified archaeologist has ever opened. You have avian creatures the size of humans on the surface who have a weird attachment to those ruins. You have caverns that shouldn't exist and groundquakes that can't happen. You've brought us here to solve your problem, but I think it would be half solved already if you'd put some money into answering those questions years ago.”

During Leia's rant, Lando gradually hunched down, comically drawing his head closer to his shoulders like a shelled marine reptile trying to withdraw for defense. “Not many of the avians around anymore,” he said. “They're a dying species.”

“Which is all right with you, because they don't bring any money into the company.”

Lando cast imploring eyes on his wife. “Help.”

Tendra smiled at him. “Sorry, darling. You're on your own.”

“Oh.” Lando straightened, resuming a normal pose. He turned to Nien Nunb. “All right. We need a complete archaeological team here to investigate the tombs. Not big, but fully funded for at least one Galactic Standard year, with a tentative extension of two more years if we like their work. We also need a complete xenobiology lab setup and team here, same terms, to study indigenous life-forms other than the energy spiders. Roll the expenses into our losses from the interruption of mining operations.” Finished, he looked expectantly at Leia.

She nodded, mollified.

Han snorted. “Well surrendered, General. So lay it out on the table. What exactly do you want from us?”

“I'd like you to go down there. Use your skills and Leia's Jedi abilities to figure out what the scientific teams I've sent down haven't been able to. Figure out why this is happening.”

Han had suspected this would be the request, but foreknowledge didn't keep it from turning his stomach sour. To go into those tunnels again … Yet Lando was his friend, a friend in need, a friend